zeuglodon

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I originally learned to fly back in the 80's. I remember the first time I saw a pattern ship fly. The whole fast, smooth, "gear up and on the pipe" thing really grabbed me...but I never did get one built before leaving the hobby in about 1990.
When I got involved again about 5 years ago I started flying mostly electrics, eventually gravitating toward high performance sailplanes and hotliners. Last summer our club got a new field. It's an abandoned airport out in the country with a nice paved runway and no noise problems. Well, it didn't take long and I was dragging out my old glow planes from back in the day, which lead inevitably to this...my first real pattern ship.
I really don't care that much for the chubby, fixed gear, four stroke 2M pattern planes of today - which is why I was so pleased to find this forum.
Anyway, thanks to one of our members here on the site I have acquired a really nice kit that fulfills all my requirements. I haven't seen a lot of these around so i thought I'd post a thread.

zeuglodon

My Feedback: (1)

This is what's going to pull it around. YS 60 FR with a pipe. I'm a short stroke guy. I think the whole deal with the long strokes was to get the noise down...and as I stated earlier, noise is not an issue where I fly.

zeuglodon

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This is a really nice kit. Absolutely straight, flawless woodworking. I love ARC because it saves a lot of time but I can still decide on my own color scheme.

impactiq

My Feedback: (57)

Welcome aboard! Problem is once you start.... you can't stop! Nice choice too.

zeuglodon

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Thanks, I know what you mean.

I'm still working on this and I've already bought a Calypso on the auction site.

Back to the Saphir: Retracts are Dave Brown - servo is a Hitec. This is my first go at mechanical retracts. The instructions both in the kit and with the gear are a bit sketchy, but I worked it out.

The rest of the gear going in consists of 6 Spektrum 821 digital servos (2 on ailerons, 2 on elevators, throttle and pull-pull on the rudder) JR R921 receiver, 6v 2000 mah pack.

cllaurit

Great plane, I built one in the early 90's (still own it). It flies great although at little heavy but there is a lot of wing area there so landing are easy. I powered it with a Ys. 61ar with a APC 13x10 prop. Tracking is good but it wants to tuck a little on KE with top rudder.

flywilly

My Feedback: (121)

I had one, too. Very nice ARF. I put an OS .61RF-ABC-P (with PS piston/sleeve) in it and it flew very nicely. Yep, a little pitch coupling in KE, but easily mixed out electronically. I monokoted the whole airplane as it was a bit heavier than I would have liked. I did have one wing panel that was significantly heavier than the other.
Great flying airplane. Post some photos of the finished airplane.

Enjoy,
Will B.

RCBruski65

My Feedback: (44)

I had one won a few contests with it in the early 90's. Nice flying plane.

Tim

Atlanta 60

My Feedback: (18)

Excellant!! Welcome!! Will enjoy your build!!

I have a ModelTech Calypso ARC...One thing I noticed was the glue they used for the fuse doublers ect had apparently got brittle from age (I assume)...It was so bad just handeling the fuse during the build stuff would pop loose...I bought that kit new probably 20 years ago...I say this as I'd imagine your kit is at least 15 years old...You may want to consider running some thin CA or something around the fuse just in case??

I also noticed all my factory supplied fiberglass stuff had become hard and brittle...I'm 99.999% sure it's polyester resin and that is one trait of that material...I wound up making a new pipe tunnell out of epoxy/Kevlar...I just did the wing relief out of balsa which is glassed over naturally...

Have Fun!!

Chuck

zeuglodon

My Feedback: (1)

The biggest problem with ARF-ARC in my experience has been that sometimes the installation of the control linkages the tail can be challenging.
This is a long, thin fuselage and getting nyrods in is a pain. Had I built it, I would have installed them before I applied the sheeting.
I hate elevator connectors and "Y" pushrods, so I'm using 2 elevator servos. I can't put them in the tail because I'm using a 2 stroke and don't want to have to ballast this already heavy plane. Anyway, here's the radio installation. Rear servo is for the pull-pull rudder, throttle is in the middle front. I would have liked to have my nyrods anchored more than 3 places but each is only responsible for half the elevator and they feel really positive.

anuthabubba

My Feedback: (102)

I've cut 'hatches' into the bottoms of a few ARCs to make pushrod installations/supports/exits easier. Just glue the hatch covers back over the hole and finish to suit. Also like the way ARCs allow for personalization with mods/color schemes. Thank goodness I still have a few unbuilt.

Terry in LP

zeuglodon

My Feedback: (1)

I thought about that, but the Saphir has thick foam in the top and bottom so the only place you can really go in is thru the sides. The sheeting there was just so smooth and nice I just couldn't bring myself to cut it.

Jon Wold

Fantastic classic, keep those build pictures coming!

zeuglodon

My Feedback: (1)

Had to dig out the tuned pipe tunnel in the wing bottom. I cut out as much of the sheeting as I thought was needed and sanded out the channel with a piece of 80 grit wrapped around a pipe. I glassed it with West System epoxy. I've had this stuff for years and the hardener takes on a reddish tone after time.

zeuglodon

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Another shot of the fit of the cowling.

WEDJ

I would be a bit nervous to cut the wing center to such a thin section. In positive "G" maneuvers, the bottom of the wing gets to see 10+ g-forces. Like an I-beam, the separation of the top & bottom lends a lot of strength, F'glass or not, that is a thin center X-section.

Then again, the pylon guys have been getting away with this for decades.......

zeuglodon

My Feedback: (1)

That is actually exactly what is shown on the plans. It is deceiving. It actually leaves probably 80% of the contact surface between the 2 halves, plus of course, the 2 plywood wing joiners. It is fiberglassed top and bottom and about as rigid as a surfboard.

WEDJ

It looks like it's almost thru the wing (optical illusion), and I forgot about the ply joiners.

zeuglodon

My Feedback: (1)

The wing is pretty thick in the center. I was actually more concerned about the foam block I had to remove to accommodate the retract servo. I'll get some more pictures up as the covering proceeds.

zeuglodon

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I wanted to simplify the setup process so I modified the belly pan attachment to consist of 2 dowels at the leading edge and one 4-40 bolt at the rear into a "T" arrangement at the wing hold down plate. I also put one of those spring clips on the 4-40 bolt so it will stay in the belly pan when the pan is off the fuse.

zeuglodon

My Feedback: (1)

Here's my pipe mount. Piece of aluminum strap epoxied into the pipe channel....pipe held on with a velcro strap. I had minor concerns about the heat but someone else on the site has since posted that he's done it with no issues with the heat so I think I'm okay.

airbusdrvr

RE:Velcro Straps. If there is a heat problem, you could use Nylon Lock Ties. I use for my pipe and they would be compatible with your design.

zeuglodon

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Took me awhile to decide how to plumb this thing. The YS is a closed pressure system and needs a means of venting the tank pressure before refueling. I ended up with "T"s in both lines running through the firewall to the area under the belly pan next to the pipe. I just have to pop the pan off to refuel.

zeuglodon

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A few more miscellaneous pictures.

zeuglodon

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And the (mostly) finished plane. There will be some lettering, etc. when I get it done. On my fast stuff I'm more about being able to tell which side is up than anything else.