Sig Midstar - Mods
06-07-2010 | 11:05 AM
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From: Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM
Sig Midstar - Mods
Hello,
Life having kept me away from flying for the last 3 years I'm about to get back into it - and that includes building an airplane.
I was a reasonably competent sport flyer before the break and so I'm hoping I can get away with some time on a club trainer and then move onto a low wing trainer pretty quick.
I've got a Midstar kit which I'm planning to use for this purpose and so was interested in what modification / kit bashing if any is recommended for this airframe.
(Probably won't make it into a twin with retracts first time around
but any suggestions examples would be great).
I'd be interested to know too how much time it takes people to find their touch again after a break from the sport.
Cheers,
Matt
Life having kept me away from flying for the last 3 years I'm about to get back into it - and that includes building an airplane.
I was a reasonably competent sport flyer before the break and so I'm hoping I can get away with some time on a club trainer and then move onto a low wing trainer pretty quick.
I've got a Midstar kit which I'm planning to use for this purpose and so was interested in what modification / kit bashing if any is recommended for this airframe.
(Probably won't make it into a twin with retracts first time around
but any suggestions examples would be great).I'd be interested to know too how much time it takes people to find their touch again after a break from the sport.
Cheers,
Matt
06-07-2010 | 11:36 AM
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From: Strongsville,
OH
RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
I built one a year ago and it was damaged in a mid air crash. When I rebuilt it, the following mods were made and it flies much better now.
1. Take all the dihedral out of the wing
2. Put a servo in each wing
3. Enlarge the aileron chord by 1/2"
4. Make it a taildragger
5. Took one bay out in each wing
6. Enlarge the Rudder
The plane flies great stock, but if you are an experienced flyer then you'll want to make the mods suggested. Without the rudder mod, the plane could not sustain knife edge and taking the dihedral out toned down the roll coupling and pitch coupling substantially. It also rolls more axially now. It's fun to fly and still floats in for easy landings. The plane rolls fairly slowly. The larger ailerons helps a little. Keep it at about 6 lbs and use a good 46 2 stroke. It's a blast.
1. Take all the dihedral out of the wing
2. Put a servo in each wing
3. Enlarge the aileron chord by 1/2"
4. Make it a taildragger
5. Took one bay out in each wing
6. Enlarge the Rudder
The plane flies great stock, but if you are an experienced flyer then you'll want to make the mods suggested. Without the rudder mod, the plane could not sustain knife edge and taking the dihedral out toned down the roll coupling and pitch coupling substantially. It also rolls more axially now. It's fun to fly and still floats in for easy landings. The plane rolls fairly slowly. The larger ailerons helps a little. Keep it at about 6 lbs and use a good 46 2 stroke. It's a blast.
06-07-2010 | 11:48 AM
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From: Grants Pass,
OR
RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
Quite frankly if you build it as a taildragger and don't overpower it I imagine that ,if you can buddy box it you ,may be able to skip the club trainer. I would not modify a thing. Just build as designed and keep it light. The 1st Mid Star I had was probably 15 years ago and it's a great plane. Good luck getting going again.
06-07-2010 | 11:56 AM
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From: Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM
RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
ORIGINAL: bigal126
I built one a year ago and it was damaged in a mid air crash. When I rebuilt it, the following mods were made and it flies much better now.
1. Take all the dihedral out of the wing
2. Put a servo in each wing
3. Enlarge the aileron chord by 1/2''
4. Make it a taildragger
5. Took one bay out in each wing
6. Enlarge the Rudder
The plane flies great stock, but if you are an experienced flyer then you'll want to make the mods suggested. Without the rudder mod, the plane could not sustain knife edge and taking the dihedral out toned down the roll coupling and pitch coupling substantially. It also rolls more axially now. It's fun to fly and still floats in for easy landings. The plane rolls fairly slowly. The larger ailerons helps a little. Keep it at about 6 lbs and use a good 46 2 stroke. It's a blast.
I built one a year ago and it was damaged in a mid air crash. When I rebuilt it, the following mods were made and it flies much better now.
1. Take all the dihedral out of the wing
2. Put a servo in each wing
3. Enlarge the aileron chord by 1/2''
4. Make it a taildragger
5. Took one bay out in each wing
6. Enlarge the Rudder
The plane flies great stock, but if you are an experienced flyer then you'll want to make the mods suggested. Without the rudder mod, the plane could not sustain knife edge and taking the dihedral out toned down the roll coupling and pitch coupling substantially. It also rolls more axially now. It's fun to fly and still floats in for easy landings. The plane rolls fairly slowly. The larger ailerons helps a little. Keep it at about 6 lbs and use a good 46 2 stroke. It's a blast.
