87" Ziroli Stearman Finished
05-16-2009, 04:42 PM
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87" Ziroli Stearman Finished
Hi All,
It's finished. Here are some facts:
Weighs 33.5 Lbs
1.75 Lbs of led in nose to balance
covered and finished with the Stits system
Spektrum DX7 radio
2 1650 mha RX batteries
JR 8611a servos
TME smoke system
Zenoah G62 engine-converted to electronic ignition
functional .125x.030 flying and landing wires
1year 6months to build
built from Ziroli plans with no laser cut parts
Here are some pictures .
It's finished. Here are some facts:
Weighs 33.5 Lbs
1.75 Lbs of led in nose to balance
covered and finished with the Stits system
Spektrum DX7 radio
2 1650 mha RX batteries
JR 8611a servos
TME smoke system
Zenoah G62 engine-converted to electronic ignition
functional .125x.030 flying and landing wires
1year 6months to build
built from Ziroli plans with no laser cut parts
Here are some pictures .
05-16-2009, 05:05 PM
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RE: 87
Great Job Jim! I am getting ready to put together the Great-Planes P17 and would like to know what did you use for fasteners on the wires. I plan on using working wires on my plane even thou they are not needed. I was hoping to find something to scale. That is a beautiful plane you built. Thanks for sharing.
05-18-2009, 08:40 PM
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RE: 87
Dstiebs,
Here are a couple of pictures of the tail bracing wires,they are made the same as the flying wires.
The yellow metal bracket is made out of .032 thick 4130 steal. It is screwed to the tail with a 4-40 screw, which is screwed into a threaded insert which is threaded into a hardwood block inside the tail. theclevis is a small Robart clevis. The clevis is attached to the yellow bracket with a 2-56 button head screw and nut. The 4-40 end soldered to the flying wire was threaded on a lathe and then slit on a milling machine to accept the flat flying wire stock. The flat flying wire stock was purchased from a company called Procter.
It is not completely scale but I think it is nota bad approximation. If you search on line there is a company that makes truley scale wires and clevices but they are kind of expensive. I think for my Stearman it might have cost $500 or so.
Good luck with your Stearman! I might fly mine on its maiden flight next weekend if the weather is good.
Jim
Here are a couple of pictures of the tail bracing wires,they are made the same as the flying wires.
The yellow metal bracket is made out of .032 thick 4130 steal. It is screwed to the tail with a 4-40 screw, which is screwed into a threaded insert which is threaded into a hardwood block inside the tail. theclevis is a small Robart clevis. The clevis is attached to the yellow bracket with a 2-56 button head screw and nut. The 4-40 end soldered to the flying wire was threaded on a lathe and then slit on a milling machine to accept the flat flying wire stock. The flat flying wire stock was purchased from a company called Procter.
It is not completely scale but I think it is nota bad approximation. If you search on line there is a company that makes truley scale wires and clevices but they are kind of expensive. I think for my Stearman it might have cost $500 or so.
Good luck with your Stearman! I might fly mine on its maiden flight next weekend if the weather is good.
Jim
10-09-2009, 01:23 AM
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RE: 87
Looks great! I ordered my kit from PCK about a month ago, and im about another month out on receiving it due to their work load... but I opted for the laser cut kit for the simple fact that I have never cut my own, and don't feel like starting that yet.
Anyway... I've never covered a plane with fabric... only ultracote and monokote. It looks like you are using glass? Do you have any tips or advise on covering this bird? The problem im having with the plans, is how the landing gear fairings are made... there isn't much detail, so it looks like i do my own shaping and such.. Did you run into much of a problem? Does the plane build relatively straightforward? How about the rigging, thats something else I get to look forward to!
Thank you!
Anyway... I've never covered a plane with fabric... only ultracote and monokote. It looks like you are using glass? Do you have any tips or advise on covering this bird? The problem im having with the plans, is how the landing gear fairings are made... there isn't much detail, so it looks like i do my own shaping and such.. Did you run into much of a problem? Does the plane build relatively straightforward? How about the rigging, thats something else I get to look forward to!
Thank you!
