It's the Ultra Stick Lite...I had to recover my fuseluge after I dumb-thumbed it in (never run out of fuel when hovering!)[][]...These planes make lousy lawn-darts.

Red was all I had to use...so that's what went on. It actually looks pretty good from the air...

Mark

looks pretty good in the pics, too!
I was suprised that the bolt holes in the zenoah mount were too wide for efective mounting on the firewall, seeing as how its one of the recomended engines. Oh well......easy to fix.

It is easy to fix...and G-26 is the way to go. I love flying all weekend for less than a buck!!

Right on! Also, it might be a good way to try smoke before i put it in my Christen eagle!

I made a second firewall out of 1/4 ply and routed it to clear the magneto and rear crankshaft bolt. I shimmed the left 5/8" outboard side of the new firewall with 1/16 hard ply and then used balsa on the remaining back side. I then shaved the assembled firewall so that it had 1/16 variance from left to right which was a perfect 1.5 degrees of right thrust. My airframe did not have any right thrust built in (verified with incidence meter). This monster of an engine will need at least 1.5* ...

I epoxied the new firewall in place, then removed that 6oz heavy aluminum plate from the G-26 (the wood and epoxy weighed less than 2oz) drilled out the threads on the engine, and then mounted it using 8-32 bolts and blind nuts. It is a very good looking, clean install that was simple to run fuel and throttle to.

I will post all the pics tonight and include a weigh-in. I will be finished up then ready to fly tomorrow!

DP

That plate weighs 6 oz? wow! its amazing mine will still hover! I should change mine out too, but its hard to redo now that I've flown it. I'm thinking about increasing the size of the elevator. Its not very effective.

Just looked out on th front porch Got mine today!!! Now if Big Brown would just bring the Brison 2.4!!! Can't wait!
How's this thing 3-d with th g-26? Is it a good option for 3-d?

OK all, here are the series of pictures... I finally finished the bird this eve... I have to say it turned out better than expected. I put this plane together for a beater to throw in the bed of the truck to fly when I go camping, or when out in the desert... I ended up with a pretty good looking stick that should fly great.

I am going to attach a lot of pics in a series. From start to finish - I started out bench assembling to see what it looked like, then stripped off the HIDEOUS decals on the wing and all the blue covering. I added some checkerboard for visibility and then started cutting. I cut the covering away from the rear fuse section, then made the servo trays. I mounted the servos transversely so that they screwed into the plywood on the fuse, it made for a stronger connection to the frame. I fab'd 4-40 pushrods and used Dubro HD hardware and HD servo arms. After the servos were mounted and set up, I cut away the other sides covering and mounted the battery as far aft as it would go.. I was going to use a Li-Ion battery, but I needed all the weight I could get.. so I used a 2000 Mah NiMh for ballast. I also mounted the switch / charger jack and regulator. I then sealed everything up and it was ready to mount the engine. I sealed the control surfaces and then was ready to set final CG. Perfect at 4" behind LE.

As I had said the post above, I ditched that boat anchor HUGE aluminum backplate on the G26 and made a plate from 1/4 ply. It was WAY lighter. Pics show the routed out sections to clearance the rear crank bolt and magneto. I also drilled out the threads on the 3 mounting holes and simply used 8-32 bolts and blind nuts so mounting was a snap. I also show a few pics of my throttle linkage.. not super elegant, but well proven with my other planes.


Finally, the last pics show the completed plane. All said and done, I was very very pleased with the weigh-in. 11.4 pounds. This thing should fly great.

I'll post a follow up when I put her in the air. Its been really windy here the past week, so hopefully Thursday...

DP

Pics 5-8

pics 9-12

pics 13-16

Pics 17-20

Pics 21-23

Very, Very Cool! I like the checks! How was it taking off the decals? Did they basicly peal off eaisily?... I have a roll of ultra coat checks from a different project and i think i may do something similar, especialy on the bottom of the wing.
Also can you tell me how easily or not the zennoah g-26 would hand start? i have never as of yet owned a zennoah and hand start all my big planes. I noticed the Apc you have up front...to me that would be like starting a steak knife by hand! Also will this thing 3-D well with that engine upfront? I am trying to decide because i have that Brison coming soon and i will be building a 1/4 cale Monocoupe that would fancy that engine as well, so i was thinking the g-26 may be a little more appropriate. I just don't want it to lack anything! GREAT JOB! by the way, those pix will sure come in handy as soon as i get started... I'm hoping tomorrow!! Let us know about that maiden!!! I may just wait on my engine decision till then! Almost forgot! If you get a second i would love to see a bottom view of that bird as well! Curios to see the top + bottom difference! THANKS! Dave.

