Its been a long Winter in Colorado. So long that I ran out of projects for my Winter builds. I've only been in the hobby for a year now with my first build being a Senior Telemaster last Winter. I powered it with a OS 61 and it flew well except that it had repeated issues with the stab breaking. It was also difficult to transport that long wing. The landing gear was real weak (probably as a result of my landings) and the fuselage design allowed for a fair amount of twist in rear of the fuselage.

So I decided to pull out the plans and build my ultimate Telemaster from scratch. The modifications I intended to make were the following;

Sheeted fuselage to increase the strength and remove the twisting.
Stronger stab.
Increased rudder and elevator.
Bolt on wing.
Two piece wing.
Stronger landing gear.
Gas engine.

Fuselage Enhancements
I wanted something a little different that the standard design so I changed the front end by removing the hatch and windshield area and wrap the top of the fuselage around the leading edge of the wing. To increase the strenght of the fuselage I used 1/4" balsa sheeted with 1/64" ply for the front half of the fuselage. The firewall was moved back 1.5" to accomodate the Fuji 24cc gas motor and ply formers replaced the balsa ones used in the kit. The top and bottom of the fuse was sheeted with 1/4" balsa and and extra longeron added on the sides. This approach removed all the possiblityof the fuselage twisting. Accomodations were made to have the rudder and elevator servos in the tail.

Stabalizer Enhancements
I think the biggest problem I had with my old kit and the stab constantly breaking was a result of soft balsa. The kit contained too soft of balsa which made the stablizer too weak. I decided to make the stab per the kit plans but I sheeted the leading and trailing edges of the stab and cap stripped the ribs to increase the strength.

Rudder, Elevator Enhancements
The rudder and elevator on the kit could use more area IMO. Rudder response and elevator response seemed soft to me when floating in for a landing. I increased the area of both the rudder and elevator by 15%. Hopefully its no worse than the original!

Wing Enhancements
I found several threads here on RCU regarding wing mods. I decided to make the wing two piece by taking the wing joiner and making in removable. I was worried about the stress of the joiner using the standard 1/4" ply joiner used in the kit. I made the joiner two bays longer than the original and added 1/8" balsa sheer webs front and back the entire length of the spar. I also increased the joiner to 1/2" thick ply. While I was at it I removed the bulk of the diehdral on the wing from the standard 4 degrees to 1 degree. To strengthen the wing I sheeted the leading edge and trailing edge and cap stripped the ribs. I also reduced the size of the wing by two bays. The bolt on wing enhancement used the hole and hook method mentioned in sevaral threads along with a nylon bolts at the trailing edge.

Langing Gear
Why is it that every plane I fly seems to have inadequate langing gear? It must be my landing technique! I flew my old Telemaster and rebent the gear after every landing. This time I'm solving this issue by putting a 3/16" thick aluminum gear under this bird along with a beefed up tail wheel.

Gas Engine
I'm standing at the LHS and I'm looking at this cute little Fuji 24cc. I'm thinking to myself that would be a perfect match for the Telemaster so I go ahead and buy it. I must say that it fit in there very nice. It is not electronic ignition which is fine for a plane like the Telemaster.

Hopefully some of you who are getting ready to build the Telemaster can use some of this information to bash your Telemaster. I know I got lots of good information from RCU threads so I thought I'd return the favor by documenting what I did.

Thanks, Jerry.

More Pictures

More Pictures

Nice job on the Tele. If you want some real building enjoyment, build the Giant. Great kit, and as is usual with the Telemastsers, a great flying plane.
Randy

Hey Randy. You may not remember me but I bugged you about the Giant. That was the second kit I built. I upgraded the Giant to a G62 this Winter. Take Care, Jerry.

Just wanted to say good work! For just being in the hobby 1 year, this project seems very ambitious. It looks like your thought process and execution was well thought out and sound. Please report back with flight results. Normally, adding that much weight to a plane without increasing wing area would make me nervous, but the Telemasters are such floaters that it probably will still be a very nice flying bird.

Erik

Hi: Hope I am replying to JBarnes! I am a Newbie to Model RC airplane and to FORUMS/Treads/Posts. I live just over the hill from you Montrose, co. ha-ha. I did not know that 2 RC forums existed, with almost identical names. RC Universe and RC Groups, I thought they were the same. I have been asking questions on the wrong Forum. Anyway after reading you’re Thread on 12/07 (GREAT PHOTOS) I am very confused about the Senior Telemaster I have been building. The STM I am working on has an 8ft. wingspan and 5ft. fuselage. You mentioned a larger STM? I thought I had purchased the largest one Hobby Lobby offered! Have you ever tried to patch the YELLOW covering with some other material (This self sticking @$^& is a real pain) When I tried to take the bubbles out with a heat gun I succeeded in getting most of the flaws out but in the process the stuff shrunk to far and exposed wood or I burned a couple of holes in the material. I tried to use the covering that came with the plane but only made matters worse. I would like to cover-up my mistakes but the instructions do not say what the color of the material is, I think it is "CUB YELLOW". I wish I had found your Treads before I stated on my STM, you have incorporated a lot of neat ideas in your model, which I think was a Kit not an ARF.
Thank You, Izk

izk,

Hobby Lobby makes a 12' kit version of the Tele. If you haven't seen it they have it on their site. It's simply massive! There are build threads here for that version.

