Welcome to Part V of the Aero-Labs Pitts Speacial thread.

28" Wingspan, IPS/CDROM powered, lasercut short kit (contains wood only). $40.50 from www.parkscalemodels.com.

Part I : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=308441
Part II : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331015
Part III : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=348206
Part IV : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365693

Pitts Homepage : http://www.aero-labs.com/?page=pitts
Build Manual : http://www.parkscalemodels.com/downl...bly_Manual.pdf
Virtual Aerodrome page : http://www.virtualaerodrome.com/hang..._aircraft_id=6
Martin Hunter's build thread : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336806

-James.

Im in!

Me too!

John, I did put in a little right- and downthrust, easy since I'm using a pedestal-mount motor. I haven't flown mine yet...it needs another 1-2 hours of detail work, and I leave today on a 5-day business trip ...so I can't say if it works or not.

Aileron linkage is a little tricky. I've got a bit of a bind and I can't get the ailerons to center. I may end up using little pieces of nylon guide tube to smooth out the linkage.

AUW is now about 12.8 oz., lacking only side & wheel pants trim, Pitts decals and starburst graphics on horiz. stab. A little porky, but that's with 3s Etec 1200 Lipos.

Will post photos and flight report soon!

--Doug

Jamesgood,

Heya, should not that read welcome to part V

Jim

Thank you Jim, corrected now.

-James.

*subscribed*

Checking in

Dropping by...

I added some down and right thrust to mine. I only noticed needing it when at full power. But that could also be the wing wanting to climb so much.

I have definitely got to put some down thrust in mine to. The Lens 22.7 17T really pulls her skyward when full throttle.

Putting in downthrust was the point where I stopped my build. I got it to the point shown below and then decided to add down and right thrust. I’m using the CD mount so I first I thought I could take care of it by lowering the hole in F2. Well, that made the shaft exit the cowling too much off center. So then I took the motor stick back out and lowered the holes in both F2 and F3, while adding some additional balsa for support.

Finally everything was perfect… had the correct amount of down and right thrust and shaft exited the cowl dead center. I CA’d everything back up and then decided to slip the motor mount on the stick one last time. Guess what?? CA wicked through the motor stick and PERMAMANTLY glued the mount to the stick.

Ever get mad at a plane? Boy was I hacked! That’s when I quit this one and started building different plane. Actually, I still love this plane and I’ll get back to it when I cool off.

John

Hi guys,

Success! She flies! I needed to put in several clicks of down elevator and right aileron to trim. This was my first bipe, and a small bipe on top of that, so I didn't know quite what to expect.

It likes anywhere from 3/4 to full throttle, as there's so much drag from the thickish wings that it gets slow and mushy in control response with anything less. Power is adequate from the PJS motor to do loops, which are tight and kinda elliptical. Aileron rolls are pretty snappy! Ailerons don't want to center vey well, though; as a result, I was always over-correcting and rocking the wings. If I had it to do over, I think I'd hinge the ailerons with stiffer tape (for less slop) and run a small aileron servo in each wing, like Martin did.

I need to fly it some more in the still morning air, because the breeze was no doubt making the ailerons feel even touchier. Here's a couple pics...I'd like to get some airborne ones, but I can never get my photographer friends to come out to the field.

Okay guys -- here's the current status of my Pitts build. The motor is not glued to the motor mount yet. The motor mount is not glued to the stick yet. The top and bottom wings are not glued to the fuselage. The rudder is not glued to the vertical stabilizer. Everything else you see is glued.

I'm pretty happy with the cowl -- I had to buy some 40 grit sandpaper to sand it down (then I followed up with some 220 grit sandpaper).

I've got some 30 pound, teflon coated "Spider Wire" (fishing line) which I'm going to wrap around the 9mm bullet shell I used to mount the motor, to attach the motor to the motor mount. I haven't decided if I'm going to use CA or Gorilla Glue though...

Oh -- I had to use a rotary reamer to get the 9mm bullet shell to fit in the supplied 8mm hole. The rotary reamer was about $2.50 at Lowe's, and attaches to any cordless drill. It worked like a charm.

Looks good, Red 61! The cowl does take some work, but the "stacked rings" approach is much, much easier than trying to carve it out of a solid block. For mine, I carved as much as I could with an X-Acto, then 80 grit, then 220 grit.

It's worth taking some time on to do right, as it's one of the first things you notice.

--Doug

Red, your's looks like it's coming along really nicely, and Doug, the finished article looks amazing. I especially like the colours, and the arrows Doug!

-James.

Has anyone used a Torque 34T / Hacker A20-34 in the Pitts yet? If so, what modification is needed to make it work ? How about performance ?

Scott