Bought one. Thanks for all who talked me into it ... I think its going to be fun. Now, to power it and servo it.
I have a LHS who I am also good friends with. I am using a Magnum 4 stroke, my mind is made of that. Now, which one ?? I bought the .40 size plane. Which Magnum 4 stroke would best suit this without overweighting it ?
Radio -- I am using my 6Xas Futaba. Which RX and servos will this plane like and what size battery does it need to power all these servos ? I have not had a plane with this many servos before. Thanks guys and gals. Keith

I just finished a 60 size US. I used a 1100 ma pack with Hitec 425 bb servos everwhere and 2 futaba 3004 for the flaps. I also used a futaba 6xas with a reversing y for the flaps. It seems to work great if we ever get a warmer day I will get to fly it.

I used a .91FS Magnum on my US 60. I would imagine you would need at least a .70 for the 40 sized. I use a standard 600mAh rx pack with no problems.

70 sized 4 stroke for all out unlimited vert.

Get a glass engine mount. The stock metal one is heavy and prone to failure. The plane will be nose heavy as hell (especially with a 4 stroker) so make a hatch as far back in the bottom of the fuse as possible and mount the battery there. Use tie wraps to hold the battery in place and an extension for the battery leads. Be careful when assembling the control surfaces and servos. Mine and many others have a lot of friction in the control rods. My control surfaces are a little stiff at the hinges too. I've also heard the fuel tank can split but mine is ok so far. Try to use z bends instead of 90 degree bends in control rods.

I love the plane. I run a 46FX in it.

Joe

I have a .60 size ultra stick, and it is a great flying little airplane.

The only problem is that landing with flaps is so easy that it is easy to develop careless habits.

The crow configuration is fun, too. Crow is ailerons up as spoilers, and flaps deployed. You can dive at the field from a hundred fifty feet, pull horizontal, and set her down slow and close.

With the full span ailerons deployed it has a stunning roll rate.

One of the best fun flyers I have ever had. It does it all. With a .60, it moves right along.

It WILL be nose heavy regardless of engine; my US40 had a .70 OS and an 1100 batt as far back as I could get it. Massage the wire pushrods until they have minimum drag; lighter music wire will have less drag and will still be strong enough. Z bends good...JIM

Since you purchased the 40 size ultrastick I would really watch the weight. I know you have said you are already determined on a 4 stroke engine for this airplane. This is just my 2 cents. A two stroke is going to give your more punch. The 46 FX is great engine for this airplane. 50 SX would be a good option too. I really enjoyed 46 FX engine in this airplane. You really want to be mindful about weight because this airplane will do some really neat things if you don't get it too heavy. I used an 8 channel PPM Rx so I could set it up with all the neat things you will see in the book. I am assuming you will be setting your's up with flaps. If not then you won't need an 8 channel Rx. Reinforce the wing hold down area.

What do you mean the "Hold down area". I am not too worried about weight. I am not as good as the capabilities of the plane itself anyways. Thanks ya'll for the interesting info.

Also, With the magnum, it is either a 61 or a 90. A 90 is far too much for a 40 plane. I'm sorry. So will the 61 give enough power to have fun ?

The wing hold down is the wood supports where you insert the wing bolts to secure the wing to the fuselage.

I respect your openness regarding your skills. Many pilots won't admit this, or they just don't have the brains to know the difference. Losing a few airplanes is an amazing teacher. You are doing fine by realizing what you can and can't do already. Believe me, I know the feeling. As you develop your skills, you will eventually want the airplane to do more, or you may become bored with it. So, you can set the airplane up as the books indicates for the fun stuff that will come as you develop and want to try new things.

You should always be aware of adding weight to any airplane. This specific airplane should be just fine for you as long as you don't get it too heavy and too over powered. I flew a friends with a 61FX in it. It was not as agile as mine with the 46 FX. Just my observation and opinion. You have to make your own decision and other pilots certainly do put larger engines in theirs.

It's really a fun airplane. Think you will really like it.

RFW, thanks. I race cars for a living. Thats all I do. I have no time to build, but only to fly. Some frown on me for not being a builder. I just hate seeing some guy in a Prototype car with 700 HP, and he is a wanker. Panting just to keep up with us. Thats when crashes happen. And hopefully not...THE CRASH. I really dont want to do crazy things in the plane. I want the flaps so I can practice using flaps on short take offs and landings. Get my drift. I do a few tricks, but nothing to what the plane was built. Why this plane then if your not going to use it one might say ???.... Well, to get used to flaps.. Do you think a .61 Magnum four stroke will be enough for what I have described? I wont be knife edging this plane. Some inverted flight and a few little things. Its got to be a magnum because thats my good deal and has been forever. And the 4 stroke for the neighbors... Thanks.

Go for it. I think the Magnum .61 will fly it just fine.