06-07-2010 | 11:58 AM
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From: Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM
RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
ORIGINAL: oldvet70
Quite frankly if you build it as a taildragger and don't overpower it I imagine that ,if you can buddy box it you ,may be able to skip the club trainer. I would not modify a thing. Just build as designed and keep it light. The 1st Mid Star I had was probably 15 years ago and it's a great plane. Good luck getting going again.
Quite frankly if you build it as a taildragger and don't overpower it I imagine that ,if you can buddy box it you ,may be able to skip the club trainer. I would not modify a thing. Just build as designed and keep it light. The 1st Mid Star I had was probably 15 years ago and it's a great plane. Good luck getting going again.
Can't wait to get back into it now.
06-07-2010 | 02:28 PM
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RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
Bigal:
When you enlarged the rudder, did you do it by making the vertical stab smaller, or did you leave that as is and add on to the rudder? I've got one of these on the back burner, and all these mods sound like things I want to do (plus adding a hatch: Sig kits drive me nuts by not having hatches, but they're easy to add).
When you enlarged the rudder, did you do it by making the vertical stab smaller, or did you leave that as is and add on to the rudder? I've got one of these on the back burner, and all these mods sound like things I want to do (plus adding a hatch: Sig kits drive me nuts by not having hatches, but they're easy to add).
06-07-2010 | 03:25 PM
#7
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RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
After you get the hang of this plane with the smaller motor, I started with a Saito .56, seriously don't be afraid to overpower it. I dropped my Saito .91 and had a huge grin on my face every time I flew it! It came to an end when my old Hitec Optic 6 got jammed up by RFI.
06-07-2010 | 03:40 PM
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From: Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM
RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
ORIGINAL: RevyMaxx
After you get the hang of this plane with the smaller motor, I started with a Saito .56, seriously don't be afraid to overpower it. I dropped my Saito .91 and had a huge grin on my face every time I flew it! It came to an end when my old Hitec Optic 6 got jammed up by RFI.[img][/img]
After you get the hang of this plane with the smaller motor, I started with a Saito .56, seriously don't be afraid to overpower it. I dropped my Saito .91 and had a huge grin on my face every time I flew it! It came to an end when my old Hitec Optic 6 got jammed up by RFI.[img][/img]
Once I've got my wings back I suspect this plane will spend most of it's time at full throttle 12 inches from the deck... While my kit built extra will be lucky to do a loop 5 mistakes high incase I break it.
It's good to have a chuck around airframe you're confident with though.
06-07-2010 | 05:13 PM
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From: Strongsville,
OH
RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
I just edge glued a triangle piece to the stock rudder. I left the vertical stab stock. There is a hatch for the fuel tank. I modified it so the tank would sit a little higher because the engine went dead stick after 7-8 minutes. It helped. I squared off the horizontal stab and dropped the round wing tips because I didn't care for the look.
06-07-2010 | 05:32 PM
#13
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RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
Full throttle from a few hundred feet on it's side with a bit of rudder...I was like WHAT THE H-E_ double hockey sticks! LOL My fellow club mate had the same thing happen to him using a Hitec Optic 6 but was able to recover about 10 ft from the deck and saved the plane. We are both on 2.4 now.
06-07-2010 | 05:53 PM
#16
RE: Sig Midstar - Mods
Built two midstars the only mods I did were sullivan tail wheel bracket instead of the stock one and make it a tail dragger.
I have it for three years now and its a stubborn airplane crashed it twice nose into concrete and its still flying well.
knife edges, rolls in a circle and turns on a dime like there is no tomorrow and its coming for more.
sometimes I think my 46 AX on it is over powering it, this airplane flies on its wing not on its motor so there is no need to go crazy.
Sig midstar is a great airplane.
I have it for three years now and its a stubborn airplane crashed it twice nose into concrete and its still flying well.
knife edges, rolls in a circle and turns on a dime like there is no tomorrow and its coming for more.
sometimes I think my 46 AX on it is over powering it, this airplane flies on its wing not on its motor so there is no need to go crazy.
Sig midstar is a great airplane.
