VeeAte

More power to your elbow sir, keep the pics and work comming, on the sheet repaire i have succesfully used the following method before.

Cut out a section of balsa of simmilar thickness oversize to the repaire area required, stick this over the hole with selotape sticky back plastic if you like and then cut out the required section through the stuck on piece and the section to be reparied at an angle of 45 deg to the horizontal in towards the repaire area, this gives a slightly oversize repaire patch and a greater surface area to stick the patch too once trimmed.

Shame you have not got the nose pices that broke on the landing! as if you glue them all back together you have your own template, this is what I plan to do with mine when I repair it, you never know you may give me the incentive to get on with it.
Will look regullarly for progress.
Mike

Thanks for the words of encouragement Mike. I dont have the nose anymore, but the previous owner does have another Arrow Tiger that I can borrow to get all the measurements etc off so at least that should help somewhat.

Thanks for the tips on covering the holes in the wing. At this stage I might just patch the win skin under the hole and hopefully the covering will make the hole not visible.

I have never covered a plane so I will have to get someone at the club to help with that.

I was talking to one of the other guys at the field and he mentioned that the Arrow Tiger needs a .60 sized engine to perform but surely he is mistaken? He may have been referring to the Piper Tomahawk I have.

As far as I knew the Arrow Tiger was ideally suited to a .40 sized engine such as the .46 AX I have. No big deal as I have to buy a .61 for the Tomahawk so can swap the engine over whenever I want to fly either model. Or save and get two engines.

VeeAte

I had a OS50 in mine which was more than adequate also I had no weight issues with a light weight silencer but feel I would have with a standard one, I think going up to a 60 may cause a cofg problem, unless you put the tail servos at the rear which is an option of course.

As to the wing hole if you go the route of patching under the surface do fill the void with a lightweight filler as the edges will show through otherwise, then don't forgett to laterally balance the wing afterwards.

The only way to learn how to cover is to do it, but some and try, Wings are the easist to cover, do the bottom first and then the top, if you can attach the ailerons after covering both the wing and the ailerons, tip sections are easier if you cover them in seperate pieces the curves are difficult but possible with a bit of paitence and using a seperate piece you can have more than one go without ruining the main panel. The most difficult bit on a wing is getting a straight edge along the leading edge with different colours top and bottom, you can buy a trimming tool to run along the le that makes it easier, if you are not confident get one.

Cheap film covering is just that and is more difficult to use than good stuff like Profilm, Whatever you do use a new sharp blade at all times to cut the film, good stuff is tough.

Good luck
Mike

Thanks BaldEagel. After looking at the hole and considering your advise I will patch it like you suggested. That way the covering is going to look good once completed. The holes arent going to be easy to cover tho as the balsa is paper thin, but it can't hurt to give it a shot.

Thanks for the suggestion on the engine, I will put the .46AX in it once it is done and will go from there.

I will post again when I have done some more work to the wing and fuse.

VeeAte

If the balsa is that thin why not over cover it with another sheet of balsa according to what you have left size accordingly i.e. 1/32" if not 1/16" and then taper sand some capping strips back to the TE. If you go that route you could use some slow set CA or White PVA glue either would work although the CA would be quicker beware it does not sand well. None of this will make any difference to the aerofoil shape or significant weight.

Just a suggestion.

MIke

Excellent suggestion BaldEagel. Will get some thin balsa sheeting next week sometime and give it a shot.

That sounds a lot simpler than cutting/patching and sanding.

Scored an MDS .68 today so could always lob that on the nose of the Arrow Tiger :P.
Nah will buy a new motor for the Arrow as I am going to be spending a fair bit of time on it.

Will report back when I get some more work done on the plane. Sorry about the delay. I had forgotten to tick the "Notify by email of replies" button or whatever it is called :P

VeeAte

I found my version adequatly powered on an old Helicoptor OS50 engine I do not think it needs any more, plus you may get c of g problems with a bigger engine.

Mike

VeeAte

I found my version adequatly powered on an old Helicoptor OS50 engine I do not think it needs any more, plus you may get c of g problems with a bigger engine.

Mike

Ok I will grab a new O.S 46AX for the Tiger.

Have had a couple of things come up at the moment so work has temporarily halted on the Arrow. At least for the next week or so at least.

I have all the wing ribs reinforced. Not sure if what I have done is a bad thing or not, but I have simply cut strips of balsa and glued them over the cracked sections of the ribs after I "jigged" the wing with some bits of ply to hold everything in shape.

