dash008, Your pics are great, but the plane covers up the plan! Could you provide a pic of the plan of the wing attach area? I need to build one of these wonders one day!

I have one that I flew quite a bit but it is now in long term storage. More projects, you know! Anyway, I always thought it would be neat to lengthen the fuse just a bit aft of the wing so the battery could help the CG , attach more robust vertical stabs(maybe even rudders) and use something like an OS 46AX.

dash008:

The Wonder is a great flying airplane, but there a couple of things that can bite you if you don't know about them:

1. Someone stated that the factory CG was no good. They are wrong. Balance it at the recommended point and it will fly just fine. The trick is not to have too much control surface movement. Set the elevator to the recommended high rate travel, and then put in about 70% expo to soften it around the neutral point. After you get some experience with it, you can play around with movement and expo to get it the way you like it. Put in about half the aileron movement to begin with, as this bird is extremely sensitive in roll.

2. They build nose heavy if you're not careful. I put my elevator servo just ahead of the elevator, stuck through the top. I made a little hatch on the bottom so I can get to it. I used one aileron servo mounted on the wing. All my servos are the old HS 81 MG, and are great for this application as they keep the weight down.

3. The 15 CVR is a great engine, and an APC 7x6 is probably the best all around prop. They are touchy about the first start, and are very easy to flood if they don't light right away. Be very cautious when using an electric starter. I found the best way to start mine was to pull the fuel line off the carb, open the throttle, put my finger over the exhaust opening and flip it until fuel comes out the line. Then, hook up the line, set it to just above idle and spin till it fires. Once it's warmed up it will hand start every time, but that first time is touchy.

4. Try to get your fuel tank as high as possible, right up under the fuse deck, or you can run into feed problems with the upright engine. I ended up putting my battery pack underneath the tank. It's one of the small (750 milliamp, I think) Hydrimax NiMh packs.

5. If you're hand launching, you need some extra "up" trim just at launch, then need to take it out right away. After I got mine trimmed, I mixed the flap switch on my radio to the elevator, so that "flaps down" gave me just a touch of extra up, maybe 1/16". This makes the airplane climb as soon as it leaves your hand. If you don't do this, it can dive on you and it's real exciting while you are trying to reach the stick before it hits the ground.

6. Never, ever use a neckstrap on the transmitter. It can get in the way of you getting to the stick after launch, and again, things get real exciting.

7. Are you certain that the blocks for the dowel pins are in the correct position, and that you did not accidentally get your wing upside down? The manual is a little confusing in this area, and it's easy to get Murphied. The wing on my first one came off in flight because of this mistake, and after that, I got in the habit of completely filling that area in with block balsa so that it wouldn't matter which side of the wing was "up". (My current one is number three.)

I agree with Mustang Fever. The cg as per manual is correct - and the range is small, keep it on the nose heavy side of the range in the beginning.


For newcomers to flying a WONDER:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osl0ZBfd3_U

Another point to consider is to have bright, contrasting colour scheme for top and bottom, especially when fitting bigger engines for faster flying.
See attached videoclip of how I handlaunch my brightly coloured WONDER (only 0.25 standard OS engine) - how fast it disapears into a dark dot (flies straight out and then a climb to the left - see if you can spot the dot ) - and that is with bright yellow/red stripes on top and white underneath.
This way I can see the bright flash in a turn. ..... That was why I put "OHSHEET" in big yellow letters on a red wingthe top on an earlier WONDER........see earlier pic & rest of video in an earlier posting.
Also note the trajectory of the launch - and that is where the slight up elevator comes in that Mustang is talking about.

