Ok, here's the latest...

Tank installed - I could see that it might be a problem getting the feed line on and off of the carb, so I decided to add a third line for filling.

Turtle deck formed and covered.

And I forgot to take pictures during the nose construction, but that's done too.

Time for the Belly Pan. I put the forward block in place, then I started to chisle out the rear block the old fashioned way, but then decided to just cut it out with a router bit in a drill press.

Ok a couple of stupid questions.

Is the kit different then just getting the plans from RCM, I know the kit has all the wood, etc.

Why did you put foam into the wing? I tried looking for that section, sorry if it has veen covered.

Are the servos for the flaps and retracts located in the fusulage?

Thanks

Looks good Mike

Well, I've never built it from the RCM plans, so I can't say.

I put foam in the wing to:

A) Create a wheel well

B) supply support to the sheeting

Without the foam, the green shaded area in the pic below would have no rigidity to it (Note the location of the spar {Brown line} and ribs {Red lines}). That sheeting would just be flappin' in the breeze.

Flap, aileron and retract servo are all in the wing - Retract servo right in front of the spar, Aileron servo right behind the spar, and the flap servo behind the aileron servo (There's plenty of room for this, even on the 40 size)

I have the RCM plans and the kit is identical to them. There is no difference at all.

Ken

Hey Minnflyer,

Glad to see you back at it. I hope you get a chance to finish the plane before you get pulled away from it again..

Getting to the bottom of the first wing... is there an easy way to cut the sheeting around the hardwood gear mounts or is it just a matter of careful measuring and cutting? There may be a tip out there that will save me time and balsa.

I just put an "X" on the sheeting right over the retract. Then cut a small square and enlarge it as necessary.

I got quite a bit done this weekend. I'll try to get the pics up before I leave for the Monster Planes show.

One more question while I'm at it, your third fuel line will be the fueling line but where will you place the fuel dot; or, will it just be free?

Thanks.

It'll just hang free.

BTW, did you put the retracts in the stock location? I always move them outboard one bay

This is my first ultrasport so I went taildragger with fixed gear... I tried retracts on an earlier spitfire and had very little luck with their sturdiness... probably says something about my landings or ground handling. I agree this makes the plane standout as well as lessens the drag, but the benefits have not been proven to this builder. I am putting an old 91 surpass in the nose and wonder if I should get it inspected and maybe tuned-up. This will be plane #3 for the engine. Where do flyers get their engines looked at?

A simple thing to do is to remove the valve cover, and turn the prop so there is no load on the valves Like during the compression stroke when both valves are closed)

Then move the rocker arms with your fingers. They should have a TINY bit of play in them.

Hi MinnFlyer,

I have a quick question for you for for anybody reading this thread. I have purchased the Robart 608HD retracts for the plane. I plan on moving the retracts out one bay like you suggested. I will have an OS 75AX on the plane and I plan on using a APC 13-7 or a 14-6 on the plane. How long should I make the gear wires to have enough prop clearance. I will be using 2.5 inch tires on the plane.

Happy Flying!

My gear are 4 7/16" from the bottom of the retract to the center of the axle

Ok, time for the fillets!

I started out by mounting the wing with some waxed paper between it and the fuse. Then I tack-glued the back of the fillet base to the fuse side and taped it to the fron of the wing to get the curve.

There was a rather large gap near the LE, and after checking the incidence with the stab saddle determined that this gap was OK, so I filled it with a small piece of scrap and glued the rest of the fillet base to the fuse.. Next, a piece of 1/4" tri stock was glued to the rear of the fillet.

Now I got my trusty Elmer's wood filler, a cup of water and a spoon ready. I started by smearing the filler in the corner between the fillet base and the fuse. Once filled, the excess was removed by pressing the wet spoon into it and running it along the fillet.

Once I had the basic shape, I wet my finger and smoothed out the wood filler.

Let dry, remove wing from fuse, and it's ready for sanding.

Looks good Minnflyer and thanks for the pictures... helps out alot. I just pulled the left wing off the board and will start the right tonight... as you can see, I work a few projects at a time.

Hello everyone,

I took the plunge today with my ultra sport 60

Bought one? Started building? Maiden flight? Give us DETAILS man!

yeah, you can't post like that. we need details, always.

david

I've just started building one, this is my second kit. I have built several ARF's... but it kinda feels like cheating. I love the old school look of this plane. I'm putting a Jett 90L in my ultra sport that should give me some real good speed.

After about 3 months of building, with many of this thread's ideas included, a semi-successful maiden flight this weekend. Got off the ground fine, the US60 flew like it was on rails, and had an easy set up for landing. But I forgot to grind flats on the struts, so when she touched down, the gear turned inward and it looked like a carrier landing... unfortunately without a tail hook to hold the tail down! It flipped over, but no damage, so some minor shop work on the landing gear will have her flight ready again.

OS 75AX, DX7/AR7000, Robart HD retracts, dual aileron servos, flaps, covered with monokote.

Mike, thanks for all the ideas and info you've provided.

Looks like you moved the gear out one bay also [sm=thumbup.gif]

Yes, I put them out as you suggested. Doing the gear was probably the hardest part of the build for me. The OS wants a 13 or 14 inch diameter prop, and take offs/landings on our rough field require another 1.5-2" of ground clearance. Combining those two things meant the struts had to be fairly long. Another thing that I've noticed is that even though my wheel wells are about 3-1/4" in diameter, I had to use 2-1/4" wheels to make sure the wheels didn't hang up on the edge of the wheel well. So the ground appearance of the plane is a bit strange, with little wheels out at the end of tall, skinny stuts. I think your idea of using Robostruts will probably look better.

Congrats on the maiden flight... makes me want to move faster on the build. I did not move my gear out one rib; probably should have. Oh well, I did epoxy the two wings together today and will put the aileron servo together tomorrow. I am considering a cutback on the fuse top to go with a more racer appearance... is this a bad idea? Is the fuse in the stock config a big advantage to this airframe?

Thanks as always.... keep the pics of finished models coming as it is very interesting to see color schemes.