Sig Skyray

I purchased a kit. Will be one of the winter projects.

One thing to keep in mind, like the Twister and others, Sig uses Lite ply for the doublers. If you ever purchased it, you would discover that it's half the cost of birch 5 ply. Obviously why Sig chooses to use it.  Even 3 ply is better than Lite ply. My buddy Larry built 2 of them and I suggested to replace the doublers which he didn't. Vibrations rendered the Lite ply plane useless. It doesn't stabilize the nose adequately and the bolts will pull through it as well. The Skyray already in my opinion has beams too short and coupling that with inferior plywood makes twice the issues. I don't like the fact that they chose to use the same plywood for the ribs but I will say it works for that principle aside from the weight penalty they offer. Many offer suggestive ideas on what to do for this and that but in my experience, most kits suffer from the lack of good quality ply. That would be the most important change.

oldguy wrote:I purchased a kit.  Will be one of the winter projects.

Are you going to share

getback wrote:

oldguy wrote:I purchased a kit.  Will be one of the winter projects.

 Are you going to share

Right now i'm working on a Super Satan building from a short kit. The other kit i mentioned is the Sig Skyray 35.

Ken Cook wrote:One thing to keep in mind, like the Twister and others, Sig uses Lite ply for the doublers. If you ever purchased it, you would discover that it's half the cost of birch 5 ply. Obviously why Sig chooses to use it.  Even 3 ply is better than Lite ply. My buddy Larry built 2 of them and I suggested to replace the doublers which he didn't. Vibrations rendered the Lite ply plane useless. It doesn't stabilize the nose adequately and the bolts will pull through it as well. The Skyray already in my opinion has beams too short and coupling that with inferior plywood makes twice the issues. I don't like the fact that they chose to use the same plywood for the ribs but I will say it works for that principle aside from the weight penalty they offer. Many offer suggestive ideas on what to do for this and that but in my experience, most kits suffer from the lack of good quality ply. That would be the most important change.

I will look at the ply doublers that you mentioned, i also read where some have replaced the ply ribs with balsa. I bought the Skyray kit off ebay For $59.00 total. It was a sealed kit. And the engine beams were two different sizes 1 was 3/8x1/2 and the other was 1/2x1/2 weird. And they do look alittle short, iw ill be replacing them i have some maple 3/8x 1/2.

There's been about 6 of these Skyray planes that I have seen in our club over the past 10 years. Only one had the ply ribs. I don't think that's a huge issue. However, I believe they're die cut therefore some of them might not be exactly the same outline. Personally, I don't like to re engineer a entire kit. I have no issues with simple changes. One thing though you might want to swap is a inboard rib for balsa to exchange the ply version so that you have a solid decent template. My flying buddy Jack who passed away a few years ago had a beautiful flying version. His daughter requested that a few of us come over and take his items. I find that very disturbing, however the outcome of the stuff is usually given away to a non modeler or trash canned. I couldn't locate the plane. His was powered with a FP .25 and it was a real hoot to see. It ripped through the air when leaned up.

Ken Cook wrote:          There's been about 6 of these Skyray planes that I have seen in our club over the past 10 years. Only one had the ply ribs. I don't think that's a huge issue. However, I believe they're die cut therefore some of them might not be exactly the same outline. Personally, I don't like to re engineer a entire kit. I have no issues with simple changes. One thing though you might want to swap  is a inboard rib for balsa to exchange the ply version so that you have a solid decent template. My flying buddy Jack who passed away a few years ago had a beautiful flying version. His daughter requested that a few of us come over and take his items. I find that very disturbing, however the outcome of the stuff is usually given away to a non modeler or trash canned. I couldn't locate the plane. His was powered with a FP .25 and it was a real hoot to see. It ripped through the air when leaned up.

Thanks for the post Ken, I think i'm going to build the kit with the ply ribs, but will be tracing all the parts using from the kit, onto balsa for another build later. This one will have an FP .25.

Nice choice of plane! I really like building mine. The spars were kinda wonky but lots of weight and patience was able to build them out. I went with a evo .36 but found it very nose heavey, needed about 3ozs to the tail to get the c.g. right. I think the .25 la would be a much better fit as mentioned above from a weight savings perspective.

