Question for the group...

Should I hit everything with a few coats of Lustercoat clear to keep the stripes on and prevent any fuel from messing up the finish? Just curious on how to protect.

Thanks!

-MA

as long as you make sure your trim is ironed down real nice, you shouldn't have any problems. On my Ultra Sport, i used 1/4" ultracote trim between the colors and have not had any problems yet, the plane probably has about 30-40 flights on it...

[link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXDMV8&P=7]This[/link] is the product I used - no ironing called for. Actually, I'm fairly sure I'd melt it if I tried. I've never used this before ... anyone advise sealing this??

Are you ready to test compatibility of LustreKote and Ultracote? Other threads debate enamel, acrylic lacquer compatibility.

What kind of surface prep are you planning? Scotch brite pads? 1000 paper? 0000 Steel wool? Seems that the surface prep would be pretty time consuming and might compromise your covering job.

Other threads discuss application using "misting" layers of LustreKote over Ultracote which would mean a bunch of coats to provide a typical clear-coat application.

Just curious: do the black trim stripes use head-activated adhesives or typical tacky tape adhesive?

--> post submitted at the same time as MA's previous one - oh well :0

Looking really nice, MA!

somegeek

Alex, I used a similar type of striping that wasn't heated on, only self adhesive backing. I used clear dope and a small brush to run along each stripe to seal them. So far, it seams to be holding up well. I have heard that clear nail polish will serve the same purpose.

Referring to the earlier discussion of bonding the covering to the ribs, that is the technique that I used on all my previous covering jobs. However, on my Hog Bipe, I only sealed the edges with the iron then shrunk the covering with a heat gun without pressing the covering onto the entire wing. I am now sold on this method. There is a major difference in the look that it provided. The wings are much smoother and "glassier", very satisfied.

I've done the clear nail polish trick on other planes (not for this particular purpose) and it seems to work well. I will likely do that here too. As far as bonding the covering to the surface goes, there are 2 camps on that one, and I'm in the one that seals only the edges and uses a gun to do the rest - I believe it's easier ... maybe it's just what I'm used to.

-MA

Any time I have painted a plastic iron on covering I have scuffed it with steel wool and neither one of those planes lasted long enough to know how well the paint would stay on over a long period of time.
I think that you will have a big mess pretty quickly if you paint a slick plastic surface without a lot of surface prep.

Any luck with the covering? Lets see some more photos!

Real life constraints I'm afraid. Good ones though! I am leaving for vacation and have had a ton of things to take care of both personally and professionally so no additional progress has been made on the Hog since I finished the top wing. I return in 10 days, at which point I will be looking to wrap up the covering and get this puppy ready to maiden.

Talk to you all in a week or so!

-MA

I had heard of this method for covering but had never really understood it..... so thanks for all the pics I guess i'm more of a visual guy <shrug>. So if i read you correctly when you put the premade sheet of covering on the wing you go all the way around with the iron and seal all the edges then hit it with the heat gun so shrink it down and don't use the iron.


EDIT-- i see you are gone on holidays. Anyone else familiar with this method please chime in.

thanks

Geoff

Did the maiden flight on the hog this morning and it all went pretty well. I needed a hair of aileron and a bunch of down elevator (i guess that's my fault for not thoroughly examining it before the flight). I am very pleased with the plane and am looking forward to feeling more comfortable with it!!

My buddy had his hog out there too...

Glad to hear all went well and you have the maiden out of the way. That said I will never maiden an airplane again without checking things over and over. I just lost a switchback that I left the ez connector loose on the elevator. I flew a complete circle before I lost elevator. I don't know why I just "snugged the screw" but I did. From now on I will leave things obviously loose, or lock them down with locktite. No inbetween. Congradulations on your maiden.

Just noticed the specs on the Hog Bipe saying the flying weight of this plane is 6.5-7.5 lbs. This seems a bit optimistic considering mine weighed in at 8lbs 14oz!! The other Hog in the above picture weighs exactly the same. The plane flies great at this weight and has unlimited vertical with the saito 100. Not to mention that it floats in for landings pretty well too! So, I'm not concerned, but it's annoying when manufacturers stretch the truth so much.

I don't think i'm a heavy builder. The last plane i built was a Ultra Sport 40 and that came out at exactly 5lbs (with retracts) and the specs say 6lbs for that one!

How much do your Hogs weigh?

JCB Mine weighed exactly 7lbs! I had a Saito 72 on her and had read in Hookedonrc's thread about lots of planes being tail heavy so not wanting to have to add any weight I put the sand paper to the tail section pretty good and all over too I guess and didn't have to add weight and flew great. That is until my switch or transmitter or whatever caused it to fly into the woods all of a sudden. Got 7 flights on it. got another kit upstairs and hope to start it soon. Can't decide if I want to build the bipe or an ercoupe next.

I just weighed mine. It comes in at 8lbs 6oz. with an OS91 four stroke. Flies great!

Jim

I don't see how they can be brought in at 7 1/2 lbs either, but lots of them are reported to be under 8 lbs.
Mine weighs 9 lbs. 10 oz. with a Magnum 91 four stroke for power.
I use a digital fish scale to weigh it.
It flies good but I am sure it would be better if it was 7 1/2 lbs.
At a minimum it would have much better vertical performance.

