I have some questions, about the four star as it is coming near completion and the covering options.

How does it fly with one wing pay chopped off each end?

Compared to an uglystick, will it be more twitchy? If so, How much?

Now for covering options... I want to cover the wing as the picture shows. Will that be good for me to see orientation?

Chad,
The biggest thing that you will notice by chopping off one wing bay on each side is that the plane has a better roll rate. Otherwise you shouldn't notice much difference by doing that.

I think that you're going to find that covering scheme very difficult to use right now. When it comes to determining top from bottom you need to have something that can immediately indicate to your brain which is which. Normally this is accomplished by either contrasting colors or different geometric shapes. Unfortunately what you posted doesn't really do either. Looking at them there just isn't anything to set them apart from each other. As you gain more experience you start to learn to "keep track" in the back of your head. For example, when you roll your brain/instinct "knows" that the plane is upside down. You keep a mental track of how your plane is oriented. But even then you still will have times that you lose orientation. When that happens you usually don't have more than a second or two to determine how your plane is oriented, and that's where you need something you brain can key on to figure it out. As you gain more experience it usually takes less and less for you be able to do this. If I can make a recommendation, I'd say do the top of the wing one color and the bottom another color.

Hope this helps.

Ken

ok. I will do that. That will also save me from buying another peice of monokote.

To tell the truth, I wouldn't chop off a bay on the wing.

I've been flying for quite awhile and have flown a lot of planes; I've also flown the clipped wing 4* (mine) and a couple of othes with the regular wing. I really prefer the way the plane flys with the stock wing.
Dennis-

The Four Star .60 is one of my all time favorite planes. I think it has a nostalgic look to it in some way. I've built and flown 3 of them, all with a Super Tigre .90, and it was great. I always wanted to take off a wing bay, but I never got around to it. Let us know how it goes, I think it'll be fine.

Me too. Last night i chopped the wing and replaced the 2 broken ribs with the 2 i chopped, and i then went and resheeted the right side tonight. When i get to the hobby shop, and am not broke, i will get monocote, the balsa pieces, and the finishing supplies, and hopefully box up on this thing by the end of the month or get someone to maiden it for me.

If you use one of your stripe patterns on top and the solid dark color on bottom it would look good and seeing the orientation would be easy. My trainer has a dark blue wing bottom and the top is bright yellow. The contrast really helps. I wrapped the yellow over the leading edge to give me something that stands out for landing approaches.

ok i think i will do orange top blue bottom. I worked on it for an hour tonight while talking on the phone so i didn't get much done, but i did get the gear back on, and i fired up the engine for the first time and can now taxi it, I wanted to so bad tonight, but it was 12:30 and i don't think the neighbors would have been happy. I started it up real quick and shut it off though.

I really enjoy my Four Star 60 with a OS FS 91 Surpass engine. It has the standard wings. I'm just a sport pilot.

Enjoy,

JIm

watch "taxing".....i decided to practice some "taxing" the other night and was da** lucky the wing was off lol

I would definately go with the shorter wing as most others have suggested. I did it on mine and it flew great. As far as the covering goes, see below on how I did mine. The bottom of the plane was solid blue with a large white star on either wing. With the sun burst pattern on the top of the plane, it was VERY easy to see which side was the top and which direction it was going.

Chad -- I suggest white & blue on the top -- and not too heavy with the blue. Your orange & blue on the bottom is OK (both dark colours) -- you need high contrast between top & bottom. If you lose sight of the plane in the sky, your immediate response should be to loop it continuously until you spot it. Daylight will flash off the white upper surface in the loop, revealing the model, & it will also immediately tell you top from bottom.

More money i have to put into this thing if i do white and blue. It would also screwup my color scheme. Maybe blue top and white bottom?

As long as you can tell which is which.

ok.