Stearman RC

[davidchoate]

Where do you get those tiny hardware for the guywires?,and if possible can you show me a close up pic of them, and how they're attached? Thanx alot. I'm going to be startin back on my PT-17 very soon.

[Bill Gaylord]

gET iT mITCH thE wITCH. lol

If Mitch here ever builds the B25, you got the scheme for him picked out!

Thanks for this build. I am doing mine next. After Im Gone with my Edge and P-51,and by the way, my circuitvboard burnt out today on my p-51. Never again wik\l mI convert a micro.

Yeah them micros are tough! The Edge almost pushed me over the edge! Maybe I'll convert my Guillows Curtiss Robin someday, but I've pretty much burned out the micro conversion thing. The only really good low wing monoplane flyer I ever had was the Guillows Stuka.

Your Stearman looks great David. For the wing cable mounting points, I used small cutoff pieces of the metal stamping that comes with JST connector contact pins. They have holes in them and are gold or silver plated. I cut short lengths and insert them into slots cut into balsa, and then CA glue. I glue balsa plates onto the wing framing and inside the fuselage to provide a strong mounting point.

Flew the Stearman and it's a really nice flyer. Good loops and rolls, although tough to see with crappy video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wwF-hfTbtY&list=UUtk2LreLH_IhNe3uS3fLSoA

[davidchoate]

Thanx again Bill. I want to do a twin engine plane one day soon,but I wont use the Mitch The Witch Version. I'll let Mitch do it, but I dont know how he'll fit the rubber motors in the nacells,but i'm sure there's a way.I watched the video.It did fly nice., but I liked the FW190. I got that kit in 400 series too,but lack the money to get into another RC build so soon. I got plenty of servos and hardware,but its the receivers that I cant afford. A good one goes for at least$50.00,and up. Oh, on my Zero, the motor doesnt start turning until the throttle stick is at half way. But it goes to full power. Is this normal,or is there something I did wrong when programming the ESC?

[Bill Gaylord]

You can play with the ESC programming, but some outrunners are fussy starting. My Stearman has a bit of initial throttle up issues, but flies well. If you want a good twin, the Guillows DC3 flies really well. Mine is a 19oz AUW tank and flies on relatively low power, and will fly surprisingly slow. I even got it into a bad climbing stall (my fault) which it recovered easily from. I though I would see a tailspin into the ground. I cheated about 2" on the span, but with one built a bit lighter without as much sheeting it could easily be lighter and do even better without the span cheat.

[davidchoate]

Bill, You seem to have the most success at converting these things. I have been improving my pilot skills with RTF foam planes. I feel I may be ready to maiden one of my self built planes. I get alot from your videos as far as what to expect from these things. I hope you dont mind if I copy some of your ideas. I like to know more. Like how you do your control surface mods,hinging, and linkage setups. Thanx.

[davidchoate]

Just wanted to keep this post fresh in my head. I have resumed production on my PT-17. Remember its one of the laser cut Demo's. I usually complete once started, but just wanted to see that the Laser Cut parts fit correctly, and report to Dale in a timely manner, but now im ready to continue, and I still got all the non Laser paets so I could do 2 planes, or have spare parts for when I crash.

[Bill Gaylord]

Hi David, looks good. I'm sure the laser cut pre-production parts should fit reasonably well. This kit as a die cut was one of the less precise to say the least, especially in the fuse area. I had to make a few tweaks to get it reasonably straight. Most of my control surfaces are done using Dubro pin hinges, used for their precision. For lightweight such as small models and reducing tail weight, I sometimes use a hinge material that GWS supplied with their kits, that I hear is similar to floppy disk material that some use. One thing that requires a bit of effort, but is worth doing for fabricating control surfaces such as ailerons, is to build them into the wing construction, and then cut them away afterward. Making the headers and notching the wing formers is a bit of effort, but it works well in the end. I did that with the Edge ailerons shown in the photos below:

[davidchoate]

yes. I use that method too. works well.