Oh, now you're making it easy for me[sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=drowning.gif]

I also have a Ultra Stick and went with the Saito 100. I haven't regreted it at all. It even balanced out nice. I've heard from others that the wood quality of the kit veries greatly from one kit to the next so maybe I just got lucky with the balance. Also go with the flap option. Drop the flaps, put power to it and take off in the length of a small car. Just break the engine in as published and adjust the valves (easy) and fly it. I'll have to try the prop size people have been talking about though. I've been running a 14 X 10.

Hey fellas..

Don't mean to hijack this thread... Have a few other questions about US60.. I'm putting one together now with a tower 75.. Anyway, have heard mention several times the need to reinforce the landing gear block, as well as 'pin' the firewall.. Anyway, this is my 2nd plane and am not sure about the best way to accomplish these two things.. Can anyone who has done this describe the process? I assume the pinning uses dowels into the fuse/firewall, but you don't have much room to work with here!

Thanks!

John..

I have one with the ST G90 on it and love it! Incredible power and a blast to fly. A friend just got one and bought the Tower 75 and I am amazed by the power that engine has. The engine is a little lighter and is an ABC engine vs. a cast iron liner with a ring. I have a radar gun (for my work) and that Tower engine will run the Stick around 101mph vs 103 for my ST G90. The Tower is easy to break in, runs well out of the box, and is definitely easy on the wallet. A word of caution - change out the nylon wing bolts often or use steel and fender washers......ask me how I know this, it was rather spectacular but it is about ready for the air once again!

geardaddy, I don't know about the firewall, but on my mini ultra stick I reinforced the landing gear with a piece of light ply inside the fuselage. I also run nylon bolts in the mini, and have changed them from the factory 8's to 6's for extra strength. I fly at some rough places. What happens is instead of the bolts breaking, sometimes a hard landing will cause the block the blind nuts are mounted in to rip out of the fuselage. I haven't heard people talking about this on the us60 so I didn't look at that yet, but I will. And It's cool to ask in here, as most of the existing ultra stick threads are kinda old now.

Guys, I just noticed an ad on this page about rcv engines. I've never heard of them and wonder are they any good? I just went to the website and they look cool.

You’re going to drive yourself insane if you keep adding options to your list.

RCV engines are good; they are also heavy.

The Saito 82 weighs 17.6 ounces with muffler
Saito 100 weighs 20.9 with muffler
RCV 91 CD weighs 25.2 plus muffler
RCV 90 SP weighs 28.6 plus muffler
Tower 75 weighs 23.0 with muffler
Super Tigre G90 weighs 27 with muffler

Since weight up front appears to be a real issue, the Saitos have a clear advantage.

Weight up front on this plane is NOT an issue and certainly not a big issue! With the G90 on mine I popped the elevator servo back on the side of the fuse and the plane balanced out great. The mod took all of 15 minutes and I really didn't even have to do that. Could have popped a bigger battery aft of the servos and balanced it. Pay attention to the people that have these things and fly them regularly!
Angry - That only happens to the mini Stick, not the big one. The nylon bolts referred to are the wing bolts......eventually the heads will pop off in flight.

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Whew! For a second there I didn't think it was working...<G>


Ed Cregger

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I have never had a nylon wing bolt fail in normal flight - crashes yes, but that is where they are supposed to fail.

Since Cremora coffee creamer has just changed its formula so that it takes twice as much creamer to make your coffee as light as you are accustomed to it being, it is conceivable that over the years the nylon formula may have changed for making wing bolts. Maybe we should hear/read your story in order to receive an update for our information databases. Please, relate your wing bolt failure story. I'm all eyes.


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Oops! I should mention that I switched over to using metal wing hold down bolts many years ago. Why? Just in case. When I crash a model, it doesn't make any difference as to whether the wing bolts shear or not. Nothing survives anyway.


