Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

After the recent post by Screamin_Injun on his sickle I decided to build one. I have been planning on building one for some time know and after seeing his I had to go ahead with one.

Mine is just about done and I hope to fly it on Sunday. I am using a magnum 36 on mine and as per the instructions I moved the wing up about a half inch in order to accomodate the heavier engine.

I am at the point of installing my battery and rx but it is coming out way tail heavy. Recomended CG is 1.5¨ to 1.75¨. With the battery as far forward as I have room for it is coming out at around 2.25¨

Is this CG way to far back?

Mine is the aleron verion, what are the recomended throws?

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

Gringo, My Sickles are set up with the CG about 1.5" back from the leading edge. There is no problem with getting the nose up during the landing flop and they track well upright or inverted. As far as the aileron throws, keep the throw down around 1/4 of an inch. If you have dual rates you can try 3/8" on high rate. Any more than that and I think you'll have a very touchy plane. If you have exponential, then dial in very little throw near stick center and go crazy with full stick. I think you'll be amazed at the response with very little aileron movement. Same goes for the elevator function.

Screamin_Injun

Glad you built one Gringo...you won't be disappointed. My CG is 1.4 back from LE with the OS .46LA. Aileron throws are exactly 3/8inch. Did you add any length to the wing? I don't have anything fancy on my radio at all so I can't change any kind of rate what so ever...but mine rolls twice in a little over a second. [8D] Dove ever so slightly before trim.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

The best I can do so far is get the CG a hair past 2 inches from LE. So do you think I should go ahead and try it out?

It still balances in front of the spar which makes me think it should be OK.

The other option is that I have a TTpro 46 that I could put on it. But it is built according to the plans .25 to .36 size motor. I would think the 46 would rip the wings of off it!

dwc

Gringo

I have my COG at 1 7/8" and It is borderline tail heavy so I plan to move it ahead about 1/8 or 1/4"
It may fly where you have it but I think it will be very pitch sensitive. You could temporarily hang a little extra weight on the front of it until you get used to how it flies and remove the weight a little at a time.
Dan

Screamin_Injun

I would do what DWC said, if not your going to have to raise the wing cord to counter the weight of the .46 like I did so its not just an engine with plastic glued to it. Unless you want to just rebuild another plane, I'd epoxy a couple squares of lead to the nose. Will just lower your glide rate a bit.

Muldoer

Did you follow the plans exactly? because this seems to be a common issue amongst new builders of the Sickle. Common recommendation is to build the fuse and the wing separately, and cut the slot for the wing at the very end. The slot on my fuse is at 5.5" rather than the 4.996" as indicated on the plan. This makes the setup more balanced and not so tail heavy.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

The plans were followed to the letter.

I did not put the wing at 4.966 bc the instructions say ¨NOTE: If you are going to use a heavy ball bearing engine, you will want to move all the wing mounting hardware and cutouts forward 1/2 inch.¨

I am using a magnum 36 BB. My wing spar is at 4.75 which is only a fourth of an inch ahead of the recomended.

Hindsite being 20 20 I should have waited to do the wingcutout after it was built.

As much as I hate to do it I think I will add a little lead to the front and maybe build a new fuse for next week. I really want to get it in the air!

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

Whether I add nose weight in the form of lead or in the form of a larger engine it shouldnt really matter.

Although I really doubt how well the airframe would hold up with all that juice up front

Muldoer

I have a 40LA on mine and the slot is cut 1/2 inch behind the recommended spot. As I said, the plans seem off as to the cutout placement with all the gear placed in the plane as indicated per the plans. Following the plans to the letter makes a tail heavy aircraft. The remedy is to cut the slot further back as to put more weight forward and thus be within the CG limits.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

I got th CG to just a hair over 1.75 inches with some lead and headed out to give her a try.

All I can say is WOOOOOOWWWWW! What a blast to fly. Its fast but handles extremely well. I have built a debut, corospit, spa3d and this is by far the best and most stable flyer. The corospit is not as fast and you have to fly it at WOT all the time or it stalls and on a deadstick it flies a brick. On the other hand the sickle flies a lot faster and it also handles well at low or high speeds. I had a deadstick on the first flight and I was absolutely amazed at how well it glides. Although the CG was a hair behind where it was recomended mine wasnt at all pitch sensitive. This thing had me on my toes, it flies fantastic but its not for the fain of heart

Several sugestions I would make if you want to build one. First, the above advise of Muldoer is good. Second, this is in no way shape or form a plane for a beginner or even an intermediate pilot. You need to be a fairly experienced pilot to keep this one under control. Also, I have heard some folks saying the elevon version doesnt fly well. Not so with minem the elevons work great. Last, keep your control throws low and expo high. IMO 1/2 inch is more than enough. I have 60% expo dialed in and under 1/2 inch of throw.