Happy flying

Bundu

I'm thinking of scratch-building a Wonder, would someone list the span and chords of the wing and stab, the rest I can figure out. Oh what's the thickness of the wing also.
Thanks Rich

Bundu:

You're right about the coloring. I made mine the "Russian", red on top and aluminum on the bottom. Seems to work. For someone new to high performance, I'd recommend Coverite neon red on top and the outsides of the fins, and Ultracote black and yellow checkerboard on the bottom. Checkerboard is the best on the bottom, as you can always see some of it. Any solid color tends to disappear because it's in shadow from below. I put a pic of my Mikulasko Arrow in here so you guys can see how effective the Coverite NR is.

One other thing I forgot: use a light spinner to help with the noseheaviness. The Goldbergs are the best in that regard, as they use no metal and just snap onto the backplate. Wish I could find the pics of mine, but it's been a almost five years since I built it and it's lost somewhere in the Universe.

Rich: The kit is fifty bucks, plus shipping. It includes a complete hardware pack, decals, CA hinges, plans and the photo illustrated book. I don't think you could buy the materials for that price:

However, I fully understand the scratch building bug (I only have about fifty sets of plans and my Shrike is a scratch) so you can also purchase the plans, book and decals if you want them:

http://sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.ex...FV5.html?E+Sig

It is a fast build. I goofed off on mine and it still took about two weeks.

Mustang,
I had one as a Russian Wonder too - and then I got this soft toy mouse (see pic), it's got this absolutely scared look on it's face, so I thought it would look great if I super glue it "spread eagled" on the Wonder where the fuse and leading edge meet - see this big eyed scared looking mouse clinging for dear life when you make a low fast fly past... well, that was the theory..... in practice I launched the plane, it went up, up, up, up , up, then rolled it sideways to come back but then coming back it went down, down, down and made a big smoking hole not far from the runway.....no more Russian Wonder ..... no elevator control because the turbulence caused by the mouse rendered the elevator useless.

The elevator is very effective under normal conditions but be careful of canopies or pilots on the wing/fuse. That is why they have that "profile" canopies. The elevator don't like turbulence.

Bundu

What? Now where is the fun in that? Real men fly wonders painted sky blue top and bottom and powered with OZ 32 SX engines. LOL

I lived in NC several times. I was crazy, then, too.

Mustang Fever,

Thank you for your post. These are some good suggestions. About your number 7... Yes, the directions were confusing there. I read them over and over and finally came to the conclusion that the side with the dowel blocks (as shown in the picture) is the bottom of the wing. Is this correct? The other side without the blocks that gets the sheeting glued on first is the top? It's all covered with sheeting now but I marked the side with the blocks with sharpie so I wouldn't forget where they are.

Dash:

You got it right.

Finally found the thread I was using when I built mine: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_60..._3/key_/tm.htm

Most of the description and photos are on this page, but there may be something useful earlier on.

Cool! Thanks for the link. I don't know how I missed this one.

[/quote]
What? Now where is the fun in that? Real men fly wonders painted sky blue top and bottom and powered with OZ 32 SX engines. LOL
[/quote]

One of my 8 WONDERsthrough the years had a 0.36 engine - was a missile but not that much fun to fly - raw power and speed overcooked the aerodynamics of the wing.
I've found a good OS Max 0.25 goes a long way. I've also build a epoxy carbon fibre one (the red/yellow chevron stripedone in thepics). The plan is to scale this one up.

I had them in all colours, but being a happy bundu basher, I prefer warm, friendly colours - oh, also easier to see as you getolder... hehe.
I've got a0.46 engined scratch build WONDER on the drawing board, however, it is scaled up alittle for the engine. I cannot yet make up my mind on which airfoil to use for it.
When I get to make the moulds, I'll start a building thread on it.
Maybe I'llcast him in blue.....

Cheers

Bundu

Bundu:

Have you tried a Shrike?

Working on the wingtips... I nearly chickened out on the fancy wingtips, and then I decided to "man up", so I am doing the concave wingtips after all. One of the blocks seemed a lot heavier than the other... I didn't like that.