Ed Cregger

>>>>Don't mean to hijack this thread... Have a few other questions about US60.. I'm putting one together now with a tower 75.. Anyway, have heard mention several times the need to reinforce the landing gear block, as well as 'pin' the firewall.. Anyway, this is my 2nd plane and am not sure about the best way to accomplish these two things.. Can anyone who has done this describe the process? I assume the pinning uses dowels into the fuse/firewall, but you don't have much room to work with here! >>>>>

Immediately replace the metal landing gear bolts with nylon ones. I simply replaced the stock metal bolts with nylon ones, and then drilled and tapped for a couple of extra nylon bolts. I went with little 10-32 jobs and have 4 of them holding the gear on. For the extra ones, you don't even need to install blind nut. Just drill and tap the hardwood block and then harden the threads up with some thin CA.

As far as pinning the firewall, I used servo screws, one in the bottom and two on each side. Real easy!

Ernie

I ran a Saito 100 and also had used an OS 91 on my US 60. I placed the battery perhaps half way between the trailing edge of the wing and the tail. I put the plane on balance and then slid the battery pack till I hit the balance point. Then I made a compartment on the bottom with hatch. This plane will fly great with either size engine. Also, the slow speed abilities are outstanding. it will slow down till it looks like it will fall out of the air!

Bruce

Okay, Ed, here ya' go! When I fly the US with my ST G90 on it I fly it hard.....I mean really hard! That Super Tiger comes on up the pipe with a MAS 13x6 on it and gets this really unique sound to it...you probably know that sound or have heard it! Sometimes theres one other guy up there that is trying to keep up or fly formation when doing this, all in all its usuallly spectator time for most as we are coming down out of the sky hard, fast, and low for passes down the runway then striaght up for as long as you dare hold it. Mine runs about 103mph on my radar gun with this set up straight and level. On one of those passes, coming from the South and from up high I levelled it out and came ripping down the runway and....you guessed it....the wing just flew off! Looked like one of those little helicopter seeds you see falling out of a tree. The fuselage, with the Tiger at WOT for a second probably accelerated to Lord knows how fast while spinning like a bullet and flying straight and true. Got off the throttle and let it finish its trip. When this happened I heard this loud and immediate CHEER go up from behind me. Well, the fuse went about 300 yards and actually only broke the firewall off back to the front of the wing. I figured that any plane that can put on a show like that deserves to be rebuilt and flown again. When we got a look at the fuselage we found both nylon wing bolts had sheared the heads off of them! The plane is again ready and will fly tomorrow for the first time since the rebuild. This time with a little more power as the Carb on the Tiger was damaged badly and the replacement is a Magnum 1.08 carb. News at 11 !

Ok, I've decided to go with the saito 100. I thought hard about the tower 75, but I know I would have wanted the four stroke and got it anyway sooner or later. Thanks for all your help. I do have another question though, I bought the dx7 for this plane, and it comes with a four cell 11 or 1200 mah reciever pack. What do you use for a reciever pack. I plan to use the seven servo setup, I'll just buy 3 more servos that match the ones that came with the radio, unless that's a bad idea. Thanks again.

My US60 has digital servos all around and I got around 3 to 4 flights on my 1400mAh nicad battery before reaching 9.6 volts. I've recently put a 2700mAh nickel metal battery in and fly all day. The Saito 100 is a great engine. Easy to start and maintain. Just follow Saito's break in instructions and you'll be good to go.

What spinner do I need for this thing?

I use a Dubro spinner nut (with flat jam nut). Looks great and real easy to setup.

So most any dubro spinner will work?

That airplane is definitely not particular about its spinners! Put one on and fly it like ya' stole it!

Ok, I guess that it was a dumb question. I thought maybe there would be different sizes and didn't want to get the wrong one.

Happypappy, what kind of pipe do you have on your ST90??? I have a mac's header and mousse can and it really hauls on my US 60.

Ernie

The Saito 100 prop shaft has a 8x1.25 mm thread. That's the size spinner nut you get.

Here is a link to a Dubro spinner nut in 8x1.25mm size
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXE163&P=0

Thanks for all your help!

Talking about wing bolt failures... I got to see a GP Big Stick 60 loose its wing in flight after a fast high G turn. Wing took forever to float down with the fuse was stuck in the grass. The heads popped off the wing bolts. The kid flying it had been using a rechargable screwdriver to put them on. The oldtimers thought he was getting them too tight. It sure made a spectaular crash.