Are most of you Shrike builders permanently affixing the vtails to the tailboom, or have you found a way to keep them removable (but not while flying )

Thanks,

Russ

If you pinch the wires together ever so slightly, they will retain the surface pretty well without resorting to s small strip of tape along the underside of the V.

I do what Doc says it works very nicely. It very nice to keep them removable in the case you need to travel.

Louie

Thanks guys...I really did want to keep them removable. I'll probably pinch and tape, just in case.

Same here. I use just the wires and no tape. Tail feathers slide on and off and stay on in flight no problem. The whole plane packs flat into a 36" aluminum gun case. Very smooooooth....

Yup! Bend the wires a bit! I also put a small piece of clear tape on the bottom just to make me feel better!

Your still not done building that thing??? ;-)

Sno...it will maiden this weekend....other stuff got in the way...mainly helping my son install his sprinkler system

Cool! Good luck on the maiden! I would put the cg just ahead of the wingrod to start with...mine was barely flyable centered!

OK then...do I have a bloated Shrike on my hands ?

AUW balanced a little in front of the steel wing rod: 31oz

Left wing: 5.6 oz
Right wing: 5.4oz

Left stab: .6 oz (without pins)
Right stab: .6 oz (without pins)

I bagged the stabs in .5 oz glass

The wings are bagged Obeeche with a few coats of water based poly, sanded lightly between coats

Receiver: Berg 4
Servos: HS 5245-MGs


Where do you think my problem is?
Do I care in the big wind at Point of the Mountain?

Russ

How much weight did you have to add in the nose? What size battery pack are you running? I am not sure what my AUW is...I do know that it was flying GREAT with an extra 6oz on board at Eagle!

Mine was 21 oz with the steel wingrod. I sealed and painted but didn't glass the tailfeathers. I did not paint the carbon boom.

Later I primed and painted the boom and needed another 1.5 - 2oz of noseweight to compensate. I can imagine glassing the tail feathers could result in lots of added weight in the nose. I for one wish I'd glassed mine - they are weak.

You could always go back to the carbon rod if need be.

Battery: 700mh square pack - 3.2oz
Lead: 4.2oz

I'm using a 1000mah AAA pack from Canuck Engineering.

Screamin'...

I'll probably fly it as is for the maiden...then maybe:

- Cut some lightening holes in the stabs and cover with something light
- Try the carbon rods
- build another set of lighter stabs
- leave as-is if I'm happy with it.

I wouldn't worry about the weight at all.