Red,
That is what I was thinking, as far as using flaps on the SSE. I have a buddy whom flies CL stunt and his planes can do a lot of wild aerobatics that we can only think of with RC, a R/C plane doing F2b stunts, now we are talking! The more I thought about the reduction of control authority in hover the less it mattered because if I not all that interest in hovering an airplane. Your post cemented my original idea of adding flaps to this plane, thanks for the info.

I added some pictures from the other night which show the detail of the ribs. You might note the top spar is installed already, that is because of the typical I beam shear web setup I chosen to use a two sided box type of web and spar assembly. The reason for this is two fold it adds a lot of torsional strength as well as allowing for a better glue bond area between the webbing and the spar. I am using 1/16 balsa for each side of the shear web instead of the normal 3/32 thick stock that is normally used, so I will not be adding all that much weight considering I am adding a total of 1/32 of an inch to total thickness.

Red

That's one sweet looking SSE! I'm sure there's another one in my not so distant future - it will definitely have a set of flaps on her.

-MA

Nice SSE!!! I've been considering one for some time... I have a couple quick questions.

1. I noticed you used pin hinges. Could you tell me more. Size, brand, etc. Looks like you used 4 on each aileron, 3 on each flap.

2. Looks like you have all for servos connected the same, the "inside" arm of the servo is connected to the flap or aileron. I presume you're using a Y cable on the aileron servos, then each flap servo on its own channel, then letting the radio sort it all out?

3. Reinforcing wires on the stab/rudder? Is that a mod?

TIA

Lyndon

Sorry, I don't know the brand. They may be German Kavan ones.

All four servos are connected to individual channels. No Y cables are used. In that way I have full freedom to do any mixing I want, e.g., elevator-flap mixing, crow, flaps with drooping ailerons, and aileron to flap mixing for those times when I want maximum aileron response.

No, it's according to the plan. With the exception of the flaps and the tail wheel (Du-Bro) it is a standard SSE.
The covering is Monokote Pearl Red and Pearl White.

Red B,

You are using 4 channels for your ailerons and flaps, may I ask what type of radio setup are you using to control this plane. I have a Hitech 7 channel, and I do not think it will work for this type of setup, perhaps it will but I have little knowledge of computer radios, or their programing, other than the most basic of setups. from what I have seen the Hitech has limited mixes and assignment you can do to each channel.
Perhaps you can suggest a Radio setup that I can program in such a manner, or advise on how to do it with my current radios .

I used an old 8 channel JR 388s Tx. I forgot to write that each elevator half was connected to different channels as well. In that way I could use "tailevator" mixing, i.e., the elevators works together as ailerons as well as elevators. FYI, that is a waste of channels as it provides very little extra aileron authority.

I dont know about your Hitec, but probably there are a couple of pre-defined mixers for elevator-flap mixing and perhaps crow mixing that you can use together with Y-cables. IMHO the most essential mix with the SSE is the elevator-flap one, i.e., when the elevator goes up the flaps move down and vice versa. Anyting extra is the icing on the cake :-).

Sadly my SSE is no more. I had a serious case of brain-fade that caused its demise. However, I have a new kit waiting to be built ASAP.

Red B.

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.
The flap/elevator mix of the type used in control line stunt is what really made me to go ahead with the adding of flaps. I have a friend whom is into CL stunt and the response of his airplanes to control input is amazing. My Hitech has a few options for mixing but to be honest I am going to have to sit down with the manual to figure it out. There really does not seem to be an easy way to assign multipul channel mixing but I am probably wrong. I have only been back into flying R/C for 3 years now after a long absence and computer radios are still fairly new to me. Although this might be a good excuse for a spectrum radio with lots of channels, that will get me into some trouble with the wife I am sure.

If your 7 channel Hitec Tx is an Eclipse it appears that it is possible to arrange an elevator-flap mix.
See page 23 in the [link=http://www.hitecrcd.com/product_file/file/111/ECLIPSEQPCMmanual.pdf]manual[/link].

Thanks Red B.

My radio is indeed an Eclipse I will have to check out page 23, as I said before I have only used the most basic of the control functions of the radio. I have to take the time to fully understand what you can do with these new radios, I have not needed any of the options they offer thus far. It will be nice to fly a sport plane and avail myself of all of the bells and whistles that you have with the new radios today.
Now off to glue some more balsa....

Some more pictures, notice the notch on the rear spar where the ribs join to them,and another with the shear webs are installed

Well got the servo mounting rails installed and I am now ready to sheath the top of the wing. When all was said and done I have moved the mass for the servos inboard by 8 inches. The mass of the servo has been moved from 11 ½ inches from the axis to 5 ½ inches. I am curious as to how that will affect the roll response???

I also manage to glue up the aileron for the left side, so at this point all of the internal structure of the wing is built. I had thought about installing blocking to support the aileron pull/pull guide tubes, but opted instead to use fairing on the guide tubes to secure the tubes to the sheathing after it is installed. There is more than enough room to fish them through the wing after it is sheathed and secure them to retainers near the servo mounts. Both of the servos and linkage will be accessed by a hatch installed on the lower side of the wing, which will be installed after the top is sheathed and the wing can be flipped over to have the bottom sheathing installed.

