squirrely stunt man 23

Nose weight first. You can weigh up a plank wing 1/2a till it balances on the LE and it will fly.

I ties nuts and washers under the case with some thin copper wire to trouble shoot balance. Often it ends up easier to make a shim from thin plywood to move the engine 1/4 inch forward.

Phil

thanks guys I ll do the weight thing before I change the eng. and try another flight test , Rusty I know your a stuntman guy from way back and I seen one u said you shortened that broke in half behine the wing , well my question Is how the the heck did you get that to mate back the wood that is? I tried dowels and epoxy looked good but did not hold! I just checked the cg its at a little over center toward front thanks again !

I'll look at my old one to check, but the CG was probably less than an inch behind the lead edge. Actually I have the Stuntman plans, so I'll look at them. I'm pretty preoccupied this week, so if I forget to get back with that info, PM me and I will.

As for the fuse, I slathered it with 60 minute epoxy and wrapped some fiberglass around it. I might have added some splints on the outside of the fuse too. It was ugly as hell, but it flew like a dream... until my nieces destroyed it. I made it pretty after that, but it was never the same again.

Harry Higley had a line of heavy prop-nuts to aesthetically add nose-weight. There was a "1/2-A Heavy-Hub" produced. I have never used one. Hope you get your Stuntman back in the air soon.

Fiberglass window screen makes a nice strong lightweight patch on repair joints. I "tack it" with CA glue, then brush-on epoxy, filling the screen flush and feathering off to the edges.

Have a combat match with a "Golden-Bee" powered Skyray!

Here's a project for "if I ever have Grandchildren"....... As you can see... a wing T/E-tail-plane re-build was "started"... then damaged... Hmm... possible candidate for coupled-flaps and a re-worked tailplane?

I don't know...

Watching your video I have to wonder what your handle spacing is? The reason I ask is I wonder if you are over controlling.

Goldberg kits usually build close to flying well as built and if not are usually in a nose heavy condition. A Bee type engine should be sufficiently heavy on the Stuntman.

Keep us informed.

Ron

I'm not a big fan on slab wing planes. However, your model, the Skyray, not to mention a few others fly extremely well. I would try not to add any weight if possible. Just about all of these models are already nose heavy. If you have one that built tail heavy, this can be a good thing. I prefer a slightly tail heavy plane due to it making the plane more maneuverable. It's how you tame it down that is the important part. As Ron stated, handle spacing is important for flying 1/2A with precision like movements. The line spacing where the cables exit the handle should not be more than 2" apart. Reason they're nose heavy is due to the gear and wheels that adds a considerable amount of weight to the front. The Skyray has no gear and is tail heavy out of the box.  The Black Widow or Golden Bee would be a better choice due to more power and it will also place your CG in the correct place. By the age of the plane and you telling us the glue is not holding properly on the mount, I can only fathom a guess that the nose has oil soaking within it. The oil migrates back through the firewall through the screws that retain the engine. Not a whole lot can be done when this happens. Nothing removes the oil and I've tried all recipes to do so. Nothing glues better than raw clean balsa. Best suggestion is to use a lot of kicker and thick CA and wrap the fiberglass cloth around the perimeter.

Seeing that you cleaned your tail feathers off of the plane, a better solution rather than to add tail weight would be to make the parts out of basswood. They will be slightly heavier but less prone to breakage. This may just do what your asking . Too many times, and I see this constantly that the control horn is small. Another bad idea. A medium horn at least 3/4 long will suit you far better than one that's a 1/2" at best. Keep your pushrod to the innermost holeon the bellcrank and the lowest hole on your horn for SLOW controls and controllability. If the plane isn't turning work from there and start moving your pushrod on the control horn closer to the elevator ONE hole at a time until you get the plane to point and shoot, Ken

I just looked at my old Stuntman and the CG where I had it balanced was 1-3/4" behind the LE, farther back than I had remembered. I don't know where the plans are.

Rusty