Got the full story on the crash of my Tiger today from one of the guys out at the field. Apparently the plane was only 2 weeks old and the owner put the plane into a flat spin from a high altitude and the plane wouldnt come out of the spin. It flat spun all the way into the deck which is most likely why all the ribs are broken.

At least it is all repairable. Cannot wait to get this plane in the air. Just might take me a while as I have never done this sort of thing before. Still have to get the measurements etc off the complete Arrow Tiger the club member has.
Whats the best way to take the measurements off the complete plane?

Am guessing I am going to have to take measurements of the bulkheads in the nose of the good one and somehow get the curve of the nose correct or it isnt going to look right. Any hints or tips on how to go about this properly ?

VeeAte

Sticking bits of balsa on the cracks in the ribs is fine, may not look nice through transparent film but you can get over that with solid film as you are recovering to whole wing anyway.

Flat spun into the ground now thats interesting as my version comes out of spins immediatly, I wonder where that chap had the c of g?

As too measurements the best way is to establish the engine thrust washer position in front of the wing LE attach the spinner you will use and just infill between the two to your own liking, don't bother trying to exact copy the originall its not neccesary, just as long as the thrust lines and distances are the same. I would probably establish the spinner position and thrust line stick the spinner on a long piece of balsa and stick it somehow to the fusalarge in the correct line and position, next mark on the stick the position of the firewall for the engine mount, mark out the engine mount on a piece of 1/4" ply and cut out at approx width that was in proportion to the existing width and spinner dia, same with the height. Next two pieces of 1/16"ply long enough to go from inside the fus at an undamaged postion all the way to the spinner width to suite the fus depth, epoxy them to the inside of the fus on both sides and attach to a 1/2" balsa spinner ring ply faced on the front. Epoxy in your firewall and fill in the gaps with balsa you should have the idea from now on. If not ask and I will try to guide you.

Good luck

Mike

Been flying my Arrow tiger now for nearly a year. Found after about 6 months or so that up elavator was sometimes not as affective as down elavator.
Found that the control rod was bending a little whcih ment it was not giving the full throw. I strengthened it at servo end with glue and it helped.
All in all, pretty happy with the way it flys.
BaldEagle, How did you introduce 3 deg of down thrust. Here are some pics of it when new.

SL77

I undid the bolts that hold the engine mount too the bulkhead and introduced a tapered piece of plywood at the top, it does not have to be in the bolt position just at the top of the mount, once in position add CA it in place.

Mike

Cheers BaldEagle.........will give it a try...

SL77

Have you put the downthrust in yet? and if so what do you think? did it inprove things?

Mike

My Arrow Tiger on the field bench after it's maiden.

Flies ... like an arrow, straight and true . Quite aerobatic as well.

Now there is a blast from the past, six year old thread resurrected.

Mike

They are still available in Australia at a very reasonable cost.

A family business sells them (VMAR ARF's) on Australian 8Bay. That is where mine came from.

It is a "simple" ARF by modern standards. Some back-engineering was undertaken. Most of the hook-up hardware was not used.

It is a nice honest flyer. The look grows on you.

When I stuffed mine back in 2005 I rebuilt it and sold it on, it was a good flyer for early attempts at aerobatics, but I out grew it and moved on to other airframes, but its a good aerobatics trainer.

Mike

Why this aircraft? It reminded me of a scaled down "old-style" pattern ship. I am on a bit of a "retro trip" at the moment with my flying. I've tired of big Yak's, Extra's, Cap's etc.

I did not use the supplied "metal clamp" engine mount so popular with ARF's. I used a Dave Brown composite .46 size mount. It had the fortunate effect of ensuring a few degrees of down thrust was built in.

The undersized supplied aluminium spinner was also sidelined. A red 2 3/4" C&Y spinner was installed, to match the profile of the nose.

I also pulled off the plastic dimple under the tank. A thin light ply plate was made up out of scrap to cover the hole. Red monocoted, it is a good colour match. I now have a battery/tank hatch. I like good access.

Braces were installed in the rear halfway down the rear of the fuselage to better support the servo snakes. Flexing of the control cables is not an option.

The ship tracks straight and true. Very slippery in the air.

Tail feathers as supplied are no longer built up, they are solid. Australian plantation balsa is used in the current production.

I am picky. Looked at critically there are a number of areas worthy of improvement. That said, for $99.00, it's a steal.