PT-17 Stearman (from Raleigh Aeromasters)

[Strider]

Strider, What motor are you using? Looks good, is that tape or colored foam board?

Ram, Thanks glad I was able to help.

mrstamp80,
Thanks , am using ntm prop drive 1200kV, with a 8x4 apc style props. Those are colored foam boards, similar to the dollar tree foam, where i am, its hard to get paper layered depron.
I taped the boards using clear packing tape.

 

[mrstamp80]

Strider, Have you flown it yet?

Here is just a quick update of where i am at. I began taping it up. It's still loosely together in the photos. I am shooting to have this completed and in the air by next weekend. I have everything to finish it except for TIME. I am still not sure what to do about the tail wheel any suggestions?





I did find that Staples (in my area) now sells colored packing tape. It's made by Duct tape but it is packing tape @ $5.99 a roll and is very transparent. Just a FYI .

 

[oldjoe1931]

Tail Wheel

I just bend a piece 0.060 wire and use a small foam wheel. I then just hot glue it to the rudder. It has been on there now for almost 2 years.

 

[Strider]

Strider, Have you flown it yet?

Here is just a quick update of where i am at. I began taping it up. It's still loosely together in the photos. I am shooting to have this completed and in the air by next weekend. I have everything to finish it except for TIME. I am still not sure what to do about the tail wheel any suggestions?

I did find that Staples (in my area) now sells colored packing tape. It's made by Duct tape but it is packing tape @ $5.99 a roll and is very transparent. Just a FYI .

Hi, maiden it last Saturday.
It did not go well, almost crashed actually, but i managed to land it in one piece.
Lesson learnt - never, never fly a tail heavy plane. The excitement got the best of me i guess. I went up fully aware that it was a tad tail heavy.

Landing gear was damaged, easy repair with hot glue.

So now i'm trying to put a bit more weight in front, so that it would balance and may try to extend the nose part a bit more.

Your build is looking great.
Looks like you folded your wings at the LE for the kfm step, i wish i had done that. Looks way nicer.

 

[mrstamp80]

Oldjoe , thanks for the tip, I'll figure some thing out.

Strider, I did fold and used foam spar, I am also using DTFB. I was hopping that the added weight of the foam would help balance it out a little. I had already cut the foam out and didn't want to do it over by extending the nose out a inch. I figure i can make some type of motor mount the will push the motor out for the added length.
Here is a update where i am at. Got the landing gear from www.headsuprc.com Just got motor mount to build and install servos etc. My goal is to have it in the air this weekend. (weather permitting)

 

[Strider]

Oldjoe , thanks for the tip, I'll figure some thing out.

Strider, I did fold and used foam spar, I am also using DTFB. I was hopping that the added weight of the foam would help balance it out a little. I had already cut the foam out and didn't want to do it over by extending the nose out a inch. I figure i can make some type of motor mount the will push the motor out for the added length.
Here is a update where i am at. Got the landing gear from www.headsuprc.com Just got motor mount to build and install servos etc. My goal is to have it in the air this weekend. (weather permitting)

mrstamp80,

I ended up extending the motor mount base to about 18mm, i used a bamboo stick, stuck it the middle to reinforce it.
I also added about 30g worth of weight in front.
Now it balances out nicely with a 1300mAh, and slightly nose heavy when using 2200mAh.




Waiting for the weekend for re maiden...lol.

 

[mrstamp80]

Alright got a update!

For the motor mount i built a boxed nose using foamboard square using A and B folds. Was 2'' in length and seemed to be balanced "well enough" to fly!!! Time to Maiden!


That tree jumped out and grabbed it!
Still TOO tail Heavy, back to the drawing board!

This time around I extended the boxed nose to 4" and a 1'' inlay-(grooves cut to slide into airframe). This boxed nose Works out very well as it stiffens the profile fuse up. It balances out very nice now and IS nose heavy. As it also gave me room to sit my battery even farther forward. Here is the finished product. Also i am still working on a build video, and will have it up when i get this bird flying well.

 

[mrstamp80]

In retrospect, I prolly should have just rebuilt and extended the fuse about 4" in the front. But where is the fun in that?

 

[Strider]

Your stearman looks good there sir, i like the idea of the extended box motor mount. . Looks sturdy.

Mine flew beautifully after the the cg adjustments.

 

[SnowRocker88]

Can you recess the battery INTO that box? That'd be cool. Would help with drag...

 

[mrstamp80]

I am sure I could recess it into. I wanted to try and fly it first and see if this does it. If it works out ok, then i will proly make something to recess it into the box. Either way this box nose works out very well to stiffen the fuse and gives you great reinforcement on the lite ply for the mount after covering it with extreme packing tape.

 

[mrstamp80]

Well got it to fly decent. Here is a video of all my changes. Sorry for the short flight video (skip to 18:00). Let me know what you all think thanks.

 

[hellcat]

thankyou for the extra info just one more question

I want to build the 114% version were the KF sizes you quoted for that 114% version??
kind regards
Ross from OZ

 

[oldjoe1931]

I want to build the 114% version were the KF sizes you quoted for that 114% version??
kind regards
Ross from OZ

The kf on the 114% is 2 5/8" or 66.5mm from the leading edge on both the top and bottom wings. You will also need to extend the nose by 3/4" or 19.5mm after the plans are enlarged.

 

[oldjoe1931]

Gear Modification

Another modification that we did on the 114% was to address the Dubro 943 plastic gear being a little weak for the weight of the airframe. We drilled out the axel holes to accept a solid axel of 3mm carbon. Installed the wheels with the collars on the exterior only. This stiffened the gear and also let the axel float some for the not so perfect landings.

Ignore the wire above the axel! This was tried first and did not work!

 

[oldjoe1931]

Servo Location

I wanted to post a picture to help with locating the elevator and rudder servos. I like to use 2mm solid carbon rod with metal ends. You can epoxy or just CA the metal to the carbon. If you keep the servos forward it greatly helps with the CG on this airframe.

I really enjoy this Stearman/Pt-17. I have flown it on the windiest days ..........when most aircraft stay grounded!

 

[oldjoe1931]

Micro Stearman!

Inspired by a club member to make this Stearman smaller! We reduced it down to 50%........ Now it is about 17" and 2.5 oz. I had a Micro Beast donor airframe with all the electronics. 180 brushless motor, 180mah 2 cell battery, and servos. We did the maiden today and it flew perfect. Plenty of power and handled the outdoor flying well. It was built using 2mm depron with 2mm carbon rod to reinforce the wings.

 

[ClearSkiesCalmWinds]

That is to cool. Well your plane motivated me to design this out of DTFB a few months ago.



Thank you.

 

[mudman1959]

125% Stearman... Comes in at a 48 inch wingspan. Just started building it today, cut out the plans, traced them out on the foam and cut out the parts. The basic airframe is all glued now to protect it with some polyurethane then to paint it... Mudman1959

 

[mudman1959]