Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Spent most of the day doing the engine mount:

The 1.25" firewall extension is made from a 3x3 laminated maple post that's available from Home Depot. A 1/4" bandsaw was used for trimming it to the shape of the OS engine mount. (Much more elegant than 3 pieces glued together.)

The through bolts holding the OS mount to the firewall are 2" 8-32 ss machine screws, also Home Depot. I used some 8-32 blind nuts I had on hand.

The glue is curing, now, with clamp pressure provided by the bolts and nuts.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Had to relieve the cowl a bit more in order to install the muffler. Did a balance check with following items not yet installed: fuel tank, throttle servo, throttle cable, Rx, & battery.

Came out just barely tail low at 4" back from the LE, so balancing with a 600 mAh battery should be easy.

Decided to mount the throttle servo on the pylon, below the wing, which will eliminate a 90 deg bend from the cable.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Here's the throttle cable and servo installation.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Finished the pylon today, and glued it and the support in. That process can be messed up: I found that in order to get everything centered and aligned, it was necessary to stick the pylon in with the glue on it, and clamp it to the bulkhead at the bottom by sticking the clamp in through the bow hatch. Then, I put the wing on and measured from each side of the fuse to the tip ribs so I could center it. That put the pylon dead center, and then I clamped it to the top of the bulkhead.

Balance, without Rx, battery, switch, and hull lifters is right on the money at 4" aft of the LE. With the sideways engine, she's got a bit of a starboard list, which a couple of nails driven into the left tip should cure. (Balancing is really easy on this bird if one extends the CG point on the wing upwards to the pod, then uses the pod to suspend it. It won't stay still on a CG machine, right side up or upside down, because of the distance between the upper and lower masses.)

Weight, without Rx, battery, switch, hull lifters or windshield, is 8#. I'm guessing she'll come in at 8.5#, dry. That gives a wing loading of 28 oz/square foot.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Couldn't sleep last nite and ended up taking another look at the balance procedure on this bird.

As noted above, it absolutely cannot be balanced by using a CG machine or fingertips under the wing. It will not stay still, but tries to rotate forward or aft depending on which end starts out high.

Also, I realized I had not read to the end of the Lanier instructions on balancing: they say it should hang nose down 10 degrees when balanced at 3 & 7/8" from the LE. This is not possible to do. It also means that the CG is not at 28% of the chord, as Lanier states, it's something less than that. Take your best guess.

So...I went back to the tried and true 25% of the chord for the first flight of a constant chord wing.

The chord is 11 & 3/8" (11.375")
25% is 2.8"

I measured back from the LE 2.8", then leveled the chord with a bubble gauge and an incidence bar, then used a triangle to go straight up from the CG mark to the bottom of the engine pod. That's where I'm checking, using fingertips, and it took a BIG battery right under the hatch to get the CG at that point. (Level balance.)

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

That's it for today, here's the progress:

Left pic is the electronics bay.

Center pic is the electronics bay with a drip shield glued in place. (1/16 ply) I also sealed all around the edges of the shield and the pylon support, so that any water managing to get by the wing saddle seal will end up in the bilge, not in the servos or the Rx.

The battery pack, which is a pair of 2 cell sticks wired in series. Kinda glad I had to use this- I'll be able to fly all day or until I run out of gas.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Ready to fly

I used strips of covering to seal the hatches: battery, servo and fuel tank.

I used strips of covering to seal the edges of the aileron servo trays to the bottom of the wing.

Spent quite a bit of time making the GE silicon sealer gasket around the wing saddle. Hardest part to get right is up in front, under the windshield.

We should get a warm day here soon so's I can breakin the engine.

Strykaas

[8D]

Saillfish

My Feedback: (17)

I just got my Mariner 40 MKII and I must say it is very nice. Upon opening the box I noticed that all parts are packed well with no damage whatsoever. All parts look great and the covering is excellent. I have built many ARF's and this one to date is the best quailty at first glance. I will post as I start building and flying. I plan on putting a YS 63 4 stroke in it.
Scott G.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Scott:

It's one of the better ARFs to assemble. Too bad they didn't do a good job of updating the instructions from the Mark I. I think I start listing the differences back on the previous page. Have fun

Pistol Pete

Found this thread...long read after posting elsewhere but will close after finding this one.[8D]

I'm in...just ordered one from tower for $165...should be here by the 7th of Jan-08.

