oliveDrab

I'd like to:

1. cut the Robart Oleo strut to the length I need
2. solder the cylinder (cylinders?) they provided into the end of the strut
3. place the strut into the hole in the Spring Air retract mechanism
4. tighten the clamping screw on the Spring Air retract to hold the oleo strut in place.

Is this what you did? Notice that I do NOT want to pass a wire strut through the two cylinder's as the instructions indicate.

Thanks.

Tango Juliet

I'm not sure we have the same model number of Spring Air's. Mine have a 3/8" bore to accept about 1/2" of the upper/outer portion of the Robart strut.

scottrc

My name is Scott and I am an Ultra-Sport addict.

It started is 1991 with my first US, a 60 that I got from another club member, at first I thought it was ugly, looked like the dead goldfish that was floating at the top of the tank back at my apartment, then I flew it, up, down, inverted, fast; the start of a great relationship.

It was also my first crash, inverted, fast, 10' off the runway at full throttle and I pulled up when I should've pushed down. The crash left such a trench it looked like Bugs Bunny dug it.

I was hooked, bought and built a 40, wore it out and bought the ARF, didn't care for it much, heavy, felt like it was made from the same material the box it came in was made from. Sold it to a kid on the street corner so I could buy another 40 kit.

The addiction grew, at auctions I started picking up US 40's and 60's, along with old OS SF engines to mate them to, that nobody seemed to want. Their loss and my gain. I took these Ultra Sports home, cleaned and fixed them up, found them homes with flyers who would enjoy them.

Now I have five Ultra Sports. Two are charged and ready to go for when I get the urge, the need to fly with speed, grace and confidence. One plane is on standby without an engine, and two kits that I bought after Ken and Mike got GP to make them again.

I think I am ready to be part of the Brotherhood. Just don't hold it over me that I am also addicted to the KAOS.

Scott

OntAeronut

Well, in a freaky twist of fate, I have ended up with my old US 40. Pretty much in the same shape I sold it in...cept for being in a nasty crash. Instead of fixing the nose/engine area, they chopped off the fuse at the firewall. Well, this will never do. So,

I am in need of someone to photocopy the plans of the nose area so I can rebuild this lil beauty so she can fly in the sky again. If anyone could help, I would be indebt.


Thank you

Carl

Scirocco14

Making progress on my US40. But I want to send some "props" to Lisa in Parts Support at Great Planes. I had some parts that were warped that would have made the wing difficult to build straight. The leading edges supplied with the kit and the ailerons were not even close to straight. A couple of e-mails to Lisa in Parts Support and she shipped out the replacement parts ASAP!

These days we read so much about crappy customer service and I wanted to post a happy ending story about customer service at Great Planes. Thanks Lisa!!

Back to the building board! I hope to have this plane ready by this summer.

Mark

box car

Yes Mark they are the best, the 20 to 25 years I have been dealing with GP they never let me down.
Ken

Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

Looks good Mark, glad GP took care of you.........

scottrc

I have to agree with GP customer service. I built a their CAP 232 two years ago and had to have the canopy replaced and the decals came damaged. I would have thought since kits are now a low priority with them that there would have been poor reception, but like you, they were right on top of things. I wish I had time to start my US kit. Yours is looking good.

Scott

Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

Anyone know if this is enough room for the wheel, they are the Dave brown gear? The 2.5" wheels fit nice between ribs, but i don't want to have problems down the road...

scottrc

Try to adjust the gear so the wheel is angled towards the leading edge. This will help prevent a nose-over when applying power.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Since the retract rails are slanted toward the front (the rear rail is lower than the front rail when the wing is right-side-up) the gear will already move forward when they deploy.

If you ever need them to go farther forward, just shim the back side of the gear rails

Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the tips.. Im sheeting today, all the gear is in and working good...

smkrcflyer

What's the length of your gear from bottom of wing to center of axle? I think I have it set to around 5 inches and for that lenght I had to remove the rib.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Yea, as I recall, my wheel ended up near the center of a rib too.

RoyR

Well after buying an UltraSport 60 kit soon after their re-issue, I began building, then after a pause of a couple of years while we moved from Texas to Colorado, I have finally finished. (Still have to break in the engine before flying it).

So of all the places I have talked about it on RC Universe, I decided the Ultra Sport Brotherhood board would be the lucky ones to see the pics.

I am a little rusty on building, having bought ARFs for my last few planes. My covering is also rusty. That’s why I didn’t take any close up pictures. ☺
But with any luck it will fly.

