:idea:

Got the urge to build me a big floater and have some fun, so I ordered a Senior Telemaster.

Would like to make some modifications and a little "kit bashing" to really enjoy it.

If any body has any interesting idea's, let me know, will try just about anything.

I found my senior telemaster had very little torsion resistance in the fuselage aft of the wing, so I put some truss sticks in after it was all framed up, and that gave a lot more stiffness. It would have been better to do this while I was framing up rather than afterwards.

I built mine with zero dihedral and dual wing servos--standard size. Standard servos all around, actually. I wanted to try it with flaperons, but I find spoilerons much more useful for bringing it down when the wind forces me to approach over trees close to one end of the field.

I drilled out the aluminum landing gear with a 1/2" bit, probably a couple dozen holes to shed an ounce or two of excess weight. I think if I were building it again I would dispense with the aluminum gear and bend my own music wire, probably 1/8" torsion rod mounted in the fuselage. I don't think they'd weigh any more, probably a bit less than the aluminum, and I like the springiness of them. (I fly off a bumpy grass field.)

With the long fuselage, I wish I had gone for pull-pull elevator and rudder controls instead of nyrods. It would have been easy to do this while framing up, and I may even go back and retrofit.

I had a little twist in my built-up stab, which I corrected with tail brace wires (kevlar, actually). If I were building another, I'd make a built-up fin instead of the sheet balsa, and put a spruce upright in the fin to give a hardpoint for the brace wire.

I powered with an OS 70 Surpass four-stroke and 13x6 prop. I am happy with this combination, but it is for relaxed flying. My dry weight is 9-1/2 pounds, which gives a light wing-loading. I had earlier flown a senior telemaster that I bought at auction, that weighed 15 pounds and came with a ST G90. It flew OK at that weight, but I like the lighter version much better.

: I THINK YOU SHOULD WORRY ABOUT THE COVERING JOB FIRST.
IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME [ ONLY IF THE COVERING IS DONE CORRECTLY ] . THIS PLANE FLYS GREAT AS LONG AS YOU KEEP IT OUT OF THE TREES.

I changed the Vert Stab on mine, and put a round cowl on the front, and made it look like a waay-off scale version of a Dehavilland Beaver. It's on floats, too. It gets off the water in 8 feet, with an OS.91 four-stroke. The Cowl is the bottom half of a big rubbermaid iced-tea pitcher from WalMArt. $3.
I DID use pull-pull linkages and separate Aileron Servos, and I changed the wing to bolt-on.

I've just about finished a salvage of an old ST and put pull-pull in the back for the Rudder and Elevator and the install was cinchy. Going with 5 full-size Futabas and gonna pull it with an ENYA .60 III. Have 5/16 music wire for main gear supports with 3 1/2 DB balloons on front and a 1 1/2 on the tail. Only problem I have is no documentation ... where the heck is the balance point?? Even with the ENYA way up, its pretty tail heavy. It weighs about 10 even full up 'cept fuel. You guys know the ST pretty good ~ HELP :stupid:

ST CG is right under the main spar, 5 to 5-1/8" behind leading edge. I presume your lg wire is 5/32", not 5/16". My ST came in 9 lbs 15 oz, so 10 lbs sounds good to me.

I can't imagine why you have too heavy a tail--there just isn't an awful lot of wood there, it seems to me. I added the truss sticks, as mentioned above, and still had no problem. In fact I gave it a Robart tailwheel, a bit heavier than the kit-supplied item.

Maybe you ended up with heavy wood in the vertical tailplane. If you can't get close to CG otherwise, then consider a stick-built tailfin. I don't imagine you are going to be knife-edging this plane, or otherwise overstressing the rudder.

I should mention that if you need roll control at low landing speed, rudder will give you better control than aileron at low airspeed (and better tip-stall resistance, if you have that problem).

