Scott, the YS will definately haul the plane like a bat out of a hot place. Congrats on a good choice of powerplant!
I'm not too worried about weight, the tail feathers are the lightest I've had on a plane this size. The finished items, even before sanding feel like uncovered foam cores in my hand [&:]

We'll definately compare flying notes, like you it'll probably be 2 months until I'm in the air myself when summer comes.

Hi Scott,
The Wild 7 is just a bit bigger than the Silent ST. I plan on converting it to a tail dragger (Naruke had a conventional gear and tail dragger version of his Silent at the '89 worlds). I don't have the kit yet, but I'm sure it is the usual MK quality. The price was definitely right - when Indy R/C was importing MK kits the Wild 7 1.20 cost more than $500.
I can't wait to hear the flight reports on the Skystar. :-)
Happy flying,
Will

Just a final sanding left plus hinging and I'm ready to cover. Plus I have to seal a strange gap in the wing saddle. Must've done something wrong along the way!

- Elevator rod is carbon supported by foam.
- MK bellcrank used. It was tricky getting it not to bind with the tapered rear fuse. (My first time using it)
- Note Ola Fremming-style bellypan fastener. No screwdriver needed. It was incredibly simple to make and it won't come loose. Instead of pins in the rear of the pan into the pipe tunnel I've made a variant with a triangular slot on the inside so it' can't move forwards or backwards.

Have you noticed how VERY similar this plane is to the MK Super VR-7? Apart from the fixed gear, I can't tell them apart...

These pix are a little better. The sun kinda ruined the previous ones [&:]

Ha Jon...I bet you just can't wait to get that green chin cowl painted...huh That would drive me totally crazy..just funnin with ya Jon...The plane looks outstanding...makes me wanna smile a bit when I think of the vertical it will have. Do you have a colour scheme in mind?? I think my next plane will be brown, in tribute to my favorite food...chocolate

I have a pretty simple but decent color scheme, I've done some photoshop work and tried it on the Ultra Sport in Real Flight, and it works very well "in the air". I'll be Red, white and two shades of blue. It reminds me of some Yak 55's I've seen. The lower half of the fuse will be all white so there's only one color for the bellypan fortunately. My painting skills leaves a lot to be desired so I tend to plan for simplicity [&:]

Linkages and hinges fixed at last. Tail sanded complete. The fuse is now ready for covering, just need to adjust the wing saddle a few mm, I hav a small gap that needs to be sealed. Servos for the tail are JR DS8321.

Jon
How are you using the foam to support the CF pushrod.
I cant see well enough in the photo.

Mike

It's two small triangular foam blocks with a groove in them, glued to a cross-brace. One is on top of the rod and one beneath it. This way I can remove the entire MK bellcrank assembly without opening the fuse, if I take it out I can twist the bellcrank around the foam supports.

It's pictured here.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/upfi...66/Fl18765.jpg

wow... can't wait to see the finished product... Great building!

Jon
How did you do the closed loop system on your rudder.
I have the same MK offset control horns that you have but when I offer it up to the rudder the arm is nowhere near the rudder hinge point.
What did you do special if anything?

Thanks

Mike

On my plane I had to sand off a few mm of the front of the rudder horn plate to get it far enough forward. I think my horns are either the large or medium offset type, perhaps they are larger than yours? My links actually line up a mm or so in front of the hinge line, apparently it needs to be like that since my cables are not parallell all the way from the servo. (I'm quoting Dean Pappas from the latest issue of Flying models. A great article and just what I needed as I got it on the same day I was mounting the rudder )

Your links should be behind the hinge line so you have an effect called ackerman (not sure how you spell it). If it is correctly done the cables will be tight with your surface centered and they will be a little bit loose when you move the surface to one side. It is not important that they are a little bit loose when the surfaces are deflected because the air will keep them in position, and it is more important that they are tight when the surface is centered. If you do it the wrong way and you put the links in front of the hinge line the effect is opposite, so your surface will be loose when it is centered.

Lucky for me I can adjust this with the horns. The MK horn is slanted so if I move the horn futher in I can get it slightly behind the hinge line and if they are screwed all the way out I can have them slightly in front. I win either way

Nose job complete. Just need to cover the tail and glue all the hinges and she's all set. Maiden flight planned for the coming weekend.

wow.. nice pic.. any pics of the whole plane covered?

The tail is still uncovered but look for an update here in a day or so and you'll have it [8D]

will be looking out for it....

And thar she blows. Worked on it until midnight, nearly didn't make it so I could fly today but I got there in the end [&:]
I've not trimmed the underside yet, no time, I'm going flying! I'll add some high-vis trim on the bottom of the wings later. She balanced about 5mm behind the CG shown on the plans. I'll try it like that and see. It can't possibly be twitchy with that huge long tail, plus I have a Hatori 700 pipe coming that is lighter than the Webra pipe I will use today. I'll take a few better pix on the flying field this afternoon with better light conditions. I've ordered some custom stickers with the text "Sky Star 90" that I'll put on the wings and fuse sides too.

WOW.. that is such a sweet looking plane.... did u cover the fuse or paint it?

Everything is covered with monokote. It doesn't look so good close up, then you can see all my mistakes and places that should have been sanded more [&:]

Your Skystar looks great, Jon. I'm anxiously awaiting your flight report!!
Happy flying,
Will B.

Allrighty then! She flew two hops yesterday and is still with us
There's so many impressions about both plane and engine so I'll try and sum it up briefly.

The paint used on belly pan and pipe tunnel is NOT fuelproof. I might as well have used watercolors so a cleaning job and a round of clear varnish is needed before I fly more. Fuelproof stuff this time!

Webra ran great with a 12x11 APC (10500 rpm, tuned rich) but would not run with a 13x11 (7000 rpm). It should handle props as big as that so I'll try again when it's broken in, and lengthen the pipe to max which is about two inches more.
I ran it rich and I had problem with flooding before it started as the pump sucked in too much fuel so I had to close the needle and try again a couple of times. It takes a bit of getting used to this pump business but in the air it was rock solid. First tank I ran on the ground and the next two in the air. Dead-sticks are no longer an issue with the pump!

Vertical performance with the 12x11 was unlimited but the straight forward speed was too fast for my liking, I think I'll try a 13x8 or something during break in.

Takeoff was straight and uneventful but it needed a lot of elevator to get airborne. Long tail caused that I think. I flew it without belly pan because of the paint problem and to increase cooling over the engine and it might affect flight performance some but you would'nt think so if you'd flown it - it was very smooth and surprisingly fast for its size. I've never flown so big before! The wing is very light and rolls very extremely crisp, and axial.
I had 40% exponential which was a bit much, the elevator felt mushy although I had a lot of throw. Rudder and ailerons felt much more crisp and positive even with expo. And now I have to learn how to fly a 4-point without using rudder to compensate - 4-points and slowrolls needed just a touch of down elevator while inverted.

I really look forward to getting to know the webra and the Sky Star more. Both impressed me a lot. The plane flew as expected but the handling of the engine left the greatest impression on me. Throttling ability out of the box like that is rare. I had some serious doubts about the carb and throttle but shame on me, I will never doubt a Webra again. With a light prop load it was incredibly easy to tune, idled like a champion straight out of the box. Now all I have to do is find a prop that'll give me about 9500-10.000 rpm on the ground.

Some pictures from the field yesterday

fantastic... i am tempted to get one... btw, u r not fitting wheel pants for it?