Wright Stuff C

[klastyioer]

Rossy,

If you order from Indoor Model Specialties (Ray Harlan) and send a follow up email right away asking for fast shipping, I’m thinking you would receive in a few days. You can also make from a stiff sheet of aluminum or cut a thin section from some good quality “channel aluminum”.

Brian T

Thank you for the suggestion, but by no time to make a fix, I will not have time this week to work on my builds, so I was hoping to finish it by tomorrow night at the latest. Would bending piano wire work?

by prop hangar do u mean bearing? if so i think i have instructions somewhere on how to make it from music wire

[bjt4888]

R,

Yes, and per K’s note, a wire “pigtail” bearing is possible. I don’t generally make these for SO since the wire needed would be quite thick and they would still be a little prone to bending on a hard landing. But, if time is short, this is a possibility.

Here’s a good video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IAnm1gXUyx4

Brian T

[Ten086]

I haven't been active at all on the forums this year so sorry if something similar has already been asked--I've been using the LCP kit the whole year and am kind of stuck on how to improve for nationals. I'm currently stuck at around 1:20-1:30. I tried a couple different rubber sizes and lengths (.058", .065", .072") but all the flights were within like 5 seconds and the AC in the room messed up most of the flights anyway.

I'm planning on getting a new kit to try to build lighter because my current plane is overweight--any suggestions on whether LCP or FFM is better? Also, any idea if using a LCP plane with a different propeller (like the FFM one) and probably thicker motors would be any different?

I'm also curious about creating a design on my own and getting it laser cut locally, but I don't have much experience with that kind of stuff. Any general tips for if I want to hand-make or laser-cut a plane? I'd really like to get the experience designing my own plane, but my main worry is that my own designs would be awful and I'd just be wasting time working on a non-competitive plane even though it'd be a really cool experience.

Thanks!

[CrayolaCrayon]

I haven't been active at all on the forums this year so sorry if something similar has already been asked--I've been using the LCP kit the whole year and am kind of stuck on how to improve for nationals. I'm currently stuck at around 1:20-1:30. I tried a couple different rubber sizes and lengths (.058", .065", .072") but all the flights were within like 5 seconds and the AC in the room messed up most of the flights anyway.

I'm planning on getting a new kit to try to build lighter because my current plane is overweight--any suggestions on whether LCP or FFM is better? Also, any idea if using a LCP plane with a different propeller (like the FFM one) and probably thicker motors would be any different?

I'm also curious about creating a design on my own and getting it laser cut locally, but I don't have much experience with that kind of stuff. Any general tips for if I want to hand-make or laser-cut a plane? I'd really like to get the experience designing my own plane, but my main worry is that my own designs would be awful and I'd just be wasting time working on a non-competitive plane even though it'd be a really cool experience.

Thanks!

Definitely try some thicker rubbers; like .087, .094, .102 with the default FF ikara 24cm symmetric. That's a good start that should have you up to at least 2 minutes eventually.

[Rossyspsce]

I haven't been active at all on the forums this year so sorry if something similar has already been asked--I've been using the LCP kit the whole year and am kind of stuck on how to improve for nationals. I'm currently stuck at around 1:20-1:30. I tried a couple different rubber sizes and lengths (.058", .065", .072") but all the flights were within like 5 seconds and the AC in the room messed up most of the flights anyway.

I'm planning on getting a new kit to try to build lighter because my current plane is overweight--any suggestions on whether LCP or FFM is better? Also, any idea if using a LCP plane with a different propeller (like the FFM one) and probably thicker motors would be any different?

I'm also curious about creating a design on my own and getting it laser cut locally, but I don't have much experience with that kind of stuff. Any general tips for if I want to hand-make or laser-cut a plane? I'd really like to get the experience designing my own plane, but my main worry is that my own designs would be awful and I'd just be wasting time working on a non-competitive plane even though it'd be a really cool experience.

Thanks!

From what I've seen at competitions for the few LCPs I see, they've forgone the smaller 5.5in prop for the bigger ~9in prop. As for rubber, that too has increased more towards the .085+ range from personal experience and talking to other competitors.

Getting a new kit, FFM or Guru, guru has a sale rn, would be a good way to go. For reference FFM planes have been winning many of the national-level competitions so far.

For making your own i would encourage it, have built my own, but not for SO, so I would look to Coach Chuck on that. As for making a "failing" design, the general design should be pretty simple. What I could recommend is getting a kit from FFM and scanning the lasercut sheet so that you can experiment with different designs and such

[coachchuckaahs]

Rossy:

Since you have build form a kit, I would consider building your own. Bill Gowen's Finney 19 is very good. Bill's construction techniques have formed our basis for 3 years now. The carbon approach builds up easy and straight. I think FFM (Dave) went to all carbon spars this year as well.