Keep up the good work.. I keep hoping SIG will come out with a 60 sized SSE, but even if they don't, the 40 size version is on my wishlist...

Work continues, on the wing panels left wing is sheathed and the right wing is framed up and ready for sheathing. If you look closely you will see the blocks added for the hinge point mountings. Given that I up sized the rear spar/aileron mount they may well be overkill but I added them anyhow. In the course of this build I have made the decision that the ailerons need to be shaped to fit the contour of the airfoil better. In order to do that I will be adding a carbon fiber rod to the rear of the Aileron/Flap sections that will be used as a guide to sand the ailerons to shape before a 1/32 thick sheathing is applied to them, to which the carbon fiber veil will be applied after. Given the stressed skin construction I am looking to do this should not adversely effect the overall strength of the aileron or flap pieces, and remove a lot of weight and drag that I would have had with the slab ailerons. The best part of this is that now I am closer to being able to start on the construction of the fuselage, to which I intend to make many modifications to enhance overall performance as well as add side area ahead of the COG in order to improve Knife edge performance. A good portion of the added side area will be due to the inverted engine mounting, full cowl and hot air exhaust that will be added to the lower forward portion of the fuselage. As Red B. said in a post regarding the knife edge performance on a thread asking about Something Extra Mods. the real solution is to add side area rather than just increasing fin and rudder area which is a stop gap solution to the problem.




One additional note.

In the manual they say that when the top of the wing is sheathed and removed from the board it is easy to twist. I am not sure if it is the boxed spar, additional framing for the servo mounts, or the full sheathing; but the left wing is very stiff and resist twisting. Now I still intend to support the wing as they instruct in the manual when applying the bottom sheathing, I am very pleased at how rigid the wing is even befor the bottom sheathing is in place and how light it feels.

Finished up gluing skins together and am now sanding before sheathing wings.

In the meantime, I have sketched out the rough side view of the cowl and cooling exhaust. This arrangement will add approximately 16 inches in side area to the fuselage, most of which is ahead of the stock COG. While I am fairly sure this will make the KE performance much better I am concerned this may affect spiral stability. Although adding more rudder area should negate this (I hope).

Because of the mount and the OS 55AX engine I will be using the prop mount is about 5/8ths of an inch forward of the stock location. After I get the fuselage framed up I am going to have to do some weight and balance work to see if I am going to have the COG close enough.

Still working on sanding and sketching out the mods to the fuselage and tail feathers, man I hate to sand...
Anyhow, I have added the sketch that shows both the cowl and cooling ductwork that I plan to add to increase the side area of the fuselage and rudder. The blue shows the fin and rudder as on the plans the red is the added area along with where it will be tapered.

This is a sketch of what it will look like from the side overall, as compared to stock.

I know you have the engine already, but have you thought about using a rear exhaust engine-something along the lines of a Super Tigre 60x with a pipe. Just a thought cause I was toying with the idea of upsizing a SSE and running a pipe in the fuse.

As an alternate to that Super Tigre, a guy at my Field who flies 3D showed me something. We put a 12x4 APC on my TT Pro 46. I couldn't believe how well that pulled with the lower pitch prop. That was a real eye-opener.... I know that you're trying to save weight, maybe this would help.

Bob

Try a 12.25x3.75w on .46 sizes 2c if you looking for harrier or honering type manuvers . Keep im mind, when you back the throttle off , its like putting the brakes on, lol.

Here's a visio / gif template for drawing up covering schemes if you need.

somegeek

Insanemoondoggie, you're exactly right about the 'putting on the brakes' part. Face it, these planes are meant for aerobatics, not speed.

I couldn't believe the difference when I switched from an 11x6 to a 12x4 (your prop suggestion is probably a bit better), but I confiess that I lost my Twist 40 3D on final because I did not anticipate that it would slow down as much as it did. I was turning from base to final and from that aspect, it was a little difficult to judge the speed. It snapped and went in. Pilot error. Next time, I'll be able to anticipate it.

Bob

I can relate to the Twist , went thru 3 last year, but still have the last one Saito .72 with a 14x4w

The theres the ARF SSE , Nice plane , but I smucked it and not sure why. But have a kit , just need the time.

I too have toyed with the idea of a pipe enclosed in the fuselage, but it does not look like it will be in the cards.

Thanks for that somegeek!!!

Bob and Imd,

I am going to start out with a 12/6 for the maiden and first few flights, and then go down in pitch from there. I understand that this is designed as a slower aerobatic airplane think that it will perform a lot better using a low pitch prop in the long run.
The only reason I am using the OS 55ax is that I have the engine and it is real close in weight to a 46. I do have a 70 fl four stroke that I could use but we are talking more weight, although there is a flex header I could use to run the exhaust out of the cooling duct.
Now to get back to the build, I done very little with it over the past week and want to get back to it...

Ha!! Sorry to see the demise of your SSE.

Wanna see what I did to my LT-40? I lost it in the sun... mea culpa...

Sorry about the size of the photo. I don't know why it uploaded like that. Can't seem to edit it out and reload it. I'll stop fooling with it so that I don't mess up the web page.

Bob'