MetallicaJunkie

i am interested in buying a great planes Big Stik 60 and modding it into a low wing stik ...aka a Sweet and Low i know the wing is fully symmetrical so the wing saddle wouldn't be and issue turning it upside down. my main concern is how to mount the rudder.... has anyone else done this on an ARF? specifically a great planes stik


i did a search and surprisingly didnt find anything..

noveldoc

My Feedback: (2)

Gotta make sure the rudder is not in line with any turbulence from the wing. Top of the fuse on the tail just under the stab should be ok.

With a symmetrical wing, you can cut the wing saddle out of the top and mount it to the bottom. With a little care, it is easy to preserve incidence angle this way.

Tom

MetallicaJunkie

i think ill just settle for a traditional stick then....i would want to mess with cutting out another wing saddle or mess with incidences

MetallicaJunkie

i think ill just settle for a traditional stick then....i would want to mess with cutting out another wing saddle or wing incidence


*edit if only this forum was around in the 70s when doing this was popular ...lol

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

You really don't have to do much at all. Just turn the fuselage upside-down. Since the wing is fully-symmetrical, the incidence will remain teh same. The only things you'll really need to re-do are the nosegear and mains, stiffen the hatch that was once on top, and move the veritical fin/rudder to the new top. The original setup was 0-0-0, so nothing should change. You won't have to do that much cutting at all.

The biggest thing for best flight performance might be to add 2-4 degrees of dihedral to the wing. That will eliminate the adverse roll when rudder is applied. A low wing with zero dihedral isn't always the best-behaved when rudder is applied. Right rudder will result in a left roll tendency without a few degrees of dihedral. The Top-Flite Contender is well-known for this.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

There is supposed to be dihedral in the wing but if you flip the fuselage over it is the wrong way. There is a tung at the center rib. To have this tongue in the right place, the wing will have to be inverted as well.

You can reverse the dihedral braces but will have to make a balsa wedge for the center of the wing to fill the gap where the new bottom of the wing will be.

Horizontal stab and elevator is glued on as usual.

Rudder, with the mounting lip removed, will have to be mounted on top of stabilizer with some wedge supports on each side

More simple to make it a tail dragger. Main gear can be mounted to fuselage just in front of wing. Put a 1/4 maple ply support inside fuselage with wedge bracing all around. Drill and tap the plywood 1/4-20 for nylon wing bolts to hold main gear on.

Tail - use a piece of 1/16" ply to cover tail slot and then a small piece of 1/4" ply to mount a "60" Dubro tail wheel bracket. This 1/4" piece of plywood will need to be tapered so the tail wheel bracket is parallel with the horizontal stabilizer. The tail wheel pivot to be in line and parallel with the rudder hinge center line.

Make a new tail wheel wire to go up into the rudder hinge line and turn 90 degrees into the rudder for steering.

Put a canopy on top of the fuselage for effect.

Charlie P.

The wing stays as designed - same side up. You flip the fuselage & attach the wing from below. Only have to move the ply bolt reinforcement plates. At a former club several modelers turned Road Runners (a stik, basically) into a stand-off scale crop duster just by flipping the fuselage. But you do have to figure out how to counteract the built-in down thrust and right thrust when you flip the fuselage.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

If you do that, there is a tung on the front of the wing that will be on the outside and not catch under F2 like it is supposed to

Charlie P.

Stick your tongue out and epoxy wing dowels in the L.E. as God intended. ;-)

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

The plans for the conversion are available from RCM.

http://www.rcmplans.com/index.php?ma...oducts_id=2120

MetallicaJunkie

very good points...thanks for the helpful replies

hogflyer

With just a little bit of work, the wing can easily be bolted on with 4 bolts. You'll have to add reinforcement to the leading edge area where the bolts will pass through and a corresponding mounting plate with tri-stock reinforcement to the fuselage, but not that much work. I've used that process on a Midwest Sweet Stock to bolt the wing on - it'll be just as easy on the GP Big Stick.

