Exactly my setup since 2006.

Regards,

Dave

OK weights. I weighed everything I got and it's at 69.8 oz all up. I still have to paint and cover so a lot of opportunity to screw something up. When I look at my old data on my Sickle I get a huge smile. I made weight with that plane so this thing should be light as I want it to be. I would love to have it come out to 10lbs 15 ounces with the heaviest pack I have which is the Rhino 4900's at 46 ounces.
Here's a list
R wing 8.9 oz
L wing 8.65oz
Stab 4.65oz
UC 5.5oz
Tubes 2.65oz
Adjuster .6 all the wood parts 3 oz
Fuse with canopy and chin cowl 32.5 oz
control horns 1.4oz
rudder 1.15
wheel pants both .8oz
So as you can see light as all get out
The wings are not honeycombed but very light and nicely made.
The plane is very complete and mostly built.

Mo pics

Any thoughts on your paint and covering? Looks like an awesome machine. I really think F3AUnlimited needs to add this to their stable of planes don't you?


Joe

That would be awesome, however I don't see this coming any time soon. However, Chris has a way of surprising everybody, so who knows? Maybe I should just start signing over paychecks to Chris...

Hey Mike,

Glad you got it and are happy so far! One question. Are all the formers and LG mounts already in the fuse?

I made a few more changes to mine today and will try them out tomorrow. I put in front wing adjusters and a smidge of downthrust. Trimming is a never ending process!

Tony,

What would be the chance of getting some video of you flying the Onas?

Careful what you wish for is all I can say............................................... ...........

Hey Ryan,

Very good once I get her all trimmed up. Maybe by next weekend.

Tony,

Do you have a picture of the chin cowl attachents? Did the ARF come with the canopy and cowl pre-attached? What was your reasoning for adding a forward wing adjuster? Do you think it would be necessary for everyone?

Thanks for all the great info.


Joe P.

Yes Tony the formers and the UC structure as well as all the trays are installed.
Thanks for posting what you know so far about the plane. I will learn from it all.
I'll probably do a build thread on Chris's site to get some action going.

Joe the canopy and cowl are attached from the factory on mine. Boy do I appreciate that. Mike

Joe I painted my Integral using a lot of paint called Dura Color from the auto store plus some of Chris's old PPG that he left at my house when he moved. I finished that off with a PPG clear coat. This time I'm leaning on using Dura Color white sandable primer for the base and using Createx Autoair for the colors with House of Color clear.
The covering will be a mix of both Monokote and Ultracote. I can't get Monokote white to work so I use Ultracote for the white. If it turns out looking like crappola then I'll do it over. I'm experimenting at this point.
At this point I'm leaning on the new Himax F3A motor upfront. I'm crazy about Outrunners be it Pletty, Axi or whatever they have all worked great for my needs.
Chris Moon is spending a lot of money, time and effort to bring the worlds products to us. I hope CA and he can find a mutually beneficial synergy that has him making the planes easily available to us.
"mutually beneficial synergy" OK sorry had to get that in...

Interesting on the Ultracoat white and monocote colors. I was thinking of trying the same thing for the same reason. I wonder if anyone out there has figured out a way to work with the latest version of white monocote?

Verne

Verne,

It makes an excellent release material for molding flat composite panels!

Well, I got 6 more flights in today and I am getting very happy. The little bit of downthrust I put in cured the vertical upline going to the canopy. And I played a little more with CG and control throws. I liked the CG a little further forward then the last series of flights. And I've been reducing the normal control throws. The big one was cutting the rudder throw way down. The rudder is very powerful on this model. Right now I am using 5 flight modes. A normal, a spins, a snaps, one for stall turns and then one for landing. The landing mode just turns off the throttle/elevator mix I have for downlines. And with the spin one I enter in the spin mode, then just as it breaks I go back to the normal mode. BTW, the spins are now very good. It also seemed to roll better with no differential. I had been using just 4% but zero seemed better.

Increasing the downthrust is something I have seen a lot with models that are designed for both glow and electric. If you think about it, a glow model has a lot of weight very low in the model. The engine cyclinder and the exhaust system. When I first starting flying my Partner back in 2004 it also pulled to the canopy slightly. But the way the Partner was done I could lower the motor batteries in the fuselage a lot, moving the vertical CG down and that solved the pull. With the Onas it needed just a bit more downthrust.