Em, It would be great if we, the builders, weighed the assemblies of our planes during construction and published the results. I'm building a Kadet Senior (rather bashing) and should be able to tell you how much the fuse (including controls), wing assembly (including hinges), tail feathers (including hinges), power train (motor, spinner, prop, mount, tank), electronics (battery, servos, receiver), and landing gear. Cover? Covering don't weigh any thing!!! Yea, right. Then we could compare our end results. My Hog Bipe will have a Super Tigre G90 (27 oz w/ muffler) and SIG Smith Mini cowl. A Saito 72 plane with balsa/ply cowl cheeks has a 9.2 oz advantage on the engine alone from the get go. If we bust up the details into some basic assemblies we can then spot the component selection that resulted in a 7 1/2 lb. plane vs. those of a 8 1/2 lb. plane.

But geez - that sounds like some kind of standard - yuk - don't want to go there unless it helps other builders make informed decisions. [8D]

At the end of the day - does it put a smile on your face when you take her to the field and fly her?

btw - I, for one, would participate in publishing assembly weights for my SIG Kadet Senior, SIG Somethin' Extra and SIG Hog Bipe. I may still have the information for my SIG 4Star60 (see a pattern here? - I like SIG kits - but, hey - I'm just a rookie).

Well, I can account for some of the extra weight on my hog, BUT NOT 2+ lbs worth!

Saito 100 +5oz & heavy prop +3oz(?)
Aluminum motor mount +2oz (?)
Heavy duty servos +1oz
Oversized receiver pack +1oz
somewhat heavy pilot +2oz
dual aileron servos +3oz
fiber-glassed center of both wings +5oz(?) <-- edit: added this info

This may be a little bit of a stretch, but that puts the plane under 8lbs. I have no idea where i could scrape 8+ more ounces at!! Maybe since i used wood glue or Ultracote covering?? Who knows, this topic has always kinda boggled my mind. I didn't have to add any extra dead weight. When it came time to locate the servo tray, the plane balanced perfectly, So the servo tray went on the aft side of the CG and the battery went on the forward side of the CG. But since my hog is so fun to fly and still floats through the air pretty well, i am not worried about it in the least, just more curious than anything. I was very surprised at how much this plane floats. It gets off the ground at about 1/3-1/2 throttle and i had to make 4 landing attempts on the maiden flight because it didn't slow down like i thought it would!

BTW SeamusG, this is my second Sig Kit and my third Sig plane...i don't blame you for liking them so much! They really do an awesome job and their customer service is great, not to mention they are a relatively small AMERICAN company! I will support them for a long time to come!

SIG's Bob Nelson is the tech for the Senior & 4Star - perhaps others. I want a cowl on my Hog Bipe so I tossed him a request for info. He did the research and confirmed that the Smith Mini firewall and the Hog Bipe's firewall are the same and that the Smith Mini cowl would fill the bill. Ya gotta love the openness.

I have covered 2 1/2 planes in Ultracote. The 2 are my 4*60 and a Sky Raider Mk II. I balanced both fully assembled but without covering of any kind. After covering the Mk II and WITHOUT moving the battery or servo tray from their pre-covering assembly I would have had to add 4 oz of dead weight to the firewall to achieve the same balance. I was very surprised at the amount of weight shift of the covering. I guess that the surface area of the tail feathers places a bit of weight at the extreme end. My LHS owner (one hell of a builder that use Ultracote exclusively) has used Ultracote Lite on his gliders for weight savings - but he cautions that covering skills need to be pretty good because the Lite stuff is not as forgiving as the standard stuff.

When I built my 4*60 I balanced the balsa stock used constructing the wing pieces so that they balanced a tad bit heavy on the starboard side to offset the muffler of the upright mounted Saito 91. I'm guessing that you could easily see a 1/2 lb. overall weight difference solely based on wood selection - using the lightest balsa available rather than the balsa supplied in the kit. I don't really care about this level of detail simply because I'm a rookie flier that needs reinforced structure (survival) more than I need bragging rights to the lightest plane at the field.

Oh and I forgot, on mine I didn't have the carved,covered balsa headrest on yet and no pilot. And I had two aileron servos, ultracoat, no sunburst stripes yet so the 7 lbs was basically stripped down while doing some shakedown flying. Or better said, I couldn't wait to get it in the air. And that was precise as I weighed the indivual parts on a postage scale. the headrest is ready for the next plane as is the entire tail section which is the ony part that survived the flight through the trees. And I used lots of ca, epoxy and wood glue.

I'm thinking it has lots to do with wood selection too as this was my first large kit so I'm no expert by any means. It turned out good as I tend to go overboard sometimes and what is the weight diff. between a 72 and 100 Saito? I also had just a standard battery. I'll be curious to see how the next one turns out weight wise. And hey, I'm going to fly at the Lowe's Motor Speedway on the 12th. Humpy Wheeler has set up a temporary "paved" field behind the backstretch while his club's field is being rebuilt a few miles away. We don't have any members like that in my club. Must be nice.

Saito 100 - 20.9 oz and the 72 - 17.8 oz. Compared to the Super Tigre G90 at 28 - these are light weights!

Construction technique sidebar:

I was working on the wing to my Kadet Senior needing to true up the leading edge. I have some aluminum "L" stock sitting around - about 44" long. It was straight and had an easily clamped edge. See pics. After clamping it was a simple matter of running a sanding block down the front edge - badda boom badda bing - a very nice straight leading edge.

I'm back! Trying to unbury myself at work after a week off [:@]. That's the worst thing about vacations, the rest of the world keeps on going. Anyway, I am back on the road the rest of this week traveling for work. My first building opportunity will be this weekend. The weather is starting to look like spring here in Central Indiana ... my "spring-time" maiden window might have come and gone . Regardless, I look forward to wrapping this project up in the next couple weeks.

BTW, JCB grats on the Maiden! That plane is a real beauty.

-MA