Mustang Fever

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Sean: go to this url and download the instructions (Adobe) for this plane. I think it shows a good picture of how aileron torque rods are normally done. Basically, the torque rods and their bearing tubes are flush against the TE of the wing. Then, a piece that is the equivalent of the ailerons is grooved out in the front to fit over the torque rods, and glued in place. There is also a hole cut into the bottom of the grooved piece where the horn ends stick out.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJ571&P=0

Redwulf__34

Thanks bob,
I understand how to do them this way. I have always done torque rods this way. What is making this hard it the fact the ailerons don't set in the TE. There is no place to hide or encase the torque rod. I was trying to figure out how to do it if I didn't have the extra TE to set it in. I may have to re-evaluate and either do the bellcranks or two servo method. I can do a hidden belcrank pretty easy.

Thanks for the link! Weather has taken a serious turn here! Maybe snow this weekend! So I feel better about still building!

Sean

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

Just got back from flying mine in St. Louis. (Visiting daughter & family) I think I'm finally getting the hang of the Cline fuel system.

Very windy and kinda cold (45 deg), but the stick really handles it well, especially with the quad flaps.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

The ground handling was so poor on paved runways with the tail dragger setup, that I've decided to switch mine over to tricycle. I've ordered one of those Robart 654 steerable nosewheel assemblies.

8178

My Feedback: (17)

The Stick doesn’t really lend its self to a tail wheel very well because of the low stab and the one piece elevator. I’m sure if Phil thought it should have been a tail dragger he would have designed it with a tail wheel. Many of his other designs were tail draggers. One of the many things I love about the Stick is the way you can drag it in and land super nose high and gently touch down on the mains and then slowly rotate down on the nose gear or is some cases stay on the mains and add a little power and lift off again. I always had to epoxy a wire along the bottom of the sub fin to keep it from being ground away on tail low landings.

Redwulf__34

I'm with ya 8178. That was the greatest thing with my sweet stick. (same thing a bit smaller). I didn't get as much building done today as I hoped. I have all the false ribs in and all the secondary spars. Now comes the thinking part. I'm not giving up on the torque rods yet. I'm going to fit the wing to the fuselage now and see how it all works out. Perhaps I can add about 1/2" to the trailing edge to cover the torque rods. I woke up last night about 2:00 AM with a new idea! I'll have to fit the wing and see how it all ties to the fuselage.

I think your really gonna like the trike setup Bob. Let me know how she turns out.

Sean

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

8178:

I kind of reached the same conclusion independently. The stab is so low that the propwash doesn't seem to get under it, and the tail never really lifts on TO. Makes it real squirrely, even on grass.

8178

My Feedback: (17)

Yes. If you want to consistently make 10 point take offs and landings trike gear is the way to go.

Redwulf__34

[&o] Well, the first dissapointment. I worked really hard making sure everything is straight. The wing really looked good after I unpinned it and lifted it off the bench. I let is sit flat on the bench since the last time I worked on it. After I unpinned it I glued in the top front secondary spar, then the false ribs, then the lower front secondary spar. I took another look this morning to admire how fine a job I was doing and found the TE has twisted. The LE and the main spars are nice and straight, but the TE has warped up at both tips. Probably about 1/8". It looks like "washout".

How or why did this happen? I've pinned everything back down and I'm going to glue the rear sheeting on the TE and then put in all the shear webbing between the spars. Then the tips and everything while it's pinned down straight. I'm hoping that the shear webbing and trailing edge with pull it back and hold it straight. I'm not sure how or why this happened? Any ideas on how to keep it from happening the next time? Maybe I did something dumb that I overlooked..........

Sean

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

Basically you have to glue on every single piece that you can before you take it off the board. Stub ribs, TE sheeting, any remaining spars, etc., etc. All the pieces work together to help it hold it's shape. Leave some of them out, and you're liable to get bit. (I learned this one the hard way, too.)

Redwulf__34

I found what I've been looking for. [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXD853&P=7]Strip Ailerons[/link] I knew there was something. I'll try these out. There wouldn't be any need to cover them up with extra "TE". I should be able to put it right into the TE like a hinge.

Gonna lift the wing up later on. I've been praying that she will stay straight! I've gotten everything glued on that I can. Really think the webbing will help hold it. I must have "pulled" it somehow inserting the fasle ribs.........

Gonna eat Easter Dinner and pray some more then lift her up from the board....

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Ya know, I thought I had seen something like that, and couldn't remember where. That should get everything close enough to the TE to suit your application.

Redwulf__34

Well, the twist seems to have come out. There is a "little bit". Probably about 1/32" on each side now. It is exactly the same on both sides. Very strange. If it doesnt twist any more I can easily fix it during covering. I'm not even sure it's enough to worry about.

I sheeted the bottome of the wing and I have my dowel supports in, and servo mounting ready. I just need to order some parts from Tower today for the torque rods and I'll be ready to roll! I'll try to post up some new pictures.

Sean

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

Thought you might like this pic. My Stik on final, full Crow deployed.

Redwulf__34

She looks good Bob! Thanks for posting the picture. It's got me motivated again! I like the look of those wide landing gear there ready to grab the ground!

Did you do your rudder as a build up as well or solid 1/4"? I'm curious which way you ran your sticking inside?

Sean

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

I'm pretty sure I used 1/4 sheet for the stab & rudder.

Redwulf__34

Not much to report. I've gotten a good bit of work done but, I'm at that point where it's all little unseen stuff! I'm gonna try to really move it forward this weekend. Gonna get some big things done. I'm curious about the best type of hardwood to use for the wing bolt blocks? Is Basswood ok?

