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	avipatable Lifetime Site Supporter	Joined: January/23/2011 United Kingdom Posts: 153 IP Logged
Posted: April/08/2018 at 3:28pm		Quote

Hi All,

I have finally flown my Sig Smith Miniplane... It is my first kit build and I wrote on RCSB about 2 years ago asking questions to try and make it a little more scale.

Due to long work hours and stay-away jobs it has taken an age but I have finally got it to flying stage - and now I know it flies I can attempt an ambitious paint scheme (for me at least) and add the flying wires and other details.

The model is electric powered and I have made a rather over complicated battery installation to keep the weight up the front. I made my full depth (sport scale) cockpit and changed the undercarriage and added springs - I thought the original was rather ugly and google shows a number of full size owners thought the same!

I had 3 flights and was very happy that only a minor trim adjustment was needed. Apparently a number of builders say the model balloons badly so I followed the advice of Sparky and one other chap who's name escapes me. I put 1/8" balsa under the front of the tail plane and 1/16th" under the rear wing bolts of the upper mainplane. However, I think this has overcooked it! The model bombed along the beach at full throttle and had to be pulled off with elevator. It flies like a bullet - rather how I would imagine a P47 and not a little biplane! It is also quite reluctant to go over the top of a loop.

I will remove the wood under the bolts on the mainplane and see what happens. The C of G is also very slightly forward of the plans, but I left it as it was as adding the details will probably rectify it.

The finish is a bit of a "good from far but far from good" but I am pretty happy with it - the next lot of paint will really make it stand out.

Any comments or advice to get her flying more daintily would be much appreciated.

	avipatable Lifetime Site Supporter	Joined: January/23/2011 United Kingdom Posts: 153 IP Logged
Posted: April/08/2018 at 3:30pm		Quote

	avipatable Lifetime Site Supporter	Joined: January/23/2011 United Kingdom Posts: 153 IP Logged
Posted: April/08/2018 at 3:35pm		Quote

If any of you can help me with my foamy Spitfire oleo problem I would be very grateful! :)

	Sparky Lifetime Site Supporter Head Curmudgeon	Joined: February/10/2004 United States Posts: 7346 IP Logged
Posted: April/08/2018 at 9:00pm		Quote

I am very happy that my advice was taken on board. The drama I had on my first flight is still fresh in my mind and that was 1977 or so!
It sounds like the declage fixed the issue. What will the final color scheme be?
Sparky

	ERFR Site Supporter	Joined: October/25/2005 Israel Posts: 672 IP Logged
Posted: April/08/2018 at 11:35pm		Quote

Very nice and clean job! Well done!

I also have a Sig SMP that I have been enjoying for many years.
Powered with a .46 glow engine, but it is a very relaxing flyer that can be flown very slowly and lands like a feather.

I have the wings set up exactly per plan but regrettably did not add positive incidence to the stab however, it is easily manageable, I am used to giving it slight forward stick occasionally.
All in all it’s one of my favorite flyers.

	avipatable Lifetime Site Supporter	Joined: January/23/2011 United Kingdom Posts: 153 IP Logged
Posted: April/09/2018 at 4:05am		Quote

Hello Sparky, nice to see you checking in. Yes I followed your advice with regards to both the tail plane and wing incidence changes, and keeping the weight forward too. Do you think a slight reduction in the packing behind the rear wing bolts might aid with making it a little more floaty, or is there something else I should try first? Stick movements for flight are considerably more than with my other models so I will wind back the expo – it was set to 30%. I will scan my drawings of the paint scheme I hope to do and post them tomorrow. I am worried about seepage with solartex!

Hi Erez, thanks for your kind comments, low resolution photos work well ;) Nice to hear yours is a good flier and can fly slowly… it gives me something to aim for. Mine flies well – but flies a little bit like a pylon racer! Landings are a bit like a WW2 novice carrier pilot’s first deck landings! I did 3 and the last one was a greaser – but still fast (the first two would actually equate to about 8!).

	Sparky Lifetime Site Supporter Head Curmudgeon	Joined: February/10/2004 United States Posts: 7346 IP Logged
Posted: April/09/2018 at 9:51am		Quote

More flying will definitely make you more comfortable flying the plane, at the time I flew the plane I was a a intermediate model pilot and radios were never like they are today so my experience was a bit different then yours.
30% expo seems high but adjust to the way you like it.
If you would like to remove the shim from the wing, take out half the thickness see how you like it and if you want to continue back to the factory setting take the rest out. I don't recall the weight of my plane but I don't recall it being a "floaty" airplane. Play with the CG as well but do it after the painting. If you paint the model there is more surface to paint aft of the CG so it will migrate aft with a paint job. If you are coming from the Foam ARF world all wood models will seem not as foaty as those planes as they enjoy a considerably reduced wing loading and higher power loading.
I am sure there are tutorials on painting that will make the painting a little easier. If you are worried about seepage along the mask line, lightly fog the trim line with the base coat color so any seepage is the base coat.
Sparky

	avipatable Lifetime Site Supporter	Joined: January/23/2011 United Kingdom Posts: 153 IP Logged
Posted: April/09/2018 at 1:54pm		Quote

Hi Sparky,

Yes 3 flights is not enough, and I can't wait to get some more in. I will try half thickness with the shims in the wing - its a bit of a pain because the wing struts also need trimming and that means un-soldering the screw plates, but worth it to see the difference. I have a Flair Harvard, which a friends dad built about 20 years ago, and I was flying that all last summer. It has an ancient 40 2-stroke in it and it flies like a glider - but admittedly it is a very different configuration. It doesn't have flaps and I seem to have to fly it nearly to the horizon to get it to land in front of me, the glide angle is so shallow! My other models are foamies as I just don't have time - or tools to do any better. I have the expo right up on the foamies to make their flight look as least foamy as possible. I only fly them on near still days because they just look rubbish in a breeze - the pleasure I get from flying is making the models look as realistic as possible.

Here is the colour scheme I hope to achieve. It will be very dark blue and cream. SLAQ are my girlfriends and my initials, GMS are the initials of my grandfather, who taught me to fly models and was a fighter pilot in the 50's and 60's, and KT was the only one of my current friends who I talked about planes with, this model included, although we lived miles apart. He died of a heart attack last summer.

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