Marc,

That's one reason (vertical) that I'm looking at using my Magnum .61. But the main reason is, it's been sitting around for a year or more doing nothing and it's a good running engine... might as well put it to work...

My mind is always thinking about the end product and what color scheme to use... I'll keep those stripes in mind if I need them... sounds like you're happy with them.

----

[8D]
I ordered my LED's for my lighting system last night from a company called "Super Bright LED's". Think I'm going to wire the Nav lights to a regular old switch on the side of the fuse and the landing lights to either the flaps switch or an aux switch on my radio... hmmmmm. All these decisions!!!!!!

Keith

You better be careful using those nav and landing lights. YOu start flying at night and you see for sure that: "gravity IS a real bad itch."

Thanks for the hint on 1/16" striping. I have used 1/4" on my Alpha 60 and it has held up very well. No trouble at all.

I can't wait to get started on the Contender. I really like the way you did the rudder and elevator. Do you think the additional area added to the elevator will increase sensitivity too much? I think the additional area on the rudder will be a benefit in some maneuvers.

Will the Contender do good "Knife Edge"?

More picking your brains, later.

821369

Well... not going to be flying at night... just sometimes I get to flying pretty late and after take off I realize it's darker than I thought. So I figure the extra wing tip lights will help on that "ooopppss this is too dark to fly" landing. lol


As far as the rudder or elevator being too sensative, I figure I'll just dial up the expo until it feels right.... I hope.?

Keith

I can just see it now: People all over town reporting seeing a buzzing UFO. lol

As I've said before, I am just learning to fly. Maybe 5 10 minute flights to date. Work makes it so hard for me to get to the field. (26 miles away). I am using a 8103 with my trainer and I dialed in 20% expo, but my instructor said no. He wanted me to learn with no expo for now. He did not want me to get used to "throwing" the stick around on a trainer and then when I got to the Contender or Super Decathlon having a hard time. He said they would appear super sensitive.

I listen to him, because he has demonstrated that he is a very capable flyer. Even those in our club who fly at competitive meets respect him and the advice he gives.

I know he will encourage me to use expo and dual rates when he thinks I am ready on my other two. (When I get them built)

Fortunately, my second job (home business) will slow down until spring, and the weather here is nice on some weekends throughout the fall and winter. So, I'm just biting my nails and going when I can. I want to solo this winter.

That's cool.... Your instructor is giving you good advise. When you're learning you don't want a bunch of other things (switches to monkey with, etc...) distracting you. You'll find the time and place to use all those fancy switches when you're comfortable just flying and landing... not to mention the fact that expo and dual rates are pretty much useless on most trainers anyway.


I do have a friend that does fly in the dark with a chopper... pretty neat to watch.

Hey guys,

The more and more I watch this plane fly, the more I wondering if I might want to build one this year? Decision, Decisions....But if I did, I would have to go with a 60 in this plane, but then again my Super Sportster 60 has a 75 (but she's a little heavy... fiberglass and we'll let's say more epoxy than I would like to admit).

Well just to keep you guys motivated and also to exclaim to the world that PERFECT flying weather has finally arrive here in the Desert. About 85 today, visibility around say ... 60 miles, just a light wind of about 2 Mph from the west and not a cloud in the sky. Pictures of the the father's Contender and one pass with "Red-12" which I had out today.

Marc,

Ole Red looks great in the air, you've been very persistent with that bird and it appears to have paid off. I watched your YAK build very closely and it's great to see some photo's of it in the air.
Our weather here has been kinda rough this weekend a little much on the wind side for my liking, so I haven't been able to fly.

On the Contender side, I don't know what happened but I just couldn't seem to get the gussets cut right for the horizontal stabilizer!. I finally had to resort to cutting index cards to get the right angles. I really struggled and was not to proud of it but finally got the gussets cut to my liking.

I really like using plastic drop sheet instead of wax paper to cover the plans. I saw where RCKen had suggested plastic drop cloth instead of wax paper and I really like the results.
No more picking wax paper off the structures any more, that's a relief

Regards
Mike

I also know that Great Planes makes a roll of plastic plan covering material. Looks like clear monokote and priced almost the same. I think I'll try the plastic as well. Wax is ok for alphatic and epoxy, but CA binds a little.

Are you using a drop cloth from someplace like Home Depot and just cutting it into sheets? What are you using for a building board?

Marc,

I purchased some regular old plastic drop cloth from my area dollar store. Every time I've used wax paper it's just not worked out. Regardless, of which side of the wax paper I used it would always seem to stick to my glued structures.