The first two pictures shows the blocks glued on. The third picture shows the top of the wingtip after hitting it with the razor plane, and the fourth is the top of the wingtip after initial shaping with 80 grit. Still a lot to do but it is starting to take shape. I need to rest my hand because it is tired from all that sanding and I am covered in sawdust! This is too much like work!

Hi Dash, keep it up... the more pain now, the more appreciation of the end result later.......

Cheers


Bundu

Hey, extend the vertical stabs below the horizontal stab so it looks the same upside down and right side up, then you'll be a real man

I need to get a receiver for my Wonder. I'd like to find a smaller one if possible. In all my other planes I have the full size 8 Channel R168DF. I don't need all those channels. 4 channels would be enough for this one. I have a Futaba 72 MHz transmitter. Anyone have a suggestion for a small ( full range) Receiver?

I like the covering scheme on your orange and yellow wonder. I'm going to do something similar.

Dash,
I don't know 72 mHz Futaba stuff that well but in 35 mHz they do make small receivers. I've gottwo 6 channel ones and they are ok.

I've tried to fit a JRSPEKTRUM system (2 reciever system) but the WONDERis too small for it, so I went back the the 35 mHz receiver.

Cheers

bundu

Dash:

The Futaba 6EX 2.4 system is $219.99 at Tower. (Tx and Rx, batteries and charger, switch harness.) If you're a member of Super Saver, (one year for $9.99) you get $35 off and free shipping. Additionally, you can spread the payments over 90 days if you use a credit card. ($61.67 a month).

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXPZT8&P=ML

You can see how small the 2.4 Rx is from this pic.

I changed from FM because of 1) getting shot down by idiots who come to an airshow and don't know what they are doing and 2) all the interference problems with FM. The tiny receivers was a bonus. After a couple of recent, unexplainable loss of control crashes in my club, the rest of the guys are in the process of switching over, as well.

I had a heck of a time trying to put a Hitec full size RX in this little bird so I gave up and put in a 2.4 RX, quite a bit smaller. I know I used up valuable space with my landing gear blocks and adding a steering servo. Also, I never could locate a suitable battery so I went with an experimental (for me at least) LiPo setup with a voltage regulator mounted in rear compartment wit switch and elevator servo. The 2 cell LiPo was small enough I was able to put most of it under the tank, I think it is an Electrifly 1100 MAH 7.4 Volt. I also added a home made servo saver to the little HS-55 for the nose steering. By using the Lipo and an HS-55 for throttle I was able to stay at 22 oz and change for final weight. I am intrigued with the Sloper idea from Bundubasher, these are neat little airplanes and i was thinking an electric version would be cool too. I am happy with how mine performs as is and might yet remove the fear to see if she is a bit faster. Mustang that is a great deal on that radio! I put some pics for reference, the red thing is the voltage regulator in the rear(very light btw). Good Lord! no idea why the pics are so huge! never had that problem before!

Mustang Fever, I have a 6EX 72 MHz version that I use now. It's an ok radio but I'd hate to have to get another one just to go to a different frequency. Nearly everyone in my club uses 2.4 so its never been a problem with Anyone else on my channel. I'm sure I'll go 2.4 someday but right now I'm enjoying the fruits of everyone else abandoning the 72 MHz frequency!

Daddyo, I notice you have a Hitec 2.4 receiver in that plane. I'm intrigued by these because they are $40 cheaper than Futaba and they only have the one antenna wire to worry about. Do you have the Optic 6 or aurora 9? When I do go 2.4 I am leaning very strongly towards the Aurora 9, mainly because of the cheaper receivers but also it looks like a really cool radio especially with the telemetry features.

Daddy057, you may want to try sloping with the WONDERwithout motor/tank/throttle serveand stuff - that way you removearound 400 - 500 grams weight which reduces the wingloading a lot.Then you have a "base case" to compare to when youmake it a power sloperby fitting the electrics. Either way you will "wonder" why you have not converted a WONDERtoa sloper before...

Bundu

I was able to work on the Wonder some tonight. Got the fuselage framed up.