Welcome to Club SAITO !

I think I found Pete's grand mother,
now Pete don't get mad at me if I am wrong,,,please
https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=9...beer&FORM=EWRE
now Pete don't get mad at me if I am wrong,,,please
https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=9...beer&FORM=EWRE
Gotta love em


Before the flying season starts I'm swapping out the fa100 on my clipped 4*60 for an OS fs91. It's not what you might think. The 4* isn't my kind of plane really so I'm going to beat living crap out of it. I mean really huck it around just to see how much abuse it can take before something gives. When it goes in I'd rather see an OS munch dirt than one of my prized possessions.

If it is kit built, the horizontal stabilizer is the weak point. The spliced balsa LE fails at high speeds.Flutter is a problem too A solid spruce LE and counterweighted elevator good Devi's etcvbig helo. Both of mine had YS91AC and were more power than the stock 4 star kit could handle. While you are at it, clip a bay from each wing tip.
Better still, buy the real deal: A Tharpe Venture 60.

My Feedback: (6)

I think I found Pete's grand mother,
now Pete don't get mad at me if I am wrong,,,please
https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=9...beer&FORM=EWRE
now Pete don't get mad at me if I am wrong,,,please
https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=9...beer&FORM=EWRE


Before the flying season starts I'm swapping out the fa100 on my clipped 4*60 for an OS fs91. It's not what you might think. The 4* isn't my kind of plane really so I'm going to beat living crap out of it. I mean really huck it around just to see how much abuse it can take before something gives. When it goes in I'd rather see an OS munch dirt than one of my prized possessions.

good luck with that
the 4*60 is one tuff plane. I have thrashed the crap out of mine and even flew a whole day in the rain and the only thing I broke was my radio when the wind picked up and got the radio wet. I was flying from under my canopy. I even won a new kit that day. For the best poker hand. It was actually a really fun day.

well it had a Saito 91.
I forgot to mention that it won’t handle a snap on take off inverted into the ground. Yes the snap roll on take off is common for me but for some reason that day it snapped a roll and a half and then I went to pull up and it was inverted just that quick. I guess I should have hesitated before pulled up.
I forgot to mention that it won’t handle a snap on take off inverted into the ground. Yes the snap roll on take off is common for me but for some reason that day it snapped a roll and a half and then I went to pull up and it was inverted just that quick. I guess I should have hesitated before pulled up.

Ouch, I hate when that happens.
Gary, you've mentioned those 4* short comings before so I checked the leading edge of the horz stab. All good there, the builder used hard balsa and tri stock between horz and vert stab. I knew the builder before he passed and his reputation as the king of overkill. I sealed the hinge lines with Blenderm as well so flutter shouldn't be an issue. Thanks for the heads up.

Gary, you've mentioned those 4* short comings before so I checked the leading edge of the horz stab. All good there, the builder used hard balsa and tri stock between horz and vert stab. I knew the builder before he passed and his reputation as the king of overkill. I sealed the hinge lines with Blenderm as well so flutter shouldn't be an issue. Thanks for the heads up.


A few members at my club have had 4*40 & 60 airplanes over the years. They all had trouble landing them without bending the factory gear or ripping it off entirely. Lots of complaints by the pilots. All they really needed to do was move the cg back 1/4" or so from factory spec to stop the thing from bouncing down the runway 4 times on every landing. Nose heavy planes don't land easily for me either. Not sure why folks are so fearful of moving the cg back 1/8" at a time until the plane trims out correctly.
Last edited by Glowgeek; 04-18-2020 at 06:29 AM.

