Pilot232,
Cool - I'm always interested in seeing other takes on common interests.
I see you're in my old stomping grounds - I grew up living in Deer Valley and later lived in Tempe.
When I lived in AZ, I was big into RC boat racing in Scottsdale. I didn't start flying until I moved to WI and found there was really no interest (or calm water) in the area for race boats. But the airfield located 5 min. from my house sealed the deal to start flying!

Krossk,

I used to hanger my full scale 172 at Deer Valley airport. My Tiger is going to be powered by a Magnum .91. It will be side mounted with a balsa built up cowl. The tail feathers have all be changed with the primary difference being that the vertical tail has no sweep and twice the rudder area. No dihedral to speak of (only enough to not look droopy on the ground, about 1/4 inch), wingspan of 68 inches. It will be a tail dragger with wheel pants. My Tiger 60 ARF had a Saito .91 and it was not over powered at all. Pictures to come.

Warm Regards,

Travis

Finally - progress to share!
Pic #1-Rudder covered in Ultracote Charcoal Pearl
Pic #2-Bottom of left wing partially covered in Ultracote White and Neon Orange
The next step will be to add the Charcoal Pearl to the uncovered region and trim with Ultracote Silver.

Very nice covering work there krossk! Glad that you're finishing yours up. I'm curious to hear how it flies with the mods you did to it.

Thanks - I'm really trying to get this one finished up by early summer so I can enjoy it this season.
But I have been known to take as long to cover a model as I spend building it!

Latest covering pics - just doesn't do the neon orange and charcoal pearl justice...

Krossk,

Looks pretty good.

I just ordered a new one from Tower on Friday. I hope to do a quick build on her and get her in the air before too long. I miss having a Tiger to fly!


Tom

That is a super job on the covering! Well worth the wait!!![)]

Has anyone experimentented with Flaperons on the tiger? i have finnaly figured out how to program my radio for more than the basics. Give me a break i am new too all this. So I can make Flaps out of the Ailrons but not sure if anyone has... i know she already flys in pretty gracefull and would be over kill but just wondering.

They would be kinda cool to play with but with the Tiger 60, you won't need them...
This plane is so forgiving, tracks so well on take off, and lands just as well. IMO, the
flaperons would be more use in a plane that must be landed much hotter than the Tiger, IMO.

Got my new kit yesterday. Unfortunately, the tail end of both fuse sides were snapped off about where the vertical stab enters the fuse. (Which is about where my tail snapped off causing the loss of my last one!!) I'll be on the phone with Tower today to have new ones shipped.


Tom

The "weak tail" or "tail wiggle" that the Tiger 60 is know for.....is actually NOT caused by the the stab or fin surfaces.

The actual cause is the lightening hole in the BOTTOM of the fuselage, imediately in front of the tail ( the reamost lightening hole in the fuse bottom)

The fin and stab are actually quite strong, and up to the task....but the last lightening hole in the fuse bottom allows the bottom rear of the fuse to "rack" back and forth. ( in Engineering terms, it is an "untrussed parralellogram" )

2 popular methods to permanently fix the problem....

1. ( for unbuilt Tiger 60 kits ) For people who are just now building their fuselage......DO NOT "PUNCH OUT" THE LAST LIGHTENING HOLE IN THE FUSE BOTTOM....Instead, permanently glue-in the "wood saver" piece by running a bead of thick CA all around the laser cut line.....and just leave it ( the wood saver ) in place.....Presto no "tail wiggle"

2. Tiger 60's that are already built from kits or ARFs......Remove the monokote covering from the last lightening hole in the fuse bottom......WITH THE GRAIN GOING SIDEWAYS, ( 90 degrees to the fuselage ), cut a piece of 3/32" or 1/8" balsa to overlap ( bigger by 1/8" to 1/4" all around ) the entire INSIDE shape of the lightening hole. Glue the "crossgrain" "hole filler" INSIDE the fuse bottom...completely covering up the lightening hole from the INSIDE...run a bead of CA ALL AROUND the joint....Recover the area with monokote....Presto...no more "tail wiggle"

Try it....you will be amazed at the difference in the stiffness of the rear fuse.

Good luck.

Bwolfgang,

Thanks for the tip on the tail wiggle. I took your advice and glued that last piece permanently into the hole.

The other significant mod I did is to rotate the engine so the muffler hangs underneath the fuse and points straight to the ground, and then put a cowl on here. Here are some current photos. I still need to build the tail structures, sand everything, cover, etc. Think I'm going to cover in all white, and then paint on the pattern.


Tom

And she's ready to roar!!! Weighing in at 8 LBS 10 OZ. I balanced her side to side before I covered her. Just finished putting her together and checked front to back and she balanced perfectly without adding any additional weight. My receiver pack is two A123 cells from a DeWalt pack connected in a 2S1P configuration and mounted right behind the firewall.

The only real mods are the cowl, which made me rotate the engine, and I took out all but about 1 inch of dihedral.

Maiden is planned for tomorrow morning! Perfect timing for a Patriotic Tiger!