Red is already discontinued?

Thanks to all for tips and warning...looking forward to modifying mine already and sharing.

Pistol Pete

still on sale as of Jan 3-08

ok now only orange is left...yellow is also discontinued.

arrived in excellent condition...well made IMHO.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Was on the Tower site today, and the Mariner 40 is all gone. It seems like Tower has been "discontinuing" everything Lanier makes. The 15 size Shrike kit is gone, too. Beginning to wonder why they bought Lanier in the first place.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

The maiden flight of the Mariner was completely uneventful. The airplane has really nice water handling, gets up on plane without any fuss, and is very stable and realistic looking in flight. The OS 55 AX makes it real peppy. Can't wait to try some aerobatics with it. I had to come home after one flight this morning because I went in too deep for my waders and my feet were getting numb. (The ice just melted off Lake Cadillac last week, so the water temp is not real far above freezing.)

I will probably shift the CG aft from 25%, as she really wants to drop the nose in a turn. Gonna work up to that slowly, though.

The 3.5 - 4 degrees of upthrust built into the engine pod seems to have completely eliminated any throttle/pitch coupling.

Mad Man Marko-RCU

Hey Mustang Fever:

Great Pains bought Lanier for the same reason they bought Top Flite Dyna flight and all the rest. So they could have 1 less competitor (2 less if you count Goldberg). Then in a few years they can introduce the Gold Edition Lanier XXplane Which will be the Lead Edition after GP kits it. I have an original TF RC Nobler and a GP gold and the wood alone on the GP weighs 1.2 lb more on the re-release. So much for progress Huh.

Too bad Bubba sold out to them. All the new Lanier and Goldberg Heritage Series were really nice. Fortunatly when the buy out was announced I purchased the Whole Goldberg Heritage Series and have some nice light ARFs in the cellar.

RIP Lanier and RIP Carl Coldberg Models.

Peace

Mark O

Strykaas

Do you think the legendary Shrike is discontinued forever ??

[link]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXX402&P=7[/link]

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Strykaas:

Maybe so. Tower doesn't resurrect too many of the discontinued items. Seems they do when they get pressured at lot. Maybe we should organize a campaign.

The ARF with the trike landing gear is still available, don't know for how long.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

I've had mine flying every morning in Lake Cadillac for three days. I have to say this is one of the better flying airplanes I've ever had, maybe the best. Tower shot themselves in the foot by discontinuing this one. I'm going to take real good care of mine.

Strykaas

I'm quite happy to have two Shrikes .10 kits left and one Shrike .40 kit left too ... I cannot imagine it was a poor seller.

I fear the market is now onto cheap foamies and stuff like that. The kind of RC models anyone can fly with no prior training nor building effort. That plain sucks.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

I didn't do too well with Shrikes, but always wanted one more. I wrecked two of the small ones- one electric and one glow, and one of the ARFs. The only one I had that flew well was the 40 with an OS 40LA in it. It was the only one that I didn't have to put so much weight it's butt to balance it, so the wing loading was normal. The other three came out so heavy they would snap out at the slightest urging.

Strykass: have you heard of a designer called Robert Sweitzer? His plans are evidently very nice, and are available at: http://www.vintagercplans.com/main.htm

I've been wanting to do a PBY, but everything I've looked at previously is too big, too small, too expensive or electric powered. [:'(]

The website has plans for a 72" version, which is just right, like baby bear's porridge. There's a build thread at:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_73...tm.htm#7410281

The builder hasn't posted a lot of progress, yet.

Strykaas

Yeah the Shrikes are not the easiest birds to set up.

Rob Sweitzer has interesting plans indeed. Thanks for the link !

What size are you targeting for your Catalina ? I know where to buy a set of plans for a twin .25 sized engines, it's a french mag.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

I'm looking at the 72", but as Century Jet makes a set of scale retracts for the 108", I might change my mind down the road. Drool

Do you have any info on the French one?

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Oh, man. CJ just sent me these pix. I may not be able to resist. Even at $650.

goirish

does anyone know what seaplane had the covering the resembled the American flag. I seen it in one of the books but I can't find it now. It had the blue field on the left wing kinda in a diagonal. Hope someone knows what it is. thanks

Pistol Pete

Perhaps this one?

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXX392&P=7

My mariner is still sitting new in its box...[]

Those retracts for the catalina are indeed too sweet!!!!!