Pheonix 8
 

Any one have a pheonix 8? I had one given to me, it is made by Aero Composites of Dayton, OH Inside the fuse it is dated from 1979. Not sure if all the parts are with it. Would like to know, well, anything about it.

Phoenix 8
 

I had one back in 1989, it flew well even though it was a little on the heavy side. I had fixed gear (flew off of a terrible grass runway) and a Picco .60 for a motor. It didn't have too many bulkheads inside it (maybe 2, don't recall exactly). Don Lowe used to fly one back in the day. It didn't have any real bad habits that I can remember. It was a good plane to use for ducted fan training, flew fast and landed heavy.

Pheonix 8
 

Cool, I need a good ducted fan trainer. It has a small bag of parts and there is only one bulkhead, and some plates and dowels. I may just build this thing yet. Thanks for the info.

Pheonix 8
 

Pat:

You'll be happy that you went ahead and built the Phoenix. Like
Bash said, I would suggest making it fixed gear tail dragger though. Have fun flying without gear failure. Just be sure the wheel axil is at LE of wing. Any of the old pattern planes make
flying in wind so much easier. My old Kaos and Tippo 850 are very
stable in higher winds.
Another suggestion would be to Ca in carbon fiber strips to sides
of fuse at wing saddle area, going from 3" ahead of LE and 3" behind trailing edge.
Without the extra bulkheads the fuse is weak in that area.

Pheonix 8
 

That was going to be my next question, if it could be a tail dragger. I would rather it be a tail dragger. So far the only thing that I see missing is the rudder. Can retracts still be used on it if I make it a tail dragger, or will that put the wheels too far back? I may do fixed gear to keep it simple, but havent decided yet. Does the entire wing need to be glassed, or just the center section? This sounds like a cool plane so far.

Pheonix 8
 

Pat:

You just need to glass the center section. On my Tippo I did
away with the retracts and bought the spruce pregrooved blocks
and cut into the balsa/foam to epoxy in place. The tri-gear
location would be too far back.

Pheonix 8
 

rreiss,

Thanks for the info. Do you have an accurate CG location for the plane?

P8
 

Have one P8 undergoing restoration and 1 NIB "deluxe" kit w/sheeting etc. No formers, only the firewall, floor plate for tank and wing hold-downs to install. Experience a wing failure after a series of snap rolls on another P8 - outboard of retract-well (totalled). That wing was glassed at the center section and Monokoted. On the restoration P8 have installed a 1/8" ply spar (with 1/2" holes every 1.5" for lightening and glue area) aft of the wheel well, running the full thickness and length of the wing (exc. tip). This mod. added 3-4 ounces of weight. The spar would be easier to locate if you went with tail dragger set-up. Also added two 1/8" hard balsa joiners to the stab. Did not like the aileron linkage set-up either - went with 1 servo per surface mounted about 1/2 way out on each wing half. Using MK elevator bellcrank for the elevator halves. This set-up is much more positive than the "Y" pushrod design. Also, went with pull-pull on rudder.

Pheonix 8
 

Sam

Thanks for the tips, do you also recommend making it a fixed gear taildragger? Where do I find the ele bell crank?

P8
 

MK elevator bellcrank available from Central Hobbies, World Models also makes one. Have not tried a tail dragger conversion. Would be lighter, less complicated to install in either retract or fixed.