Here is the color scheme I went with if your looking for some ideas.

layback209 wrote:Nice choice of plane! I really like building mine. The spars were kinda wonky but lots of weight and patience was able to build them out.  I went with a evo .36 but found it very nose heavey, needed about 3ozs to the tail to get the c.g. right.  I think the .25 la would be a much better fit as mentioned above from a weight savings perspective.  

Here is the color scheme I went with if your looking for some ideas.

I'm going to setup the SR with the Os fp .25, color scheme, wing will be yellow because that's the color of covering i have on hand at the moment, the rest is yet to be determined.   Yours on the wall looks pretty nice.   It will be a little while before i get into the SR.   I'm building a Super Satan at the moment. Wing will be yellow also for the same reason as the SR it's whats on hand.  With a OS Fp .20.  I think it will be plenty of power. I see you hang yours on the wall like i do. But i still have to find somewhere to fly when summer comes i'm new to Idaho.

oldguy wrote:

layback209 wrote:Nice choice of plane! I really like building mine. The spars were kinda wonky but lots of weight and patience was able to build them out.  I went with a evo .36 but found it very nose heavey, needed about 3ozs to the tail to get the c.g. right.  I think the .25 la would be a much better fit as mentioned above from a weight savings perspective.  

Here is the color scheme I went with if your looking for some ideas.

I'm going to setup the SR with the Os fp .25, color scheme, wing will be yellow because that's the color of covering i have on hand at the moment, the rest is yet to be determined.   Yours on the wall looks pretty nice.   It will be a little while before i get into the SR.   I'm building a Super Satan at the moment. Wing will be yellow also for the same reason as the SR it's whats on hand.  With a OS Fp .20.  I think it will be plenty of power. I see you hang yours on the wall like i do.   But i still have to find somewhere to fly when summer comes i'm new to Idaho.

You really should do a build thread on that Super Satan. I have plans and it’s on my bucket list.

Ken Cook wrote:One thing to keep in mind, like the Twister and others, Sig uses Lite ply for the doublers. If you ever purchased it, you would discover that it's half the cost of birch 5 ply. Obviously why Sig chooses to use it.  Even 3 ply is better than Lite ply. My buddy Larry built 2 of them and I suggested to replace the doublers which he didn't. Vibrations rendered the Lite ply plane useless. It doesn't stabilize the nose adequately and the bolts will pull through it as well. The Skyray already in my opinion has beams too short and coupling that with inferior plywood makes twice the issues. I don't like the fact that they chose to use the same plywood for the ribs but I will say it works for that principle aside from the weight penalty they offer. Many offer suggestive ideas on what to do for this and that but in my experience, most kits suffer from the lack of good quality ply. That would be the most important change.

Besides building the Super Satan, I have been gathering balsa , and i have now traced and cut all parts of the Sky Ray, I'm going to be building my first Sky ray with all the traced out balsa, using all balsa ribs, no short ribs. Oh, still need to put to together LE, will use 2 1/4" planks glued together for the 1/2" LE. It's what i have done for the fuselage. i have found it to be stronger when scratch building a 1/2" profile fuselage with two 1/4" pieces glued together. I will be using 1/8" ply for the doublers, it's what i have on hand and it shouldn't be a weight problem since i'm substituting balsa ribs for ply ribs.

Well I'm on my way building a SkyRay .35, have finished the wing and on with fuselage and getting the wing fitted to it, here's a couple of pictures.  I have built this plane with white glue only, first time the CA has really started to mess up my nose and sinuses. So  I wanting to ask a question on gluing the wing in just using white glue, i have for as long as i remember glued the wing in with epoxy,  who else just uses white glue on installing the wing to the fuselage?

I built a trio of Skyrays a few years ago.  All three are identical with OS .25 LA-S engines.  I figured I’d take two out and if I crash one, the remains go in a plastic bag and I pull the other out of the car and keep flying.  