There really is not much to laser cut. Ribs? You can EASILY make a cardstock, metal, or wood template. However, my preference is to curve the sheet the "hard way" around a form (we cut a form from 2x4, but a bucket would work). Soak the wood briefly in water, then wrap on and tape or bind down. Let it dry, or if micro safe, cook it low power for 4 or 5 minutes. Now the grain follows the rib, much stronger than laser cut.

The hard part to keeping weight manageable is the motor stick. We have several "very good" sheets of light 3/16, that is also stiff. We have been using this for motor sticks for several years. For LPP we used the same sheet that worked for Heli last year. When you find good motorstick stock, you set it aside and don;t use it for anything else.

We have been building around 6g this year. Very careful use of glue is important.

If you must do a kit, take a look at Josh's kits as well.

As noted by others, Dave's kits are always filling the top ten at Nationals. Dave leaves a little room for students to experiment. Josh is new to the SO market, but is a highly accomplished indoor flyer, and his kit looks excellent too.

Get building, you need a number of sessions to optimize a plane. You can get it trimmed and flying well "as is" in the first session. Second session you can work on optimizing the rubber choices you have to the prop you have. Then further sessions are spent optimizing the system, including prop, rubber, and trim. By the time we make Nationals, we'll have 400 or so logged flights.

Coach Chuck

[Rossyspsce]

Rossy:

Since you have build form a kit, I would consider building your own. Bill Gowen's Finney 19 is very good. Bill's construction techniques have formed our basis for 3 years now. The carbon approach builds up easy and straight. I think FFM (Dave) went to all carbon spars this year as well.

There really is not much to laser cut. Ribs? You can EASILY make a cardstock, metal, or wood template. However, my preference is to curve the sheet the "hard way" around a form (we cut a form from 2x4, but a bucket would work). Soak the wood briefly in water, then wrap on and tape or bind down. Let it dry, or if micro safe, cook it low power for 4 or 5 minutes. Now the grain follows the rib, much stronger than laser cut.

The hard part to keeping weight manageable is the motor stick. We have several "very good" sheets of light 3/16, that is also stiff. We have been using this for motor sticks for several years. For LPP we used the same sheet that worked for Heli last year. When you find good motorstick stock, you set it aside and don;t use it for anything else.

We have been building around 6g this year. Very careful use of glue is important.

If you must do a kit, take a look at Josh's kits as well.

As noted by others, Dave's kits are always filling the top ten at Nationals. Dave leaves a little room for students to experiment. Josh is new to the SO market, but is a highly accomplished indoor flyer, and his kit looks excellent too.

Get building, you need a number of sessions to optimize a plane. You can get it trimmed and flying well "as is" in the first session. Second session you can work on optimizing the rubber choices you have to the prop you have. Then further sessions are spent optimizing the system, including prop, rubber, and trim. By the time we make Nationals, we'll have 400 or so logged flights.

Coach Chuck

How do you guys make your motorsticks? Rolled, similar to f1ds?

[coachchuckaahs]

No, just a stiff, light balsa stick.

I don't think rolled is needed at 8g, but would be fun to try.

Coach Chuck

[Rossyspsce]

No, just a stiff, light balsa stick.

I don't think rolled is needed at 8g, but would be fun to try.

Coach Chuck

where do you usually buy your wood?

[coachchuckaahs]

Local hobby shop carries MidWest, and a limited selection of Sig Contest Grade. The Sig is 4-8 pound, often at around 7#. Midwest is not weight-graded, and sometimes you can find a gem, but it is often heavy (10-14# typical, sometimes even 20#. I have found a few 5# planks in MidWest). Hobby Lobby also sells Midwest. I bring a scale and a chart that indicates the grams vs. #/cu ft for each balsa size. I will also prop up one end, put the other on the scale and see what the flex stiffness is. Of course, these days with little scratch building going on, once you clear out a shop, the next gem may be several years off.

We have purchased form Sig as well, they ship fast. You can pay a premium for grain, and for contest grade. But, usually all sheets you get are from same log, so if they are not useful, the whole stack is not useful.

Getting 5# and below is hard, you probably have to go to a more special supplier and pay a lot more. However, for WS, 6-7# wood is just fine. For MS you probably don't want below 6 anyway, as it will get too soft.

Coach Chuck