Supplied in the kit are 3 hardwood wing hold down blocks. The direction specify that there is 1 front, and 2 rear. The assembly instructions do not say what to do with the extra rear wing hold down block. Did anyone else run into this?

Thanks for your help.

Scot

Per your post. They gave 3 and the instructions tell what to do with the 3. Where's the extra in your post?????

I only see where the instructions tell you what to do with two of them. The parts list shows one front block and two rear blocks. I only could find use for one of the two rear blocks. Where does the other rear block go?

Scot

I'll have a look at mine this morning and the instructions to see if spot what your problem. I built mine about 3 years ago and don't remember.

Denis

I appreciate it. Compare the parts list at the beginning of the manual to the number of wing hold down blocks used.

What engine are you using? Did you get the fiberglass cowl? I am waiting for my cowl to arrive. The Saito 150 will not fit in the balsa cowl and I do not like the idea of having a cowl that is permanently attached to the plane.

One more thing. What servos did you use for elevator and rudder? How much power do I need there?

Thank you in advance.


Scot

Hi Scot

Here's some stuff I wrote up for another guy that will answer some of your questions.
I'm still going to look at the wing mounting instructions and servos.

Denis

I have both the small Balsa Nova and the large one. They are both great flying planes and my favorite planes to fly. Naturally the large one flies better than the small one. For a high performance plane it is very forgiving and lands better than anything I have. Dead sticks are easy because it maintains good control at almost any speed. This plane never does any thing ugly or surprising even with extreme abuse of the sticks.
There are no foam or plastic parts in the construction. It is built up and completely sheeted with 3/32 balsa. The fuselage is a continues structure from the tail to the spinner. The cowl is built up but then glued to the fuselage. I didn't like that because it's a nuisance for engine installation so I made the cowl a bolt on unit. I use a Super Tigre 2300 (1.4) and it's a tight fit. With the Moki 1.6 I think the fiber glass cowl available as an extra may be a must. The Moki motor mount could be a problem also. Unless it's small in the back it might cause you to have to drop the thrust line a little.
The canopy and turtle deck are an integral part of the structure of the fuselage. As a matter of fact a curved lamented beam runs from the front of the canopy to the to the tail across the top. They did this, I'm sure, because the plane is a mid wing and the part of fuselage under the wing is cut out from the fuselage and glued to the wing. I'm sure the beam is to get the lost strength back and provide a good load path.
The wing has no main spar through the center section. The too panels are built and butt glued together. I didn't like this but went with it because the amount of redesign necessary to change it. I did glass the top and bottom with 2 layers of 4 once cloth and have had no problems even with extreme maneuvers and about 150 flights.
The gear installation is too weak. When you look at the plans you'll see what I mean. I added a piece of 5/32 ply running from the first bulkhead to the firewall and both sides, on top of the built up fuselage bottom plate and gear mount. I didn't like that the first and second bulkheads (front of wing/ back of wing) were only 3/32 balsa so I doubled both of them with 3/32 ply.
The horizontal and vertical and the control surfaces are all built up except the ailerons. They are huge pieces of construction lumber. I was going to throw them away and build up the ailerons but instead I cut 13, 1 7/8 inch holes in each one with a hole saw.
The wing is mounted with 4 bolts. The kit came with 4 nylon 3 1/2 inch bolts. They weren't quite long enough for the front. Only about 3 threads of engagement so I used 4 inch stove bolts in front.
The hardware that came with the kit is so so. I used some and some I didn't. The kit doesn't come with pull- pull for the rudder but recommends it. It's a must.
I considered replacing all the 3/32 sheeting with 1/16 to get the weight down but didn't do it because of the risk of getting a wavy sheeting job. I made liberal use of sandpaper and came out at 10lbs. 10oz. with 2 ounces of lead in the tail. I've heard reports of this thing at 12 to 12.5 lbs. Maybe I just do a lot more sanding.
The ST2300 will pull this thing out of a hover and reach flight control speed going straight up, but not like a rocket. The Moki should make rocket launch out of it. The ground clearance provides plenty of room for big props.
If you get one I'm sure you'll love it

Thanks for the info. That is a good read. I did not double the glass on the center section of the wing although it crossed my mind.

With the ailerons, I got two mismatches parts. One weighed 2 oz and the other wieghed 5.5 oz. They sent another aileron that was about 2.25 oz so I was happy. I think the wood and die quality of this kit sux. There were many parts that you could not either pop out or figure out the actual line to cut due to the wood getting crushed instead of cut. I have a slight warp in both wings. With root being at 0, the center of each panel is washed in .2 degrees and the tip is washed out .5 degrees. I do not think it will adversley affect me. Not sure if this was due to the sticks not being straight or due to my building board.

As far as weight goes, with all my calculations, I think it may come in around 8.75 to 9.25 lbs with the Saito 150. I have a tuned pipe for the Saito to, but I will do the test flight without it.

I will look into reenforcing the landing block. I would hate for that to fail. I am considering remaking the landing gear to save weight. The original gear is so long at it could clear a 24" prop. I will only run 16-18" prop.

I am building the 80" versoin. Which did you build?


Scot

Hi Scot

OK the "2" must be a typo in the parts list. Only one rear hold down block is required. The instructions on page 20 alluding to only one rear block are correct. There are other errors in the parts list, mostly missing parts, at least in mine.

The wood and die cutting in mine were good, but it was an early kit. My wife bought it for me in about 97. I've heard that the die cutting on resent kits was bad. My wing came out straight and true no problems. I built the 72 inch because I didn't like all the splicing required to make the 80 inch. I joined the wings upside down and flat on the board so that the thickness taper would give a slight amount of effective dihedral.

On the rudder I used a Hitec 60588 in a push pull set up. The 60588 is a LARGE servo. On the ailerons I used two HS605 hi torqs. On the elevators two airtronics 94102s (normal cheapos).

The fuse was a struggle to keep straight because the planking wasn't perfectly matched in weight and grain. Using 8 combination squares as jigs helped and it came out straight.

I agree there should only be two blocks. Jut getting a sanity check. They did supply 3 though. This box must have been packed according the list on either page 2 or 3. Thanks for checking for me.

The fuse was tough to keep straight. While my fuse is pretty straight from front to back, if you place in on the building board, a square will not sit flat against the side of it in many places. I think it will be unnoticable though. I have the vertical and horizontal stabilizer squared to each other and inline with the wing.

As for the die cutting, I just received my kit for Christmas. I bet the original dies were used for this kit and they either need to be sharpened or need to move to all lasar cutting. Some of the parts in the kit are lasar cut now. The one nice thing about die cutting is you get to keep a template of your part for later repairs.

Still trying to figure out what colors to make it. I keep looking at other planes so I can steal a color scheme. I am stumped.

Once again, thank you for checking on that for me.


Scot

My Avatar is a picture of my BB120 and it's color scheme

The avatar is kind of small and hard to see. Can you add a 640x480 of it to your gallery?


Scot

This is them

Hi Scot

OK now I have an actual good photo in my photo gallery!!!

Denis

I have my plane in the gallery too. Just short of being covered.


Scot