My Feedback: (1)

see a Saito 100 F/S. $145 shipped.
hey guys, you better snag it now, before I do, enlarge the photo and see inside the Exhaust port, it's clean.
the only thing that is stopping me from buying it is that I do not have enough planes for the engines I have now... so get fishing before it's reeled in by some one else
Jim
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4033-saito-100
hey guys, you better snag it now, before I do, enlarge the photo and see inside the Exhaust port, it's clean.
the only thing that is stopping me from buying it is that I do not have enough planes for the engines I have now... so get fishing before it's reeled in by some one else
Jim
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4033-saito-100

see a Saito 100 F/S. $145 shipped.
hey guys, you better snag it now, before I do, enlarge the photo and see inside the Exhaust port, it's clean.
the only thing that is stopping me from buying it is that I do not have enough planes for the engines I have now... so get fishing before it's reeled in by some one else
Jim
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4033-saito-100
hey guys, you better snag it now, before I do, enlarge the photo and see inside the Exhaust port, it's clean.
the only thing that is stopping me from buying it is that I do not have enough planes for the engines I have now... so get fishing before it's reeled in by some one else
Jim
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4033-saito-100

Yes, a certain person(namely the guy above this post) showed me how it's done at the SIG fly in one year. I thought it looked cool with no gear so was thinking of building one. Next thing I know, there is this kit at my door from some guy I know(same guy as above actually) so I built it with retracts. I never got a chance to fly is because the retracts I had were old and brittle and broke the first time I assembled it at the field. Never got a chance to fly it. Because my shop is backed up and I already have a bunch of planes, and don't have the budget for a set of Eflites for it, going to give the completed plane back to him (yes, the same guy who flew his into the ground).
I don't have a picture handy, and my internet has gone to crap with 45% packet loss and no repairs in sight until the Vid is done
I don't have a picture handy, and my internet has gone to crap with 45% packet loss and no repairs in sight until the Vid is done

My Feedback: (6)

see a Saito 100 F/S. $145 shipped.
hey guys, you better snag it now, before I do, enlarge the photo and see inside the Exhaust port, it's clean.
the only thing that is stopping me from buying it is that I do not have enough planes for the engines I have now... so get fishing before it's reeled in by some one else
Jim
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4033-saito-100
hey guys, you better snag it now, before I do, enlarge the photo and see inside the Exhaust port, it's clean.
the only thing that is stopping me from buying it is that I do not have enough planes for the engines I have now... so get fishing before it's reeled in by some one else
Jim
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4033-saito-100


Well when you knock the gear off a plane, that does not mean it’s time to go home.
providing it’s small enough to hand lunch fly on.
not to mention they fly better without stuff hanging off of it.
providing it’s small enough to hand lunch fly on.
not to mention they fly better without stuff hanging off of it.

My Feedback: (102)
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Colonial Beach, VA
Posts: 20,370
Likes: 0
Received 23 Likes
on
23 Posts

I also have two of the 100's, one silver and one GK. I decided yesterday, with nothing else to do, to give the 115 an autopsy, it is a fine specimen with smooth bearings, smooth cam and great compression. Did you run it much, the piston ring is not worn shiny all the way around. The only thing I changed was to place the the ring gap at the rear over the rear of the wrist pin. I think my Flyin King is going to get it. The 115 should be a great chugger for easy cruising. Thankyou for it. I'll head about 4 v stacks your way soon.



Rather than moving the gear mounting pad rearward to avoid porpoise landings, I always made a fresh set of gear. The gear were made from real landing gear aluminum (2024-T4) layed out flat but the axle points were swept rear an inch or so. Once broke up, the wheels were right back where needed and the 2024 aluminum is darn near as springy as you want, tough stuff.

My 120 is a PITA to land because it floats like a cork. I even set up flaperons to slow it down, and it still likes to hang in the air. Gets worse when in ground effect and I wind up slamming it down or run out of runway. I am full up elevator by the time it is on the ground too. The DLE idles at 1800 RPM, can't it any slower. One day at the SIG Fly in, I had just tuned the engine and got it running great. Took off and was flying it around. It was as far away in the flight as I go when the engine quit. I forgot to fill the tank. I got it all the way back to the runway with no power. I built it with one less bay on the wing.