Bob, I noticed that you put your servos in the forward compartment. I'm wondering what size motor you used and if I may need to do the same. I'm using a .40 but it's a BIG .40. Physically it's about the same size and weight of a .60 but I'm not sure exactly. What I thought I would do is mount the wing etc and do a test balance. It only makes a difference to me in that I'm using a solid rod and I need to know how far to run the tube before I sheet up the top of the fuselage.

Here is a recent wingshot. I'll show a closer view of the torque rod setup when I get it in. The local hobby shop had to order it. It's supposed to be in today. I'm also going to try CA hinges.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Lookin good, Sean.

I mounted my servos as far aft as I could get them (behind that short former). I still had to add a lot of lead to the tail to get it to balance, and I've got a Tower 46, which weighs about 17oz with muffler.

Basswood should be fine for wing bolt blocks, just make sure they are thick enough so you'll have plenty of threads, and after tapping, squirt some CA down the holes to "harden" the threads. I'm using maple for wing bocks on my F-4, and I don't think there's a lot of difference in strength.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

I was downstairs modifying my Stik for trike gear, and happened to look into the radio compartment. I had forgotten, I mounted my servos almost up behind the F2 bulkhead. I wish I had put em further aft. If you put yours near F3, I'll bet you won't need half the lead I had to put in. (I did put the battery up against F3.)

Here's a shot of how I had to modify the nose to get the Robart steerable assembly in there. The round nose where the cowl mounts wasn't flush with the back of F1, so I had to bust the lower piece off and grind it down on the belt sander. Cut a hole in the bottom for the nose gear to go in. That way, the top two holes are in F1, and the bottom two in the lower round part below the fuse. With the main gear I'm using, I need all the nose gear length I can get is the reason. After these pieces set, I'm going to put 1/8 ply across where the gear mounts to further reinforce the area.

Really like the Robart nosegear. It's so much easier to work with than the wire stuff. I don't think I've ever been able to grind a good flat on the wire gear so that the steering arm would stay put. There's an upper and a lower clamp that can be loosened to allow the strut to be adjusted up or down, and the steering arm can be put in either clamp and adjusted to the best angle. No flat grinding. I'll put the steering arm on top, and it should line up pretty well with a pushrod from the rudder servo.

Redwulf__34

Looks good Bob, I have not had the weekend here I hoped for. I was part of the planning team for my sons school mini golf tournament. It ran Saturday and I found out I had things to do with it Friday evening. Then there was opening day for his T ball. Here it is Saturday evening and I've not worked a bit on mine. My aileron connectors didnt come in anyway. But I was planning to move onto the fuselage anyway. I want to get the stabs all glued on and get ready to mount the wing. Then it'll start looking like something. If I had about two good solid days I could probably have it ready to cover. Just got to get two good days in!! I may have to take some vacation time!

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

Hope you get some more build time, soon. I'm retired and the kids are off producing grandkids, so I have lots of time to hack balsa.

Here's the Stik upgraded to trike gear. Flew it today in 30mph winds, and had a ball. After much fine tuning, I've got the Cline pressure fuel system working real good, and she never missed a beat. Halfway through a tank of gas, I brought her in and changed from an 11x6 to a 12x5 prop. The Tower 46 loves it, she accelerates in a vertical climb. (I guess that means unlimited, I didn't really try, as it got so high I chickened out.)

Also another shot at Buder Park near St. Louis during Easter break.

Redwulf__34

She looks good bob. Especially in the air.

I did get a little balsa hacking time in today! I just came up from the garage. I got the elevator hinged to the stab, I got the stab glued to the fuselage, and I got all those darn elevator scallops rounded over and looking nice. Hope that tomorrow evening I can get a little time in. Not sure what my next step is. Gonna have to look her over well and do a little thinking here. I have the ability right now to make things either easy or hard! If you know what I mean. I'll probably shape up the vertical stab and get that ready to glue up. It is cut out and roughly rounded over. I'm probably pretty close to gluing that on now. Maybe I should drill and install the pushrods. I just bought some tubing and solid wire at the hobby store for those.

Flying season is not here yet! Been tons of rain and very cold here. About 40 degrees and raining hard for about a day and half. Maybe turning to snow tonite then back to rain tomorrow. Good for building bad for flying. Fortunately I'm not ready to be flying!

Sean

Redwulf__34

When I glued the horizontal stab on I noticed it warped on me too. It was not solid sheet. I built it up just like the plans showed. I don't know how to keep stuff from warping. It must have been the way I stored it. I didn't let it lay flat.

What size bolts are best for mounting the landing gear? Just some 4-40's with blind nuts? Is it necessary to put some blocking behind the gear itself? I assuming not.

Thanks,

Sean

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

When I moved the main gear back to convert to trike, I took a piece of 1/4" ply, about 3x4, recessed some 8-32 blind nuts in the top of it to match the gear, and epoxied it to the bottom of the fuse after taking off some covering.

I guess I'm turning into a Russian- I've lost track of the number of times I've heard Peter Ustinov say, on Wings, that this or that Soviet aircraft has "robust landing gear, to match the primitive conditions of Soviet airstrips." Reminds me of our field in Tustin, Mich. I'll never use wire gear again, it bends too easily.

Redwulf__34

Hey Guys,
I am making some progress, however slow it may be! With the warm weather showing up building time has slowed some. I have forgotten how hard the sanding is! I'm working at completing the wing now and wish I had taken a little more time to make sure the spars were set to the righ depth and sanded a bit better before I glued it up!!!!!!! I've given up on the torque rods. It's been too long since I've built and re-designing to accomodate them is not going well. I needed to think that through earlier. I'm going to go with a concealed bellcrank system that I already know how to do. I want to start flying soon.

Progress pictures will come soon.........What size rods should I be using for the elevator and rudder?

Sean