Bill, I also have a N.I.B. Byron STA I am going to build this coming winter. I am vary interested in your wood replacement wing, rudder, and rear stab (replacing all the foam). I want to do the same thing, the foam just is not going to have the scale look I want. I will powering mine with a 3W 42cc engine with scale working exshast.
Do you have templets for these items yet?
lovehydro

Hi Vincent J and other STA-STM Builders:

Here are a few more photos of the full scale RYAN STM in Oklahoma City Wiley Post Airport.

I'll post what I can and send you the file if you would like. Send me your e-mail address if you would like a copy of the photo file. I also own the Harold Osborne Model plan Service, I'll send a listing to your e-mail address if you request it.

Ken Kehlet [email protected]

picture # 8, so much for no gap.
Ken

Nice pics! Is it normal for planes to leak oil like that? Thanks for the pics!

Ken those are some nice photos and they will come in very handy. Thanks!

Work on my Ryan has slowed down a bit, the club thatI fly athas a trainer that had sustained some damage to it and I was asked if Iwould put Humptdy Dumpty back together again, so there are two planes on my build table! However, I have made some progress. The main frame of the fuse sides have been pretty much glued up and I am very happy with the results. I will resume work on the Ryan in a day or two....

Photo #2

When placing the cross piecesthat attatch the left and right main frames together, I noticed an error in the plans (plate #3). In the photo below notice that some of the cross pieces occur only on the top and others only on the bottom. The crosspieces that are not identified for the top or the bottom only are placed on the top <u>and</u> bottom of the main frame. Have I confused you yet? Notice where my finger is pointing, you do not see and warning of placement position,if you assumed that this crosspiece would go in both locations you would be wrong, it on goes on theBOTTOM main frame only. Why didn't they label it on the plans like the others? I hope this may help others getting ready for this build.

When building the main frame take care to make sure everthing is true and square as this is the foundation of things to follow......

Sorry forgot the photo!

Photo #2

Photo #3

Glad to find this tread !! I too have a Ryan STA kit !! I love the old racers and also acquired the Great Planes version. Unfortunately I got discouraged with the SIG kit. Yes the bell cranks need to go(IMHO) and the home made aileron hinges are difficult to say the least ! The wing has no true spar that I could see [X(]..... I love the STA as you can tell by my login id !

Good luck and I think I'll pull the old kit out of the mothballs and follow along !

Ray

Ataboy Ray! I agree bellcranks need to go as well. They may have cut the mustard 40+ years ago but not today. The question I ask myself is if 40 years ago they had the means to put in separate servos and eliminate the bellcranks do you think that they would have still used them?

There are true spars on the wing Ray, but they are made from Balsa. I will be replacing the original Balsa spars with Spruce or Basswood.

Well the bell cranks do give it a clean look and the push rods are internal to the surfaces. Good idea in theory. Functional and dependable ? Another question all together.

Ray

I have a RYAN STA by Sig. It took forever to build it exactly the way it is shown in the plans. The bell cranks work just fine so why change a good thing? The only things that gave me some difficulty are the plastic parts like the cowling and wheel pants. It might be much easier to just purchase the fiberglass ones that are currently available. The flying wires were also problematic because the ones with the kit are aluminum and I did not know how to solder aluminum and I did not trust epoxy to hole them in the clevis'. I'll try to post a few photos of my Ryan; I flew it today.

I want to add that there is a Supertigre .90 (Italian) for power and all basic Futaba servos.

FCABARLE, very nice job on your Ryan.How long ago did you build it, and what did you cover it with? You should be proud of your work, I believe you when you say it took you a long time. It's not for faint at hearts to build. Does your Ryan exhibit any nose overs/ground loops?

YUP,

Bellcranks were the way to go even 30-40 years ago. Most of the servos were Slow, Expensive, large, Heavy, and you also had to have a Trim servos for your "MULTI" Channel R/C. But they did work, and were such an improvement over the rubber band powered escapements in the single channel models. Sometimes, a new set of batteries cost about the same as the kit including the engine.

Today, we have the advantage of the Space Age electronics with the 2.4 Ghz radios, the light weight servos that are small, powerful, and reliable. Now we can utilize two (2) servos for the Ailerons, at 1/2 the weight of the big old Servo designs, and have twice the reliability. I for one, enjoy the relaxed feeling of a totally reliable radio system instead of worrying about Aileron Failures due to BELLCRANKS coming loose inside the wing.

Ken AMA 1528 (Original number from 1948)

VJ, following your build with interest. I had one of these kits over 30 years ago and ended up selling it.....[]

OldScaleGuy, welcome. Maybe your interest will be renewed enough for you to seek out another kit on E-bay?

This morning I started to glue on the bottom formers (F-1B, F-2B, F-3B, F-4B and F-5B) to the main frame. I suppose there many ways to accomplish this but this is the method that I used. I have a piece of machined steel approximately 2 1/2" x 10" x 1 1/2" thick which I use quite often during building. Had it for so long I don't remember where I got it from. By butting up each Former to this piece I am assured that each Former is glued up at exactly 90 degrees to the main frame. I let the glue set-up for 20 minutes before I move on to the next Former. Slow but it works great, anyway who's in a rush were suppost to enjoy the journey!

Photo #2

Never any problems landing or taking off. This airplane flys like a trainer, slow and stable. I've never deployed the flaps on landing, the airplane floats when landing. The bellcranks work just fine and I would follow the plans if you are not an experienced builder, but if you are talented I might go with a servo for each airleron. My airplane is covered with monocote with exception of the tail feathers which are some kind of iron-on fabric and painted. The bottom of the wing has a check pattern. At the time the local hobby shop had only the smaller checks so I used it; I would have prefered the large checks like on the full scale airplane but no one has noticed the difference. It would have taken just too much work to cut squares out of the monocote and place them onto an all white covering under the wing. A lot of people have commented about how nice it flys and how neat looking the color scheme is.
Did I mention that I have two of these airplanes? The other is already covered; all in ultracote and it has the large checks under the wing. I have to install an engine. I have difficulty finding a muffler for it because the cowl is so narrow and I really did not want to alter the smooth lines by cutting holes for the muffler. On my first airplane I used a Tatone "muffler" with hoses to extend the exhaust out of the cowl. It works fine but the "muffler" is nothing but a header so its loud. Sorry, no pics of the engine and muffler at the moment. I'm anxious to see photos of your completed airplane.

Yes, we are supposed to enjoy the build. I like the steel block idea too, if my calculations are correct it weighs approx. 10.5 pounds, perfect for holding down the structure and keeping your formers square. I too use as much Titebond as possible, it is slower but it adds very little weight when dry, is very strong and much less cost than ca. The bellcranks are fine if they are set up slop free but personally, today, i would go with seperate servos.

Actually Bellcranks do serve a very useful purpose. I still use them, but secure them so that they cannot come loose. I use them when I need to change direction of a control rod and don't have the space available for a servo. Full scale airplanes used them too. Look at the aileron control on a Waco sometime.

Bill, Waco Brother #1

Found a few more errors in the plans and building instructions tonight. After all of the bottom formers were installed the instructions direct you to glue a 1/8" ply former (Z-1) to the front of the second F-1 former. OK... there is a nice schedule on Plan #3 that shows all of the Formers except - yes you guessed it Z-1 no biggie just annoying. The other mistake is that Z-1 is supposed to be 1/8" thick, the Z-1 ply is actually 3/32" not 1/8". Again no big deal just not acurate. Hopefully anyone building this model in the future will have this info.... Note: the side strigers are left long as I like to trim them all flush by sanding when they are all glued in place. Ply Z-1 is visable in the photo.

Photo #2