For a building board, I've been using my bench top for small items. When it comes to fuselage and wing, I'll be breaking out my old hollow core door on my "level" dinning room table. The dinning room table was meant for building and not eating

Regards
Mike

Mike,

Heck, I never worry about "Level" just as long as it's straight, besides, if your building board leans a few degrees to the right, then all the excess glue runs to one side of all of your ribs, cuts clean up in half .

Somebody help me out here... for nav lights the red goes on the left side and the green on the right??? I think this is correct.

Red on left, green on right. Or Red Port, Green Starboard.

here is my contender.

Hi fellows: I finally got the building board today. I will start my Contender this next week. We have a club fly-in tomorrow.

jrbmoto, great looking plane. I like the color scheme. It looks a little complicated for me. This will be my first complete build and covering job. I noticed you went with the straight wing. Why? and how does it fly? What engine are you running?

I hope you will follow this thread and along with the other Contender owner-builders, will help me along. Again, thanks for the pic. Hope my turns out somewhere close to that good.

Jim
AMA 821369

i was just replying to the post about a conttender w/o wing tips i have a contender that is a tail dragger and has super-tiger .61 and no wing tips and it has a tendancy to tip stall

Tip Stall??? really??? I've never seen a plane with a constant chord airfoil like the contender tip stall. Now I have seen an Extra 300 or two tip stall on final turn [:@] and it was ugly [:'(].

As far as my build is going, I'll try to post a picture or two soon... been busy getting the home front ready for old man winter [>:]. I've got the ailerons and flap built and the only thing left on the wing is the tips, lights and a bit more sanding. Soon I'll be starting on the fuse. [8D]

What a good thread this is!

I've got my wing covered last nite, but still need to add the decoration, ailerons and flaps etc. As per previous posts I left the wing tips of completely. I added 1/32 ply to last rib to stiffen it up for the covering. The monokote still pulled in the rib. Although I will leave it as is if any other builders are considering chopping the tips you'll need a stiffer rib. I'd recommend 1/16 ply or add a 1/4 balsa stringer inside, both top and bottom, of the rib.

That fuse will be a challenge to cover.

Tip stall thoughts. Ed moormans web page has an article on wing tips. I just looked at it again. The best tip to reduce outward flow is and end plate, a simple oversized rib glued flat against the last rib. Next best was a chopped tip then some others the worst being a rounded tip. I will probably try one of those end plates after I have some flight experience with the chopped tip.

Progress will likely be slow until after Thanksgiving as guest are coming and the list on the refrigerator grows nearly everyday. I'll post some pics when I get the wing finished out.

Scott

Scott,

Sounds like you're rounding the corner to having a finished plane... Do you think you'll be in the air before christmas? Because I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the chopped tips. [8D]

I believe I'll finish before Christmas.

Hey guys,

Can't wait to see some more pictures. Was out flying this morning. For the first hour at the field this morning there were 7 planes. My Yak-3, an Uproar 40, a Piper Cub, an electric foamy and 3 Contenders! The oldest was about 7 years old, but still flying great. Everyone that I know with this plane absolutely loves them!

OK all you Contender lovers,

I'm just about ready to start building mine and I am considering mounting the engine almost inverted (cylinder at about the five-o-clock position) to get the center-line of the tank closer to the needle valve level. So my question is would this be necessary? It just seems to me that with the upright engine and the tank located as shown on the plans, the motor will go too lean when the fuel runs low at the end of the tank. BTW, I'll be using a ST .51 with a home-made mousse-can muffler.

Besides that, with the chin cowl/mock air-scoop underneath it seems the perfect place to hide the motor.

I welcome all comments and advise.

Thanks!

I built mine with the engine upright and haven't experienced any engine leaning with low fuel. Mine is powered with the O.S. 46 FX.

DaveB

Thanks for the reply Dave,

What does yours weigh? How is the performance? I'm going to try to build mine as lightly as possible, that's why I chose the ST .51--it's a .40-sized motor.

I think tank position is important in fuel delivery but I have been centered, below and above the needle valve. If your within in inch of center I feel your OK. The further one gets from center makes performance differ when manuvering. The difference in fuel delivery from full to empty should be about the same regardless of tank postion, since the change is only related to level change. However if you are 1" above centerline with your tank on the ground, then go inverted, now your 2" below center.

I do not like upright engine mounts because it is not attractive. I generally go side mount, good performance needle valve is accessible and hard to flood. Plus it looks better.

made a typo. I meant your level now drops 2" because now you are 1" below center