Kit #604 Lancer build

[Sai1704]

Hello, everyone. I recently bought a Lancer and a Hellcat(#503) from a hobby shop. I shall start it today, and will closely record every specific step of my build, and that being according to plans only.

I have weighed the sheets. They're not that good in terms of quality, but the cut is really neat with VERY minimal die-crushing
Sheet A - 4.8g, density being 11lb/ft^3
Sheet B-1&2 - 5.8g, density-13lb/ft^3
Sheet C - 2.8g, density 14lb/ft^3
1/16" strip wood - 6g, density 14lb/ft^3
1/4" strip wood-2.7g, density 15.5lb/ft^3
Total weight comes around 28g

[Mitch]

The wood looks good, seems a bit heavy. Remember to sand the back to "release" the parts, they should come out easy enough. Looking forward to see your build!

[Sai1704]

Thanks for the advice, but most of the wood is cut cleanly almost all the way through, I barely had to use my blade.

Session 1:
-Approximate duration-1 hour
-Built the Stabilizer and Rudder
-Initially used cement, but later switched to white glue
-Had a little mix up on the balsa wood strips, they are quite disorganized on the sheet
-I followed a method, where in places where stringers overlap, I sand a 1/16" notch halfway through both the stringers and lay them over each other, gluing the joint also

I still need to sand down the trailing edge to to get the incline downwards (I hope you understand what I mean).

[stx44]

Nice ! My Lancer is in the mail..... Ive been very happy with the Javelin which is similar, so expecting big things!

[Sai1704]

This was a five-minute task, so I am not considering it a session. I sanded down the trailing edge and attached the small pieces of balsa strip on the wingtips.
The Stabilizers together weigh 2g.

[SpiceMan]

Greetings Sai.
Your build is lookin good. I'll be following it along the way.
I just finished the same Lancer Kit last night, but instead of building per plan as a rubber powered bird, I electrified it, and added RC stuff. Waiting for a calm ( wind ) morning to maiden her, and see if she'll fly.
I may start a thread on this forum, and see if anybody would be interested in my build info..
Good luck with your project. Fun , Fun , Fun .

[Sai1704]

Sounds interesting, but I heard that because of the narrow fuselage, it is tough to fit RC gear in it. Did you modify it?

Session 2- (no pics )
Duration: about an hour
-I finished attaching most wing ribs to the frame, but couldn't do stringers because of difficulty in steps ahead. The order of instructions on the plan is quite hard to follow, so instead, I'm holding back until I reach the polyhedral setting part.
-I used wood cement for a stronger bond as compared to PVA.
-Lots of waiting time, and I have to use pins a lot. I think I'll switch back to CA on my next build.

I'll update later in the day, by when I should have finished the wing.

[SpiceMan]

[quote="Sai1704"]Sounds interesting, but I heard that because of the narrow fuselage, it is tough to fit RC gear in it. Did you modify it?
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I didn't need to modify the fuselage.
The radio I used is a: SPEKTRUM Model SPMAR6410NBL Ultra Microlite Receiver with Brushless ESC ( 7.8 g ). Just so happened that the width of the radio was exactly the same as the fuselage width.
The servos I used are: SPEKTRUM Model A2010 Aircraft Ultra Micros ( 2.5 g each ). Mounting these "sideways" worked out to also be the same as the fuselage width.

OBTW ... For my build, I used CA. Takes me a long time as it is to do one of these builds, so if I didn't use CA ... I'd NEVER get done

[Sai1704]

Hmm, I'm JUST stepping into RC, so I'll try something like this later.

I completely forgot to post again about the completed wing, so here it is. The entire recording process is getting out of hand, so I'll try to keep it crisp.
So I've set the Polyhedral, and trimmed down the trailing edges and the wing is done.

[davidchoate]

I did a Javelin. Looks very similar. Notice how the horiz. stab. has an airfoil? I've been wondering how this affects the flying, and what changing it's angle would do to flight.

[SpiceMan]

Hi Sai,
Your main wing is lookin good.

Just thought I'd mention that when you go to build the fuselage halves, make sure you build them on a nice flat surface. And MOST IMPORTANT, when you start assembling them together, make sure that they line-up together nice and straight.

When I assembled mine, the alignment in the tail area was off, which caused the horizontal ( and vertical ) stabs to sit at an angle with respect to the main wing. Not a good thing. I was able to correct my goof at final assembly with some twisting of the fuselage while shrinking the covering.

OBTW ... I maidened my RC version yesterday, and it flew quite well. Did a 6 minute flight, and then a 5 minute flight. Managed to land her ( on short grass ), and nothing got broken.

[davidchoate]

I noticed that after 10 or so flights on my Jav; that the fuse began to twist. but now I'm building a new one with contest balsa. I had an indoor flight. the plane crashed into an engine hoist, and split in half.

[Sai1704]

Thanks for the info, I think getting the fuselage straight is key to making it fly straight and balanced.

Finished the fuselage, took me about 4 hrs in total, so far i must have spent around 8-10 hrs on the build.
I added landing gear for, you know, what its supposed to do. Extra 3g of weight, but the whole fuselage is 10g. But I am NOT going with the plans for the wheels, so I left some excess wire to bend for the wheels.
I finally got fed up of white glue and switched back to CA. Impatience, I know .



So the tail surfaces are 2g, wing is 6g so the total weight of the frame is 18g. I think that's bad, but looking at the design characteristics, it should fly.
I am, for some reason, looking forward to covering

[davidchoate]

I think my Javelin came in at 31g. The landing gear is pretty much useless; I removed mine after it broke for the 4th time. It may be useful for ballast, but thats about it. I also got wheels for like 2 bucks from Hobby Zone (they were lighter than the ones in kit). But even though it was heavy; it flew good.

[SpiceMan]

My ELECTRIFIED Lancer weighed in at a whopping 79 grams ( including battery, and landing gear ). Five flights on her so far. Flight #3 experienced a "hard landing", because a tail wind caught it, and put her into a shallow dive. I didn't think to give her more throttle to regain control. She hit the ground and ripped the landing gear off. Flights 4 and 5 ( without landing gear ) were much more successful. I get 5 to 6 minute flights, and still have enough juice left to land "under power". So the solution to flying this baby is to keep the air speed up, and she flies pretty darn good. On the other hand ... "dead stick" gliding lets her drop out of the sky pretty quickly. All in all ... I'm happy with the finished product.