I built the pink one because my wife said she’d learn to fly if I built her a pink airplane.  She didn’t think a Manly Man would ever build a fluorescent pink plane.  Well, I built it and presented it to her, but she politely declined.  She always does that…  So the pink plane was the first one I took out to fly at the field, figuring if I was going to crash one, it’d be the pink one first and I’d be able to throw it in the corner and move on to the yellow and blue planes.  Well, one Wednesday morning I crashed the pink one, and proceeded to pull the yellow one out of the car and keep flying.  My evil plan to get rid of the pink plane was progressing nicely.  Until the guys at the field started razzing me about real modelers not throwing away planes and such.  So, pride in hand, I had it repaired and flying by Friday.  I pretty much fly the pink plane exclusively because I haven’t crashed it again.  I’ve flown the yellow one a couple of times, and the blue one’s never seen air.

I also wanted a better 1/2A Skyray, so I reduced the rib profile to 53% and made a built-up wing to go in a standard 1/2A fuselage, using standard tail surfaces.  I call it my Skyray 110.






The Manly Mark

Wing looks good and straight , I wouldn't use wood (white glue) on the installation of the wing it doesn't fill gaps good when drying the epoxy 30 mins. is what i have used . This is a good wicking glue .

Nice fleet there. I have had the 1/2a Skyray, but never did get the bigger one.

Mark, I recall when you were doing these. They look great and well executed. The 1/2A Skyray is pretty impressive. It certainly would be a great competitor in 1/2A stunt.

batjac wrote:I built a trio of Skyrays a few years ago.  All three are identical with OS .25 LA-S engines.  I figured I’d take two out and if I crash one, the remains go in a plastic bag and I pull the other out of the car and keep flying.  





I built the pink one because my wife said she’d learn to fly if I built her a pink airplane.  She didn’t think a Manly Man would ever build a fluorescent pink plane.  Well, I built it and presented it to her, but she politely declined.  She always does that…  So the pink plane was the first one I took out to fly at the field, figuring if I was going to crash one, it’d be the pink one first and I’d be able to throw it in the corner and move on to the yellow and blue planes.  Well, one Wednesday morning I crashed the pink one, and proceeded to pull the yellow one out of the car and keep flying.  My evil plan to get rid of the pink plane was progressing nicely.  Until the guys at the field started razzing me about real modelers not throwing away planes and such.  So, pride in hand, I had it repaired and flying by Friday.  I pretty much fly the pink plane exclusively because I haven’t crashed it again.  I’ve flown the yellow one a couple of times, and the blue one’s never seen air.

I also wanted a better 1/2A Skyray, so I reduced the rib profile to 53% and made a built-up wing to go in a standard 1/2A fuselage, using standard tail surfaces.  I call it my Skyray 110.






The Manly Mark

Very nice trio they all look great, i wanted to ask if you built them according to the plans, did you do anything different when building them? I have read articles on the building of the SR 35, which mentioned about moving the leadouts forward and a few others items. Did you?
Jim That 1/2A ray looks great makes me want to build with the full wing.

Well it,s been awhile but i got back on the SkyRay, house updateing over the winter had to take priority.   I have some pictures here that i have taken of how it will look when finished. Mocked up with decals, i still need to glue the wing in and install elevator and a couple other minor details.

That should be a lot of fun. It looks sporty just on it's gear.

I built my entire plane using Titebond II.....including gluing in the wing. I don't see any issues !(

Oldguy thats looks great , what engine is it i can't tell from the pics.? And i see you have the decals printed ? out and they look good on there But if you use the clear/transparent paper film they will stand out better without the white background .. The white on white is ok , i did the same thing on a model and wish later i had done it different . Just saying

OhBee wrote:I built my entire plane using Titebond II.....including gluing in the wing. I don't see any issues !(

Looks good OhBee.

getback wrote:Oldguy thats looks great , what engine is it i can't tell from the pics.? And i see you have the decals printed ? out and they look good on there But if you use the clear/transparent paper film they will stand out better without the white background .. The white on white is ok , i did the same thing on a model and wish later i had done it different . Just saying

Engine is OS FP .25, decals have clear stick on backing, white shouldn't be a problem.