famousdave

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By now you probably have seen my post (s) on the USL with G-26 elsewhere. Well... unfortunately, I lost my first one to a complete act of stupidity ... the plane after flying 20+ flights for the day, flew out of the back of my pickup truck on the way home and was scattered all over the highway... A TOTAL LOSS.. engine, radio, servos.. even the battery was trashed when some cow on her cell phone ran it over in a H2.

So instead of cry about it .. I did what we all do.. stopped by the LHS on my way home and bought another one! This time, I was able to do what I should have done on the first one..

If you are interested in setting the plane up for gas .. here is a great way to do it with very little pain.

1> US Lite
2> Zenoah G-26 + bennett muffler
3> JR 537 std servos on ailerons + throttle
4> Hitec 635 MG on rudder and elevator
5> 12 oz tank
6> NimH 6v battery (unregulated)
7> JR HD charge switch

10 pounds 2 oz total weight WET.


Mods: I cut 4" off the front of the plane, shortening the nose and therefore the moment of balance. This completely elminated the need to move the servos to the tail.
I used the stock location. The removed wood weight 4 oz.

I removed all the old covering and tapped my left over covering stock. I had plenty of large peices left over from my 40% covering jobs... so I decided to put a cool flames scheme together...

I canned the stock pushrod setup and went with Nyrods.


First flight was a resounding success. MAN this thing rips now. I can hover at 1/2 throttle, it has unlimited vertical and flies even better than my old one. This is the way to go guys... anyone putting one togther .. do this I guarantee you will be very happy!! (no need to recover it though.. easy to do without ruining the cover job... )

Here are the pics.... notice the ultra clean radio install...

I tell you what.. I fly up to 40% planes.. this is just what the Dr. Ordered when I just want to have fun without cares...
DP

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Next set of pics....

famousdave

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Next set of pics....
Removed heavy backplate from engine and made some SS standoffs... engine mounted perfectly and larger firewall allowed me to run linkage through the firewall direct to the carb...

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Next set of pics....
Final finished bird ... ready for first flight!!

Notice the servos in tail... I made the mistake of putting them there first and it turned out to be WAY tail heavy due to the short nose.. so .. I moved them...
if you shorten the nose you wont need to touch the tail at all!!

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Super clean radio install...

Hope you enjoyed the series..

DP

vypr

My Feedback: (6)

Nice! If I was looking for a gas powered fun machine I would be doing something like that.

How does the G-26 pull its weight for its size? why not the 3W ~30cc er?

-Ian

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

I stuck with the G-26 becuase it is CHEAP and rips this plane around the sky. The 3W-24 -35 would probably be a little too much and it costs 2x.

I picked up my G-26 for $250 new in the box...

DP

GoeKeli

My Feedback: (18)

Very very nice DP! Can you give us a round about cost break down? I bet that thing is fun!

Joe

CDignition

My Feedback: (9)

I built one as a trainer for my new students...I like the idea of cutting the nose down...we had to add a bunch of weight, an it is still nose heavy...

Have you seen any bad handling due to this mod??..

what prop??

AeroDave

nice DP! I remember that thread when we were all putting them together the first time. I lost mine to a flame out in hover, after like a million flights. Maybe I'll get another one too. I've got an extra G26 just sittin' on the shelf!

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Here is my cost breakdown +/- a few percent...

Plane - $235 at LHS
G-26 - $265 at Doug's Hobby Shop (a while ago though)
APC 18x6W pattern prop ($18)
JR PCM 7 Channel RX - $75
JR 527 servos (3) $60
Hitec 635MG servos (2) $60
12 Oz tank -$5
Misc hardware, nyrods, tygon, servo extensions and wood, etc... $28
6V 2200 Mah NiMh Battery $30

Total = $776


At an RCH over 10 pounds this plane is out of control with the G-26!! It takes off in 5 feet!
Much to the chagrin of our club officers, the airplane does not even make it out of the pit before its in the air... (OOPS)

Shortening the nose did not introduce any bad tendencies. All it altered was the moment in which all that G-26 was pushed outward. In effect adding the weight but shortening the moment did nothing to change the "design" or balance of the airframe and it shows in the handling.

The firewall mod took about 10 minutes and you could not tell it was done.... versus locating the servos aft which took a lot more time and did not look as nice with the servos sticking out in the airstream...

I have to be honest, this plane is a blast to fly. I take it with me on road trips, camping, wherever and "just fly the crap out of it".. I even let people who have never flown before "try" it (high up of course)...

My last USL had well over 10 gallons run through it before it met its untimely demise... I just had to build another.. Even though I have a new 31% extra in the air now.... I missed flying the USL!!

DP

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Cool thread. Makes me want to make one.

ChrisAttebery

My Feedback: (15)

Oh Man! You guys are killing me.

All right, I think I'm going to take the plunge. Can you tell me the dimentions of the firewall on the USL?

It looks sweet. I think I'll recover mine when I get it too. I really don't like that transparent white covering.

Thanks in advance,



Chris

AeroDave

re covering is the way to go. I bught a flip 3D and recovered it. It looks awesome! My next USL will have a wild scheme too. In fact, we should al do it and post our color schemes! I'm ordering my next one tonight!

BBW Walt

My Feedback: (11)

I may have missed something here but, this mod looks like it saved you 4 ounces. Why not mount the servo's in the tail like you origionally had and leave the nose alone? 4oz's?

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Klotz - Shortening the nose saved 4 oz .. and took about 1/2 hour to do. Moving the servos aft took 2 hours by the time I made the trays, it also added 2 oz in extra wood and epoxy (so there is net 6 oz) and I still had to add 3 oz of lead to the tail so really the "nose job" saved 9 oz, not just 4. That is huge on this plane.

I saved another few ounces + wet weight by going to a smaller tank and lighter battery.

DP

famousdave

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Firewall dimension AFTER the mod = 4.25 W x 5.10 T
Firewall dimension BEFORE the mod = 4.00 x 4.25

Engine fits much better on the new firewall!
DP

famousdave

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AeroDave... I remember your posts from the other thread... does the above infer your USL is dead too or do you still have it???

DP

famousdave

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Check out my other plane I just finished this week too!!!!

DP

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=2276401

David_Moen

Uh oh, my wife saw the yellow Ducati, now she wants to come visit you and "borrow" your bike!

AeroDave

DP...
its dead. Flame out at 20 ft in a torque roll. It did the tail slide/nose flip forward thing. Just as the nose was pointing straight down it hit the only rock on the field and "ended" the fuse. Time to call Chief.....

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

That's too bad... well at least you lost yours flying. Mine was run over by a pig in a Hummer.. I could think of many other ways I would have rather lost it... losing 20 feet off the deck sounds a lot better than "run over".....

DP

AeroDave

yeah, but look at the story you got out of it.. BTW, my sratch built G26 3D is done. I'l fly it this weeekend. It came out at 9 lbs. Should be a rocket!

ChrisAttebery

My Feedback: (15)

[/quote]


Firewall dimension AFTER the mod = 4.25 W x 5.10 T
Firewall dimension BEFORE the mod = 4.00 x 4.25

Engine fits much better on the new firewall!
DP
[/quote]


Thanks DP!!!

Dick T.

My Feedback: (243)

I guess I am missing something too! Seems like the weight savings was a net 2 oz with a lot of custom rework.

I can grasp a weight reduction if the stock version required adding weight to balance, then there is a justifiable reason for the modifications and a larger net savings.