Mini Models #4505 Stunt Flyer

[Mitch]

Thanks, the Guillow team voted mine "Best Looking" but was beat out on flight time... Was Second place overall! I only flew mine on the last day of the event and it started raining. (See rain spot on "R")

I noticed the tight fit of the rear peg but was able to press it in without (I feel) stressing the wood too much. Applied 2 coats of white glue on both sides. I will cover wings this PM and glue together and show how I plan to lube and braid rubber motor.

Mitch

[hunterdude]

I look forward to rubber braid tutorial as I do not know how....Also will like to hear your thoughts on the wing "skins"

[hunterdude]

It has been a chore finding time to build lately...I have the second wing done and they came out at 3.30 grams for the pair on my triple beam scale. What surprised me most is each wing was right at 1.65 grams so no need to balance left to right so far. I still do not like the wing skins all that well, it is beyond my skills to get a wrinkle free finish. To its credit it is tough, pre-decorated and water proof....I just much prefure working with tissue. I forgot to weigh my balsa sheets before build so I do not know but if had to guess I would say cut from 7 to 8 lb balsa. Not real light but not super heavy. A kit this small should use lighter wood but over all I find the laser cut kits have better wood. I am also building a laser cut Arrow and was Very pleased with all the wood except the leading and trailing edge for main wing.
Sorry the pics are turn funny...I have not learned to rotate yet....Oh, once you peel the backers off the wing skins...try not to touch the clear areas on the adhesive side...it WILL leave a visible finger print, don't ask me how I know

[Mitch]

Well I got my wing skins on. I would say "Interesting" I did not apply it perfectly, but its okay. At least there is no compound curve at the wing tip for this model. I did not think to weigh during the process but will weigh my finished model when the glue is dry.





I would say this would be a fun project for a boy scout troop. I bought this as a novelty, I do not even like to build the 500 series, I have real trouble the peanut scale (12" ws) and this is smaller yet, although it was a simple build and that makes a world of difference. Good project to get youngsters into modeling.

Mitch

We will see how they fly...

[hunterdude]

Yes, I agree with the laser cutting, the low parts count and the graphics make an attractive model to introduce a youngster to the joy of building there own model. I have not timed carefully but estimate my best flight was around 6 seconds with the P-40..I would like to do much better....my gut feel is the stunt flyer will be the best flyer in the series as the warbirds have less wing area with possible exception being the P-40. Also there airfoil is much thinner on the fighters and a lot of balsa in the wing tips to create the rounded wing tips. I would like to break 15 seconds plus but I am not there yet.

[Mitch]

One thing Guillow's does not mention is to balance the prop. Maybe not a big deal for such a small prop, but I balanced mine anyway. It took two layers of masking tape to one side to get the blade in balance.



I would be surprised to get more than 10 seconds, but we will see... maybe after work I can go for a test flight... I will bring my stop watch. Mitch

[hunterdude]

I will be curious if our stunt flyers need any clay to balance without wheels...if you can get a flying weight that would be cool to...good luck on your Maiden flight!

[Mitch]

Okay, I'm installing the engine:

I used the entire rubber. Tie the ends. Then trim. Then rotate motor to get knot to the rear.

I decided to braid the motor. I don't think its necessary, but what the heck:

Wind one loop backwards. Hold it down and do the same for the other.

Then twist the motor together.

I thought it would shorten up more. The motor is longer than hook to peg, but I will use as is.

The motor is installed:

AUW (All Up Weight) is 14 grams. The model comes with two 1 gram sticky weights but the model seems balanced at the main spar. I will take the weights with me for trim if necessary.

After some chores I will go to the schoolyard for flights. Mitch

I will bring: weights, tape, knife, file... and a stopwatch I think that should be it. I will not lube the motor.

[hunterdude]

I hope you get Calm trim flight conditions...these small low wingers can be Touchy! Hope you get some good flights I should have a flying weight on mine later tonight....I will throw all the rubber from the kit on the scale with airframe for a good comparison...I have had kit wood vary by over 40% from kit to kit!

[hunterdude]

Mine came out 12.3 grams with all the kit rubber....10.2 grams for everything but the rubber for referance purposes. I predict the little 109 German fighter will be the lightest in the series with its thin wing and slender fuse. I will bring to work and do trim flights indoors in the morning.....sorry about the messy build table in the background.
UPDATE: I went outside to water my dog and is dead calm at 10:30 pm in Michigan and I have a plane to maiden!... with a single strand of kit rubber mine was balance about 1/8" in front of wing spar so off I go to fly in the yard lights! ...first low power run about 75 winds shows tail heavy so I go back inside to review plan sheet. Plan shows CG about 1/4" from leading edge or what I would consider a forward CG...I add one of the two sticky weights in the kit to the nose, that brings
Me to a CG around 3/8" from leading edge so still 1/8" behind Guillows recommend CG. I put in 150 winds and got an 8 second flight...a full 2 seconds better than my best on first build...I stopped there and hope for some flying weather Friday

[Mitch]

That sounds great!

I got interrupted and will try my flights tomorrow.

Mitch

[hunterdude]

Update: well I went Salmon fishing over the holiday weekend so no more trim flights until now. I added a trim tab to the rudder and the right wing in hopes of getting some nice flat circles...a couple low power runs look promising but my un-lubed single strand Guillows motor is getting tired. I am ready for more power (I think) so I assemble my new winding stooge! (My first) and make up a 2 loop motor from 1/16" Tan super sport lubed...I get 2 nice flights in the 10 second range...not carefully timed because I know my new motor can take more winds...I go back to wind stooge and stretch wind about 520 winds which is considerable more power than I have ever run on a model this small....well I got one beautiful high speed circle and everything is looking so good that I am thinking To myself this run could easily break 12 seconds!!.....then catastrophe hits...it is quite windy but because I have my model trim to fly in tight circle I am flying in my yard so I am fairly sheltered...a gust of wind got to the stunt flyer and she flew straight into the house at full power and speed!....the good news is she Will fly again as the break is forward and I need nose weight any way....lessons learned...fly in larger area than you think you need...make small power increase at a time...don't fly in windy conditions

[hunterdude]

News update: I have been building and going to FAC competitions this year so have not had time to fly the repaired stunt flyer...however, this weekend I had the opportunity to teach my 13 year old Nephew how to build models!.... he selected the Hell Cat mini-model for his first build. We built mostly stock but increaced dihedral from 1/2" on plan to 3/4" and added 1/16" washout to each wing tip and left landing gear off...then added a trim tab to rudder and right wing. We did low power test flights with single loop of 1/16" rubber to trim model then when sorted went to 3/32" and finally a 11 in loop of 1/8" rubber! Best flight of the day was 17.56 seconds! I was pleased with this but the plane can do more, as we increased power we had to add nose weight to keep nose level. If we put more down thrust and some right thrust in we can lose the nose weight. Initial build was 12.4 grams with 1/16" rubber...longest flight was 18.2 grams with 1/8" rubber and a huge hunk of clay on the nose....we want to lose that nose weight with some down thrust but fun was had by all

[davidchoate]

You're not the 1st person I've heard complain about the covering , and decals on those.

[hunterdude]

I had a chance to fly the Hell Cat mini model last night in very calm conditions with a fresh 12 inch loop of 1/8 super sport rubber....I got a 21 second flight in before sticking the Hell Cat in the top of a large old apple tree.