SJN

Do you guys think it would fly with the Magnum/asp FS400 5 cylinder radail engine?
It weighs 6.1lbs

jbarnes

If you want a Stearman large enough for that motor you better get the Aeroworks Stearman. The GP Stearman is way too small for that large motor.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Aeroworks:
Wing span 77 inches
Wing Area 1750
Weight 16 – 18 lbs


Great Planes:
Wingspan: 71.5 in
Wing Area: 1466
Weight: 14-15 lb

Not a huge difference, but enough to make a difference.

codimasta

My Feedback: (89)

Well, guys..here is my little contribution to the Forum:
The fuselage & stab was recovered by a very good friend of mine...Gerry Carrick...since my covering skills are not the best...I still can silk..but monokote, I am very poor.
Well the model came out at 12 lbs..on added weight...maybe it is because it is powered with a YS-140...way to much power...but it will do anything you want it to do...knife edge's great.
The model and markings are the same as it's Big Brother...the owner of the NS2-3..was tickled pink when he saw the model...
I have been very fortunate to fly the Big Brother....the owner wants the model to hang in his hanger....maybe when I get tired of the plane, I will let him have it.

scflyboy

Men, I have read every word on this forum. Great info! Have ordered this plane and wondering if there are any new ideas or issues. Will change the colors and markings. So many to choose from. Will use Saito 125 and ST125MG servos. Any advice on set up? Have heard about lowering the fuel tank due to inverted engine flooding. 5" wheels? Pull pull? Connecting elevator halfs? Propeller size for this plane and engine?

Can't wait to fly this bird!

ElectRick

My Feedback: (2)

I'll share some modifications I made to mine.

I powered my PT-17 with a geared brushless electric motor, so I can't help you with engine recommendations. As for a few of my airframe mods:

I stripped and re-covered everything in Cub yellow that wasn't already, excluding the rudder. Navy Stearmans just look better all yellow, IMHO.

I ditched the steel joiner wire for the elevators, and the steel pushrod setup. I made independently operating elevator halves and used small carbon fiber (.074 IIRC) rod as pushrods, with a pushrod to each half. The CF rods were joined with Kevlar thread and CA to a single regular threaded pushrod inside the fuselage--a basic Y pushrod. This is both lighter and stiffer than the included arrangement, and allows for easier trimming of the elevator.

I did the rudder as a pull-pull arrangement, using steel fishing leader and crimps. Again, lighter and more accurate than a single steel rod. More scale too.

I popped off the tail block and hollowed it out. It's a big solid block, and I needed to get all the weight out of the tail that I could.

I installed false ribs on the top half of the stabilizer before re-covering. Strictly for scale appearance enhancement. The ribs look nice under the covering.

I had TNT Landing Gear make me a custom landing gear. The included one is too thin (everyone complains that the plane bounces a lot on landing) , the gear stance is way too wide, and they needed to be shorter in order to compensate for the more correctly sized 5" Dubro wheels I used. The included wheels are way too small for scale, and too hard. I made gear fairings up from thick balsa sheeting and glued them to the custom gear, using the provided one as a guide for shaping. After shaping, glassing, and painting, you can't tell they are homemade.[8D]
Heads up--the landing gear mounting block is not glued in well at all, nor is the fuel tank support piece.

I painted the interplane strut fittings and mounted them with the bends facing inboard for better looks. I used button head socket screws for fastening them, instead of regular socket head screws. It makes working with the screws much easier, as the heads don't interfere with each other. The screws go in from the outboard side for a neat appearance. I JB Welded nylon locknuts onto each fitting for the horizontal screws. It keeps me from fumbling with so much small hardware at the field.

I made my own dummy engine from 1/6 scale Williams Brothers Pratt & Whitney cylinders, on a homemade fiberglass and balsa crankcase. It looks a whole lot better than the piece of crap they give you in the kit.

I carved and mounted a carburetor inlet pipe for the forward cowl. GP shamefully completely omits this detail.

I made functional flying wires with clevises. I plan to redo these with some flat chrome colored jewelry lacing I found at a craft store. The wires don't need to be functional, and the flat stuff will look better.

I had some vinyl graphics made by Callie's Custom Graphics. The roundels included were the wrong color blue, the side numbers are too large, and the US NAVY markings were the wrong font and too closely spaced. The vinyl graphics go on and smooth out much better than stickers, too.

I have added cabane and tailplane rigging, and a few more scale bits since these photos.

Hope this helps.

Rick

scflyboy

Rick,

Thanks, that is great informatoin. I will follow your advice and want to take time and do this right. What are your thoughts about the fuel tank being higher than the carb. I also plan to do some recovering !

