Hi - I'm just starting a Phil Kraft Das Ugly Stick but want to convert it to a tail dragger any tips and other mods? - Thanks

Shift the under carriage forwards an 1inch and half mount tail wheel then check C G and away you go

Great - many thanks - any other mods I should consider?

Is it the Jensen kit or are you building from plans? Straight wing or with the dihedral? I would say if you have the kit, use the parts as templates and keep the kit in the box. If I was scratch building I would build the fuse out of 3/16 instead of 1/4. The plane is a tank designed when radios did not always work. I had a battery go bad in mine last year and I watched it circle till it hit the ground only broke the wing covering and one wing tip. Great plane.

Just a few.

You might want to build the wing without dihedral. Makes it do acro better. Reinforce the center section. For taildraggers mount the gear so the axle is directly under the leading edge of the wing. Put wheel pants on it. Put a cowl over the engine. Something round (bottom of a plastic jug or bowl) of appropriate size for period correctness or continue/extend the 'natural' lines of the fuselage out to a flat plate behind the spinner and cut it out to fit the particular (upright, side mount, inverted) engine installation. You could invert the fuselage and make it a low wing. Change the shape of the fin/rudder, wing/stab tips. Sticks are a lot of fun to fly. Solid as a rock in the air.

Terry in LP

Cut off the last two inches of aileron stock and glue it fixed to the trailing edge of the wing. This will help with flutter problems some folks have experianced on the full span ailerons.

Great tips guys thanks - I'm building from plans and it's my first scratch build.

another question - is it worth fitting two aileron servos ? - while I'm on servos what is a good all rounder I'm currently on spektrum dx6i and am really confused with the masses of servos on the market - thanks

I'm currently flying a Das Little stick I built from a short kit I got from Laser Works. I built mine with dual aileron servos (HS-225MGs) as I never really liked the sloppy belcrank setup the originals had. It is also fun to play with Flaperons as well. I also made mine a tail dragger with no dihedral and bolt on wing. I put a Super Tigre G-51 with a pipe on it. I giggle every time I fly it.


EDIT: Jesus, didn't realize this thread was so old!

As suggested - get the main axles just 1/4" or so ahead of the leading edge of the wing.


Sure. Add a pilot, maybe a tail-gunner. Biplane, floats, flip the fuselage & make it a low wing (Ag-Wagon). . . the sky's the limit. The Ugly Stik was a kit-basher's dream and has been morphed into more variations than anything except maybe the Lazy Ace and the 4-40 (not to be confused with a 4-Star).

i'm now thinking of building two together - one close to the original and one low wing with some crazy mods - many thanks guys

Two aileron servos are far better than one. For the tail dragger mod, the landing gear should place the axles one to one and a quarter inches in front of the leading edge. Be sure to strengthen the fuse bottom with plywood and add ply triangles inside the fuse. My Ugly Stick flies fine with a 55AX, but I'm tempted to try a 75.

hi again - just going to buy an engine for the ugly stick - any suggestions? - i'm thinking of a nice four stroke - thanks

Scott,

Here's my forty size with a Saito 82.

Pure Fun,

Bob

hi bob - your ugly looks really cool - i notice you've put the elevator or is it the rudder servo at the rear underside - and where did you get those cool wheels?

Hi Scott,

The rear servo is for the tail wheel and the
wheels are from Top Flite.

Bob

Scott, I am pleased that someone else from the UK is scratch building an Ugly Stik. I built mine last winter from free internet plans. It is an easy build and a great flier. Have a look on the scratch build forum under " jensen ugly stick build". It is a long thread but well worth the read. There are pics of mine on the thread. Mine is electric but I thought of putting an old Webra 61 blackhead in it. A saito in the range 70 -80 would go well. How about a new saito fg14 petrol 4 stroke? I think an os55 would go well ...but if you have been around for a while a PAW 61 diesel. As to the mods..no dihedral, dual aileron servo's, An irvine alloy u/c from your local hobby shop. My u/c is about 1/2" in front of the wing and works well. My wing and tail is covered with solartex and the fus is covered with profilm. All my balsa came from Balsa Cabin ( I live fairly close to them). Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble. I really enjoyed the build and when I had finished I wanted to start another! Most people modify them for wing bolt fixing but I kept to good old fashioned wing bands.
Enjoy the build,
All the best,
Chris, ( deepest rural Essex).

hi chris - thanks for the post - i've just started cutting out - most ribs are done and fuselage half done - i'll build a tail dragger and incorporate some tips from this forum and this youtube post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIBfRaYlTSA i tried to download the plans but it didn't work - i'm going to use the 1/4" ply centre rib idea with the front wing locating tab - i'm also going to play with adding the aileron/elevator scalops to the rudder as i think they look really cool and maybe extend the front of the fuselage upto the spinner - i'll start taking pics and if i feel brave enough i'll post them later.

I have a great planes stick, that have the following mods.....tail dragger, just move your landing gear forward so wheels are at leading edge of wing.........Increased ailerons by 30% with taper to match wing tips... works great and really increases the roll rate......Also increased rudder by 30%, would not recomment this, cannot tell any difference other than it will kick out in a spin.....ENJOY YOUR STICK.....Also stuck a 70 4 stroke on the nose.....

great thanks for this - i'll look at your aileron suggestion - i'm putting a saito 72 on mine