After building and flying a .90 4-stroke powered Royal Staggerwing I wanted to build a small one by converting a rubber power kit. While not sure if it should be classed as an indoor or a park flier, I'm building a Dumas 17.5" Beech Staggerwing for 4-channel e-power using:[ul][*] Bluebird BMR-4 receiver[*] (3ea.) Blue Arrow BA-TS-4.3 micro servos[*] E-TEC 7.4v LiPo battery[*] Astro Flight Firefly brushless motor/ESC combination
[/ul] The wing area comes out at 85 sq. in. and should come out light enough using colored tissue and clear dope. The hardest part was making the ailerons and a light torque rod linkage, but it worked out just fine.

In the process of covering now and learning new French words as I recall the 'good old' days (not!) of tissue and stick construction. Here is a stock photo of a typical Dumas Beech Staggerwing for rubber power. I'll post a photo of the completed electric powered model when I complete it.

quint,

good choice, the staggerwing is a nice looking design. almost any plane can be considered indoors if you've got a large enough venue (heck, you could fly just about anything at an indoor football/baseball stadium) how much does your electronics weigh in at? from what i've read, Dumas uses pretty decent balsa in their kits, so at least you wouldnt have to retrace all the parts and make your own lighter peices.

please do post pictures of the completed project, or any other pics you've taken along the way so far. a build thread is always good reading.

nick

The total electronics package weighs in at 49.3 grams and yes, the Dumas balsa is very nice and doesn't need replacement. I added a bit of Sig contest balsa for the motor mount backing and a 1" square of 1/16" ply to mount the motor, but the weights should still be quite light overall.

I cut out the control surfaces then attached them with small 1/4" by 1/2" pieces of CA hinge material sandwiched between two balsa sticks, then sanded the balsa back to the thickness called out in the plans. I don't like the look of a piece of tape, etc. as hinges and this way is not that much more work. The next step is to find and mount a very small power switch. - I may use the switch/charge jack assembly that comes with the COX micro warbirds since it is quite light and easy to mount. (Now to go crash one of them so I can salvage the part - )

Here is a shot of the aileron torque linkage that a friend took. I'll get him to take some more as the rest of the electronics gets installed.

i agree, for a scale kit like this, using tape just doesnt look the part, your control linkages look nice and clean.

aw, dont crash the Cox bird though, those are nice! i've got the Estes version of the Corsair sitting on my bench waiting for electronics. same thing as the Cox, except mine is in a two tone blue color. RadioShack sells some pretty tiny switches. are you going to keep the battery burried in the fuse? if not, could you just use some micro connectors rather than the switch?

keep us posted.

nick

Here is a composite showing; the installed servos and RX in the fuse, the four cooling air openings drilled in the cowl (It exhausts through the two rear side cockpit windows which are left open), and a detail showing the control horn and hinges at the rear.

The battery will be located to get the proper CG, but right now it looks like it will go in vertically at the right side of the cockpit and be accessible through a removable windshield assembly. Haven't gotten that far yet since I'm still waiting on the battery. One modification required is to trim the top wing mounting base to get a 0 degree incidence on both wings as well as the tail plane. The kit has quite a bit of positive incidence on the top wing which is the opposite of what's required on a Staggerwing since the top wing should not stall before the bottom on this configuration. Tonight it's off to Radio Shack for a small switch. It's time consuming to modify the Dumas plane, but then again it's a hobby.

Well, it's finished and flown. The Firefly brushless motor was a bit of overkill as the plane flies well at less than 1/2 power, but the motor/esc combination is light and powerful. Used a GWS 6x5 slowfly prop cut down to 5.5" and balanced. Finished with a haze coat of Missile Red Ultracote paint to even out the color and get the right shade for a Staggerwing. The additional weight was negligible.

No bad habits and it trimmed with just a click of down. I haven't weighed it, but it's lighter that my Cox warbird P-51. If you're into building stick and tissue, the conversion is a blast to fly and besides who else has a Staggerwing at the park?

quint

looks really sharp, Quint, nicely done i can imagine with the firefly motor, that thing could probably cruise around at a pretty good clip. any video possible?

nick

I asked my friend and he said his camera could take short videos. Will see if I can get some calm wind, my friend and the plane together at the same time. It's pretty windy here this time of year when there is good lighting, but we will do it and post it. By the way, it seems you and I are the only two wanting to do these projects. Sure wish more e-fliers where builders and not foam and ARF fliers. All the builder types here are into larger engine power.

P.S. Guillows has a nice P-38 that should convert well to electric even with the heavier balsa. Going to run over to the LHS and check one out that he has in stock. Do you think that a pair of stock, (brushed) 130 size motors that come in the COX warbirds would fly it? I have a pair with ESC's here.

Im more of a E ducted guy but that is so cool what you did. I love seeing small planes fly its almost they defy gravity sort of, instead of tearing arount the feild. How much did it cost to get up?

looking forward to the video. i wish more people did these kinds of projects too, it takes a lot more work, but it sure is worth it. i havent built one of these kinds of kits in a long time, but i saw a Beech V Tail Bonanza last time i was at the LHS and i liked it so much i'm going to build one soon. i saw the P-38 that guillows had too, i think that would be a long build, but it would look great when finished. i think two of the 130 motors would haul around the P-38, IIRC the hobbico funfly Staggerwing uses the same motor, and people have converted those to RC with the stock motor. if you build one, make sure to post it

nick

Slayer, all up including the building supplies ran around $100.00 which is not bad for a 4 channel setup.

nick My first Staggerwing was a much modified Royal kit and it left me wanting more punishment. Not to dilute this thread, but here is a link to one of it's postings as reference: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_15...tm.htm#1623237
I will go look at the P-38 today and see if I can scrape together a few pennies to buy it...