Hey folks. Been thinking of adding a Stick to my hanger. I like the looks of the Hanger 9 Ultra 40. Any input?

Sure, a Stick is always good to have. 1) they are relatively cheap 2) you won't fall in love as much with it and you can fly it more aggressively 3) Good for windy days 4) easy to set up and maintain as the engine is out there in the open 4) Can sell it quickly as they are popular due to earlier reasons listed. But, since they don't have much side area they aren't good for knife edge maneuvers.

They Also make great float planes if Ya ever, with relitively simple conversion given the flat bottomed fuselage box and the shoulder mounted wing

John

And they are great for practicing aerobatics. My second plane was a Hangar 9 ultra stick 60, and I have owned 2 of them. Right now I am doing minor repairs on an ultra stick lite that has a Zenoa G-26 on. I modified it several years ago, but it hasn't been flown since then. I moved the elevator servo back into the tail along with the rudder servo and installed a pull pull system. Unfortunately Hanger 9 doesn't sell them any more or I would have another 60.

Iv'e been flying a great planes big stik .40 as my second plane and I love it, can be almost as easy to fly as the trainer if you want but can also be alot more aerobatic.

G'day

The Stick (originally Das Ugly Stick) was designed a long time ago by Phil Kraft of Kraft radio fame. I believe he wanted a knock about good to fly aerobatic plane to test his radio gear and to show it off to prospective buyers. As a result, he designed a plane that was good to fly, tough and quick to build. He succeeded.

I used one back about 1990 to teach myself to land. Mine was an ARC (almost ready to cover) which I covered in Solatex and painted up to look a bit like a Fokker Eindecker (the inspiration for the general shape of the Stick).

I have had several since but it has been difficult to get other members of my club interested in buying them. This all changed recently when a friend bought one (a VMAR one) to experiment with 40 size electric conversions. He liked it so much he pulled the electric motor out and put an OS 46 AX in it. It is now his favourite plane.

You won't regret getting one.

Cheers

Mike in Oz

We had two .40 Ultra's fold up in flight just ahead or the empennage at our club when they first came out.  that seems to have been addressed in the design since then.

But we also found the firewall of the GP .40 Stik needed reinforcement for grass field operations.  I converted mine to tail-dragger and popped the firewall off.  Happily I was a simple fix.  That is the big advantage of Stiks, 

Stiks of most make and form are a great design.  Everyone should have a capable model that is simple and rugged. 

This year we are using a gaggle of Giant Big Stiks as Club Trainers.

They are set up as Trikes, with lowly 20cc DLE engines in them, but I put on the tail wheels to prevent rear ground bumps.
I added B&B Specialties main gear re-inforcement bolts and music wire supports and Giant Scale Fults #700 nose gear.

The planes hold up well to the abuses of training and do well powerwise.

The only problem we've had is that the instructors find them to be simply too fun to fly!

This is a testament to the wide flight evelope of the plane.