Hogflyer

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

This is for the old original H9 Ultra Stick 120. But it should give some ideas on converting a Great Planes Big Stick 60

nekked_man_2000

just out of curiosity, I've never owned the ARF of the great planes big stick, but I did build a kit back in the mid 90's. Is the wing on the ARF truly symetrical? On the kits, it was not, it was flat from the main spar back on the bottom.

Austin

ChuckW

I had the Sportsman Aviation low wing Stik. I literally flew it until it was falling apart and I got tired of putting it back together. It had several colors of covering patches on it before I retired it.It was a fun plane but a little heavy. I think the GP Stik will be much better.

Some of the pictures here may help with some ideas for converting the GP Stik:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=767

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

They redesigned the ARF Big Stick around 2001

oldtyme

I'm stareing at my Midwest Sweet Stik wing that I built in 1984 and it is fully symetrical. I still have the plans and it shows a symetrical set of ribs. If you built a Stik that had a flat bottom...................it wasn't really a Stik. Also, the original Stik's did not have any dihedral.........the wing was flat.

prr6100

Are there any plans out there for an 80" stik? If not plans are there any kits in that size?

oldtyme

You could probably blow up the plans for the original 54" wingspan Sweet Stik to 80". I'd check and see if I had a spare set of plans. I had a set or two printed a few years back and I can see if I still have them if you are interested.

[email protected] is my email if you want to reply that way.

Cheers,
Andy

OzMo

My Feedback: (3)

I like the way you think! Yeah a Sweet and Low is a simple mod. Our local Hobby Shop owner bonked a 60 size stick do to a cracked aileron servo horn. One of our club members got it, flipped it just as you described when he rebuilt it. It is a SWEET STICK. Flew very well and looks a bit DIF then the rest.

THERCAV8R

My Feedback: (283)

Well, When building a kit it is easy to do but doing the mod to an ARF is hard due to the fuse tapers are all wrong. on the high wing the bottom of the fuse is flat and the top tapers down on the front from the wing LE and down to the tail from the wing TE. so when building the kit you just cut out the wing saddle in the bottom and use the cut outs to fill the upper wing saddle and then extend the sheeting over the top where the wing would have been. if you just turn over the ARF fuse then the tapers come up from the bottom and the stab would mount on the top of the fuse and the rudder/fin would have no way to be installed except butt glued to the stab which would be a week joint at best. the model would just look wrong. When using an ARF one would have to cut out the lower wing saddle and finish the top in the same maner as using the kit for best result. Thercav8r. P.S. The only stick that did not have any dihedral was the little stick by Midwest and they did not fly that good. I have had many sticks and they all have diehedral. The origional das Ugly Stick designed by Phil Kraft and kitted by Jesen has 2 inches under each wing. They fly much better with diehedral. The plans are available from RCM Plans service.

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

1- looks good to me ;-)
2- not really, just turn the fuse over
3- the Ultra Stick has none

mike31

My Feedback: (67)

Cut out the root rib from the plan and trace it to the bottom of the fuse on the plan. Cut the pieces out ensuring you leave enough room on the bulkhead to use a dowel to hold the leading edge in place. Mount a couple of hard wood pieces at the aft / trailing edge inside the fuse to attach the wing. Use the pieces you removed from the lower part of the fuse where the wing will go to fill in the top part of the fuse where the wing would have gone originally. Trim and fit accordingly. Vertical fin and rudder can stay in the same location. Shouldn't be any problems. Remember the airplane is dumb. You tell it what to do!
My plan is to scratch build one of these this winter from an old Big Stick plan. Gotta cut all the parts and build it the way I want it to look.

mike31

My Feedback: (67)

I beg to differ with you about the Little Stick not flying well without dihedral. I am flying mine as from the plans with no dihedral and it has no bad habbits. Flies like a dream. Second one of these I have owned and neither has any issues.

mike31

My Feedback: (67)

Kinko's/FedEx can make any size plan you may need from the originals if you have them.