Larry Joe ... you guys going with the T top and wing fences? I wish Seb sold the wing bags and also something for the fuse. That would make it look so much more professional for people like me who don't fly that straight!

Probably not doing the canalizers. My car is pretty small and I think they will just get knocked off getting in and out of the car and look bad. Might get the wing bags - debating between the custom bags or something from Hobby-pak.com.

tIANci,

No, I do not plan on installing the T-top and wing fences. My eyes, brain, and thumbs are not good enough that I would ever be able to tell the difference. And like Joe, I probably would just knock them off transporting. I got the set of standard wing bags for it. I had the standard set for the Angel when I had it and they were pretty nice for the price, especially since both wings and tube fit in one bag with a handle on it. I could have sworn that somewhere on the web someone handled the Deluxe wing bags for the Wind. Maybe it was Fedon when he was the distributor. I know they make them for the Miss Wind, so they should make them for the Wind too......

I will also prob damage it ... hence, fly her as it is ...

I am curious about deluxe wing bags.

Yeah a few things with the canalizers - first I don't think they will be of much help in the Sportsman class; second I don't really want to experiment with something like that until I"m certain I could feel and appreciate the difference; third, they would require being perfectly aligned with the plane and staying that way to function properly - which I really don't feel like attempting to do.

I talked to Esprit today. They were pretty cool to deal with. Their next shipment is due at the end of January, and with this shipment they will be fully stocked with replacement/spare parts for these planes. They said that they are the official distributor and all questions/problems should be dealt with through them. I should be getting a new set of gear by the end of January, and in the meantime will either make these work or hunt down a CF set.

No real updates on the plane. It's nice to have time (and patience!) to plan everything out and take it slowly. I'd like to come up with an alternate method to screwing down the canopy, although a standard hatch latch mounted at the top doesn't seem like the best idea given the location of the spine of the turtle deck.

Not sure what I'll do regarding pants and wheels - they're awfully small wheels and I imagine the wheel pants getting trashed on less than perfectly manicured landing strips.

Carbon fiber landing gear should save just under 1.5oz, and paired with the Scorpion motor should almost warrant the heavier 5S packs.

I'm going to weigh all the components after I move and get setup in my spacious new apartment, with dedicated hobby room accompanied by sliding glass doors leading out to the yard

Joe,

The small wheel pants have held up pretty good on my Angel. It has 200 flights on it now. My guess is the ones on the Wind 110 are bigger than the Angels. My Miss Wind Bipe should be delivered on Wednesday.

Thanks Joe! Good to hear. Enjoy the Bipe, and please bring it out to a meet so I can see it!

Do the control lines for the rudder cross in this plane, or can they be run parallel out the sides of the fuse?

Just got off the phone with graphtechrc.com. They will modify a set of aeroworks .60/.90 edge gear to exactly match sebart stock at no extra cost. I should gave them in a week and a half and will report quality, fit, etc. Heard good things about graphtech so I'm pretty stoked. $40 is pretty good, especially for what should be a pretty good weight savings. I think the going rate is $100/oz?? Haha

Edit: new gear only $40

Joe,

I too, like Joe L. had an Angel and had no problems with the wheel pants on grass fields. Our field is not very thick grass, but had no problems. Also now have the Miss Wind and I have had no problems with the pants on it. They do pick up grass after the field has been mowed, especially when the field is wet. Our field is a morning field so teh grass is always wet with dew. Although, any wheel pants will pick up the grass, but not really an issue for me.
I am planning on installing a hatch latch mounted in the turtle deck. Others have done it successfully. There should not be much pressure on the latch as the magnets in the fuse and canopy hold it pretty well in place. It will require a piece of hardwood or ply mounted on the rear top portion of the canopy as the plywood former in the rear of the canopy does no come close enough to the former mounted to the fuse and turtledeck. Looks to be about 1/8" apart when the canopy is firmly in place. No problem there. I also plan on beefing up the area where the latch itself will be installed in the turtle deck. Will let you know more as I do the actual install.
I am planning on weighing all parts as you mentioned and will have them for reference if you need them. Buddy B. also got one of these and lives in my area and we will be comparing notes also as we go.
I too have had great results from the Espirit folks. They look like they are going to be a great distributor for SebArt as well as the other products they handle. They have very fast shipping and reasonable rates.
Joe L., you are really going to be impressed with the Miss Wind for a 50 size model. Absolutely awesome. Can't wait until the weather improves so I can get more flights on mine. So far, very very good.... Check your incidences though, they all appear to be quite a ways off and each one appears to be different. Might be the way that they are being measured, not sure what's going on there. Not a problem to fix though.