If you have no plans to hover it, the .61 will probably have enough beans for you. One option you might try if there is enough room (not familiar with the 40 sized US) is to put the elevator and rudder servos in the tail. Put the rudder servo just in front of the fin and the elevator servo just in front of the stab, centering both. Pretty much what you do is cut a hole big enough for the servo to sit in and reinforce with some 1/16" plywood. You can CA it into the inside of the fuse, just takes some finagling. Check out Ultra Stick 60 mods on this forum for how guys have done it. I did this with my US60 and it saved me from adding a lot of weight. Makes the controls more positive also. A win/win situation! You can also modify for a pull pull setup on both servos but I didnt do this.
Screw the guys that bag on you for not building, by the way. As you said, not everyone has time to build. I prefer to fly than build and have several ARF's. I do build some kits, however, either because a plane I am interested only comes in kit form or just because I want to build something.
I have a Kadet Senior ARF that I purchased for a video platform since I was interested in the video more than the plane and just wanted something quick to assemble and get in the air.
I also have a Ultra Stick 60 ARF merely because they are just so darned fun to fly. I figure to destroy it one of these days when I make an oops. I wouldnt fly it the way I do if I had spent months building it, believe me!

Hahah, I know what you mean. I am pretty ruthless with my Seamaster 40 in that respect. If it was not an arf..... Yeah, anyways.
I dont plan to hover. LOL No way. So, I will pick up the .61. I get the .61 for like $135 plus shipping from my guy.

I just looked at the fuse on my son's Ultrastick. Not much room back there to mount the servos. Might can do it. Just make sure you have the room. I happen to like O.S. products, but hey, thats why we have different brands. Go for it. This really is a nice fun airplane. I really enjoyed windy days with mine. I would put the nose into the wind and just float on the wind. Then again, the flaparons are a neat functions to mess around with too. It's amazing what this thing can do. Enjoy.

Yeah, I like OS too, but this I the deal.

I've an Ultra Stick .40 with a four servo wing, elevator and rudder servo mounted aft, klett tail well asy. and a K&B .61 twister for an engine. It has great vertical, flies well in gusty wind conditions and a pure blast to fly. I put in a light weight Dave Brown engine mount, a 12 oz. tank and 3" wheels. It's an awesome flyer and rock solid on landing...in any wind conditions. We have been known to get some gusty winds here at our Pu'unana flying field...and the trade winds can be quite humbling to even experienced flyers. The Ulta Stick .40 handles the conditions very very well. If you use standard servo's and a 600 ma. to 1200 ma. nicad...even with a .61 bolted up front, the model will easily handle the weight. The model will build nose heavy...so toss out the engine mount given to you in the kit...and bolt what ever engine you use close as you can to the fire wall. This is not a trainer...it goes where you point it. With flap and spoiler (crow) action...you can land slow enough for the average sunday driver to handle. The model has no surprises, and is a sweet heart to fly. Your going to have a real blast with this model.
Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

Might want to do something with the front wing dowels. These 40 US's have a bad habit of wearing out the dowels fast. I think they've said on here that it's a vibration thing, and the dowels will start to burn because of the friction. My fix was to take some pieces of copper tubing just big enough to go over the dowels...then drill out the holes in the fuselage so the now bigger dowels will fit. No problems after that...

Mark

This is my second US 40....the wing flew off the first one. [X(]
I have a K&B .61 on a fibre mount, as close to the firewall as possible.
The K&B is light, and makes great power. The complete radio system
is mounted as conventional....1100 ma batt....balance is perfect, no
weight needed.

The rear wing hold down is beefed with a big hardwood block, and 3
1/2-20 nylon bolts....the wood is tapped.

The tail feathers are braced, because the stab glues on to the fuse
without a slot to fit into....very weak design.

The wing saddle is doubled up, and wing saddle tape is used. The wing
has to be tight, and not allowed to vibrate, or it will burn the front dowels
off....literally. Look closely at the front dowel holes....there is a doubler of
ply in behind the stock plate....with metal washers glued on as well

Dave.

Well, that proves there is room to mount the servos in the tail. See Dart, RCU gives you all the info and examples you could hope for. Do you guys share ifo like this on the racing circuit? Flyboy Dave and Bob, nice pictures. Flyboy did sometihing I didn't do and thats reinforce the dowl plate. Nice work to both.

This is nice. Yeah, we share some,but not like this. Of course this RC stuff does not determine our week to week paychecks either ! LOL[X(]

I just finished my 40 ultra stick. I put an irvine 53 on it. I put aluminum tubing over the dowel rods and swaped out the metal mount for a dave brown. I didn't add any tail weight. It balanced 3.5" back. I was a little surprised at how heavy the thing felt though. I haven't weighed it but I'm tempted to ask a grocer or postal worker to weigh it. I have a 1400ma rx battery in it which adds a little extra weight I'm sure. I'm a little dissapointed with the verticle performance on it. I'm coming off an avistar that had an os46 with a tower muffler that had better verticle than my stick - seriously. I'm going to put the tower muffler on the stick and see what happens.

Edited: No tail servos either or tail mounted battery. Half the battery is under the servo tray.

The 40 is a little heavy...the US60 is built pretty light for a 60 sized plane. I flew my 40 with a TT46, and it would not hover at full throttle...

I dont want to hover or go full verticle. I think my 61 Magnum 4 stroke will be just fine. I dont know yet if I want to start cutting into the plane to mount the servos though................