dave_anderson

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Ballistic Pattern Experts…

I finally got the building table cleared and started the refurbishment of my Tiger Tail III. This has been almost two years waiting in the wings (Air Force keeps sending me on “trips”, hehe). I got the plane for a great price as a consignment in an Albuquerque hobby shop. It came with mechanical retracts.

I plan on using the gear I have on hand. An Axe/Rossi .60 side exhaust with a pipe, JR digital servos, AR7000 Spektrum RX, possible an A123 battery pack or LiPo with regulator. The retracts will most likely be replaced with a set of new Spring Air gear I have had a while.

At first glance I thought the project might be a little much… plus the movers busted the stab loose during my last move. Well, after getting started I found it pretty easy to remove a lot of the old wood as the glue had crystallized… probably over 20 year old epoxy. The firewall is very fuel soaked and weighs a ridiculous amount. I got it and most the other wood out without problem. I’ll use the old parts as templates and replace all the wood with lite ply and contest balsa. I plan also to experiment with Gorilla or Ultimate Glue for attaching the new wood parts to the older fiberglass. I have had great success with it in many projects. I plan on doing some amateur fiberglass work around the engine compartment and to fill the pipe exit (I know… “DON’T DO THAT, but I have a side exhaust Rossi that runs VERY well, 15,000+).

The wings have what looks like first generation Monokote on them. I’ll probably end up carefully sanding it off as thinners would destroy the foam underneath should it leak through. The wings will get a new Monokote covering as well as the rudder, stab and elevators. Only the fuselage will be painted.

Overall the plane appears to have been built by an expert. Everything is meticulously done and straight. I hope I can do her justice.

A distant hope is to have it done and be able to practice for, and attend the 2010 Huntsville BPA with her in August (Sportsman or Advanced). I have an Afghanistan deployment for about 10 weeks between now and then, so this will have to be done efficiently to reach my goal.

I always admired these planes when I was a kid. I’m mostly an IMAC guy now, and for the last six years, but THESE are the planes I remember watching in awe at my local field in the early 80’s when even a trainer was too costly for a 12 year old with a paper route.

I have thick skin and I invite ALL constructive criticism and suggestions. I’m not too proud to recognize the vast amount of experience in this forum and will have a TON of questions for sure.

Any history on the Tiger Tail III (if that’s what this one is, haven’t gotten a definitive answer yet, 70” span) would be greatly appreciated. It would be great to learn who the original builder was as well. The only marking was a sticker on the fin saying “Dixie Radio Control Flyers, Baton Rouge, Louisiana”.

I have attached some pictures from my first day on the project. Got pretty far with the dismantling.

Ryan Smith

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Dave,

Did you just heat up the fuse with a heat gun and massage the stab out? I've got a T2A MKIV that I would love to get the stab out of so I can make sure everything has been glued in correctly, however I haven't been ambitious enough to do it yet. The wing hold down block, firewall, and former that the wing pins go into pulled out with nothing to soften the glue, so I want to make sure the stab gets glued in well.

I hope you're doing well. I haven't seen you much online lately, have you been playing in the sandbox?

dave_anderson

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Ryan, great to hear from you. Yes, been over there and going back in March...UGH. I'm over 20 years now, and would love to retire, but you can't support a family on being a model airplane pilot. I'll stay flying the real things for a few more years.

Actually, the movers, from when I moved from Albuquerque here to NW Florida took care of that for me. The break couldn't have been more clean. All I had to do was chip/sand away the microballoon filler on one side and slide it out. Surprisingly, there wasn't much damage to the fuselage at all. Guess they did me a favor... especially since they paid me for the repairs.

I'm trying to make an R/C comeback. Both here and on G I A N T S. My wife has been in Dental Hygiene School for the last two years and that's taken priority. I'm hoping her graduation in May will lead me back tothe IMAC circuit and some pattern as well.

Let me know how your restoration goes!

Dave

dave_anderson

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Anyone recognize the mechanical retracts I have here? There are springs to pull them to the up position. They could definately be usable if I could clean them up some.

impactiq

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The retracts appear to be Dave Brown (use to be Southern R/C) retracts. Good luck with your resto.

MK

dave_anderson

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Cool thanks! Went to Mr. Brown's website and found the instructions. I'll consider these, but still like the Spring Air's.

hook57

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It does look like a TT III Dave. I'm in the process of building mine now (got it from Crankpin some months back). I've also gota S.E. Rossi that I was going to use until I was able to get a great Kraft .61 from a RCU member. I planned on going the side exhaust route too, old school (pre-1979) mostly had em there or under the wing anyhow. I still have my second Tiger Tail with an ST 60 Blue head in it that I hope to get back into pattern with. That one has the old Southern RC retracts and honestly, I could throw a battery in there, flip the switch, and they work great;the onesyou have appear to be the same, or at least the same as the Dave Brown ones, as impactig stated (which are S'RC).If you need any dimensional info of any sort let me know, I'll get you what I can off the plans etc. I did check andthe wing span is 67", the area is 740 square inches, the length is 55", wgt is 8 - 8 1/2 lbs.
Mark

dave_anderson

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THANKS MARK!!! I was staring at the mechanical retracts and thinking...hmmmm, I could save the Spring Air's for something else...

If you wouldn't mind, you would save me some calculations if you could post the CG from the plans.

Do you have a separate battery for the retracts?

