Ultra Stick 10cc ARF Build Progress

 

Day 2ish. I started with wanting to clean up the hinge gaps, used some white cote just on the top sides.

Moved to the tail feathers. I probably should have done each side separately, then did the joiner bar, but I put the whole thing together. This made getting the hinges in their slots on the second side a PITA... consequence of my decision. This was the only somewhat frustrating  problem in the build to date and it was user error.

In the end the taile feathers look great!

I did have to cut a small piece off the back of the tail hardpoint to make room for the joiner bar. Int only neded a millimeter or two.

The model has a design that allows  for the tail servos to be tail adjacent and external, or in the bay under the wing. The hard case battery I am usning (bought for the engine test stand, decided not to waste it there) is a big 2S 5200 mAh LiPO. I wanted a bigger combo ignition/reciever pack so the 5200 is perfect, weight wise its not different than two NiMh 2200 mAh 5 cell packs. Well that pack takes up a lot of space,  but there was still room to put the servos in the bay, but there's a lot of weight there and forward. The Ugly Stick needed several ounces of weight aft to trim out. Also, for some reason the wing servos are cut for standard servos I expected for this model, but surprisingly the trays in the bay are cut for mini-servos! I don't recall that in the specs... and I would rather have standard servos on the tail surfaces. So they are going aft. I wonder if the aft trays are standard?

I have a set of plastic gear mini-servos, Tactic TSX-25 mini-servo. Tactics aren't made anymore, don't know why. I have had great luck with these less expensive high quality servos. Anyways, not wanting to cut bigger tray holes and this being the throttle servo, a mini plastic gear servo is fine. The Tactic is a little bigger than thr JR MN-48 I had and was about to use, also a mini and it fit fine in the tray without mod. Minor modification and the Tactic fit.

It was getting late, so I called it a day. Next the tail servos, fuel system and engine, electronics. I bought a single switch, a Turnigy smart electrical switch. Of course 5 days later and it still hasn't shipped. I knew that would be a problem with Hobby King. I am using an remote optical ignition cut out switch I have to control ignition power and the single battery pack. I do have a standard double switch, but its pretty busy and I don't need the Futaba ports, so its not a great tool for this project. The only thing I don't have on hand is the switch and that won't be here for 1-2 wks, do no point in rushing. Lastly, I have a Spektrum AR7010 with a satellite. And of course, The Evolution 10cc.

Hangar 9 Ultra Stick 10cc ARF Build Begins

 

Sold my Dx8 Gen 1 and used the proceeds towards finally buying the Hangar 9 Ultra Stick 10cc from my LHS, ABC Hobbies in Windham. I wanted an Ultra Stick for years, but they went discontinued. I ended up with an Ugky Stick, and I loved it! I planted it after many years of great flying, and in the interim, the new and improved Ultra Stick came out. For its simplicity its a bit pricey, but its worth it! Since the 60" wing comes in one piece, the box is over 60"long. I had to use panoramic view to get it all in!

Ginormous wing. Top side.

Underside.

For a few minutes I thought about using the stock CA hinges, but they always come loose. I wasn't sure I was in the mood for installing Du-Bro Nylon hinges, but I prefer them.

So, that's what I did.

One of the things I don't love about them is that they take so many steps, others are keeping epoxy out of the hinge, and if one of them goes slightly off angle the surface moves stiffly. I line them up dry fitting both side and mark the centers, use my Du-Bro hinge cutting tools to make the wider space required for the nylon hinges, great the hinge lightly to keep epoxy out, then using 30 min epoxy set them kne surface at a time.

Everything looske lined up! Only one hing went slightly askew, on the right flap. It works fine, however. The only reason that happened is the epoxy was curing faster than expected...

The Ugly Stick had a nice Tru-Turn bullet spinner on it, but this airframe is more slick and sporty, so I went with a 2.25 inch aluminum cone spinner from Amazon. I am using the well running Evolution 10cc gas engine. I tried to find a Pitt style muffler from Evolution as it would be affordable, but there are none left for the 10cc. Horizon Hobby, for some reason, discontinued the Evolution gas engines. I don't think they even make nitros anymore.  I would very much prefer one... but it won't be cheap.

I like that the servo trays are already built. There is no skill to it, its just busy work, so having it already done is fine by me.

The ailerons and flaps are on a Y. You have to be careful with these setups, as was seen on the Spitfire, to get the servos facing the correct way to allow oposite aileron movement, and identical flap movement.

Wing is done!

Close up of the aileron and flap Ys.

I did this over a couple of days. I am looking forward to getting to the fuse next!

