I got a Lazy tiger to fly around the house (10 acr) I plan to put a OS 40LA on it. I read to beef up the tail feathers and replace the pushrods. IM not sure how to beef-up the tail feathers, and is there anything else I should do to the plane. This is my second plane, I learned on a LT-40.
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You are going to like this plane. I have one with a OS .32 in it and it is a blast. One way to beef up the tail surfaces is to assemble the tail normally, then add some triangle balsa stock to the joints where the horizontal fin meets the fuselage on the bottom side and also where the vertical fin meets the horizontal fin on the top side. You'll have to cut away some more of the covering material to epoxy the triangle pieces in place. I didn't do this and haven't had any problems, but I don't push the plane too hard. One thing I did do is to add a plywood brace on the inside of the fuse to support the two wooden pushrods going to the tail. They seem flimsy and the elevator had some loose play in it. I took a piece of 1/8" ply and drilled two holes for the pushrods to go through and epoxied it to the bulkhead behind the servo tray. The holes are just barely larger than the diameter of the rods, so it supports them better than just letting them hang in free space. Check out these pics and you can see what I did. Also, make sure to balance the plane side to side as well as front to back. Usually one wing will be heavier than the other one, (due to the muffler being on one side), and you should add some counterweight to the light wing to balance. This will help with aerobatics and if you should stall, it will not roll over towards the heavy wing. Any more ??, just ask.

Jesse

Thanks, anything else you think I should Know?

I went with Hitec HS-81 micro servos for the ailerons, but standard size will work too. The way the fuel tank is installed has nothing really holding it in the fuse. I wrapped it in foam so that it fits kind of tight in the fuse and then CA'd a piece of balsa across the fuse right behind the tank to hold it in place. Check out the pic. Other than that, check the straightness of the fuse to be sure that they built it right. Mine had a twist at the back of the fuse where the rudder attaches. It was bad enough that I couldn't put the tailwheel between the rudder and fin. I moved the tailwheel to a more scale position, but wouldn't recommend it if your fuse is not twisted. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Jesse

Whats the best way to add weight when balencing side to side? and how big of triangle pc should you add?[sm=sunsmiley.gif]

I love this airplane!! I, too, installed an os32f. I would suggest very strongly to use dual rates while you are becoming familiar with the plane. I used the factory settings and had a wild cat on my hands. Setting the low rates at 50% was a mistake, I had a hard time getting back to land and readjusting the throws. Take it slow while adjusting the throws. I ended up with about 64% of the factory settings.

I would use 1/4" triangle balsa stock for the tail surfaces. Use four pieces, one on each corner where the fins meet the fuselage, top and bottom. See pic:
If one of the wingtips is heavier than the other, which usually the muffler side will be heavier,
I drilled a small hole in the flat, vertical part of the tip that faces out and squeezed some silicone caulking into the hole. Use just a little at a time and keep rechecking the balance by raising the model by the nose and bottom of the tail. Keep adding silicone until you get it to balance level. It won't take much, because the caulk is pretty heavy. Once it dries, it will be inside and out of sight and won't move around. Put a scrap piece of covering over the hole.
Don't do the balance checks until the model is completely put together with everything on it like it will be right before flying. Do the front to back balance first using the CG in the manual.
Fix that balance first before you do the side to side.
In the first and second pics, you can see where I would put the triangle balsa. In the third pic, the red dot is where I drilled a hole to put the silicone caulk in to balance. Drill the hole in line with the wing spar, so that adding the caulk won't mess up the front to back balance of the plane:


Jesse

I put up pics of my setup on the other LT P-51 thread in the Fun Fly forum...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_13..._1/key_/tm.htm

I only put tristock under the tail. Seems to be fine, and you don't see it at all when it's sitting on the ground.

Could I drill and pin (tooth picks) the vert stab to the horizonal stab from underneath for strength, rather than put tri stock on top? then just put the tri-stock underneath against the fus?

Also, what about sealing the gaps, I noticed, the gap is pretty big if you want big throws, and I here this plane like to flutter anyhow

I bought heaver push-rods to put in for the elv and rudder, looks flimsey as you said, maybe a little over-kill, but it is cheaper than a new plane. Also thought I would put the balhead in the fuse.

Does a 11-4 prop seam about right with a OS40 LA? I think that would give me lots of power, and nice slow speed.[sm=sunsmiley.gif]