I sure do enjoy working these things out! Some times trimming can get a bit frustrating, but when it all starts coming together it is very satisfying.

To answer an earlier question, I have always felt that the LE of the wing needed to be very solid. No vertical wiggling at all. The way the Onas comes it has rear adjusters and a front pin. You are supposed to fly it some, get happy with the incidence and then install a donut in the fuse to engage the front pin. I put in front adjusters so that I could get the front of the wing solid and still be able to change the incidence. Certainly not needed for everyone, just something I like to have in the model.

I am also very unhappy with the latest monokote. I have always used it before but something has changed. It's now Ultrakote for me!

You know the point made by Tony about the uneven weight distribution from an engine and exhaust makes a ton of sense. I know Rusty Dose opened my eye's to the importance of balancing a plane on it's axis with indoor foamies. E setups are more centered and thus a lot of inherent problems would be gone.
As far as covering goes the mix of UC and Monokote is tricky. I can't remember what doesn't stick to what but there is some incompatability.
The biggest problem I have encountered with Ultracoat is that I have seen it bubble up in the direct heat on a hot day. Once it bubbles it's nearly impossible to get it to stick again.
MK seems better in the heat. The UC white however has never shown the problem and is so much easier to apply. I like the shine of the MK colors better too. Also MK is slightly lighter. Mike

Tony´s
Increasing the downthrust is something I have seen a lot with models that are designed for both glow and electric. If you think about it, a glow model has a lot of weight very low in the model. The engine cyclinder and the exhaust system. When I first starting flying my Partner back in 2004 it also pulled to the canopy slightly. But the way the Partner was done I could lower the motor batteries in the fuselage a lot, moving the vertical CG down and that solved the pull. With the Onas it needed just a bit more downthrust.

Chip
Just to add a little to Tony´s post about the vetical CG and pulling to the canopy. I have flown with Tony now quite a bit over the past year and have gained the utmost respect for his knowledge when it comes to knowing how to make a plane fly. This subject is where our opinouns differ just slightly and I am not saying either of us is wrong in anyway as everyone knows theres several ways to skin a cat.

Tony likes to fly with quite a bit more down elevator when inverted then I do which requires a more forward CG (Down thrust required to not pull to the canopy). I still like to push when inverted just not as much and when the model is set up that way the tendancy to go to the canopy goes away on its own. Again its just another way to do things. It will come down to personal preference in this area but either way will work just fine. Just my 2 cents worth.

Chip

My last plane could be setup so that it had a mix that was a 2% down elevator with low throttle for downlines. The CG was such that it required 0 elevator mix in knife edge. While it was nice to know it could do it I gravitated towards a more aft CG setting which induced some tuck to the belly on knife. It's nice to know a plane is true but like you said we all like a certain feel inverted. It smooths out my rolls.
My preference is slightly aft. I don't think it's a deal breaker if a plane requires minor mixing to get it to feel right.
Having said that I have a more forward CG now than I did 3 or 4 years ago and I now know that there are benefits to that setup. It also seems to penetrate the wind better when you are a little forward. Apples or Oranges there are no wrong answers just winners and losers. M²

So if CPLR has swept back wings on his Axiome, everyone will come up with a swept back wing.....

Mike,

Another trick to this is to change the expo or rate settings for down elevator inverted. On my black magic I liked how the plane flew in all other aspects, but inverted it took more down than I wanted, so rather than shift the CG, I played with the expo settings. I actually run very little expo, none in some cases, but while I have a little bit with up elevator, I actually have a little bit of the reverse expo so that it is more sensitive around neutral, thus giving me the feel I want without giving up anything else.

Arch

Excellent point Arch and yes I usually run far less expo on inverted (down E.) then right side up.
This brings up a point I wanted to make that no matter how much you like a new plane it always takes a decent amount of time to learn how to set it up perfectly. there is no substitude for practice. Mike

Get a life and go away,most of us are enjoying this thread and learning new things.

So when did CPLR invent the swept wing on a pattern plane? That said, my Onas(es) will have my own wings and stabs.

There was some guy named Don Lowe years ago... You might remember him?

BTW.. the Yak-54 is hardly the best aerobatic airplane ever. Just sayin'