Now I need to go and see what I can do to squeeze out a few more RPM's from my engine.... maybe up the nitro and build a mouse can pipe

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

Gringo, my feelings exactly. I have one with a TT 42GP in it and it's fun to fly but the other one with a ST40 BB engine is a rocket. Tracks like it's on a rail and very responsive. As I warned you about before and you have since verified, the elevon throw is minimal unless you want something that will eat it's own tail. It's a real adrenalin rush to fly.

dwc

Awesome plane isn't it Gringo? You got any photos?
Dan

Screamin_Injun

Glad you had fun gringo! Everything you say about how this plane handles is true. I am utterly SHOCKED at how well this thing handles at slow speeds. Took mine up to about 150ft and stalled it.....well....if you wanna call it that. Never really stalled...lol...just floated for ages until pilots on the ground started clapping and yelling cause they had never seen a plane do that. This is also the first gas plane I have hand launched...was easy as pie. Plane just left my hand with little force from me. Ive also heard of pilots talking of unlimited vertical. Having flown $600.00 four strokes...I can honestly say this is the first plane that really had unlimited vertical. No joke...the old .46LA pulled her to about 700 feet in under 20 seconds. (Yes my plane was a white speck) This may be my premier SPAD to build in the future. Haven't had this much fun spadding in a long time.

FrankC29

In my Sickle heyday, I found that with some practice and experience you can move the CG back as far as 2 1/8". Is it touchy? Yes! But man is it responsive! You can change directions is a hearbeat, you can perform some very extreme high g loops. The thing is you need an engine that wont bog down in this situation. I had a lot of luck with the TT36. It uses the same carb as the TT46 and has no problem keeping the engine well fed when you are in the midst of these extreme manuevers.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

The first day I took the sickle out only one or two others saw it fly. Yesterday I went out and all the regular flyers were out plus a few visitors. All of them were ooing and aaahhing at the sickle.

There are a couple of teenagers at the club that are pretty good flyers and I always let them fly my planes. The first day I took it out one of them told me he didnt believe that it would fly. I told him it was a tried and tested design and that it would be a good flyer. He doubted it and didnt even stay around to see the first flight. Yesterday it was another story. After the first flight he was begging to fly it! So everyone had a fun time flying it and I think we will probably have a few more sickles around the club pretty soon.

My Magnum 36 was only turning 10,000RPM with a 10X5MA prop. The plane is fast but really needs more power.

I am thinking about one for a TT pro 46 I have with a Tower muffler. Its a great little engine. I think the overall design would be the same but how much bigger should the wing be and what about the fuselage length?

MrGreenSpeed

For a .46, find what You have to multiply the dimensions by to get a 48 " wing span.
Then multiply every thing else by that number.

Don't cut the slot for the spar in the fuse till You have every thing built.
Then attach the fuse with tape or rubber bands and slide it back and forth till You get the CG correct then cut the slot.
Jeff

Screamin_Injun

That's great Gringo.....glad you educated some more peeps to SPADs! And just FYI...I didn't build mine too different from the original plans, as far as dimensions go. I added 8 inches to the wing length and I used a plywood firewall, and 2 plywood supports in the fuse because I didn't have gutterpipe. I also wanted better slow speed handling so I didn't taper the airfoil midwing....giving it uniform width all the way to the edge of the wing. Flew beautifully!

SeacretsOceanCity

here is 7 seconds of mine I love it gonna make a 60 size one
[link=http://home.comcast.net/~dlbtkuntzi/sick.wmv]SICKLE launch and pass[/link]

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

I have a ST 90 sitting around. When you get around to making the 60 sized one send me the info and maybe I´ll build one too!

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

I checked out that video. Yours is faster than mine. I switched to a 9X6 MA prop and its faster but my magnum 36 is about worn out. I also have a TT pro 25 that I might try on it. It will turn the same prop about the same speed but its a a fair bit lighter.

The sickle is still a blast to fly although mine is ¨slow¨.

SeacretsOceanCity

Got an LA 40 on mine with a home made pipe gets along good

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

have you tached it?

Smooth Spanky

I'm finding the plans for the sickle to be somewhat vague. Does anyone have any links to build instructions or pictures?

Thanks!!

SS

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

If you have any specific questions just ask here we will be glad to help. Its really a pretty straight forward build.

I thought it was by far the easiest SPAD I have built.

Rather than looking for step by step instructions just go by the diagrams for cutting everything out and theres not much to it!