# Sig Four Star 40 build.



## Gary

I opted to bash this kit a little. Insted of a single airlon servo, Ill be using dual servos.


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## Gary

Made a lot of progress on the fuse so far today. The engine Ill be using is a Magnum .52 four stroke. Sullivan gold-n-rods and tail wheel assy. Dubro landing gear with light wheels. Covering will be Monokote dark teal and cream.


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## justinspeed79

Cool! I think you made a good choice going with dual aileron servos. Now you just need to add an extra inch to all of the control surfaces, and you will have that baby hovering in no time!:mpd:


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## Gary

justinspeed79 said:


> Cool! I think you made a good choice going with dual aileron servos. Now you just need to add an extra inch to all of the control surfaces, and you will have that baby hovering in no time!:mpd:


I'm adding a 1/4" to the leading edges with tri-stock. That way I get a little more and I don't have to sand that dreaded bevel.


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## justinspeed79

Gary said:


> I'm adding a 1/4" to the leading edges with tri-stock. That way I get a little more and I don't have to sand that dreaded bevel.


That's how I usually do it when I have to make that bevel too.

Man..... I am itching to do some flying! I haven't flown anything except the Typhoon in a while. All my planes need work, I just don't have the time to do it lately.

My biggest problem right now is that I have no vehicle!


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## fishermanX

Hey Justin, maybe me and Biffy can come out to your neck of the woods to fly one weekend. What do ya think?


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## Gary

A few shots of Andy's plane today. And yes, it was cold, windy and rainy.


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## fishermanX

****! My plane looks really good in the air. Its definittly starting to grow on me. I just need to somehow get more rudder and maybe a saito 150.


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## Gary

More pics.


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## fishermanX

You sir are a master craftsman!


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## justinspeed79

fishermanX said:


> Hey Justin, maybe me and Biffy can come out to your neck of the woods to fly one weekend. What do ya think?


I certainly would have no objection to that, but it's a long way to drive just to fly in a football field lol..... I WILL be back down there to fly with y'all again, I am just not sure when, I have a lot going on right now. If I had my way I would be there every weekend!

Your Funtana looks good. I am trying to get more rudder out of my Funtana-X 50 too. I am going to put the GP extra tail on it, I think it will work much better. I think the Funtana's are supposed to be tail heavy too. I have seen videos of people flying the FX50, and there is no way they could be doing what they are doing unless they were flying tail heavy.

I want a Saito 150 or 180 for my Showtime, but they ain't cheap!


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## justinspeed79

Lookin good Biffster!


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## fishermanX

Hey Justin. How do you trim out a plane that is tail heavy? When flying upright you would give it a little down elevator trim to make it fly level but when you fly inverted the trim would be of quite a bit. I'm thinking you just set the trim to where it flies with the tail down upright and inverted equally? Is that right?


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## justinspeed79

In theory, a perfectly balanced plane would fly level in normal flight, and in inverted flight, with the elevator trimmed to center, and no input to the controls. None of my planes fly this way. I have tried to set them up this way, but they are always too tail heavy for practical flight. A tail heavy plane will naturally want to fly better inverted because the heavy tail will keep the nose pointing up more than a nose heavy plane, and because the elevator would have less up trim to fly normally, which becomes down trim when inverted. 

What I have found to be a good rule of thumb with tail weight is, if you need down elevator trim to maintain level flight in normal flight (not inverted), then you have too much weight on the tail. In this condition the plane will nose up when you let off the throttle, and can be very uncontrollable, because at that point it is relying on lift from the horizontal stab to maintain flight, instead of just using the horizontal stab for control. 

I always set my planes up so that they fly well in normal flight, a little on the tail heavy side, then use the sticks to adjust for inverted flight. 

But then there is my funtana. I set it all the way to the back of the CG range, and I still can't knife edge, even with the SFG's on it, so I think it is going to go back further.


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## Gary

I got a little more done on my build. Notice the 1/4" tri-stock on the leading edge on the airlons. Not only does it give me an extra 1/4" on the control surfaces, I don't have to sand that beveled leading edge.

