throttle stick eh? I think i've seen those new fangled deeevices on some posts on this forum... the stuff they come up with these days... technology i tells ya, who who can keep up?!

seriously, i just heard that these planes are real floaters on landing, and was mostly wondering if she may have trouble slowing down... even at idle, with too much giddyup under that sweet little hood of yours... know what i mean? as for the 100... i think its just a bored out saito .91? so maybe even a bit lighter? oh, and about the pants... lots of guys fly them off of our grass field, but its maintained fairly well... don't blame you for the concern tho... such a purdy plane

thanks for the response...

"Well first and foremost I'd like to give a HUGE thanks to Damifino, what he did with his Venture 60 really pushed me into building a cowl from scratch."

Well mr70ss,

I'd like to give thanks to you!
After seeing your thread, I took to making a cowl from balsa as well, and forming a hatch in the nose. Using your pictures and thread as a guide.

I have an MDS .78 hidden in there

I also took modifications from everyone in the forum such as extending the rudder, elevator and ailerons. Made the tailwheel bracket from extra supports and a 3D control arm.

I did make an 'original' modification on the windshield, by turning it backwards and trimming it down to the support.
please let me know what you think!

Also added wing tips, but no flaps. And lastly an extension on the upright stab, mainly do to inspiration from a Walt Mucha, Gotcha.

I'm half tempted to swipe the color scheme as well!!! Your's turned out awesome

Thanks Again for the inspiration!!

Dragonjohn, That is baddass!

Looks great

Have you picked a coloring scheme yet?

-tychoc

Dragonjohn, First of all thanks I'm glad it helped someone else try the cowl process... I think these birds look so much better with a balsa cowl, and yours is looks AWESOME! I can't wait to see what kind of color scheme you come up with for it. Youn mentiond that you added wing tips, and i've been giving it thought also.. i just built a ultra stick 40 and it has tips and it really completes the look of the wing. Keep us all posted!

Mr70ss

Thanks all for the compliments,

I will keep Ya'll posted on the cover, going to go with ultracote.

mr70ss,

you mentioned an Ultra stick, thats a FUN bird what are you going to put in it?

it's an ultra stick 40, powered by a Saito 82, yea it's overkill but wow is it going to be fun.. It's about 95% complete.. I had to put the rud/elev servos in the rear to get it to balance.. been working more on my heli, I have a fun fly coming up so I need to bone up on my rotor skills... This is my new little toy



Mr70ss

Ok guys you have influinced me a lot. Heres some backgroud about me. 25 male, married. No chidren (just the hobbies) My wife and I have been in cars for awhile, but I got really bored... My grandfather still flies and as a kid I loved planes so I figured what the heck I'll build me a plane..

I chose for my first kit to build a 4*60 and love how easy to build it is.. I being who I'am want to do some Modifications... After reading you guy's post i have decided to shorten the wings by 1 rib witch takes off 7" of total wing span.. I want to definatly add a cowl and pants. And I also want to build wing tips.... I dont like the flat edged wings. So just got a couple questions for you guys;


1 won't you be my neighbor
2 how would i build tips for the wings?
3 i read that one of you guys built it with no dehidreal? do you have problems with fit against fuselage?
4 Any good ideas on wheel pant?


By the way "I LOVE YOUR GUY"S COVING WORK"!!

mr70ss,

u ever maiden the vorstar?

Well I'm Sorry to say but no I haven't. I've been working hard on getting my heli skills up to par so my planes have been put on the back burner at the moment.. it's also getting to that time of year that I doubt that it will happen this year.. I now belong to a couple of local clubs now so i don't have any excuse not to get her up and flying.. the real sad thing is that i have another new airframe that needs to be maidened as well (ultrastick 40 w/saito 82). Like i said heli's have take over my r/c time for the moment but I still love my planes and will get them flying in the spring.

Mr70ss

well thats kool and I thank ya for all the help and emails you have sent me. I hope to start building soon.

C

Well, if you'll send it to the east coast . . . . I'll make it dance fer ya!!!!! Keep rockin' bud!!

Thought I'd try to bring back some life to this thread.... so seems how it winter now.. is anyone working on any four star builds, coverings, or anything at all to do with a four star?

and no mine has not flown yet [:-] But all of you will be happy to hear that it is on my list for the spring.

and well I know some of you plane guys are gunna shoot me.. but i brought home another heli...


Mr70ss

I finally finished my 4*40 in October and have been having blast flying it....great plane....very fast with a OS 46 AX. Still getting used to it. I am the guy who asked you to email me all of the cowl building pics (you probably got that request from a bunch of us). I created a very nice balsa cowl and side mounted my engine. Thanks for the pics you sent - they really helped. If I had a digital camera I would send a few pics.