Yes the "covering" sucks! If you have time, money, and some skill I suggest recovering the entire bird. Cub Yellow is fairly close but both Monokote and Ultrakote don't like to stick to this low temp covering. Honestly, if you don't have time or money get some clear packaging tape and cover those holes with round patches. This will hold it together for a while. I think I remember your in CO? Well...you have plenty of time to recover it! A 25' roll will cover the entire bird but just so.

Here is the link to my modifications to the ARF version that's sitting in my garage awaiting repairs.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_41..._1/key_/tm.htm

Hello Isk, I bashed a Senior and am currently building the Giant, my second one after my first broke a strut during a roll and piled in. The hobby lobby covering I have used in the past and would not use again. I'm a Ultacote guy myself. If you have the ARF version you can buy additional rolls of covering from hobby lobby to repair your bird. Let me know if I can help in any way. Jerry.

Hi Mike: Thank you for the reply. I think I will get up enough nerve to fly it first, and then if I do not crash it then I will re-cover it. I just joined the local RC club here in Montrose, Co. but they do not meet tell Jan.1-08. I am told they have members with transmitters that will connect with mine, to keep me from getting into trouble. I was going to purchase a flight simulator program but there are so many not sure if it is worth it.

izk,

Your a smart man for joining a club to learn. I'm sure someone at the field has a radio and a cord that will work with your transmitter. Beside learning to fly they should give your build a good look over before the first flight to make sure everything is in operating condition. If they don't then ask. It's always better to ask then to have a pile of balsa and an instructor who feels bad for busting up your pride and joy.

Have you broken in the engine yet? If not then I suggest you plan a trip to the field soley to do so. I say this because, depending on your engine brand, it may or may not want to run without some good break in time and that's not considering the temp. If you have an OS then bet on at least one tank running pig rich before I'd fly it. If it's a Tower then that's another story. Engine comments are just my opinion from 15 years of flying. I'm sure someone will jump on me about them.

Because you have the ARF version here are some things to keep a VERY close eye on.

1. Strut mounting blocks in the wing tend to come un-glued. The factory glue job, well, sucks. If these fail and you get into some agressive moves the wing could fold.

2. The entire tail structure is very weak so keep a look out for more movement in the tail then your use to seeing. When I peeled the covering off of mine it had cracked across the top sheeting just behind where the wing sits. The weight of the tail would cause the crackes to open up when you picked the model up at the CG.

Both of these reasons are good reason to recover the bird. Go ahead and fly her until you learn but plan on some down time in the future if you plan on keeping it.

Don't be to worried about crashing until you start learning to land. Most new pilots get all worked up and worried about crashing which give a tough mental block. Airplanes don't just fall out of the sky as soon as the instructor hands you the controlls. The Tele is a very gental and slow flyer. Im sure you will do fine.

IZK: I built a Senior from a kit so it's structurally sound. I doubt you'll be putting any real stress on the frame until you are further along in the hobby so it should be fine. As long as you make sure it's properly balanced and has the designed control throws I think you'll find it a piece of cake to fly, very docile. I also have the 6 foot version still unbuilt and I plan to thoroughly modify it during construction. Not that it needs it, it's just a fun thing to do (:-).

MIKE: It's somewhat amazing to me that ARFs continue to be so popular. The forums are full of complaints about shoddy workmanship and cheap materials yet sales continue to be brisk.

My first Telemaster was built from a kit also but a mistake by me lead to it's demise due to a wing failure. Note to self....don't make wing spars out of anything but solid wood. Even heavy ply isn't strong enough without wing struts.

Both of my ARF's were given to me as a gift by a member of this board. I will agree that there could be major improvements to the design and construction but that would raise the price. If you picked one up on sale then I'd say it's worth it.

Factor in the total cost of getting the kit version off the ground and you will find out quick why the ARF is so popular and that's not counting the time and labor. It cost more then 60 bucks just to cover the thing and that's for one color!

Kit 110
Covering 60
misc hardware 30
Wheels 20
glue 20

Hi Jerry: Thank you for the reply. I have an idea for my struts. I build fly fishing rods as my other hobby. These are scraps of fly rod material that I have left over. They are lighter than the wood struts sent with my STM . They are hollow so a bent metal rod could be epoxy into them. They would be 10 times stronger than the wooden struts. If you send me your address I would mail you 2 of each of the sizes in the attached photos. You can send me your address at [email protected] if you do not want to send it on this post.

Mike: Thank you! I have entered your suggestions in my "REVIEW BEFORE I FLY" notebook. "WITH GREAT BIG STARS BESIDE EACH" !!!

DON: Thank you for the reply. As I mentioned to Jerry I plan to build my struts out of cut off Fly Rod material (my other hobby is building fly rods). The fiberglass flyrod is 100 times stronger and lighter than the wooden struts in the kit. I built inserts, like I saw on your post, and epoxyed them in. I took plyers and tryied to pull out the insert and could not. The fly rod scraps also bend a small amount under stress, kind of like when I have a 3lb rainbow trout on, but will not break.