2017/2018 Balsa Build Along, SIG HOG BIPE ELECTRIC CONVERSION

[nhk750]

BUILD SUMMARY:

Six months total build time
All Up Weight (ready to fly) 4,165 grams (9.18lbs)
Power system output - 1,803 Watts, 78.9 amp draw, fully charged battery, around 200 watts per pound!

HOG BIPE MODS (2018 build)

1. Electric conversion (6s battery (Turnigy 4500, 30-40c), Scorpion SII-4025-520KV motor, 15x8 Xoar electric prop, Castle Phoenix Edge 100amp ESC, Castle CC BEC 2.0 (14 amp BEC), Extreme Flight 63mm air induction spinner, and modified (cut shorter) Great Planes Large Motor Mount.
2. Top battery access hatch, magnetically held.
3. Modified landing gear plate, longer plate and moved gear forward ½” also reinforced with tri-stock.
4. Access hatch under nose in front of landing gear for access to ESC mounted inside.
5. Reinforced landing gear with music wire to help with sag on landings and heavy plane build.
6. Fiberglass cowl from Fiberglass Specialties.
7. Cut nose cheeks off and reinforced with tri-stock on both sides of firewall.
8. Dual aileron modification (included with kit).
9. Sullivan tail wheel (40-60 size). Too flimsy going to change to heavier version, .60-1/4 size.
10. Hitec HS845HB aileron servos, Hitec HS645MG servos for tail surfaces.
11. Widened elevator gap for more rudder throw and also made rudder as large as possible with provided material in kit, slightly larger than the plans, for more rudder authority.
12. Mounted radio gear and tail servos as far aft as possible to balance nose heavy condition due to electric conversion.
13. Robart hinge pins in ailerons and elevator, Dubro nylon hinges in rudder.
14. Reinforced interplane strut mounting holes with drilled out blind nuts.
15. Constructed entire aircraft using Airfield Model’s magnetic jigs and magnets, no pins were used during construction.

I will post the maiden video in a week or so.

 

[jaredstrees]

Well done, Sir. Well done. That's a beautiful plane you've built. Looking forward to the maiden!

 

[Joker 53150]

The plane looks great, although the builder looks questionable...!

 

[nhk750]

Thanks!...I think...

 

[rockyboy]

Beautiful build!

 

[nhk750]

No maiden yet, waiting for a 1 1/4" tail wheel as the 1" seemed to small and the extra 5 grams of weight will help a bit in the tail. I did find a spot in the basement on the wall out of the way to hang it though. Using Marcy's wheel chocks, a pine board and some hardware into the studs it worked great and also hid the old wallpaper a bit too...

 

[PsyBorg]

Does this mean it has unlimited vertical since it will stay like that most of its life?

That turned out really nice mate. The checker board really sets it off along with that unique nose shape. Of course being a Steelers fan anything black and gold (yellow) catches my eye hehe.

 

[nhk750]

At almost 200 watts per pound (1800 watts) it will have unlimited vertical....lol

 

[nhk750]

CHARGING BATTERIES FOR MAIDEN! Should be perfect weather for attempt later today.

 

[nhk750]

MAIDEN SUCCESSFUL!!!!

The maiden flight went well and I got lots of video footage for my maiden video that I will put together in a few days. Front view camera, rear view camera and a GoPro on my head as I was solo. It was my first time flying a bi-plane so I was a bit nervous, but it flew great. It has way too much power with 1,800 watts and I was afraid to go full throttle unless I was climbing as I was afraid of blowing the airframe apart. I have never flow a plane with that much power. I actually hovered for a bit, but as soon as it started to torque roll I lost the hover as I'm not very good at 3d. I got into trouble a few times as the winds were gusty, but all it took was a snap of the throttle and she would pull out of a stall instantaneously. Here is a couple of stills from the videos.

It barely fits in my F-150, barely...

 

[roversgonemad]

Congratulations!! Eagerly awaiting the video!!

 

[Tench745]

It barely fits in my F-150, barely...

Congratulations! And this is why I put a soft cover on my truck bed. You can haul a heckuva lot more when you're not trying to jam it all into the cab. It's why we own pickups after all, right?

 

[rockyboy]

Awesome news!! Looking forward to the video

And yeah, it's definitely time for a bed cover or camper shell my friend

 

[jaredstrees]

Fantastic! Can't wait to see it in action!

 

[nhk750]

Here is the long awaited maiden video!

Sig Hog Bipe Maiden video

 

[PsyBorg]

Nice flights mate. Love that its a tad tail heavy.. puts it in a hover... that first landing was a tad hard but the pilot didnt lose any hair over it so all is good. He was still all serious and ready to fly! That yellow contrast nicely with the greens at your field. That looks like a palace compared to some places we see hehe.

 

[rockyboy]

Looks awesome in the air!! Very nice flying field too!

 

[nhk750]

Thanks, I did get it to hover a little bit on the first flight, but I am not that good yet. I need to practice on the simulator to build some hover skills. It did Cubans, rolls and loops great, also knife edge was a breeze, but it was the first two flights so I was a bit scared to get to brave...

 

[nhk750]

Just thought I would close with an update on flight. So far the Hog has a few flight sessions under it's belt now and it is a great flying airplane. It only needed 5 clicks of down trim and it fly's perfectly. I just need to get over my jitters when flying it as my thumbs tend to shake a bit. The Hog is so responsive that I have not even tried high rates yet. Flying a bi-plane is a bit different but I got used to it pretty quickly. I almost balled it up once trying a snap roll, as I held the inputs in too long, when it went into a spin so fast I could barely tell which way was up, but luckily I was high enough to recover. Needless to say I was shaking like a leaf after that...

I am on to my summer building project now, The Alien Aircraft Super Dragon and I have a build thread going on over at RC Groups. Build Thread for Super Dragon. I decided to do a build thread over there this time instead of both websites...too much work...

 

[GameEngineer]

Great work nhk750! One of your posts mentions you hope your detailed build log is appreciated. It IS! I'm taking notes of the conversions, improvements and bug fixes. I am gearing up to build this model I just received from someone on rcgroups.
I want to do dual aileron servos and the kit includes this bag of goodies but not the instruction sheet. Sig sells the kit with instructions separately but I didn't want to re-buy the hardware just for the instructions. Is there a pdf available?