Has anyone build the sig astro hog bipe.?

i would like to know how you liked it.
i know sig makes great kits. any mods you made any weak aera's on the build ect
what engines. also looking for build treads. and lets see you covering job/sceme

thanks

One of the best sport bipes on the market. It's a really fun plane to fly, and it's a pretty easy build. I've had 3 of them and will build another on in a heartbeat if I ever crash my current one beyond repair.

Ken

amazing plane! It has great flying characteristics: slow flight, inverted flight, snaps, loops, rolls...you name it and it does it well! The plane is also very easy to land. I've had one deadstick with mine (knock on wood) and actually got a good glide out of it and was able to bring it back to the rwy. I built it stock out of the box, with the only mod being that I used 4-40 pushrods instead of the included nylon pushrods. From my experience, the trim changes drastically with temperature when using the Sig nylon push rods. I installed a Saito 100, and some people on here still won't believe me but, the plane can hold a hover and even pull vertically out of the over with this motor.

It's a great plane! GET TO BUILDIN'!!

Im just finnishing one up, should be ready to maiden in a month or two. Typical sig kit in that the instructions are very clear and the wood is top notch. The build itself is pretty straight forward without to much sanding or carving.

Fitted a 91 fs to her as this seems to be the engine of choice for most hog owners,the two main mods made to this plane seem to bemaking afuel tankhatch and moving the landing gear forward, mine is standard.

May post a pic in a week or two.

Check out [link=http://fubarhill.com/]FUBAR HILL[/link] on left side of page scroll down to where it says "Sig Hog Bipes"
There's a bunch of stuff here on RCU as well if you do a search (just leave off the "astro")

I've had 2...just love them. Current one has .91 4-stroke but if I did it again it would be a Saito 1.00. I did a sunburst blue/white and it looks pretty much like JCB's. A LOT less carving than traditional Astro-Hog. I've got to build another when my current one gives up the ghost. But right now I'm working on the Spacewalker II and have to say the quality of the balsa coming out of Sig has decreased drastically over the years (as compared say to BUSA kits).

i found this link on youtube. and he is also hovering his with a satio 100

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNqTb0na0jQ

JCB, you sure did a great job on your Astro Bipe! That blue and white really looks nice. Haven't built the bipe yet though I'm scratch building my 4th Astro-Hog at this time. I think I might have to think real hard....okay, that's done...

Soft landings,

Joe

scratch building.? did you trace all your parts and cut another kit?
thanks

Here ia a link:http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_84..._1/key_/tm.htm

emilsanto, yes the parts for the Astro-Hog were all cut out of balsa and plywood by me using my old Dremel Moto-Shop saw. Most SIG kits are "glorified" plan builds anyway (and I mean that in a nice way) so the information for building is there on the plan for you to use. I've included some photos I just took in the shop of the framed, dry-fitted, Astro Hog to give you an idea of what you can do. If you have a couple of builds (not ARF models) under your belt you can most likely scratch build, though I'd shy away from the Astro Hog Bipe as a beginner scratch project. There's a lot of work involved and the rewards can be a great flying RC model that you constructed yourself from a pile of wood. The photos will show you what can be done without a kit. I made this plane into the taildragger version and did order the wire gear from SIG.

Soft landings,

Joe

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">wow... i haven't seen any one 'pin' hinges in a long time. nice job on them and the... astro hog? i built a rich urivitch extra 3.25 from a set of plans. the thing is a speed demon with a .32SX. plans building is definitely the way to go after all the kits turn into ARF's. </span>

Thanks for the kind words, crash. Been using the pin method (they are round wooden toothpicks) for years without anything shaking apart; takes a bit of extra time but no worry about control surfaces parting ways [X(] .

Soft landings,

Joe

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">the first time i covered my RV-4, i used that method with the tooth picks. then i got a cut off disk on the ole dremel and shaved them down real nice and that was probably the best hinging job i had ever done. now i'm using robart hinge points, but thinking about going back to the pinned hinges for my Kadet MKII. no need to get all fancy pants with the robarts on that plane. i never had a problem with them coming apart, either. plus you don't have to mess with glue. big plus there for me. </span>

Here is my hog bipe, almost done. Started it last march, left it for six months in the summer, and just finnishing her up for the new season. Looking forward to the maiden in the next month or two.</p>

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">very nice job. that your pilot? not really scale... </span>

orange always looks good on a plane and shows up VERY well in the air! your plane looks great!!

JCB,
Your blue and white hog looks great. I really like it, I have one on the shelf that I will try to build one day. Great Job!!

A friend at the field added his suggestion of a proper biplane scheme. My interpretation ...

Mine has a Saito 100 (yet to be maidened) - saw the youtube reference and watched the guy hovering his Saito 100 powered Hog Bipe - finally - enough power

What changes are there in the flight characteristics of the bipe version and the low-wing version? I bought a low-wing Hog from a guy at my local field for $150, granted its been sitting for a while.

More lift and drag, obviously.
Since I haven't flown the two, logic says the bipe will probably float more on landing while, at the same time, it will probably have to be landed with power on to prevent stalling.

I have had both planes for a while now, each has a four stroke 90. The old Astro Hog has a larger wing and lighter loading than the bipe version. They really are two different planes with the older low wing plane being more like a trainer than the biplane. The Hog Bipe is really a pig and lands a little like one. Although I enjoy the heck out of the bipe, I found that its higher wing loading requires a little more speed on landing and still sometimes it just kind of flops down, you know what I mean. Solution was a Dubro fiberglass landing gear. The bipe is a blast to fly with the extra drag making it a not too fast sport aerobatic plane. I know I will always have one in my fleet.

Sgt Schultz

Gotta love it, a Hog off of the Enterprise, as per the blue tail feathers.
The one thing I can't make out is the side number. Is that 3-S-5? If I'm reading it right, the number designates a bomber from the Saratoga's scout bomber squadron second section. The red fuselage band designates the squadron CO, meaning the last number should have been a 1, rather than a 5. Now, with all that said, if I read the number wrong it just doesn't matter. Regardless, it's still a good looking bird

The squadron number is the first three digits of my AMA number, 325. This was my retirement gift from my fellow employees. When I built the kit, I decided to bash it into a sort of Stearman PT-17 and chose the colors accordingly without any attempt to make any more scale than surface outlines.

Sgt Schultz

Go ahead and throw tomatoes at me but I had a hog bipe and hated it. Way too heavy and flew like a dog. I always felt like it was fighting itself in the air. Just not enough lift or something. I had an OS .91 in mine which should be way more than enough power. It was also rickity. The aluminum center strut wasn't strong enough and the landing gear were too floppy as well. There was no reason to make the fuse out of plywood either. What a pork chop.

Now I also had a 15 year love affair with my astro hog. You could just breath on that elevator and it would climb all day long. Aerobatic as heck and would land kadet senior slow. Some idiot ran it through a telephone pole and shredded it into several easy pieces. I've got another kit waiting to hit the board.

carl