Spitfire RCGF 10cc Blow Out

I have been working on this RCGF 10cc engine for a few weeks on the Spitfire. I rebuilt the carburetor and did a thing fixing the stripped sparky with an adapter.  I got it running finally today! Decent albeit slightly high idle, nice smooth acceleration, and a powerful WOT with 5.2 lbs thrust swinging the 14x6 Master Airscrew! And then all of the sudden I couldn't get it to run. What the heck? Wait, no compression?  Turns out the pressure and heat blew the stainless adapter out of the crappy metal cylinder of this first generation RCGF engine. This problem of soft metal has been addressed in the current RCGF-USA 10cc engines.

Found it finger loose. Tightening it was unsuccessful, it just kept slipping.

Stripped...

So... I have a good carb on this engine, and a good cylinder on the other that has a carb problem, I hope. I swapped the carbs, and am now using the new cylinder and crankcase Joe Nelson gave me. One of the carb flapper valve plate carb securing holes on this new engine stripped with no real force! Maybe that's why the "carb" was bad? So, I went back to the failed cylinder, pulled the flapper valve adapter, and swapped it out. The bad cylinder is now a parts farm... which I hate, so eventually will rebuild it. Went ahead and replaced the carb gasket.

So... brand new cylinder and crankcase, swapped flapper valve adapter plate, and the original good carb, installed. Got late for running an engine, so will have to wait until tomorrow. Disappointed, that orginal was running almost perfectly today! Tomorrow I hope to finally get the Spitty up and running  and flight ready!

Faith Restored: Evolution 10cc runs perfectly!

Back in June I pancaked the Sbach and her Evolution 10cc when I lost control authority. I thought this was a radio issue (don't we always?) but knowing the radio is fine having had it inspected by Horizon Hobby/Spektrum, I have to think I just stalled it... Anywho's, I, of course, haven't run the engine since. Today I put her on the test bed.

It's narrower than the RCGF-USA 10cc the mounts are set up for. To keep it simple I just made a thingy. Two bolts on the left, on on the right.

Didn't take much to get her started once I got fuel to the spark.

Happens. I was finger choking the carb (has no choke) and touched the sparky, giving me a little surprise shock, making me jump and nicking my finger in the back of the prop.

UPDATE 9/20/20: This is what it looks like this morning when I took the band-aid off. It looks much better a few hours later when I let it dry out a bit. It's really not as bad as it looks.

I don't think I have ever had an engine exceed 9500 RPM before! 

The Evolution was rocking 10,250 at one point swinging a 13x6!

Listen to that sound!

Needless to say, my faith in the little Evolution is renewed, and as soon as they are back in stock its going on the Hangar 9 10cc Ultra Stick!

New shop floor "covering"

It was time to replace the interlocking foam squares that covered a 10x10 section of the shop floor as they were a mess after more than 3 years. I was tired of things bouncing off into the abyss, so this time I went with this holey design, hoping that wayward screws would be forced to narrow their bounce and be contained. We'll see. Its soft and comfy, easily moved for cleaning. The spaces between the squares seem to have permanently stained the concrete floor. I wondered if it was moisture, not sure why that would be, but a fan on it overnight changed nothing. It may be a more deep seated moisture that will fade with time.

450 FBL Update

The #2 aileron servo (port side) had a different range of motion than the #1 pitch servo (starboard side), causing a CCPM interaction at either end other of motion. I could not overcome this with endpoints for some reason, so I decided to replace the servos. I bought some inexpensive digital MG90 micro servos and tonight I installed them. Tomorrow I will program the ZYX Flybarless system and weather permitting test fly her! I will take her and the 450 Sport (flybarred) out.

Defeat

 

I give up. I can't get the Walbro carb to work on my 10cc RCGF engine, even after rebuilding it. When  I took it apart it was full of gas. Running it before and after rebuilding it I would see light smoke and a lot of fuel coming out of the exhaust, no matter how I leaned or richened or changed endpoints. It would never catch nor sputter. So I took it off the engine stand, and was planning to try the small 10mm Walbro I had tried some time ago, but in emails with Gary Hoffman, my engineer, I decided to bring it to him to have him hit it with whatever rocks he has. If he can't get it to run its not likely ever going to, but I will then have Joe Nelson Of RCGF-USA take a whack at it. I will be shocked if Gary doesn't get it running. Tomorrow I will take it out to Gary in Hampton, NH, on my motorcycle, two birds, one stone!

I may put the other RCGF 10cc on the engine stand, the one on the Spitty. I have had problems finding a nice low needle that idles well and accelerates well. Not sure, may just test it on the plane as is. I don't want to put the Evo 10cc on it, would need to see if the RCGF muffler fits as I am not putting the huge torpedo muffler on the Spitty, and also because I kinda think its weaker than the RCGF though I have no objective support for that. I had just found its sweet spot when I crashed the Sbach, so it was running perfectly. I'll give the RCGF a chance on the Spitty, but may replace it... we'll see.