GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Pictures are worth a thousand words so they say Don't know why I didn't post these when I asked my original question Better late then never. Hopefully this shows what I did. It gives me about a 1/2" between the top of the strut and the fuel tank. Once I get things ready to put lock tite on for the final time, I'll trim the bolts sticking out the front of the firewall and dress that up. I'll also be cutting the ends of the muffler tubes off so they only stick out the bottom about 1/2", as well as angled to match the angle of the bottom of the fuselage. I agree, that forward angle of the strut should make it a little more active on the runway while taxing and landing (at least in theory). I'll let you know how it all works after I get her up in the Spring

Thanks again and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays [8D]

RickVB

My Feedback: (24)

Hey Greg, are you planning to mount the nose wheel pant at an angle to match the strut, so it's level? If so, how are you going to handle that? Or are you just going to mount it at an angle?

davidsai

hi greg
it looks good i guess that if i have to change my front gear i would try the same.

where did you get the clear windows for the plane.mine are opaque , would be nice to have them clear so as to put a nice cockpit and pilot

regards

merry christmas
david
www.cybul.com

RickVB

My Feedback: (24)

You know, I seem to recall that Great Planes said there would be a cockpit kit available at a later date when they released the kit...

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Guys - As far as the Strut Fairing goes, I'll try to get it as parallel with the ground as I can, but I don't think I'm going to get it very far due to the diameter of the strut. At least the wheel fairing will be easier to adjust. I'll post another couple of pictures when I get to that point. The other problem with mounting the strut fairing is it makes it a permanent attachment to the strut when you have to use the epoxy. This would prevent me from having the access to the area under the air dam and the strut flange, so I'm tore about putting it on. If/when I put it on, it will end up being one of the last steps.

I was going to ask some of you guys about your tinted canopy windows, since mine are clear. If GP is going to make a cockpit/gauge kit, it would make sense that they would make them clear now I guess. I'm going to check with GP's tomorrow to see if they have a kit coming. Might make a difference in how I install things once I get the baggage bay door built

davidsai

Hi there i checked the great planes nad towerhobbies site for the clear windows did not see them, it would be very nice to put a video camera as a pilot eyesigth from the plane i will try and attach a video camera on top just to experiment for weight mine is a 12 volt system whcih uses 8 double aa batts.

dc

SDCrashmaster

Clear windows that we can tint ourselves would be good.

Here's a movie of a GP Lancair you may enjoy. [link=http://www.bestinthewestjets.com/theater]Click Here[/link]
Look for the New Spirit movie (image shown below) in the Prop Theater.

Lot's of other short, interesting movies in the other theaters also.
Enjoy,
Paul

orvel

My Feedback: (1)

Paul that is absolutely excellent! Bravo! Great movie and great job on your GP version of the Lindbergh Lancair. It is stunning and gorgeous, you should be proud of it. I tell you GP hit a homerun with this airplane, I just thoroughly enjoy mine!.

SDCrashmaster

Thanks Orvel, glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for the nice compliments on her.
Hope you got to look at some of the other movies on the site.

Paul

NIpilot

My Feedback: (6)

I don't have time to read all the discussion about the Lancair but I'm having one heck of a time with my nose gear bending on almost every flight no matter how softly I set this thing down. Its such a drag that I have not flown it since about August. Mine is rather light in the sense its only got a Supertigre 61 and the Top Flite in cowl set up. Seems like the wire is just way too soft. I have straightened out my nose gear no less then 4 times in a dozen flights and its just pathetic. Love the overall flight characteristics. I fly it fast, but smooth. Those long wings just look like their begging to be snapped off with clutzy elevator inputs. LOL Using the HItec 85 servos on the ailerons and so far so good. Looks better then all that plastic cover crap. Basically its such a cool airplane; if I could fix this nose gear thing I would really love it.

SDCrashmaster

Sierra Precision nose gear. I'd advise taking the time to look through this thread for info about it. Will change the way you feel about the Lancair.

NIpilot

My Feedback: (6)

Thanks there Crashmaster. I really enjoyed the plane in the air but straightening the nose gear on even the softest of arrivals was getting old. By the way. Have other guys been using the HItec 85 servos on aileron in place of the full size servos? They looked so dinky to me when I went that route and I was slightly concerned about there gear strength but figured what the heck. The servo is rated at 42 oz and I don't believe its using anywhere near its capacity on those ailerons. As long as nothing flutters! Fingers crossed. Again, thanks, and I will check out that Sierra gear place.

davidsai

I guess i have been lucky I have made about 6 or 7 flights on my lancair on paved run way yet to bend the nose gear, when i saw that gear when building the airplane i though to myself thios is to flimsy so I oreder a spare landing gear set from towerhobbies worth 10.99 is still sitting somewhere in my shop.