Brad

ElectRick

My Feedback: (2)

There is room to move it down in the fuselage, but I haven't read anything in three different magazine reviews of the plane that indicate this is necessary.

It would be a bit difficult to get in there to do it anyway. I opened up the nose of my plane by making a top access hatch for the batteries, so I had full access to the entire nose area inside. I am using the fuel tank shelf as a battery tray for the motor batteries. That's how I discovered the shelf wasn't glued in well. I casually pulled on it to test it, and it popped right off in my hand.

I would think that a uniflow tank arrangement would solve any tendency for fuel to siphon out through the carb. In the olden days I used to pinch off the fuel feed tube between flights with a hemostat to prevent this.

Rick

ghostrider168

After couple of months flying this plane, it is one of the best on my hanger. However, I do have one major complain, which is the landing gear. I had replaced two so far. And if I don’t do anything about it soon, I probably have to keep on replacing them. The problem is the fiberglass keeps on cracking/splitting. I admit I had couple of not so prefect landings. The plane bounces quite a lot. Does anyone have remedy for this problem? I tried to call Robart see if they offer any landing gear for this plane and so far, no reply.

Big Oakden

My Feedback: (3)

Electrick,
I am in the process of electrifying this plane myself. and have been tossing the idea of a hatch up front around.

Could you post or e-mail somepics on how you put in the hatch?

I have also considered placing a hatch on the side for final battery connections and switches only, and installing the batteries once we arrive at the field, and leaving them in the plane until we tear down to go home, or to re-charge the batteries.

Any help you could provide could save me from having to purchase another fuze for this plane.

THanks,

Dave

Tailwheel Pilot

My Feedback: (2)

Hey Ghostrider,
I dont know if your tires are the same as the GP super Stearman or not but if they are there are alot of guys have complained about the same thing on the Super Stearman thread.Some of them changed to 4in Dubro air filled tires and they say it helps alot.I bought them for my SS but it wont be ready for a couple of weeks.hope this helps.

ElectRick

My Feedback: (2)

I'll see what I can do about getting some hatch pics up in the next few days Dave.

Rick

Big Oakden

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks Rick,
I really appreciate it.

Dave

scflyboy

I have not got mine in the air yet, hopefully this weekend. Working on flying wires. Going with braided wire and small clevises. Went with 4 1/2 inch Hanger 9 low bounch tires. Look scale to me. It sounds like the landing gear is going to be trouble.

ElectRick

My Feedback: (2)

Dave, as promised, here are a few shots of how I made my hatch for battery access. It is retained by fitting up under the cowl edge at the front, and by a rare earth magnet in the back. It is large enough to get most any size battery pack in. I would caution you to check how well your tank floor piece is glued in, as mine popped out in my hand with very little effort when I checked it. It was a battery ejection waiting to happen. Also, make sure you allow for the front windshield before cutting the hatch out (ask me how I know).

If you have any specific questions, ask away.

Rick

Big Oakden

My Feedback: (3)

Rick,

Thanks for the pics.
It looks great.
It's about where I thought I would have to cut it out.

So tell me......HOW do you know to watch where the front windshield was SUPPOSSED to go?? ....LOL, been there, done that ONCE (also)

I am still looking for a way to make the final connection of the batteries from the OUTSIDE of the plane. But the only swich I could find that would handle 100amps weighed in at 6lbs. and was as big around as the fuze.

I will be using the Stearman for a test bed of a motor designed to fly a 26lb aerobatic aircraft. Plus I figure if we are only drawing 50 amps with this motor with a 110amp ESC, nothing will get above skin tempurature after flying for 12 minutes.

I will be using a Storm 63-74-200KV motor (Brushless with no gearbox)with a 9cell Lipo from VisionHobbies.com and probably a Castle Creation 110 or an MGM 90 or 120amp ESC. (MGM has an "ON/OFF" switch) but cost more....
Not too worried about lightening up the tail section (block at bottom) with a motor weighing in at 27ounces, plus a 9cell Lipo, I shouldnt have to add any weight to the nose.

Here's something different though.
My plane has two tubes for the elevator halves and is designed to use steel rods tied together to control them. So that is a small plus. I still havent looked at whether or not I will use a push/pull Rudder system. I may just use the pushrod that it came with.

I will ask a couple of questions though: How far forward of the former under the front windshield did you start the hatch opening? Ands did you take the hatch all the way to the firewall?

I will post some pics of motor/mount and battery hatch area once I have it completed.