Larry....

The wheel pants on the WindS is the same as the AngelS. It will get trashed if the runway is rough. As for the canopy, it will hold itself down properly, the M3 bolts hold firmly and will not come out.

gaRCfield ... pull-pull always crosses.

No, not always! People seem to prefer having the lines straight if possible. It depends on the location of the exit holes with respect to the width of of the servo horn. I'm hoping to run them parallel if the exit holes permit.

One example (not mine):

Joe,

I agree. What ever causes the least friction on the exit holes in the fuse. I have had some crossed, and some straight. Ideally, I have found that if you can run the cables through small nylon or teflon tubing at the exit, it greatly enhances the smoothness of the rudder and no wear on the fuse. But unfortunately, that is usually only a luxury afforded to building a model from scratch because you have access to the inside before the formers are installed, and you can sand the outside flush with the fuse before covering or painting.

I also want to change out (at least some of) the hardware. I'm surprised to see 2-56 size rods on the ailerons, and the ball links feel a little soft. Debating between carbon 5/32 carbon or 4-40 titanium (Hangar 9 sells those cheap!). I like the carbon 'cause I can still go with a 2-56 ball link at the end and thus a smaller screw through the control horns. Have to figure out what it all will take and what I have laying around...

Of course this is all personal preference stuff. I'm sure the plane will fly well with the supplied hardware, but for F3A competition quality I want as little deflection as possible. May leave the elevator setup being the rods are so short, but we'll see...

Joe ... some bling-bling titanium?

One of the fun things about this hobby is everyone can change anything they
like to personalize their airplane and make it "theirs". But.....just for anyones
information that wants to know, my Wind is as stock as it can be and it flies great.
The only thing not stock is the rudder control horn which is a carbon fiber one from
2 Dog R/C because the stock one was a sloppy fit and the carbon one fit snug. If the
stock one would have fit better I would have used it. I would recommend reinforcing
the landing gear plate because after a grass field landing at my local field the plate
broke loose and damaged the bottom of the airplane. The factory plate actually had
very little glue on it and was made from some pretty flimsy plywood. I made a new
plate from cross grain laminated birch plywood and glued it in from the bottom so the
landing gear can be removed from the bottom now. Pretty easy modification. Easier
to reinforce now than repair later ! Added benefit from relocating gearplate is about
a half inch more ground clearance.

tommy s

PS : Pull Pull rudder cables are run parallel, not crossed, and servo arm is a Hanger 9 medium
size round wheel, works great.

Thanks Tommy.

Tommy why is it better to run parallel?

I don't know that it's better, I just don't like the cables rubbing each other. The cables are
a straight shot from the servo wheel to the rudder control horn using the holes that are
already in the rear of the fuselage so there is no reason to cross them.

tommy s

I'm thinking some reasons could be:
-parallel cables allow the cable to be tangential to the servo pivot point and the hinge axis at neutral position
-less complex geometry allows for easier adjustment/setup to remove any possible slack

crossing the lines theoretically should work OK, but for me it's easier to see exactly what's going on with the system visually. if something is slightly 'out of whack' I feel it would be easier to see with a parallel setup.

I'll have to think about this some more when school is done for the day, there may be other geometrical reasons (such as control surface sensitivity or error amplification due to geometry, etc.)

You're trying to make it way too complicated !!
Either way works fine, there are hundreds of pattern ships with either
set up that fly great !! Believe me, you won't be able to feel the difference.

tommy s

ha ha, yeah i have a habit of doing that sometimes. just trying to figure why one method would be preferable over the other. seems like the people i've talked to always prefer a parallel system if possible, but it definitely is not always possible.

i am trying to set this plane up as if it were a 2M ship - the next one hopefully will be, and this will be my #1 plane until then. but like you said, stock everything and crossed lines will all work just fine.

I have the exact same rudder set up on my 2 meter ship which has been flying
over two years with no problems and has needed no adjustments. I am currently
converting it to e-power.

tommy s

what is your 2M bird?

i just meant that i'm putting all the effort and thought into this plane that i would with a 2M ship, not saying anything would work better or worse, just having fun with planning stuff out. fun part of the hobby for me =)

Full composite OTOP.
Had YS 1.60 DZ in it, converting to Scorpion 5535-190 electric motor
with 10S FlightMax 5000 mah batteries, Castle 85HV controller.
I always liked the way this airplane flew. My only complaint was it's a
slick design and hard to slow down but that shouldn't be a problem with
electric power as I can use the brake in the down lines.
You'll like the Wind 110, it's real close to the 2 meter in flight performance.

tommy s