Eagle II Mods
 

I have an Eagle II as my trainer and I am flying my second plane. I enjoyed the Eagle II a lot and will recommend it to anyone who asks - a very good trainer.
I have an Eagle II kit laying around and since I doubt I can sell it for what I paid for it I guess I'll build it. Plus, it looks like an easy kit with well explained instructions.
Some of the mods I have in mind are -
minimum dihedral - what is the least amount I should have?
beef it up for floats
dual aileron servos
adding flaps - what ratio of flap to aileron?
bigger ailerons - how large should I go?
bigger rudder - how large should I go?
bigger elevator - how large should I go?
I guess I'm trying to turn it into a performance plane like the Kadet Senior. Any experienced suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
KW_Counter

RE: Eagle II Mods
 

KW Counter,

I was in a similar situation several years ago; I had purchased the Eagle II to learn on but found a built Freedom 20 shortly after. I learned to fly on the freedom. I kept the Eagle for the same reason. I basically built the plane as designed except that I changed the airfoil to an Eppler 197 and took out most of the dihedral. I also mounted the engine inverted and cowled in the nose. I bought a set of aluminum landing gear and made it as a tail dragger. Wonderfully flying airplane. The wing construction was almost as per plan, I simply substituted the new airfoil. And of course I had to cut down the fuse to match the new airfoil. Wasn't difficullt. If you want a copy of the airfoil, I can mail it to you. It is already the right length for the Eagle.

Cheers!

Jollidude

RE: Eagle II Mods
 

Jollidude,
I must confess ignorance - what is an Eppler 197 airfoil?
Thanks,
KW_Counter

RE: Eagle II Mods
 

The airfoil is shape of the wing in cross section. The original wing has a flat bottom airfoil, good for slow flight because it produces lots of lift. The Eppler 197 is a semi-symmetrical airfoil, curved both top and bottom with the top having more of a curvature. Eppler is the name of the guy who "invented" this particular cross section and I guess it was his 197th design?. It allows the plane to fly faster because it produces a lot less drag. It's also better for aerobatics because a flat bottom airfoil always wants to fly right-side up, so you are constantly fighting it when trying aerobatic flying. The best case I can make for changing the airfoil is that a fellow member built this wing for his Eagle II, and flew the plane. He didn't notice a whole lot of difference, until one day he crashed and broke the updated wing. He put the original wing back on the plane and hated how it flew. He built a second updated wing and put it back on. I have written instructions for the wing build as well, hoping someday to send off a construction article to one of the big RC magazines but I haven't really thought too much about it recently. Let me know. By the way, the Eagle with the updated wing flys like on rails although if I were to build another, I'd probably chop a bay off each end of the wing. Like the original, it was tricky to fly in gusty conditions - big wing and a light plane!

Cheers!

Jollidude

RE: Eagle II Mods
 

Here's a few pics scanned from photos I took of the plane.

Cheers!

Jollidude

RE: Eagle II Mods
 

I have an old eagle2 that has been hacked around a bit. I have it built with no dihedral in the wing. Also, I have added a 1/2 inch of surface to the back of the rudder. The plane still fly's great and I have not added anything to the ailerons. If you set your control throws up high and build as I have mentioned, the plane will still fly well and be more aerobatic than the standard eagle II.

RE: Eagle II Mods
 

I took an Eagle II and made it a low wing plane. I sheeted over the top, and cut out a wing saddle in the bottom of the fuse. I converted it to a tail dragger with retracts in the wing. It looked pretty neat flying with the gear up. I still have it up in the attic!