I'm going with Sulivan Gold-N-Rods over the kit supplied pushrods. And I'm glad I did. No binding what so ever. The Magnum .52 4 stroke fits in just fine and with the Du Bro langing gear, I am able to swing a 12x6 prop without prop strike. With this heavier duty landing gear comes a price and that is weight. But with the higher stance I am able to use lighter and smaller wheels. Dave Brown Lite Flite 2 1/2" give me 3" of prop clearance and I sorta like the look of smallish wheels.

I have a tad of gap between the wing and the wing saddle and I think I lost about a degree of incidence but hope to fix that with saddle tape.


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## justinspeed79

Nice!


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## Gary

I'm about to start covering. I'm nervous. lol


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## Big Phil

Nice work gary.


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## Gary

Thanks guys. Breaking out the covering iron now.


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## Gary

I'm having some issues with Monokote. Hard to handle and I couldn't get a good pic with the P&S camera, but in real life the colors look pretty good together!


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## Gary

I modded an SSE canopy to fit.


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## Gary

I may finish today and I must say, I like the way this one is turning out.


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## Gary

With the tail feathers expoxied on the wing decals.


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## fishermanX

That is just plane awsome Biffy. You are the man.


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## justinspeed79

Freakin sweet dude!

Why did you use the SSE canopy? Doesn't the Four Star come with a canopy?


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## Gary

justinspeed79 said:


> Freakin sweet dude!
> 
> Why did you use the SSE canopy? Doesn't the Four Star come with a canopy?


Yea, but it's "Bublous". Bobbleus, er, big and fat. I like the sleek look better.


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## Ronborsk

Beautiful work and awesome skills you have there. I'm jealous. I've been working on a control line model and needless to say it reminds me of the truck on Sanford and Son. 

Thanks for sharing.


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## Gary

Thanks guys. I do my best.


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## fishermanX

Will she be ready for the weekend Biffy?


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## Gary

Yup!


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## ZooDog

Gary, I just love those shooting stars, Is that freehand cut out, decal or what? I've got a Senior Telemaster to cover and I've read on RCU several posts about the new Monocote being hard to work with and some folks switching over to Ultracote. Any firsthand info to share. I think I need at least four rolls plus any trim colors and hate to buy the wrong stuff. Your covering job looks great. Thanks and regards, Jerry


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## Gary

ZooDog said:


> Gary, I just love those shooting stars, Is that freehand cut out, decal or what? I've got a Senior Telemaster to cover and I've read on RCU several posts about the new Monocote being hard to work with and some folks switching over to Ultracote. Any firsthand info to share. I think I need at least four rolls plus any trim colors and hate to buy the wrong stuff. Your covering job looks great. Thanks and regards, Jerry


Howdy ZooDog. The stars are decals. Normally I wouldnt use decals but I liked the contrast between the white decals and the cream color of the monokote especially now that I have the engine mounted with a white spinner.

Monokote can be hard to work with. You just cant lay it down and shrink it with an iron. You need 4 hands to stretch it while your ironing it down and you better plan ahead. But once its on, it stays there.

I thought about trying ultracote but havent yet. Alot of guys on RCU say's its easier to work with, but some say it doesnt look as good as Monokote.

For the Senior Telemaster, you should go with fabric as long as you have enough engine power for the extra weight. I mean, thats a classic plane with an old school look, fabric would look great on her Jerry.

But if you do go with either Ultracote or Monokote, use Monokote for your trim using the windex method.

Got pix?


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## Gary

Since I changed the design from a single airlon servo to dual servos, I had to make some modifications. One of those is to drill holes through the ribs to run the servo wiring. Normally most guys would use extensions for the servo leads but that takes fairly large holes to fish those connectors through. I decided to hardwire my servos in so I could keep the holes through the ribs small, and save a couple of bucks on extensions while I was at it.


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## Gary

Dang I'm tired of working on this plane. lol

I'm pretty much done except for the airlon rods. The CG came out allmost dead nutz and the total weight for the plane came out better than I hoped at 5.0# flat.

I won't be flying it tomarrow though, insted Ill be flying my other plane. I wont be taking this plane up untill I have triple checked everything, twice! 

It's dark, so I cant get good pics.