Dave

hook57

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Dave,
No on the seperate retract battery, the target wgt is under 8lbs so I might if I can meetthe wgt goal.
If the wing is stock, the chord at the center section should be 13.5"; theCG is at 4.75" aft of the leading edge, thus 8.75" forward of the trailing edge. From the nose ring of the fuselage backthe CGis 15.187". You might want to check this all around just in case there were any mods done to the wing. Let me know if you need anything else from the plans.
Mark

dave_anderson

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GREAT! That will help me get into a controllable CG. Then it's up to me to trim the CG to my liking. Thanks bunch for the help!

I plan on doing some sanding today.

burtona

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Retracts could be original Pro-Line also. If the slider fork is made of steel rather than aluminum it's the Pro-Line.

dave_anderson

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Not sure... the nose gear takes a lot more force to extend than the mains. I will look closer tomorrow. maybe I'm missing a spring.

dave_anderson

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Started peeling the old Monokote off the wings. WAAAY easier than I thought it would be. The heat gun is making it go very fast. There is still some residue, but a little 250 grit takes that off. Just have to be careful not to thin the wood on the wings. This plane was built beatifully... will post pictures soon of the bare wing.

dave_anderson

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Got a lot done today. I cleaned out the entire fuselage with denatured alcohol, fabricated a firewall and tank tray using the old ones as templates, glassed and Bondo’d the pipe opening and several small holes in the fuselage. I installed everything with epoxy, then put a filet around all the joints of epoxy and microfibers. That sucker is not coming loose! I fit the new nose gear as well. The wing had a little Monokote removed and I was pleased to find out the Spring Air’s will drop right in on the mains (need to fill old screw holes and drill new ones though).

Lastly, I discovered Bondo emits glorious fumes… WOW!

Going to let it all sit up for a couple days and then sand the Bondo a bit. Going well so far.

I need a Mac’s side-exhaust header for a Rossi .60. Anybody have an extra?

hook57

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Looking real good Dave. I looked at the gear in my second TT, I'm pretty sure yours are the Southern ones too. You're going to go Spring Air then, I just bought a set of GP mechanicals and a Hobbico nose gear for the TT III (I wanted to go with DB's but Tower keeps pushing back the "available in" month. Oh well, I do like the mechanicals. An older Rossi with the pipe and side exhaust adapter just went by on Fla-bay, under $60 I think (looked worn but the pipe and header were worth half that at least.) On that filling, is that Bondo or Evercoat? Bondo sucks,it's heavy and shrinks too much, if that's Evercoat it's polyester (I'm certain), shrinks very little, sands great, and covers great with K-36 primer (or any primer really). Keep up the good work, glad to see another Tiger Tail fan out here.
Mark

dhal22

i do prefer the evercoat. i tossed my bondo a while back.

dave_anderson

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I'm really new to this kind of work. Bondo was recommended to me by a friend, I'll take a look tomorrow and see if it shrank. Thanks for the kind words.

dave_anderson

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I found that Mac's has a stock number for a bolt on header that goes on a Rossi .60. I'll call and ask if the screw hole centers are 35mm apart.

hook57

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If so Dave post or PM the part number when you get a chance. I'll be needing one for my Rossi sometime soon. Thanks.
Just finished sanding the tail feathers;and hada good old "balsa sneeze attack"!

dave_anderson

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Whoops! This might be a Tiger Tail 4. This picture of Ron Chidgey's Tiger Tail 4 from 1979 looks awful close to mine.

hook57

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I have the TT III too Dave, and it can be difficult to tell the difference between it and the IV. I'm in LA but can check when I get back, based on your pics I'd say your's is likely a III. Also, I now have a beauty of a Kraft.60 to put in her thanks to a RC/U member. Now I can save the Rossi for the Bootlegger (or a DB) if/when I find one.
Hook

dave_anderson

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Got this info about this particular plane from Brett Wickizer on FG:

This is what Bryan said:
"I remember that airplane belonging to a guy Named J.W. Smith.
It was built by Jim Fife in the mid 80`s as far as we remember.
JW sold most of his airplanes after he retired ,,his wife died shortly after retirement.
He remarried and moved to Florida and,
we never heard from him again"
__________________
Brett Wickizer

Sound like anyone you guys know?

dave_anderson

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Yep, it was JW Smith. I looked really close at the wing opposite the AMA number and I can barely make out where a "JW Smith" decal used to be. Cool. Anyone know him?

dave_anderson

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Had about an hour in the garage tonight. Been flying down to Haiti the last couple days and I'm on-call tonight, prob get the call in the wee hours of the morning to head back down...

So, I decided to go with a couple suggestions on how to install my air tank. Going with the KISS principal. I mounted a light balsa plate in the canopy area, taped some foam to my tank, and will stick it to the plate with silicon glue when the time comes. DONE!

dave_anderson

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Had some time while sitting at home on-call for the next run to Haiti, so I made a couple parts and glued them in.

First I put together my servo and valve for the Spring Air retract setup. Thought it would be better on the side and far enough back so I can get the tank in/out. Works great with zero binding.

Next I cut out a servo tray. I could have gone 3 across, but I wanted some flexibility with where I mount the servos for the rudder and elevator, so the throttle will sit in the front of the tray. I have a cheap scroll saw I use to cut out parts, so they arent beautiful, but I'm sure they will work.

Lastly, after roughing up the fuberglass fuse in spots where glue would go... I glued them all in with epoxy and micro fibers. This is a technique I used (and was taught) when working with fiberglass fuselages and it's always worked with 40% airplanes. These parts surely wont come loose. Next I'll route a servo pushrod for the throttle.