New Aircraft are ready to Maiden!

 

The Hangar 9 10cc Ultra Stick has her balanced prop on and is ready to go!

Got the cowl on the Phoenix Spitfire, and checked her CG: SPOT ON no changes necessary!

Looking good. I am ready to give this, my third Phoenix Spitfire a run for my money. I have had two previous ones perish on maidens. The first when I clipped a tree coming out of an intended stall, the second when she stalled on takeoff and torqued into the firmament. I have no doubt this one is the one.

Lit the fires on the Ultra Stick

No pics today, but I got the Ultra Stick out to the back on the test table and ran her up. Started right away, needed a little tuning. Produce 5.2 lbs of thrust with the 13x8x3. Then the uncollapsable table leg collapsed in front and she dropped on the prop still attached to the fallen front of the table. I was a bit pissed so didn't take any pics. 

The engine ran ok, but was really slow to run up, and thenreally slow to come back down. I leaned it out I  the low end and she is running pretty well. I was pretty much finished when the end of the table collapsed,.

The elevator servo went rogue. I suspect this is the bad one that killed the Ugly Stick? The tests could not find it, but it went really jittery and then locked up, already ordered a replacement.

I think once ai replace the servo she is ready to maiden!

Yikes, a 9-1/2 lb baby...

I mentioned previously that the Hangar 9 Ultra Stick 10cc was quite tail heavy, and that test fitting the  455g (1 lb) lead block I happen to have from a dead Eflite Stearman of long ago balanced it out perfectly just forward of the CG, and I mean just forward. This is no child... its a manly block of lead. There isn't any room to put any lesser weight in the tank area.

I created a partial wall forward of the lead block to support it, with some lightweight plywood (thought I had a pic, but alas...). This is the block in place, the Dual-Lock Velcro is CAd in place on the base and the "back" against that wall. The foam is to add some compression when the wing is in place to dispel any notions it has about wandering about the cabin in flight.

The CG machine verifies my finger-tip test.

The CG is now spot on.

Concern is that her spec weight is 7 lbs, and she comes in at 9.5 lbs dry. I didn't see a different spec weight for electric vs gasser, and I have no doubt my Ugly Stick was heavier than spec too. This heavy-lift wing will undoubtedly be up to the job, but...  One thing of note, seen in this last pic, is the long length of those landing gear. Hope I don't see too much flex from the extra weight.

Planned to light the fires today, but its fixin' to storm.

The Bad Cylinder Revisited

Joe Nelson of RCGF-USA had asked me to check the top of the piston on the RCGF 10cc engine I had reworked to fix a stripped spark plug hole, after it blew out. Was it soft metal, as we expected, or had the piston pounded it out? I was between bench jobs so I took the cylinder off.

Conveniently three of the hex top bolts holding the head in place stripped... so I had to grind them off then bang the head off (easy, killer...). 

The piston top is smooth, no evidence of it striking the adapter. There is some damage along the rim of the spark hole seen at about 12:30 on the right in the cylinder head that wasn't there when the adapter was installed.

I wanted to use a Walbro carb, the the reed plate bolt holes that secure the carb to the crankcase had stripped on one side. I figured why not retap it, and that worked. Snug, tight, not gorilla tight. This was a cantankerous carb. I oiled up the cylinder and put it in a plastic bag. When I can afford a new cylinder I will get one from Joe. I don't have a plane for her right now, though, but that, as we know, is never an obstacle. (I can't find a round cowl WWI plane, like a Sopwith Pup or Nieuport to put her in, my first choice. Second is the Phoenix Zero. My heart is on a WWI biplane...).

Hangar 9 10CC Ultra Stick Completed!

 The Hangar 9 Ultra Stick 10 cc project is done, and it was some kind of journey. I've not had a build shift course so many times. Its not where I was going, but its where I intended it to be.

It started out straight forward enough. This was the original design of the equipment bay. This was based mostly on the ginormous reciever/ignition battery, a 2S 5200 mAh LiPO I had bought for the test bed, but instead decided to use it on the Stick. Its weight is about the same as two 2500 mAh NiMH batteries. Its a hard case battery, and its size limited options for the other equipment. I couldn't use the standard size cut out that runs across the fuse at the front of that tray because the battery covers it. I was planning to use a mini servo for the throttle, and had to chisle out a mm here and there to get that to fit. You will notice there is no throttle control rod. At this point I wasn't sure how this was going to work. This plane was designed around the now discontinued Evolution 10 cc engine that I am using, but I am not sure where they thought the control rod was going to go through the firewall straight to the throttle. Was planning to solve that problem later. Even then it wasn't going to be straight, as you will see below. The satellite is forward on the starboard side. None of this plan would survive first contact with the enemy, except the reciever.

This original design survived. I made this connector to allow a single output from the battery to split to the ignition and receiver electric switches. I had soldered a single Futaba connector to the main leads of the battery. This resulted from my having to cancel the order of the Hobby King Turnigy Battery Switch as by day 8 it still hadn't shipped, instead I went with the dual Miracle switch I had on hand. 

This is the battery harness in place on the switch.

I was now going to have trouble placing the switch. It was going to need me to move the battery out of the way, but there is no room for that, unless I cut the deck and allow it to rest on the bottom. Remember that everything forward of the servo on the port side is reserved for the control rod. Initially I planned to lay it flat under the deck, but there was no way to get it in there. I changed the idea again and decided to make it lay vertically. The landing gear hard point would be under the front, so it will be angled, but the highest part, forward, would still be under the wing that forms the top of the compartment.

