opjose

I liked the stock Skybolt tailwheel gear setup so much that I've ordered them as replacements for most of my smaller planes, down to the .40's.

The best part is that you can retrofit them without having to worry about cutting off the rudder.

The price is right too, $2.00 from Tower.

cruzomatic

My Feedback: (17)

Here's mine. Haven't flown the maiden yet. Hopefully this upcoming weekend.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Glad it worked out for you

As to the muffler locknut... The easiest thing to do is to ge some soft wire and "Safety Wire" it. I learned this technique the military where we used it on jet engines.

In the picture below, I drilled a hole in the "Nut" part of some muffler extensions, but that would be a tricky hole to drill on a muffler locknut. So instead, you could just wrap the wire over and under the nut a few times, then twist the wire and secure it to whatever is nearby.

P.S. Lookin' good Cruz!

brooke

Cruz, now that your skybolt is ready to maiden. You should do great. It flys real nice. Good luck and keep us posted.

cruzomatic

My Feedback: (17)

I will, thanks. Hopefully this upcoming weekend. Can't wait.

blkz2801

Brooke, what servos did you end up using? I am going to purchase them soon for my skybolt. I have a futaba radio, so now i need servos and a reciever. Can anyone point me in the right direction to keep quality, but save money? Thanks

brooke

blkz2801, I went ahead and used the 3004 by futaba. They seem to be working great for me. However I would like to move them up to 3010's some day just for a piece of mind I guess. Now that I am flying it I really love it and I don't think any of my other planes will be seeing as much air time as the skybolt.

skorman

My Feedback: (3)

I agree. I have newer planes than my Skybolt, but it is still my favorite and always goes to the field with me.

cruzomatic

My Feedback: (17)

UPDATE:

Hey guys, well, I finally did the maiden today. Started up the engine and it was running great after some adjustments. Down the runway and after a short run, to my surprise, she jumped up into the air on her own. I went to full throttle and climb to about 150 feet or so. All it needed was two clicks of right aileron trim and she was flying nice and true. Through the turns left and right the plane was a bit twitchy. I also noticed the engine was now running rich. I decided to bring it back in to adjust the engine and add additional expo to the ailerons. The first landing ended in a deadstick due to the rich setting, but no real problem. It settled in nicely after a tiny bounce. I readjusted the engine, dialed in additional aileron expo and off she went again. This second flight was great. No problems at all. Even handed the tx over to a friend to get some pics of it in the air. (will be posted soon). It doesn't mind inverted flight and aileron rolls were quick and true. I've been flying now for about 7 years, have flown about 40 or so airplanes, maybe even more. I have to admit I can't understand why it took me so long to get a bipe. I'd recommend it. Next is the GP Giant Aeromaster.

I like this plane. It looks great in the air and matches up well with the Mag .91RFS and an APC 14x6. Thanks to all, especially Minn (Mike) for your help. I'll post some of the in air pics just as soon as I can.

Soft landings,,,,,

Adrian "Cruzomatic"

brooke

Sounds like another great maiden report. Now with 40 or more planes you have had in the air, I will assume this will be up at the top of the list. I'll be watching for the photos.

I am running the a 14x6 prop as well and so far I am very happy with it.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I told you you'd love it

opjose

Welcome to the world of "true" planes!!! ( Those with two wings, as they should be... )

cruzomatic

My Feedback: (17)

I've flown a friend's Cermark Pitts which flew very nice as well. He's the one that's been on me to get a bipe. Glad he did too. I do have a GWS Tiger Moth which I fly off street in front of my house,,,but that doesn't compare to the Skybolt. Can't wait to fly it again, hopefully this upcoming Saturday.

Bob Payne

My Feedback: (8)

i got mine last tuesday and flew it this past sunday (SWEEET PLANE)))
went to bed a couple of nights at 1am
mine also was missing the pushrod tube for the throttle, and good thing i had a pack of
hinges because there were none in the kit either.

you can see some of my build pics at http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/gallery/20452/

brooke

In the past month too month and a half I have ran over two gallons of fuel thru my skybolt along with one gallon of smoke oil. This plane just gets better every time I take it out. I will usually fly two or three planes everytime I fly and the skybolt is the best I have right now.

Bob, glad to hear you had a good flight as well.

Bob Payne

My Feedback: (8)

thanks

Hope to fly again this afternoon, Plane took off and everything except the elevator trim was dead on
I had to add about 8 to 10 clicks of up, (Need to figure out how to move my battery back some.
It is currently on the radio tray, and there is no room in there to move it back anymore,
I thought about mounting it under the canopy towards the back and maybe building a little deck or something to hide it.
i am using a 2500 mah 5 cell pack

skorman

My Feedback: (3)

With the plane being naturally a bit tail heavy, why do you want to move the battery back? The tray is the correct location for the battery in the Super Skybolt. Some have actually moved it forward under the engine.

Bob Payne

My Feedback: (8)

because mine seems to be nose heavy, i have about 4-6 degrees of up elevator for straight and level flight
and when inverted it will dive, i wouldnt think the extra AA cell would make that much difference
but something has it nose heavy. and i dont like adding tail weight but i may try a little just to see

pkevinb

My Skybolt has an OS FS91 on the front and required about 18 oz. of weight on the firewall to balance it at the recommended CG. Since the first flight I have taken all but 2 oz. off the front end. I have two 4 cell batteries nestled under the middle of the fuel tank.

My first flight was just like yours, I needed a lot of up trim.

Bob Payne

My Feedback: (8)

yea not sure why mine is so different then everyone else's
it has a new 91fs up front one thing i did do was i flew it without the cowel
sunday due to the fact i had forgot to cut a hole to adjust the needle

cowl is back on now and will fly this afternoon and see if there is any difference.

brooke

I would like to add something here about your skybolt. I have read another thread here about someone posting his firewall fell off after a some what soft landing/crash. He stated the firewall was not very good.

Well I have put more than two gallons of full thru mine and last night I was jsut checking everything out on the skybolt to make sure all was good. Guess what I found?

My firewall is loose at the top. I can push down on my engine and make the top of the firewall shove out and it looks as if the firewall is loose half way down to the middle. I am guessing it was not glued very well.

I have never crashed it, had any hard landings, etc... I have the O.S.91 four stroke in it so it is not "over" powered. I am just letting you all know so you can check yours also.

Bob Payne

My Feedback: (8)

thanks for the heads up,
I have only 1 - 1 1/2 tanks through mine so far
and most of that was breaking the engine in on the ground.

but i will check out the firewall,

a couple of weeks ago i was about to fly my 60 size ultra stick
and as i was running it up on the ground the engine kept pulling to the right i shut it down and
sure enough the firewall was almost out, it was not broke anywhere just didnt have much glue on it
but it does now.

pkevinb

Thanks for posting that brooke. I have been flying the heck out of mine and will check it today.