My motor mount is a little "stiff". I used some 25mm Baltic Birch (9ply) for a forward firewall, mounted on 2 pcs of Red Oak 1 x 2 material drilled through the 2" dimension to move the prop ring out to the 6-1/4" it calls for. This also allows me a place to put my flight pac battery (If I need to for weight reasons) and enables me to swing the big 18x12 prop.

Enjoy your flying, and thanks again for the pics.

ElectRick

My Feedback: (2)

I used a straight pin pushed through the sheeting a couple times to determine where the former is that you can see in the first photo. I would recommend that you first mount your front windscreen, or at least mark where its front edge will be. That will determine how far aft to begin the hatch cut.
Notice the chipped paint on the front of the forward windscreen? That is there because I didn't install the front windscreen first before I cut the hatch opening. I wound up having to trim the front a bit in order to both clear the hatch and put the windscreen in the correct position. I didn't miss by much, but why miss at all when you have me to warn you about it?

The front edge of the hatch is a little back from the back edge of the firewall, IIRC (I'm not home to go look). All you really need is to bring the cutout forward enough so the hatch itself slides under the mounted cowling by about 1/4-3/8 inch. That secures the front of the hatch. It is the cowling edge that delineates the front edge of the opening when the cowling is in place.

I can get a pair of stacked 8000 Mah 4S2P LiPos in and out through this opening with ease (even with the wings on), so it's more than big enough for almost any battery you use, as long as it's not a long stick-type design. Even that type may work, but I found that I needed to keep the batteries as far forward as possible for CG. My plane balanced perfectly at the recommended point with no added ballast, using a 1600 mAH 5 cell receiver battery pack in the ballast box on the firewall.

I just arranged my ESC plug and battery plugs to be near the top of the hatch, so they are easy to connect when it's time to fly. I use a series harness plugged into the two packs, so the 3 or 4 inches of added wire length helps some there. You could probably make a quick disconnect from a pair of Deans connectors, like a lot of guys have done. Maybe mount it in the front cockpit?

Rick

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Have mine flying now with about 10 flights clocked up since last week. Really pleased with it it is exactly what I wanted and expected it would be.
I re-covered it as I wanted a blue/yellow (real stearman) colour scheme, rudder was a bit of work with the stripes and still have the top wing to do as my version dos'nt have the red stripes, just stars.
Hav'nt done any rigging or other scale details other than the cockpit, wanted to get it flying first. Also fitted larger wheels than came in the kit as 5" is more scale and looks better.

Fitted the best engine in the world the Super Tigre 25cc and it is a perfect match, loads of power and a great real stearman rasp out of it with the jtec box silencer. I have a 18 x 6 master on it at the moment but will try a similar size wood soon.

With this engine the CG was perfect never added any lead, came out at 14lb, used a 4 cell 2400 NimH AA size battery and JR PCM reciever fitted in same place as shown in manual.
I used high torque towerpro MG995 metal gear servo's on the ailerons and elevator, JR591's on rudder and throttle. The towerpro servo's are budget servo's available on ebay and I have used them before and think they are excellent value for money.

ElectRick

My Feedback: (2)

Congrats on your PT-17. She looks sweet, especially in the landing shot.

Rick

bucho

My Feedback: (6)

I´m working on my new arf, but the manual don´t say anything about the rigtn and the down of the engine, did somebudy have info about it? I´m intaling a surpass 120...

thanks and sorry abot my inglish.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Here are a couple of quick photos I just took of mine under construction. Some simple mods I did was to shorten the gear legs by 1/2" to make room for the 5" wheels I installed, and I moved the engine push rods inwards to increase the angle as I feel it makes the engine look better. I also panted the area behind the cylinders where the intake is black to add a little more of a scale look to it.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

The firewall seems to be pre set at the correct angle my ST2500 is mounted directly onto the firewall with the backplate and the thrust lines are fine.

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

Nice engine install!
How does it fly with the ST2500? Do you think the ST2300 would be enough power? What muffler are you using?

Thanx,V.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

The engine is fantastic I used the Jtec box silencer and started off with a 18x6 classic series prop I have used before, but since being trying some wood ones and 18 x 8 is working well.
Engine really seems to suit it lots of power and a great stearman type sound. It balanced perfect too with this engine no lead needed anywhere so the engine weight it correct too. Airplane weighs 14lb.

Have a look through my previous posts for other details and pics.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Here are some pics of the finished model. You can see the 5" wheels better and the way I changed a few things on the dummy engine. I used two servos for the elevators. OS 1.20 for power, 16x6 prop.