Yep, sounds like the cg is too far forward.
My first low wing "trainer" was an unknown plane, very 4Star-ish. It was set up nose heavy and I had the same problems you described. Seemed I could never reach stall speed without pulling in a ton of elev. I tried all sorts of landing techiques, the long shallow approach, the steep swooping approach, chopping the throttle in the base turn. Everything I tried either caused bouncing down the runway, floating down the runway forever or plopping down hard. The elev always felt mushy on final approach and the timing to stall had to be spot on to land decent.
I did a lot of research on landing problems and techniques and eventually solved the problem by reading and following Peter Goldsmith's Trimming Chart, as well as others. Problem solved. Moving the cg back eliminated the need to pull in much elev until the landing flare, a foot or so off the ground, and then only to control rate of descent for those last couple of seconds before full stall. With a more rearward cg the plane descends by reducing power instead of wanting to dive with a nose down attitude therefore not much elev is needed during a slow glide. It was a game changer for me to have the plane descend without diving and to have plenty of elev authority at touch down.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
My first low wing "trainer" was an unknown plane, very 4Star-ish. It was set up nose heavy and I had the same problems you described. Seemed I could never reach stall speed without pulling in a ton of elev. I tried all sorts of landing techiques, the long shallow approach, the steep swooping approach, chopping the throttle in the base turn. Everything I tried either caused bouncing down the runway, floating down the runway forever or plopping down hard. The elev always felt mushy on final approach and the timing to stall had to be spot on to land decent.
I did a lot of research on landing problems and techniques and eventually solved the problem by reading and following Peter Goldsmith's Trimming Chart, as well as others. Problem solved. Moving the cg back eliminated the need to pull in much elev until the landing flare, a foot or so off the ground, and then only to control rate of descent for those last couple of seconds before full stall. With a more rearward cg the plane descends by reducing power instead of wanting to dive with a nose down attitude therefore not much elev is needed during a slow glide. It was a game changer for me to have the plane descend without diving and to have plenty of elev authority at touch down.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
Last edited by Glowgeek; 04-19-2020 at 08:38 AM.

Yep, sounds like the cg is too far forward.
My first low wing "trainer" was an unknown plane, very 4Star-ish. It was set up nose heavy and I had the same problems you described. Seemed I could never reach stall speed without pulling in a ton of elev. I tried all sorts of landing techiques, the long shallow approach, the steep swooping approach, chopping the throttle in the base turn. Everything I tried either caused bouncing down the runway, floating down the runway forever or plopping down hard. The elev always felt mushy on final approach and the timing to stall had to be spot on to land decent.
I did a lot of research on landing problems and techniques and eventually solved the problem by reading and following Peter Goldsmith's Trimming Chart, as well as others. Problem solved. Moving the cg back eliminated the need to pull in much elev until the landing flare, a foot or so off the ground, and then only to control rate of descent for those last couple of seconds before full stall. With a more rearward cg the plane descends by reducing power instead of wanting to dive with a nose down attitude therefore not much elev is needed during a slow glide. It was a game changer for me to have the plane descend without diving and to have plenty of elev authority at touch down.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
My first low wing "trainer" was an unknown plane, very 4Star-ish. It was set up nose heavy and I had the same problems you described. Seemed I could never reach stall speed without pulling in a ton of elev. I tried all sorts of landing techiques, the long shallow approach, the steep swooping approach, chopping the throttle in the base turn. Everything I tried either caused bouncing down the runway, floating down the runway forever or plopping down hard. The elev always felt mushy on final approach and the timing to stall had to be spot on to land decent.
I did a lot of research on landing problems and techniques and eventually solved the problem by reading and following Peter Goldsmith's Trimming Chart, as well as others. Problem solved. Moving the cg back eliminated the need to pull in much elev until the landing flare, a foot or so off the ground, and then only to control rate of descent for those last couple of seconds before full stall. With a more rearward cg the plane descends by reducing power instead of wanting to dive with a nose down attitude therefore not much elev is needed during a slow glide. It was a game changer for me to have the plane descend without diving and to have plenty of elev authority at touch down.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
Finding some of you Saitoholics over on the OS forum.
Turncoats. Lol

I broke the Sirius FR -300 before it ever saw the front of Gary's Pica. Looking for a 47062700 reduction gear.
Got some good leads over there from Bert.
Ya meet the nicest people in RC!