senrak

Sketchin
I built mine this spring and I did find a way. I'll take some pictures and post them tomorow.

Starwolf2

Hi Sketchin!

Thanks for the compliment! I'm glad that you find the thread useful.

I finally made it to the LHS and am about ready to fill in a few cracks, well, actually gaps, between some of the wing sheeting. I've also mounted the covers over the aileron bell cranks and am cutting out slots in them now. I hope to have pictures of that soon. I've noticed that the instructions told me to completely cover the center section with sheeting, which I have done. Later, they'll tell me to cut out the sheeting where the aileron servo goes and then mount it. That looks like lots of fun. I'll be sure to consult with you and Senrak when I get to that point!

I'm also looking forward, with horror I might add, to gluing and sanding the endpieces to the wings.

I was at our airfield yesterday and met up with a member from another club selling some planes from the collection of a recently deceased member. I was able to pick up a new Top-Flite Spitfire kit for $75. It was a great deal, but I am saddened by the circumstances. That leaves me with another plane to build! My collection of unfinished models is increasing . It's now up to a Hanger-9 Miss America P-51 ARF, a Kyoshi (sp?) Pitts Special, a foamy Corsair, and a Sig 4-star 60 that I need to repair for a friend. So much fun to look forward too!!

Sketchin

Ahh, glueing and sanding the end pieces. I have fond memories of ending up in the emergency room getting 10 stiches in my thumb during that part of the build. Remember, always carve away from yourself. lol... Oh, and use a palm sander, it makes it a million times easier!

Sounds like a hell of a deal on that Spitfire, but as you say, too bad its under these circumstances! I still havent finished this plane and am already looking forward to building a scale warbird of some sort. Maybe a Corsair? Something with retracts so I can justify my purchase of a 7 channel radio!

@Senrak

I would really appreciate some pictures of that part. I am completely stuck as to what to do!

Starwolf2

Thanks for the carving advice! I'll try to avoid the hospital trip! I'll also be certain to post pictures of the servo install. In fact, I'll take a looka t the plans tonight to see if I can come up with any ideas.

senrak

Okay,
Here are those pictures I promised. The servo is mounted to a pair of hardwood blocks in the usual way. That assembly slides into the wing cavity, hooks onto the long pushrod and is held captive by another pair of blocks that are epoxyed into the wing. That has to be a tight slip fit so the servo cannot move from side to side. The rod that runs the length of the wing and and hooks to the belcranks helps to keep the servo in place forward and aft. The servo is then held down by a plywood strap and two servo screws. Simple really.
Oh, the crack you see in the wing came from an incounter with the ground during a stall on a take off. Be very careful boys, this is a touchy aircraft.

Starwolf2

Senrak, that looks much nicer than what is described in the manual. My manual says to glue a sheet of wood (I think it was plywood, but don't remember now) to the underside of the top wing sheeting. Then, I am supposed to screw a plastic servo tray onto the plywood. I'm not sure if the servo tray was included with the kit as I didn't have time to look for it last night. I'll do that later.

Sketchin

Thanks for the pictures Senrak!  Very much appreciated!  So just to clarify, the servo is held from moving forward and backward by the pressure of the servo being squeezed between the 2 pieces of hardwood?  This seems reasonable...

Starwolf,  my instruction manual says nothing about glueing this piece of plywood in.  Maybe I have an older version??

senrak

I did put a tiny drop of thick CA between the plywood strap and the top of each of the blocks that are attached to the servo. This assures that the servo doesn't slip toward the pushrod when it is under pressure from being actuated. Be careful though, you don't want to glue the servo in permently or you won't be able to service it. If you are very careful about getting a good fit between the blocks there is no way the servo can move laterally. The fit cannot squeeze the servo mounting blocks, as that would defeat the flexibility of the groumet mounting system by pushing the blocks tight against the servo. Make the fit between the blocks just tight enough that there is no movement between them.
There is kinda a trick to getting the assembed servo installed. The servo arm must be screwed onto the servo before attaching it to the pushrod. Stick the hook of the pushrod into the hole in the arm and then kinda swing the whole thing around and slide it into the cavity. You will see what I mean when you try to put this all together. The picture might help explain.
Good Luck.

yel914

Senrak, That's an ingenious solution to what I feel is one of the short comings of this kit. I opted for the single servo per aileron in the wing method because I wasn't smart enough to figure out what you just did. It still looks like a bit of a pain, but a very good solution!

Starwolf2

Hi Sketchin,
My manual states on page 22: "The aileron servo is mounted on a plastic tray designed to hold just one servo. The tray is in turn screwed to a plywood plate which was glued to the upper center section sheeting. The plywood plate, in this case 3/16" thick, also serves to raise the servo to the perfect height for the small spur wire."

Unfortunately, the plywood plate and plastic tray do not appear to be included with the kit as there is no mention of them in the parts list.

