Congratulations Tom!

Do you mind sharing what weight you were flying at?

My Stinger is ordered

thanks Target and Ken.

Ken - I was flying with 1100g ballast for an AUW of 3.14kg. I could probably have flown with full ballast. I could have had more laps with a better launch (you can always say that of course). I was told "you should have gone faster from the start". My base B turns were long too, but it was a good run.

Ken, in my opinion, although I am not experienced, the stinger is not huge ballast carrier like some of the models around at the moment (e.g fosa lift). You need to be a bit careful not to over ballast. I have usually been flying at 2.7kg in distance. I haven't tried full ballast in distance yet (AUW 3.5kg.). Maybe next time....

My tow hook is about 147mm from the back of the nose cone, if that helps. 14mm camber on the middle of the launch. Start with 17mm on a one second transition (need some down). I am still trying to get the good launch set up nailed down. I was at the back of the slot before with the hook, but it was hard to be consistent.

Thanks Tom,

Yes mate that's the reason I asked about weight, I'd read that the Stinger needs generally less not more. I figure an efficient weight for B distance is probably a useful starting point for tuning purposes, and 28-30 laps is motoring along nicely

Do you find the standard ballast user-friendly? I ask because I'm wondering whether one of Tony Fu's small fuselage ballast sets would be useful for trimming main ballast? I'm intending to use his bearings on the servos anyway. Speaking of which would you mind telling what's in yours? I'm not going with RDS, it's more important to me to be serviceable/repairable.

Don't answer if I'm asking too many questions Tom, you know how it is when you're waiting on a new toy.

Ken

Hi Ken,

No mate, I love talking about f3b and models and stuff.

I have mks 6125s on the flaps, with 6125minis on the ailerons. 6125es in the fuselage (this setup eat battery quite fast - beware!). The wing servos use fu bearings on standard linkages (not rds obviously). There is nothing particularly note worth to say about installing the wing servos. It just the same as a normal model.

one thing to check is the the tail ball links. on mine they were very tight and I had to ream out some of the plastic connector to get a more satisfactory movement. It works anyway, you can tell the difference with 2 clicks of trim easily (i.e in distance). I wasn't really in love with the supplied connectors for the fuse servos either. I would prefer to have used a bearinged metal ball link or something but the centring seems good, per my comment above.

The ballast is fairly user friendly. I would however say it is a bit of a weak point compared to other models around. It works fine, but having to cast lead strips which tend to rattle around a bit inside the joiner isn't that brilliant compared to most models now which use brass (non toxic) ballast that slots in nicely.

If I want to use full ballast I have to remove a nose weight. Up to 3/4s it balances the CG pretty much. I only ballast in pairs - 2 bars, 4 bars, 6 bars or 8 bars. In that sense it is not very complicated to remember where the ballast goes. It's just a little rustic. The inside of the joiner holes are not uniform sizes so you can't really fit super tight in them.

I don't think you would get a 20mm round ballast tube in the fuselage. Maybe a smaller baudis style rectangle might do it (maybe the 14mm square of Tony's). Full ballast on mine is 1450g (enough for most flying I think). As I say I have been flying distance with 1/2 or 3/4 ballast this season. I even did my best speed with 1/2 ballast.




I don't think the servo is glued in here. I am just having a play.

Flap

Aileron


Stinger:



It's a nice model. You will enjoy it. My settings are a little different to the set up sheet. Those throws are too big for me. I have less differential. I am trying a bit of rudder mix now too. I use aileron>flap mixing too of course (which is not mentioned on the sheet).

Thanks heaps Tom, you're a gent!

I'm getting ballast from Vaclav so hopefully won't have to cast my own. Yes it's the 14mm tube I'm thinking of but if there's only 1 adjustment to be made I don't think I'll bother, it's not like the plane needs the weight.

I can't use the MKS's unfortunately, they pick up horrible interference at my main flying site, which we seriously think may have the worst interference in the world. Even in a full carbon wing the metal case picks up rf and directly excites the amp, so as you swing the plane through 360 degrees the flaps and ails go through their full range of travel. Its spooky to watch and it is independent of the receiver or the 2.4GHz modulation. So we don't use metal case servos! I'll probably end up with Ino-labs on flap and 555dmg Bluebirds on ail, they go very well on my Needle100.

Ken.

No probs!

one thing to say about the wing servos, is that the wing is thin. Really thin. I don't know if 13mm servos will fit on the flaps. It's probably worth holding fire on your servo choice until you receive the model. Obviously the ailerons are even thinner. The humps on the servo covers are rather small too.

hth
Tom

Looks like the servo pockets are well back in the wing, and that doesn't help with the clearance thing.

R,
Target

Thanks again Tom,

How do you think 13mm servos would go in the fuse for the vtail?

Originally Posted by skyboyken

Thanks again Tom,

How do you think 13mm servos would go in the fuse for the vtail?

Yes not a problem. 15mm mini servos would fit.


You might fit 13mm servos on the flaps. I'm just saying they might not. Target is right in that the servo bays are close to the sub trailing edge. The wing is also just a very thin section as well.

Ken-
You might have room to fit a small ballast tube in the fuse if you use some of the smaller 11mm servos like DS11 Hyperions or Sanwa/Airt 809's....
Thats what I did in my Extasy fuse, it has a 1/2" diameter tube that holds 9 slugs of tungsten (20oz) so that makes small adjustments easy at short notice.

R,
Target

Hi Stinger enthusiasts,

I met Vaclav at the Modellfoum.de Seiser Alm Camp in July 2011 where he showed me a rustical but quite effective way to keep the wing joiner ballast in the Stinger, Dingo and Ascot firmly located and from rattling. His "secret" is to grab the ends and bend the ballast until it fits tighlty.

I found it useful to additionally number the wing joiner ballast for my Dingo since some pieces fit some joiner slots better than others.

Martin

Thanks Tom! Thanks Target!

Target I believe a small tube would fit, I doubt I will get enough opportunity to compete to need such refinement. It's easy enough to make 1 adjustment to noseweight as Tom does.

I'll be happy with the 555DMG Bluebirds in the ailerons, as I say they are working very well on both flaps and ail in my Needle 100 at the diabolical local slope, and they should go even better with Fu-Fix bearings. I have ordered a couple of non-MKS metal cased 10mm servos to try at the slope but if they don't work I will probably use s3150's with bearings on flap.

Ken.

Our Stingers are ready to ship,

Hooray!

Vaclav said 5 months when we ordered and he is delivering right on time.

Can't wait!

Ken

Maidened my new Stinger a few days ago, have now flown her in light and strong winds and had her ballasted up to 1.5Kg in 40mph winds, but she went faster with 1.1Kg, so as mentioned she doesn't need lots of ballast.

Insanely fast turns in good air (when the thermals come through) and a pussy cat to land, have fitted a ballast tube and can load her up to 1.8Kg, but doubt I'll ever need it unless its gale force.

Video below in light breeze unballasted, only complaint is I asked for black and white stripes on the underneath of the wing but got black and orange, but I can live with it, maybe I'll have to add some white trim

Tow Scar Stinger Maiden (4 min 16 sec)

Rooster-X
nice and fast
where you have CG w.o. ballast?