10-19-2009, 05:39 PM
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RE: 87
Fear2722,
I covered mine with fabric from F & M. It is a polyester fabric that is the same as the fabric used on the full-scale airplane but is lighter weight. I used the paint from the same company. If you want to go the fabric route, which I recommend, I can highly recommend the F&M products. They have every thing needed, good instructions, and I think they have a video available. Basically you attach the fabric with Polytac. Then you heat shrink it with an iron-not a heat gun. Next comes the Polybrush a semi clear coat that fills the weave of the fabric. Then you spray a coat of polyspray a silver coat. Finally you spray the color paint called polytone. This is exactly the same process used on the full size stuff. You will never get a realistic finish with plastic film. Also a Painted finishes like this never gets loose or bubble like plastic films do.
The down side of fabric is that it is a little heavier than film, It is more time consuming to repair, More time consuming to apply, more expensive when you count the paint. However I think the plusses far out weigh the minuses. The fabric looks better; it’s much stronger. And requires no maintenance. Seam doesn’t come loose and non of the plastic film problems exist.
All the stuff I used to finish my 87" Stearman cost between $200 and $300.
I found the build fairly straightforward but there was a lot of it. It took me one and one half years. I probably spent about 8 hours per week on average maybe less during the summer (flying season).
Good luck with your build. I would be glad to tell you how I did mine if you have any questions.
Jim
P.s. F&M Enterprises
PH 817-279-8045
I covered mine with fabric from F & M. It is a polyester fabric that is the same as the fabric used on the full-scale airplane but is lighter weight. I used the paint from the same company. If you want to go the fabric route, which I recommend, I can highly recommend the F&M products. They have every thing needed, good instructions, and I think they have a video available. Basically you attach the fabric with Polytac. Then you heat shrink it with an iron-not a heat gun. Next comes the Polybrush a semi clear coat that fills the weave of the fabric. Then you spray a coat of polyspray a silver coat. Finally you spray the color paint called polytone. This is exactly the same process used on the full size stuff. You will never get a realistic finish with plastic film. Also a Painted finishes like this never gets loose or bubble like plastic films do.
The down side of fabric is that it is a little heavier than film, It is more time consuming to repair, More time consuming to apply, more expensive when you count the paint. However I think the plusses far out weigh the minuses. The fabric looks better; it’s much stronger. And requires no maintenance. Seam doesn’t come loose and non of the plastic film problems exist.
All the stuff I used to finish my 87" Stearman cost between $200 and $300.
I found the build fairly straightforward but there was a lot of it. It took me one and one half years. I probably spent about 8 hours per week on average maybe less during the summer (flying season).
Good luck with your build. I would be glad to tell you how I did mine if you have any questions.
Jim
P.s. F&M Enterprises
PH 817-279-8045
08-21-2011, 09:48 AM
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RE: 87
DMichael,
The crankcase was a vacuum formed part from Ziroli. The cylinders were made from plastic kits purchased from Williams Brothers. The pushrod tubes are AL tubing. The sparkplug wires are black electrical wire. The sparkplug boots were made from AL tubing. I hope that helps.
Jim
The crankcase was a vacuum formed part from Ziroli. The cylinders were made from plastic kits purchased from Williams Brothers. The pushrod tubes are AL tubing. The sparkplug wires are black electrical wire. The sparkplug boots were made from AL tubing. I hope that helps.
Jim
08-21-2011, 09:56 AM
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RE: 87
Rick,
The G62 does good. I think it flies pretty scale like. It cruises around at about 1/2 throttle. It will do a nice big loop and a descent stall turn. It certainly is not overpowered. Definitly no unlimited verticle. If I were to do it again I would have a hard time deciding between the G62 or something like a DA85. Are you considering building one?
Jim
The G62 does good. I think it flies pretty scale like. It cruises around at about 1/2 throttle. It will do a nice big loop and a descent stall turn. It certainly is not overpowered. Definitly no unlimited verticle. If I were to do it again I would have a hard time deciding between the G62 or something like a DA85. Are you considering building one?
Jim
05-22-2013, 06:58 PM
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RE: 87
Sort of an old thread but I have a question about the landing gear fairing. Do you have any close up pictures of your fairing where it meets the fuselage. My concern is once I bolt the Robart struts to the fuselage, how do I make fairings that look good but will also allow me to remove the struts later on if need be. Did you bolt on removable fairing as well? Pictures would be a great help.
