PT-17 Stearman

PT-17 Stearman 1.0

Please log in to download

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
General note: Yes it probably needs a degree or two of downthrust. I have a nice hunk of lead that lives in my nose ahead of the battery. 🤣

I don’t think the motor-pod has any angle built into it. Probably worth a release-revision. (Sorry @SP0NZ ) 😜

In the meantime, put a washer or two behind the top motor-mount-screws or trim the end of the motor-pod accordingly before gluing the firewall on.

Sorry for missing that guys!
I should have expected that by now. lol
 

Mzaher

Member
If you're trimmed for level flight do you notice a sudden pitching down when you cut throttle? I wouldn't expect that behavior if the issue was incidence related (but maybe someone with an aerospace degree could chime in @Mid7night ;)).
OK, I finally had the chance to get her back in the air last night. Here's the skinny. I added 1 washer to increase the down thrust, reset the down trim to neutral, and raised the expo on the ailerons to 45% (mostly due to my limited stick time). The results were much better! Ended up having to use just under 1/4 of the down trim at half throttle for level flight and she only climbs a little (manageable) at full throttle. Also when I would cut the throttle, stayed right on the flight path, no pitching down. Was fun to fly, and for that reason, let's hope I can keep it in one piece until Filte Fest!
 

wilmracer

I build things that fly (sometimes)
Mentor
OK, I finally had the chance to get her back in the air last night. Here's the skinny. I added 1 washer to increase the down thrust, reset the down trim to neutral, and raised the expo on the ailerons to 45% (mostly due to my limited stick time). The results were much better! Ended up having to use just under 1/4 of the down trim at half throttle for level flight and she only climbs a little (manageable) at full throttle. Also when I would cut the throttle, stayed right on the flight path, no pitching down. Was fun to fly, and for that reason, let's hope I can keep it in one piece until Filte Fest!

Great news! I can't wait to see all the Stearman at FF this year!
 

Yankee2003

Well-known member
Just curious, those of you that have built this. How much weight are you putting in the nose to get this to balance? Even with a PLA-printed radial, I've added close to 2 ounces.
2 oz….you did good. I have a C pack and a 2500 3s shoved as far forward as it can go. I am going to be adding 3+ oz to the nose. The CG point (2.5 inches off the leading edge of the top wing) is pretty far forward in the planes length. The lower wing, most of the upper wing, plus the aft servos and the entire tail are all behind the CG point and needs to be balanced out.
I wonder if some of the down trim everyone is talking about might be from people being shy from adding weight to balance on the CG.
Either way the weight in the nose is going to be substantial.
I might weigh it out, but at this point I am going to do what is necessary to balance it. I would be interested in what others are doing to this airframe.
Glad to hear your Stearman is flying better.
 

Yankee2003

Well-known member
IMG_3508.jpeg IMG_3507.jpeg
Stearman done. She’s not a beauty queen, but she is ready.
A final thank you to Ben, Carl and Dan.
 

grasskisser

New member
It's not an AI file, it's a PDF. The PDF is in raster format, as you have already discovered. A vector file will not be provided at this time.
Sponz, when you say "at this time" . Will you ever?
This is just what I wanted and would love to make it. But I needle cut. These old hands will not take to tracing and hand cutting
Would be happy to pay for vector file or dxf.
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
Sponz, when you say "at this time" . Will you ever?
This is just what I wanted and would love to make it. But I needle cut. These old hands will not take to tracing and hand cutting
Would be happy to pay for vector file or dxf.
That's Ben's call to make, not mine. It's his design, I just created the formatted plans for him.
 

Pinkyusa

Member
Thanks for the info. Watched the build video and couldn't figure out how to access battery. Might have to give this build a try.
 

Flying Farm Kid

Active member
It is well worth the build it is and awesome flyer just make sure to make the landing gear extra strong if you are flying of grass mine has busted a few times, the next one I make the gear will be 3d printed.
 

Flying Farm Kid

Active member
Thanks, looking at the build video, haven't figured out how the power pod is retained and where to place esc. How did you do your build?
I just have mine floating about in the front cockpit I only run it on a 1800 3s so it doesn't get to hot it also makes it easy to plug in.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0892.jpg
    IMG_0892.jpg
    100.5 KB · Views: 0
  • IMG_0891.jpg
    IMG_0891.jpg
    81.4 KB · Views: 0
  • IMG_0890.jpg
    IMG_0890.jpg
    52 KB · Views: 0