I had a covering scheme all picked out in my head, and even drew it on the smaller scale drawings that came with the instructions. However, when I began drawing it full size, I realized I had bitten off more than I could chew. So I just started putting stuff on the plane, hoping for a pattern to form with my scheme.
It didn’t, so I just named my Ultra, “Hodge Podge�

And here it is:

dash008

My Feedback: (1)

I love it! It looks great and it will fly great! Your covering has so much more character than an ARF. I will put flaps on my next one. What engine/prop are you using?

Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

Steve, did you use Robo struts on yours?

Mike, I seen in the thread where your wheel centered just past rib W3. but you used robo struts which I think are pretty short.. What kind of prop clearance do you have with your set up? I will go measure mine..

Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

My strut is 5-5/8" from where it goes into the retract block to the center of the wheel, cant measure it from the bottom of the wing till i cut it back out..

RoyR

Yeah, I love coming up with different designs when I cover planes. SInce I discovered the WIndex method of cutting the Monokote, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

It’s a SuperTigre G90. I have a 13X6 on it now. I haven’t run it yet, but will probably stick with that prop for a while.

smkrcflyer

No I’m not using robo struts. This is my first set of retracts so I’m just following what other people have done. I think the wire gear that comes with the kit is around 4 inchs. The down side to longer struts is they will be more likely to bend when taking off and landing and it will affect the stance of the plane on the ground.

Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

I agree with you Steve, shorter is better.. I am pretty muchcommitted as you can see in the pics.. I plan on using the foam spray to make the wheel well, so the bay closest to the gear had to stay open for the control hook up.. I moved my gear one bay out from the plan location (minflyer mod from the big thread) to give it a wider stance and better ground handling.. I think my gear will be about 5/8" to 3/4" longer then most, I have a little room to shorten them, so i think i will be ok...

Gonna get the retract and flap servo rails in today so I can sheet the rest of the wing and get it mounted to the fuse...

Has anyone added extra blocking to the front of the TE for hinges? I plan to use dubro hinges and the TE is not very thick, so i will add some stock at the hinge locations...

Tango Juliet

Just be sure you're still going to have enough prop clearance when the aircraft is in a level attitude.

pt19 flyer

My Feedback: (1)

hi gang

had an ultrasport 60 with retracts ARF which someone in our club had and could never get to to
fly right, he claimed. went thru about 2 other flyers with same result. was there one day on a
very bad flight experience and the flyer removed the equipment and offered it for sale. no one
bit 0n the offer so he headed for the trash barrel with it and I offered to take it as a freebe due
to its past history.

worked with it for awhile and finally made the decision to go the the incidence adjustment.
found the the horizontal stab had about 4 degrees negative incidence built in. so I made the
necessary adjustments and guess what? flew great until I had a deadstick from about 50 feet
on takeoff and lack of flying speed crash and trashed.
currently have a 40 size with will be a building project before long.

how do I join the brotherhood
I was very impress in the flyability after I made the corrections

thanks and happy flying

pt19 flyeer

rglgatortail

My Feedback: (7)

[quote]ORIGINAL: Mustangman40


Hey Mustangman why use spray foam? If you eat cereal or have a box of a product that is the same kind of cardboard as a cereal box just use that cereal or something of the same cardboard to make the wheel wells. When you cut the sheeting back out to clear the wheels and leave you some room for those not so smooth landings you can then cut and form that cereal cardboard to make the wheel wells, just sand the painted printed side of the cardboard where the cardboard will contact the balsa sheeting and just work in the area of where your fingers can hold the cardboard until the medium viscosity ca glue dries, so where your four fingers are holding the cardboard let that glue dry and then glue another spot where your fingers will let that glue dry. The cardboard is sandable and when you cover the wing the covering will stick to the cardboard and then you fuel proof the wheel well with thinned epoxy and that locks down the covering. To my knowledge covering dont stick to spray foam so you may have to think about that. If you need more info let me know and i would be glad to help. I included a venus wing that i changed over to retracts, i thought i had a closer picture of the bottom of the wing to show the cardboard wheel wells but i guess i dont but if you need a closer picture let me know i sure will add it.

n7188u

I just wanted to report that my Ultraport flew today. It was a little windy and my intent was to just do some taxi trials but it just wanted to fly so I opened it up and let it go. Flew great!!.

I attach a couple of pictures of the bird.

Chris