Stephane,

Any more progress?

Yes, I have some more progress, I'm nearly finished in fact, if I can just through all the delays. This morning I had to rebuild all four of the servo hatches in the wing. The initial hatches had the servos mis-aligned with the control horns, created excessive binding. I built new hatches, and now I'm waiting for the paint to dry. After this, I poke some holes in the cowl for the muffler, place the receiver and battery in the plane, balance everything, and finally have a maiden flight.

I'll get up some half a dozen new pictures on my website, should be there in about half an hour or so.

Stephane,

Your kit has come out so well I have ordered one. It looks like a lot of work but your results are great!

I might use foam cores for the tail to save some headaches.

It is a lot of work, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I went the fiberglassing route as an experiment, but if you go with fabric you could make it even more scale (mine at this point is fun-scale).

Make sure you post some pictures of your progress!

Skypilot_one:

I want to warn you of something before you start building.

I finally put on my cowl on yesterday evening. It doesn't fit. I have a OS 46FX and I bought a bisson muffler's inverted straight muffler. As you probably know, the Chipmunk has a very narrow fuselage. Well, up front where the engine sits, it's only 9cm wide! that means that you have no choice but mount the engine inverted. In the end I had to cut out a fairly large hole out of the side of the cowl to get it to fit.

In the beginning I was fairly sure the hole would be very small, that only a small amount of the muffler had to stick out. But as time went on, I realsed I had to cut more and more to get the cowl to fit. Had I known before-hand that the bisson muffler would not fit I would have kept the original OS stock muffler. I think the hole in the cowl to clear the muffler would have been more aesthetically pleasing!

Anyway, I'll post some pictures this evening so you can see what I mean. Also, I think with a 4-stroke engine it would fit perfectly.

Stephane,

Thank you for the heads up. I will be installing my well used saito 91, inverted. I'm still waiting for the kit to arrive, should be by Monday.

It's a shame you had to cut up your cowl. You did a nice job on the paint.

Here are the final pictures...

The worst part is that the gaping hole in the cowl would have been so much better had I just used the stock muffler with the OS 46FX. I initially thought the hole would be smaller, but I would try to fit the cowl.. then cut, try again, then cut some more....

In the end even the muffler's 'tube' didn't fit inside the cowl. It looks worse in the picture though.

I just finished my Chipmunk 50 I have doubts about what engine to use? a OS 0.46 will be OK? need some expert hints Thanks....

I would recommend a 4-stroke to minimize muffler size. Who makes the Chipmunk 50?

Received the kit a few weeks ago, it looks good but the box of parts is heavy for a plane this size. I'll try to weight the wood to see if I can replace some with lighter stock. I haven't started it yet, physical ailment jamming me up.

SaviCatses,

Do you have a final weight? How does it fly?

This Chipmunk weighs about 9 ounces before covering, at 340 sq in. It is 42 ounces, ready to fly, with a 10 cell electric set-up for power.

I don't think converting it to glow would add much to it.

I don't think anyone has converted one to glow yet, but it could be done, without adding too much reinforcement.





Ron Daniels

Great photo. nice job

Sorry for the lack of updates, imminent wedding blocking my time with airplanes!

The chipmunk ended up bieng 8 pounds total. It flies really nice (only flew it once as of now), but I need to do some repairs. I built the tailwheel as in the instructions - not stearable. HUGE mistake. The plane immediately pulls to the left whenever I try taking off, and even a tiny breeze spins the plane, no amount of rudder corrects this tendency.

On the other hand, once in flight, the rudder has a huge amount of yaw, I suppose it's just a matter of getting enough airflow over the rudder. and when trying to taxi, the airflow just isn't there.

So now I have to figure out how to connect that tailwheel to the rudder.

Also, don't forget - I got 8 pounds total, but I fiberglassed and used tremclad paint (rattle can), and I have 4 servos (2 for ailerons, 2 for flaps) in the wings instead of only 1 for ailerons via bellcranks.

Have you had time to get any more flights in on your Chipmunk?

I just finished my first plane, it is a LT 40. I have not flown yet but I joined a club last fall and hope to be learning this spring. The LT 40 came good but I don't like the looks of the covering. I used Ultra cote. The covering job came nice but I don't like the looks of the frame showing and seams. I just bought a Sea Fury which is all covered with balsa. My question is is there any other covering I can use. I have researched using fiberglass but cannot find good instructions or where to bye the material. I would like to paint this model to scale.


Mike V

SaviCatses,

If you can't make it turn with the rudder, try securing the tailwheel to a central position with springs or rubber bands. It will turn when you need it to, but will resist other inputs.


BTW, I've built a second Chipmunk over the winter, in an "Art left his plane out in the sun too long" colour scheme. Sorry about the low res. No good picutures yet.





BTW, F/G is the way to go for sheeted surfaces, in my opinion. It can look like metal, it lasts very well, and it can be quite light.

The Tempest Mk V on my web site is done this way, and is, by far, the most realistic-looking plane I own.

Aerospace Composites, Dan Parsons, or Sig can hook you up with 0.58 glass cloth. I like Zepoxy finishing resin for the resin. It doesn't stink TOO much, it is easy to squeegy off the excess for a light finish, and it sands easily.



Ron Daniels

I am getting ready to start a Chipmunk kit. Mine is a Carl Goldberg rather than an airsail. How does the CG compare to the Airsail kit?

I believe the Goldberg would be an easier build. Airsail uses a lot of plastic parts that require painting. They alos like to use bellcranks in the wings. I did not, but used servos in each wing. I did not install flaps. It also is designed for a non-steerable tail wheel. Take a look at what I did. I have a rod going all the way through to the rubber.

Here the tail photo. Best of luck.

Let's try again..seem I can't load the correct photo.

I finally got around to getting better pictures of my new Chipmunk. Now all I need to do is finish up the canopy frame painting, and a few other details before flying season hits....













Ron Daniels