Hey all. I'm looking into my second plane and have pretty much decided on the Tiger 60. A couple club members who have seen me fly seem to think it will be a good plane for me. I want to build, and I am thinking about the following combo/upgrades. I'd like to know what people think about this combo, and if anyone has any additional suggestions. I have not purchased anything yet.

Tiger 60 kit
OS .91 Four Stroke
modify to be taildragger (up in the air on this one)
Separate elevator halves
Pull-Pull to rudder elevator

Two specific questions are a) should I consider enlarging the control surfaces, and b) how do I do pull-pull on separate elevator halves?

I've been flying solo for a while, and I figure I won't have this finished until next spring, so I should have plenty of trainer time in by the time I put this up in the air.

My instructor (who's opinion I value greatly) has encouraged me to look into a stick or something similar, but I'm affraid it would not be enough of a challenge to me and would just fly mostly like my trainer. Thanks again for any and all opinions.

jon

I've got a couple questions for you...

What kind of flying do you like? What manuevers do you find yourself trying to do with your trainer? The Tiger 60 could be the opposite of what you need. On the other hand, it could be perfect. Either way, modification to the design and control system is really NOT needed.

Why do you want seperate elevator halves anyway? Pull pull is fine, but you will need to route some tubes through the fuselage and find a decent location for the servo. It's not an easy thing to do on the elevator on an airplane that is no designed for it to begin with. I can't tell you how to do the pull-pull on the two elevators, but can tell you it's not worth the trouble. I vote against it...

If you want more precision with the controls, pull-pull on the rudder is very important. That would be much easier to setup, but again it's not really worth it on this airplane IMHO.

If you want to enlarge the control surfaces so it is more maneuverable and will do everything quicker and tighter, there might be a better choice of airplane for you.

A Stick can be throw around more than a Tiger 60...They are great airplanes. The Ultra Stick is a really fun airplane...

This all really depends on your flying style. I wouldn't recommend changing the design too much. It's a really great airplane to begin with. It's a proven design and there is a reason it's so popular. If fairly fast flying airplane, but not a real great aerobat. It will loop, roll, spin, and knife edge, but that is about where it ends. Do you want more?

I have to agree with Brian's thoughts.

If the plane doesn't have what you want, buy something different. Personally, I don't like "sticks", or profile planes, or fun flys. I prefer aircraft that look like aircraft. BUT, many of them do fly exceptionally well.

I would leave the Tiger stock and fly it. Those mods won't do much, if anything, for it. Once it's ready to fly, go buy a larger Extra Cap, or Sukoi, and trick that out with all the bells and whistles.
Dennis-

The Tiger 60 is an excellent plane. I wouldn't bother with the pull-pull, but split elevator halves is a good idea (that's what I did). I made it with a nose wheel (This is one plane that I think looks funny as a taildragger). The only other mod I made was to taper the rudder and elevators instead of leaving them the stock 3/8"

Hey Minn,
Doesn't tapering the control surfaces increase the possibility of flutter? Seems I heard or read somewhere that leaving them blunt reduced the risk.
Dennis-

Everbody talks about flutter. I think the biggest cause of flutter is sloppy control linkages, not tapered flight control surfaces. I've flown planes with both, tapered and not, and did not experience flutter either way. The only time I had flutter was with a sloppy linkage. I have a friend that built a tiger 60 with a .91GK Saito and it flies real nice. He made his a taildragger and modified the nose with a wooden 3/4 cowling. Looks real nice, besides real men drag their tails!!

Thanks all. I'm looking to do mostly aerobatics with the plane. I'm not interested in 3D, at least not yet. I have spend a lot of time trying to get my trainer to maintain an inverted flight (a little under powered I'm affraid) and have messed around with knife edge and such in RealFlight. That is all in addition to the general loops, rolls, etc that one can do with a trainer.

A good point on the pull-pull for the elevator. While it may not be worth it, I will probably do it on the rudder just for the experience of setting it up. Good tip on tapering the surfaces. I'll probably do that.

I am thinking about separate elevator halves because I have read several reviews that say the connection tends to fail between the halves. I'll probably do it, but with traditional linkages rather than pull-pull.

I was thinking it would look funny as a tail dragger, I'll probably hold off the decision on that. It shouldn't be hard to convert anyway.

Thanks again everyone!

Jon

DBCherry,

I also have read that blunt trailing edges reduce the risk of flutter. On the other hand, I've also read that putting cow magnets on your fuel line will increase your gas mileage. As it turns out, neither of these statements is true.

banktoturn

I have a tiger 60. It built pretty fast, and didn't really need alot of modification. I read here on RCu to add some extra strength to the wing hold downs, so I did. I don't care much for shaping and carving so I capped off the wing tips with 3/32 balsa. I built it as absolutely as light as I could, and ended up with a great flying plane. I think if you're doing aerobatics with a trainer you will easily transition into aerobatics with the Tiger. No it doens't really do 3d, but loops can big big especially with a 91 4 stroker, and can be tight and small with full throw on the elevator. Rolls can be pretty darn fast and little tendencies to dive. It will knife edge the length of the runway, however hammerheads need some power to get it thru the manuever. If properly balanced you can do inverted passes fast and as low as you like with great stability. I personally think that a TIGER can take anyone that is good with a trainer well into aerobatics. If I had to Modify anything, I would again brace up those wihg hold downs, and maybe increase the control surfaces on the rudder (only to improve hammerheads) and the elevator. I wouldn't bother with thhe pull pull on the elevator, or even splitting the elevator. I think you'd be surprised by it's fast and slow performance right out of the box. Slows and lands like a trainer as well.

i recomend reinforcing the landing gear blocks. also if you want to set it up as a taildragger, build it both ways. then you can change it when you want to without having to tear into the wing too much. good luck, loren