Here are some shots.



Tom

Man, that is one GREAT covering job!!!!! Looks FANTASTIC!!

Awesome - I'm eagerly awaiting a detailed flight report!

'Tis a dark and stormy night...

However, this morning was gorgeous!! Made a quick stop by the LHS to pick up some props. Got to the field, reamed out a new prop and modified the spinner to fit over it. Got her all fixed up, checked the controls. Had to do some tweaking there. Also turned out to have all three flight controls reversed!! Once those were fixed, I ran a tank of fuel through the engine at full throttle, moving the mixture back and forth somewhat like OS recommends for breaking in a new engine. Filled her back up, put her on the ground and taxied out.

Wind direction was variable, but typically straight down the runway from left to right, and speed varied from dead calm to maybe five MPH. Slow enough to pretty much be negligible. I taxied down to the right end of the runway, turned her around and chopped the throttle. Taking a few seconds to build up my nerves, I then advanced the throttle. She rolled straight down the runway with very little rudder correction. Maybe a hundred feet, bounced a time or two, then gradually leaving the ground behind, a nice straight, level climb!

I took her on up to altitude and played around for a while. A few loops, some rolls, even a bit of inverted flight. Then realized I hadn't even tried trimming anything yet. I did have to use quite a bit of back stick to keep the nose up. So, I started clicking in up elevator, finally winding up with level flight at about eighteen clicks. Absolutely no rudder, nor aileron, trim was required!!

Brought her back around and made a landing approach. She came in pretty hot, but one of the sweetest landings I've ever made. Taxied over to the side of the field and hit the throttle kill switch and she went silent.

Best maiden flight I've ever made! And followed by four more flights just like it. Did a lot of inverted and a lot of straight up. Once the engine is broken in and peaked out, I might actually get unlimited climb out of her! I tried to get her to stall and she wouldn't. She'd just idle across the sky as happy as could be. Based upon that and the hot landings, I'll probably take a click or two out of the throttle.

All told, I'm extremely happy with her. I've now named her "My Colors" because of the stars and stripes theme, and being the patriotic guy I am, I enjoy flying "my colors".



Tom

Oh, and thanks for the compliments guys!

myself like krossk got busy working on my jets over the winter. i need to get the t 60 back on the bench. i have everything to finish her, except time. i hate when i get to many irons in the fire...

Well, I may not actually get her finished this season (at least at my current pace), but I'm determined to keep making forward progress!
I've managed to obtain a couple of hours this weekend to finish the bottom of the wing.
(Woops - disregard the filename watermark on the photos - forgot to turn that off when resizing them...)

Krossk,

Looks great!! Straight lines are sooo much harder to do than the random curves I did. I suspect I'll be doing a lot more flames in the future.

Went to the field today and got four more flights on her. Still flying great. A couple of rough landings that stopped the engine, but kept her shiny side up!

Decided that I'm going to try installing a smoke system. Ordered the TME SmartSmoker Simple Smoke Pump from Tower today. It'll be a month before I get it installed, but should prove interesting, IF I can get some decent smoke out of her.


Tom

I don't know about that - I cut all the silver striping with a straight edge and that was a piece of cake.
But the cruves in the corners were a real pain in the rear!

I'm really anxious to get this project finished - it seems like every kit takes longer than the last one. I'm already at 20 months and counting... The sadder part is that it's been since last October since I've had a plane in the air[&o][&o]

That should be interesting - How do you think that will affect the flying weight and overall performance?

The pump system is 3.6 OZ. The only other things I'll need are a smoke tank (filled), battery, and a nipple installed on my muffler. I'll run it from a two cell lipo. Based upon what I've been reading, I'll put in a tank to carry about 4 oz of smoke. My last T60 weighed in several pounds heavier than this one and flew great. So, I think she'll do okay.

One of the nice things is I'll be able to remove it simply enough. I'll leave the hose in place and just plug the end. The battery, pump and tank will all be fastened together and wrapped with foam that'll make it a nice fit inside the fuse, right above the wing CG. The only thing I'll need to do to install is connect the hose and plug in to the gear channel of my receiver.



Tom

OK. Total noob builder question...

I'm in the early stages of building the fuse of my Tiger .60

The plans show the kit using wooden pushrods for the elevator and rudder. However, the kit came with metal pushrods and tubes.

What is the preferred method for running these?

- Running the pushrod down the side of the aircraft and have it exit the fuse on the same side as the servo

- Having the pushrod cross somewhere near the tail and having it exit the fuse on the opposite side of the servo?

Thanks in advance! This is a great thread! Picked up a lot of tips.

Mark

Mark,

I rather surprised at the metal push rods and tubes. Are you sure that isn't just the throttle push rod? This is my third Tiger build, on Tiger II and two T60s. All three had the wooden push rods.

As for preferences, I thought about using carbon fiber instead of the wood, but finally just opted to use the wood that was provided. I'm inclined to think that they are easier than doing the tubes. If you do do the tubes, make sure you get them well anchored to the formers so they don't flex.


Tom