I'm not sure about the manual edition. I could not find any marks clearly denoting the manual edition. The back page does state Sig Mfg, 1987 and to the right of that, "30793."

Interestingly, the plans do not show the plate or tray!

Here is what the picture shows.

Balsawings

Back in the late 70's and early 80's the Kraft and Futaba radios came with a plastic servo tray as well as a plastic tub used to mount a servo on it's side. Installation of the aileron servo such as you see in the Citabria was quite common at that time.

This is just a case of a very good and very popular kit staying on the market so long that it's not up to date any longer.

Bob Cox

KitBuilder

A saiplane I built long ago... (Marks Models Bobcat) had the servo slip down on its side, the tabs on the servo would slide down two vertical channels (one on each side) in the hardwood rails. A strap acrsoss the top as described above was used as well. However there was no vibration to contend with either which simplifies things a bit. You could however slide the servo with grommets installed down inside the rails which could be widened to accept the grommets. You wouldn't need to screw in the servo then, just the strap across the top.
Mike

Balsawings

Mike, I built the Bobcat back in the late 80's and remember that servo installlation. It actully worked quite well. I wouldn't be afraid of using it on the Citabria.

Bob

Starwolf2

A few days ago, I was finally able to finish cutting out the slots for the aileron pushrods. I attempted to make them look "better" by cutting them in the form of a curve. I was unable to do this with my x-acto blade very easily, so I finally got a chance to try a new toy I bought a few months ago that I thought looked handy. It's a cutout blade for my dremel mototool. While this tool made the process quite a bit easier, it was still not perfect and I had a hard time trying to get a nice symmetrical slot.

Sketchin

Nice try with the slots!  I didn't even bother and just made them straight.  Took the easy way out!   I started covering my wing, and in the process, put my thumb through some of the balsa plywood on the leading edge.  Already making repairs and its not even finished!

Starwolf2

CAPSTRIPS!!!



- Or -

Is that PINCUSHION!

I'm not sure which it is! I've been gluing the capstrips on the wings and have had a few thoughts about them. First, they are great fun! I've been able to spend a lot of time on my favorite activities, cutting and gluing! Second, I really like the idea of capstrips as I think they will give the covering a much nicer finished appearance. I hope that they help prevent the airplane from looking like a fabric-covered WW1 era biplane.

Anyway, back to cutting a gluing!

Starwolf2

Sketchin, what are you covering the plane with?

Sketchin

I am using Ultra cote which seems to be working great.  Im sure you could get a better scale appearance with other coverings, but I just wanted to get it done.

I have a couple tips for you. -

1) use the dremel sanding drum and the milling bit to cut out the plastic parts
2) Be very careful when mounting your engine mount to make sure it is centered.  Last night I realized that mine was off center and now I have to make a whole new one from scratch!!! ARGHH!

Starwolf2

That engine mount problem sounds painful! I wish you the best remounting it!

Starwolf2

I'm about halfway finished attaching the capstrips to the ailerons. The next step will be to sand them down and attach the aileron control horns. Looking ahead, the plans and instruction manual are very confusing about this step. It looks like the control horn is mounted inside the aileron. This looks a bit complicated to me. It will require me cutting the bottom sheeting which the instructions told me to glue in place before attaching the aileron. Can any of you give me some advice?

Sketchin, how's is the engine mounting going?

senrak

If I remember correctly, the plans call for cutting off the mounting tab and using epoxy to glue in the horns in. They only stick out of the ailiron by about two holes. The whole thing works pretty well.
I'm going to need to keep those instructions at the computer desk for referance.

Starwolf2

Hey Senrak, keeping your old plans by the computer sounds like a great idea! I appreciate your help quite a bit, along with that of the other people that have made comments or suggestions in this thread. Thanks everyone!

[:@] Last night I had another look at the plans. I had this idea that it would be great if the plans had a side view showing the aileron control horn. While taking that extra look, what do you know, but I found a side view! It really helped answer a lot of questions regarding the positioning of the aileron control horns. Now I just have to finish the capstrips and install the control horns! It seems that some days I'm just a bit slow on picking these things up....[]

Matthijshardeman

Dear All,



I got this kit from a friend on the club. The only problem is that every thing is in de box except the building book. Since this friend is looking for it for a few weeks allready i don't believe he will find it.

My question is if any one might have it digital and is hopefully willing to shear it with me.

Sorry for my english, i'm living in the Netherlands.

Hope to here something of you.

Regards Matthijs

Starwolf2

Hi Matthijs,
I think there might be a copyright issue if anyone were to give you a copy of the book. However, the people at Sig are very helpful. They would probably send a copy to you if you ask them for one.

AviationNut

Here is the manual from the SIG site: [link=http://www.kavanrc.de/instructions/sigrc30citabria.pdf]Citabria Manual[/link]