When I built my Senior I wanted some agility (ha ha), skydiver drop capabilities, and towing power.
So my mods were:
Saito 120s
A skydiver opening
Tow hook release
Double sized rudder
Double sized elevator
The double sized rudder lets the plane do neat flat spins from idle to full rpm.
Here's some pics of the senior at the bottom of the attached page below.
http://www.rogue-eagles.com/joestagg/SKYDIVE.HTM

I did mean 5/32", Tom, but when I was measuring things, I found that it's actually 3/16! My main spar's center is zactly 4" back from the LE, but when I go back to the 5" suggested, it is right-on! It's got a little hardwood tail-beefing and some hard points for wing bolts and dowls, but is mostly original!

Joe, I also have a Tow release, but mine's not operable in that I'm using a 4-channel. Mine is just about longitudinally and laterally centered in the upper surface of the wing. I could not see where your's is in the pix??, but it obviously does the trick ... neat pictures.

Thanks, gentlemen ...

There is a short video of my yellow Tele on our clubs webpage in the movie section at: http://www.rogue-eagles.com

You were right on, Tom ... Max Wensell, a techie with Hobby Lobby International writes: "The C/G on the Sir. Telemaster is at 35% of the wing cord back from the lading edge." (The chord length is 14.25")

Thanks again!

Neat video, Joe!

I have heard on a few post that the sr tele is difficult to build, is this true? if so why? I plan on building one and would like to hear the pros and cons of building this kit. Thanks for any feedback.

Ryan

By the way, Jim your plane looks great, great idea for the cowl!

If you have built a kit or two of built-up sticks, I don't see that you'll have any special difficulty with the Sr Tele. Maybe not quite as easy as the new laser cut kits, maybe not quite the building documentation of the Sig kits, maybe not quite the simplicity of a Bridi design, maybe not quite the hand-holding of a GP or Carl Goldberg, but nothing I would call difficult. Reason to build it--it's a classic, flies nice and easy, builds big, light weight. Reason not to build it--it gives you no carefully worked out alternatives for bolt-on wings, adding ailerons, beefing up fuselage, all the mods which are almost standard with builders these days.

what are comparible kits to the telemaster as far as lift, light weight, a suitable plane for carrying video and still cameras without a huge engine? is there a better made kit with close to the same dimensions?

Thanks,Ryan

Ryan -

Go to www.Flyinking.com.

They have exactly what you want!!

One of the best (lazer cut) and easiest kits on the market.

jafrh....That looks like a winner!!! I LIKE IT

Thanks!

are standard servos sufficient on a sr tele? also, does the tele kit NOT come with ailerons?
thanks,Ryan

Standard servos work fine on my STele, which is powered with OS 70 Surpass. If you fly it at trainer speed (i.e. not fast) and not excessive control throw (maybe 20 degrees on elevator, 15 degrees on ailerons, 30 degrees on rudder) then 40 in oz or so is more than adequate. Sr Telemaster is kitted for ailerons.

I had a heavy STele picked up at auction, same size & planform as my Hobby Lobby kit but built with lots of lite ply sheet stock where my kit was built up sticks. The auction job weighed 15 lbs compared to my Hobby Lobby kit at just under 10 lbs. The auction plane came with Supertigre G-90 power and 1/4 scale servos, which it needed at that weight and power.

It is the Senior Kadet which is kitted for three channels/no ailerons, to which many add ailerons as a builder mod. The Telemaster & Kadet are sometimes confused (two alltime great big trainers).

There is a guy at our club that has one of these birds.

Nice floater. He makes it look really easy to fly.

Good Luck - post pics when finished.

TRP

Last Question! has the Sr Tele had any changes or upgrades in the last year or two??

The Sr. Tele. hasen't changed in 20 years!

In fact the plans you will be working off are at least that old.

They will advise you of that in the directions. In case you don't know it , there are no photos, only written directions.

It's not really a kit for a begineer, but it can be done and will be a good learning experiance. :drowning:

Ryan -

See Majortom post #12!