So, I made a vertical tray. Since the battery is a hard case, and its a 80C only running a receiver and ignition it will never puff, so close quarters are fine. Not really sure what happens when hard xase batteries puff...

 

To give it a clean look I painted it black.

Looking good.  I still wasn't quite sure how the switch was going to fit, or where.

While that was drying, I moved to the landing gear. This is a sturdy metal tail gear assmebly I used for two reasons. I had gone back and forth between using the stock straight plate with it's connection to the rudder, a design that can put a lot of  stress on the rudder hinges as the plate doesn't completley protect them from jostling forces on the gear shaft, transmitting them to the rudder and therefore the hinges. Also, I am using the big wheels from the Ugly Stick, so the low set stock tail assembly would lead to a bit more angulation of the fuse and endanger a rudder strike. Lastly, I wanted something sturdy. The reason I like the larger wheels on both Sticks was to allow it to fly off rough surfaces, as when I first flew the Ugly Stick it was off the clumpy grass at the Bedford field that claimed so many landing gear. Flying off that rough a surface won't be much of an issue now, but I do like the look.

Here she is, on her wheels for the first time.

The engine installed. I removed the two muffler extension pieces that were needed to get the muffler out of the wide Sbach cowl, and she is back to stock configuration.

I made a fuel vent. I don't know why these are so hard to find. I don't like a simple tube running down. Here I used a fuel dot rim, and a clunk with a flat bottom that I JB Welded to one another. The clunk just happened to fit in the rim! Came out swell!

I want the satellite to be aligned vertically. In the equipment bay it was going to be severely blocked by the battery. I decided to move it aft as far as I could. I can't get back there easily so I came up with the idea of putting it on a boom and getting it back there.

You can see the satellite block aft of the reciever here. Its set on a platform I made using Dual-Lock velcro. Here you can see the switch in place. I used the stock switch cut out on the port side, enlarged it a bit. You can see how the switch is kinda deep and would not fit on  the starboard side. You still see the mini servo...

So this is where the bay layout stood for a few minutes.  It is packed. Still working on ideas for the control rod at this point.

With all the angulation back and forth in the control rod path, I figured the only way I would get something to work was to use braided wire, its flexibility making it a working solution. After several tries I managed to solder the Du-Bro linkage to the wire. In practice however, the final path took a sharper angle at the end near the throttle than the wire would allow making it too flexible at a point that elbowed, transferring the movment to flexing insetad of to the throttle linkage. I tried hardening it with solder, but that only partially solved the problem. I decided to try a softer, smaller diameter flexible solid control rod. That worked better than I had tought. I changed the throttle control rod connection as well as I couldn't get the Du-bro connector to solder to the rod.  I did have to drill a new passage throught the firewall taking the engine mounts into account, making for a straighter path. New problem: the micro servo was working with both designs, but taking a lot of strain to do so due to friction in the path. It was going to need a standard servo.

Here the standard servo is in place. Once again had to do more cutout in the already trimmed out servo tray. and build up the servo hardpoints. Here you can see the control rod in place. I used two pieces of thin plywood to create a hardpoint as the rod passes into the guide tube. This stiffened the path so the softer control rod could would be more efficient in transfering the movement to the throttle.

Here I had to remove the engine and mounts to drill a new pass through hole through the firewall to creat a straighter path. The engine still blocks the path, which as you can see below, required a cut out of the mount strut itself to keep a sharper S curve out. Epoxied this in place,, but the firewall is almost a cm thick. I could have drilled a hole into the mount from behind, but I didn't think of that until now... I will go back and do that, I think.

Here is where it passes throught the firewall on the engine side. I had to grind a big dent in the engine mount strut to allow it to weave pass the base of the engine. It remains hard against both but more or less straight. The stock design has the engine upside down as I do it, so I have no idea how they connected this.

You can see the tank is as far to starboard as I could make it. The path is pretty much straight now, except after it passes the firewall and runs into the engine. The ignition is in a small bay directly underneath.

All up! Did the programming last night into the iX12. Need to set the CG and weigh her. All in all I am quite pleased and hope she flies well! 

Hangar 9 10cc Ultra Stick ARF. Evolution 10cc gasser, Evolution CDI Ignition, with a 13x8x3 Master Airscrew prop under an aluminum spinner. RCExcel optical ignition remote cut out. Zeee 7.4V(2S) 5400 mAh LiPO receiver/ignition pack in a hard case, from Amazon ($17 shipped!). Miracle power switch. Spektrum AR7010 receiver with one satellite. Sullivan 4" tires. Don't know the make or source of the tail assmebly, but its for a 50cc aircraft and easy to find as there are so few options out there. Could find a decent one for 10cc 0r 60 sized airplane.

Ultra Stick 10cc Build Day 3

 

Using this Spektrum AR7010 with a satellite. I have a NIB AR 637T I thought about using, but I don't want stabilization on the Stick. Also, I keep thinking I'm short a channel if ai use 6, but I can't think of why.

The battery will go on the Duo-Lock, against the Velcro on the side, which I changed also to Duo-Lock. I am not able, without figuring ophow to cut slots, to use a strap to hold the battery in place. I CAd the Duo-Lock for extra hold. This lic is more to show the run of the sat wire under the battery.

Went with external aft tail servos, here the 3levator.

And the rudder servo.

Battery and the ignition optical cut-out switch, the ignition LED , and the throttle servo, and last the reciever. When the battery switch comes from Hobby King (still hasn't shipped, a week later), i can finish the electronics. 

Stopping for th Patriots game!

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.