3-DFlyer - the bottom is stock, I have done nothing to it... looks like it did out of the box.

As far as peeling the decal... it was time consuming, but oracover is incredibly strong stuff, so it came off without tearing the covering. The residue left behind was then removed with paint thinner and a rag. Again, it took some time and patience, but it all came off and with no damage.

Hand starting the G-26.... I don't waste my time on any mag engine. I have a small magnum gear drive started that turns it over very easily. Starts fast. Like you said... hand starting a steak knife is no fun. One kick back (common on mag engines) and you have missing fingers.

I should maiden it tomorrow AM... I'll let you know.

Are you getting the Kangke monocoupe 90?? I have one - the G-26 is the best fit in that too!! I have a whole bunch of posts on that plane in RCU. search on 'desertpig' as author...

DP

DP<
Looks great! I did the same thing with the tail servos except mine are on opposite sides. I used the same hardware, too. I think I might try your firewall mount. It looks good, and looks simple. With the aluminum plate, I had to add 5 3/4 oz of lead to the tail to get the CG right. It would be really nice to get rid of that lead. Another thing I'm going to do is put in a 12 oz fuel tank. I'm curently running the stock tank on the CG. after every flight last sunday (first day out for it) I barely made a dent in the fuel. So why carry all that weight around?

3-D Flyer:
I test flew mine Sunday, with the G26 swinging an APC 17-6. I posted a flight report, but nobody responded to it so I think its far down the listings 8^(. Anyway, I think this is a very good combo, even with the weight I had to add. It hovers and torque rolls very well. So far its a wing rocker in a harrier, but you'll get that with the Brison too, I fear. I'm going to play around with the Cg a bit and see if I can improve it. Also, I have flaperons which i can use as spoilers on a switch. So that may make a difference. i did some helicopter style funnels which went great! The design is very stable and predictable. I think its good for certain 3-D moves. What's holding it back isnt the zenoah. There's plenty of power on tap and the wing loading is plenty light. I think we're looking at a CG/elevator authority situation (which I realize are related). Right now mine won't waterfall or do stationary flips. It also won't do a wall, even with lots of flaperons mixed in. Mine isn't overly nose heavy, either. The elevator just isn't very big and the CG needs to be farther back for many of the tumbling moves. Still, the torque rolls look cool, and the point rolls are great! I'm really happy with this ship. Its good enough at both pattern and 3-D to be tons of fun, and its cheap and easy to fly.

BTW, I use a Megatron starter for my big IMAC ships. This thing actually starts well with my little glow electric starter! I use my golf cart batt, though, just to keep enough power in my little gel cell for field charging. This thing is like a potato chip: One charge is NEVER enough!

Hey Desertpig... looking forward to your flight report! Yes, it's the same Monocoupe...now that you mention it, i was looking at some of those threads before i bought it, first i bought the H-9 Cub 1/4 scale and i am selling it on the MP, I liked the MC better. Any way to stay on track here... Aerodave, glad to hear yours is flying well! Be sure to fill us in on the adjustments you make to make it fly and 3-d better! I managed to take mine out of the box today! Then i realized i had a few things to finish up on my sons U-can-do .46 before i start another project. Happy Landings!

Hey Aerodave, is it me or did you not post your flight report? I can't seem to find it????????? what's the post #?

OK All - had the maiden this morning at 6:15AM The weather here was pefect, and no wind... Did a quick radio check and one last surface check, set the engine up on the ground got it dialed in perfectly (as is usually the case with Zenoahs out of the box) , pointed it down the runway and took off!

Took off perfectly straight, no adjustments needed of any kind! Good vertical, and very gentle and easy to handle. Did a few trim passes and needed to correct nothing. Did some loops, wingovers, stalls, and basic checkout. Did a few touch and gos, then landed. Checked out all hardware to make sure nothing loosened up, and then took off again, this time with flaps down... rollout was in 5 feet and then full vertical! Turned on high rates and mixes and really had some fun!!!

I wrang it out - full speed fast rolls, tumbles, knifes, hammerheads, inverted loops. Did them all with ease. TRs are stable, but require some work, my balance is slighty more toward the tail than the manual suggests. Plenty of power with an APC 18x6, and that is with a slightly rich setting and the engine still not broken in.