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## ZooDog

Thank's for the info Gary, No pic's yet whats been assembled so far has not been built by me. It's in the bones stage at this time and it looks like the control surfaces are already hinged and glued so that's got to come back off for covering. When you say use fabric are we talking Solartex or the silk and dope method? I used to use silkspan or silk and dope back in the old days. Thank's and Regards, Jerry.


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## ZooDog

Gary I bought a 17cc gasser from TBM Models for the Telemaster and after running it on my sawhorse test stand I think I'll have the power for this plane. The engine flip starts easy and runs strong. Regards, Jerry.


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## Gary

That ought to be nice set up.

Yea, something like solartex.


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## Gary

Finished

. :rybka:


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## fishermanX

Nice!!!!


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## justinspeed79

Very nice!

Is that the Sullivan tail-wheel setup?


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## Gary

justinspeed79 said:


> Very nice!
> 
> Is that the Sullivan tail-wheel setup?


Yes. I hope I did it right this time. On the 4*60 I left the spring too long and I had no turning at higher speeds due to the flex.


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## Gary

*Tomorrow:* A mainly sunny sky. High 69F. Winds light and variable


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## justinspeed79

I was thinking about going to the swap-meat today, but I guess there's probably nobody there due to the rain.


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## Gary

justinspeed79 said:


> I was thinking about going to the swap-meat today, but I guess there's probably nobody there due to the rain.


And it's still raining at 12:17 over here. Good thing I ordered the next kit yesterday. :spineyes:

Herr Cloud Ranger with a .10. lol


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## JOHNNY QUEST

GARY great build bud... I have a few unbuilt kits over here that need ta go.. How about a Kyosho phantom 70.. Shoot me an offer... new in box, only 1 pellet hole.... Reno racer...





http://www.shopkyosho.com/products/productdetail/part_number=11077B/410.0


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## Gary

I barely graduated from trainers Randall. lol

Thats way too much plane for me.


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## Gary

Got the maiden flight in today and all I can say is WoW!  What a great flying plane. I had one of the old timers take it up for me first since I have only been flying for a few months and am not quit ready to trim a new plane out. (I was nervous lol) I had all the throws set up like the manual says and he thought the airelons might be a little twitchy for me so he dialed in 35% expo in them. The little Magnum .52 FS pulled the plane off the runway with authority and with 2 down clicks of the elevator, it was trimmed perfectly. When I mentioned to George that it looks like it has plenty of power, he went vertical and the plane kept pulling untill it was a spec in the clear blue sky today.
Then it was my turn after putting it off for about 45 minutes. I tell the truth, I was nervous. lol
My first take off was picture perfect. Insted of gripping it and ripping it like most new guys do, I slowly gave her throttle untill the rear wheel lifted off and kept it that way for another 40 feet before I pulled up elevator ever so gently. She took off with the grace of a Swan but when I started that first left bank, I thought to myself, thank God George added that 35% expo on the airelons. LOL

Yeoza! 

This aint my 9 pound 4*60 without the added surface area added to the control surfaces. This plane goes where you point it and does that pretty quick! I got used to it after a few passes though. Allthough my take off was as gracefull as a Swan, my first landing look like a wounded Duck. With zero head wind and possibly an overly pitched prop, (12x6), it came in pretty hot. Right before touchdown, I took my eyes off the plane to kill the engine with the trim setting and did a "bouncy-bouncy" nicking the prop some.

After a few more flights of maybe 3 minutes each, , lol, I was starting to get more comfortable with her. What great flying plane!

Now if yall will excuse me, Im off to Tower hobbies to order some new props and a little taller wheels.


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## justinspeed79

Awesome dude! Congrats on the maiden!

Got any pics?


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## Gary

justinspeed79 said:


> Awesome dude! Congrats on the maiden!
> 
> Got any pics?


Have some coming bro. Ken showed up and took some shots. He is a pro photog. They will be good! :cheers:


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## Gary

Thanks Ken.


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## fishermanX

Looks really good Biffy! Sorry I missed out last weekend. Guess you heard what happend, lol. I'm ready for friday saturday or sunday, just let me know when your ready.


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## Gary

fishermanX said:


> Looks really good Biffy! Sorry I missed out last weekend. Guess you heard what happend, lol. I'm ready for friday saturday or sunday, just let me know when your ready.


Glad to see your back in town! :biggrin:


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