Next project.......Top Flite P-51......hope to start in a a few weeks. Planning on this one taking awhile to build though. That's OK though, I really haven't had a chance to enjoy the 4*40.

ah glad to hear the pics helped.. you'll have to bug someone in your local club to snap some shots of it next time your at the field and send them my way, i'd love to see how your s turned out.

Mr70ss

Well - wouldn't you know....out of all the pics taken out our annual new years day fly in, the only ones of my plane are from the wrong side.....so, you can't see the cowl.

Anyway....still proud of how this bird turned out so here is a pic.

Hi All - first post here.

First I'd like to say thanks for all the good stuff that goes on here!

Well, doing my first build - 4*60. I've been researching all the modifications other folks have made and I'm not really sure how to go off on my own and do some of these.

Windshield - Flip it around and make it smaller - and how do you tint it darker?
Tail wheel bracket modification - what are the details on how to make the tail wheel bracket better - like dragonjohn's
Shorter wing - what are the pros and cons to this mod?
Dihedral - I already built mine with the 2 degree, but I haven't joined them yet - should I leave it, or should I try to make it flat?
I like to do inverted flying and all that as much as the next guy.
Wingtips - Like the idea, but don't know where to start. - Think I may be able to handle this though
Larger control surfaces - Add an inch to everything? or by how much?
Cowl - Definitely - this means side mounted, or inverted - inverted looks better, but how difficult is it to lower the fuel tank - is it a gamble to get it running good inverted - using an OS 65 LA - right now, planning on side mounting it, unless someone can talk me into the inverted (does the 65 have enough power? do you have to mount it so that it has a little side thrust?)

Thats all I really have questions on... lol

Thanks all in advance for your input!

I am not sure if I missed your post. How did your 4 star fly? Specifically I was wondering if changing the wing incidence to zero had any ill effects?

Mark Stafford

I bought a Carl Goldberg tailwheel bracket from the hobby shop.

I cut a piece if 1/4" ply to fit the last couple inches of the fuselage. I then tapered the plywood to the size of the tail wheel bracket. I removed the covering from the rear of the fuselage where this bracket was going to mount. Covered the outside of the bracket with sticky monocoat trim the color of the fuselage. Epoxyed the plywood in place. Screwed the bracket to the plywood adaptor.

My tailwheel bracket was the Carl Goldberg with the spring interface to the rudder. This was attached.

The engine you have would run better upright or on its side. It will have plenty of power for the plane.

Enjoy,

jim

rdgerken,

windshield tint - i've heard that RIT dye works good..

Tail wheel bracket modification - I just beefed up the tail with lite ply, and installed a Sullivan unit.

Shorter wing - pro=faster roll rate, con(if there is one) a little less float on landings

Dihedral - its your call... i went with 0 degree's but if you have it built i don't know if i'd change it.

Wingtips - easy to do just fashion a tip from lit ply and add a couple of gussets, if your wing is not covered, do the tips first.

Larger control surfaces - i only added an inch to the rudder, i really wanted to be able to whip the tail over on a stall turn. I don't think the other surfaces need it.

Cowl - lowering the tank is not that bad.. just cut the fuse rib to allow the tank shelf to sit lower in the nose. I stuffed foam on top of the tank to hold it down when inverted. as for the side thrust, no.. mount the engine per the directions. i then cut the cheeks off and stared my cowl from there.

hope the info helps, and if anyone has any more info (or if i'm wrong on something) please speak up..

Mr70ss

Thanks w8ye and mr70ss - I appreciate your responses. My progress has been slow but good. I have a shorter wing, and I went ahead and left the 2 degree in there. I've decided to side mount my engine (I have the mounting brackets in place) and I'm putting the fuselage together now. I'm having a heck of a time getting the medium ca to "take" on the ply. I tested my ca on some scrap pieces and it's fine, it just doesn't seem to work on the 90 degree joints very good... maybe it just takes more time?

Thanks for the advice on the tank. Since I'm doing a side mount, I should be able to leave it in the stock location, or would it be a good idea to lower it some? Also, is there another place to mount the battery pack? I'd like to put it somewhere where I can get to it.

Thanks

CA doesn't work on Maple ply. Use 30 Min Epoxy

Enjoy,

Jim

damifino, this is one of the nicest paintschemes i EVER seen. sorry but i will "borrow" your paint scheme on my next model :P Do you got any more pictures of it? Perhaps som pictures from the making?

Well I hope I don't make a few of you mad.. but I've decided to put the four star up for sale... I know I know.. but i've gotten into helis so much that i'm ready to move up into a larger ship, and well the bigger they are the more $$$$... as we all know.. so I just wanted to put a post out just to let every one know. If anyone is interested let me know, I'll be taking it to the local hobby shop tomorrow... I do have mixed thoughts about selling it.. but I can honestly say I have more fun building airplanes than I do flying them, and who knows maybe i'll build another one down the road...

Mr70ss

Has anyone put a Saito 120 in a Four Star 60?? Tips? Tricks?