As for the wing snapping mine has not done so yet, i was reminded by a friend to quit doing high speed loops and rols but the wing has hold on with the small fiberglassed patch in the inside part of the wing and the aluminum plate in the outside that ties together the landing gear
picsw in www.cybul.com

i will also take a look at the sierra site if they are stringer and look nice would be nice to put it in th eplane.

regards

david from colombia

www.cybul.com

SDCrashmaster

The Sierra Precision strut is a scale oleo strut. It acts like a shock absorber.
There are many posts in this thread about the strut.

lou52onu

Paul/SDCrash- Again, like everyone else on this thread - thank you so much for what you've done. I would love to see all of your shots on the "New Spirit of St. Louis". I would love to re-create what you've done. Have you thought about combining all of your work for this plane in one forum/"book" for wanna-be Paul's (like myself). Would you care to give me any tips, specs, etc?

Thanks for you work, time, and posts.

Jim


[email protected]

iFLYrc_Vic

My Feedback: (6)

A photo of my Lancair (Patriot Paint Scheme) is currently in the rotation of photos for the "RCU Shot of the Moment".

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Well - Here is the latest Lancair to maiden. Took it out last Friday evening, range check was good and the Saito 91 was purring. The low and high speed taxi runs showed just a slight pull to the right which a little trim took care of with a little adjustment of the rudder. I pulled full flaps and let her lift off and float back in once, perfect. So I topped the fuel off, took her out, took a deep breath, and let her roll. It did just a beautiful scale pull out and transitioned to flaps up nicely. It only took a few notches of elevator trim down and she was hands off at about 3/4 throttle. Pretty easy to get use to, although I think it might be the fastest thing I've got in the hangar so far and so the speed was a little different to get use to

Happily the mod of installing the Sierra front strut on the inside of the firewall and raked forward about 4 degrees worked great. I do have to tone down the steering a little however, it's a little quick, turns a 180 within the length of the plane with the present setup. For those of you who are using the Sierra strut and are wondering where the lower strut clamp is, I relocated both of them between the two brass bushings, and think it makes it much cleaner looking.

We'll be looking for the Patriot Lancair to grace the RCU cover shot[8D]

oakland

I have a Saito 100 in mine as well. The wing is crap on this plane. The plane flies great but I have had to repair my wing numerous times from cracks landing gear pulling off etc. I remeoved the covering from about a one foot section in the middle of the wing and wrapped it in fiberglass and epoxy then repainted it. It has not been a problem since.

pzar

Hi guys...just started building mine....what size Sierra strut did you use ?? They make several.

mimoore67

My Feedback: (51)

Call Daryl at Sierra Precision, he's the owner. I bought a Lanciar Kit off of him and he'll set you up!

www.sierraprecision.com

czwhat

I am building my GP Lancair and I was looking at the pictures and I see that all of the models on the internet look nice and shinny with a bright white color. Mine is lokks off white. Any way how do you all clean your models to make them look that shinny? Plus mine has blue **** all over the wings and was wondering how I could clean that off?

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Not sure what to tell you about the colors. The white fiberglass pretty well takes care of itself. I use windex and paper towels when I get ready to go home after a day of flying and it looks as new and bright as the day I bought it. Sorry I can't help you any further then that.........

iFLYrc_Vic

My Feedback: (6)

Not sure what the blue **** is on your wings. Is this residue after flying?

I have two Lancairs. I use an OS 91 surpass II four-stroke in both. These are very clean running engines. One has a pitts muffler and the other has the stock muffler. Both discharge very little exhaust **** along the bottom of the plane.

After flying, I clean off more dirt kicked up by the wheels from the grass runway than exhaust stuff. After about ten flights, I detail the planes with glass cleaner and then give it a light wax job with car wax.

baddley

My Feedback: (1)

Hi

How are you guys doing. Has anyone flown this plane with a Saito 91. What mods did you have to make if any. Also how hard is the build on this plane. I was glancing at the build manual and it looks pretty intesive to me.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks Scott

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Scott - I am flying the Saito 91 on mine with a 3 blade 15x7, and I think it's a perfect match !!! If you've read through this thread you'll see that almost all of us have stripped the covering off the center of the wing and fiberglassed it for extra strength. It sounds like the wings have a tendency to snap in a high G pull without the extra reinforcement. The other big thing is the front stock strut is really weak and most of us have gone to a Sierra Oleo front strut. With the Saito 91 inverted and a Slimline Pitt's muffler on it however, there was not enough room to mount the new strut on the front of firewall. I made a mod to mine and actually installed the strut firewall flange onto the inside of the firewall. If you want to see a few build pics of the mods I made you can see them on my little MSN RC website at [link=http://groups.msn.com/PuttsRCHomePage/]Putt's RC Home Page.[/link] Go into the Albums folder and find the one for the Lancair. I guess the only other thing I had a little problem with was mounting the Rx and battery how and where I wanted to make it look presentable. I mounted it on a ply plate and it's laying on the floor behind the rear of the wing opening. Oh, and one other thing, DON'T make the attachment of the tail feathers permanent until your ready to do the CG on it. Mine needed some weight in the tail and so I took some lead weight, pounded the small pieces into small little barrel looking things that just fit into the aluminum tail feather tube for the elevator halves to slide onto. Once I was happy with the CG, I went ahead and epoixied the entire tail assembly on permanently.

Hope this helps a little and good luck in your build. Make sure you post some pics and let us know how your doing.

Just remember it's a scale bird and looks and flies best flying that way. Try and do to much in the way of an aerobatic show and it might be it's last.............