The mixes are very interesting. CROW rocks ! I start very high (like nearly out of sight),cut the throttle and roll into a tip stall to a death spiral.. about 1/3 down I exit the spiral and I flip on the crow mix and point it straight at the runway! The plane slows down incredibly well and I am amazed at the stall characteristics. I did not land with crow the first time and I am glad I did not... the low rate elevator was not enough to pull out of vertical. I tried again with middle rate and landing was a blast. I did 5 crow landings and once I got the hang of it - its a blast to watch people's eyes open when they see a plane coming straight out of the sky at the runway and just before impact, it does a 90* flare and land in 10 feet!! PFC


This is a very FUN plane to fly and play with. Since I fly mainly large scale 3D and IMAC planes, this is a very nice change of pace at a decent price. My total investment is just barely $700, not bad for good size gas plane. I bought this plane mainly to have something that I can toss in the back of my truck and fly anywhere. it fits that bill very well. It can handle just about anything you can throw at it, is very sturdy, and stable. Since I fly IMAC and 3D with my purpose-built planes, I really did not expect much in the 3D department from this plane. I would definitely not call this a 3D bird. While it can do some of the 3D like moves, things like tumbles, harrier circles, harriers, walls, blenders are a bit out of reach due to the geometry of the design. Flat out - there just is not enough surface to achieve this.

On the other hand, this plane will allow you do tricks that even the best IMAC planes won't do - like 6 rolls per second, crow landings, elev / flap mixes (I can do violent loops within the length of the fuse)... it will take off in 5 feet in rocky soil or gravel, and land literally ANYWHERE! The Zenoah is the perfect engine for this plane, and after the first suite of flights, I am very pleased I went this route. Gonna fly at lunch today.. out in the back lot of my company building... try that with an IMAC or 3D plane!!!


Final setup:
US Lite - Elev, Rud servos + battery in tail
2 oz lead also in tail
Zenoah G26 w/stock muffler
APC 18x6 pattern prop
6 Hitech HS425BB standard servos
1 Hitech HS645MG rudder servo
1 JR R770 PCM receiver
2000mAh NiMh battery
JR HD switch / charge jack

10X radio set up exactly as in manual with all mixes

Here's my final ratings: (1-10)

Ease of assy > 10 I literally slapped this thing together in 5 hours!
Instructions > didn't use them, but definitely a 10
Ugliness> a good 8 .. out of the box it was a 10 though!
Strength > 9
Takeoffs > 10
Landings > 10
Flight > 10
Tricks > 9
3D > 5
Overall - 9

This one's gonna get a lot of hours on it!!

DP

yeah, yeah, DP!
I agree totally! I have many other planes that 3-D well and like you it is a major focus of my flying. I too bought this plane to just have fun, and fun it is! When I said it doesn't have enough elevator I'm refering to the fact that I usually fly my big CAP which walls and harriers like a dream. On 3-d throws the elevator authority is breathtaking. So like you said those moves just aren't in the cards for this plane. But it is nice to drop down and do the obligatory TR that everyone watching seems to need to see. I found I was doing all kinds of silly stuff wth it like snaps to knife edge flopping stuff that I can't name........Its fun to just fly around and stick bang! I must admit, though, the thing does a very passable slow roll, requiring only a bit more rudder than my IMAC planes. anyway, its a winner.
3-D flyer.....there are numbers for posts???????? It was called ultra stick lite/G26 flight report. Good luck with yours. We're all havin' a ball!

Aerodave.. I was refering to the upper right hand corner of your reply. I thought you had it on this thread, i must have mistaken. Glad to hear how well they are flying, I still have to elect the engine yet, but at least i can start the build. That is one great thing about these sticks is they build so fast! hope to have mine done by next week. That is if i can make up my mind with the Brison or zenoah, i have that monocoupe so the second engine will go in that plane. The one reason i am leaning twords the Brison is since the new one's are all chromed i sure would like to see it! USL perfect candidate! Glad to see the Maiden went so well!!!! Can not wait to get mine up. Dave.

funny thing about the building.....I glued the wing halves together on Friday night so they could dry overnight. The next morning I started building at 8 AM. It was done and charging by 7PM, including mounting the servos in the tail, enforcing the firewall and putting the tank on the CG! Its one quick project!

Flew again at lunch time... right out in the dirt lot of my building smack in the middle of Phoenix! The Stick does desert great!!
24 oz tank... 5 flights, 11 touch and gos... 5 landings 45 minutes of lazy and radical flying time!!! Even cut some weeds down on one of the landings!!

Finally, a take along, that is low maintance and sturdy enough to handle gravel and weeds!!

Did I say this thing was TOUGH!!

DP

Very cool!
My first day out I had to adjust the throttle linkage a bit. No cowls, no problem! 5 minutes later I was back in the air! I seriously don't think guys who only fly sport planes would understand why we're so thrilled about all this.
This sunday some friends and I are going to try flying at a farmer's place for the first time. Naturally, the stick is comin along! I'll try and cut some weeds like you did.