"Back around 1991, I started in RC Aircraft. My father was also interested and bought a Sig Senior kit. We spent a brief time building it until he lost interest later that year. The kit has sat untouched for over 30 years in an unheated, uninsulated garage. Recently, his health has faded, and he now suffers from dementia. I was forced to move him to a care home at 87 years of age.

While cleaning out the garage and throwing mountains of stuff away, the Sig Senior caught my eye. It was about to be crushed and sent to the landfill. Initially, I assumed the years of neglect would have rendered it useless. However, upon closer inspection, it looked okay—not great, but passable. Inspired by watching TailHeavyRC episodes on YouTube, I decided to finish it and fly it.

My dad’s nickname is Harry, so, tongue in cheek, considering the addition of flaps and STOL aspirations, I’ve given this Sig Senior the name “Dirty Harry” going forward. I enjoy flying STOL and training new pilots, and I believe this aircraft will be the perfect platform for that.

Now, let’s talk about the changes. Originally, it was designed as a monstrous 3-channel rudder, elevator, and nitro contraption, with rubber bands holding the wings on. That definitely needs to change. I plan to convert Dirty Harry to electric power, add ailerons and flaps, and reduce the dihedral. However, modifying the wing is adding weight, and I’m getting concerned about it.

One challenge is that I want to move the...Continue Reading

536 flights on the Flex Innovations G2 QQ300. So Far.
2024 will be the 5th flying season. First and foremost, I am happy with its flight characteristics. It is my plane of choice for a quick trip to the field. It fits in the vehicle assembled, only requires a moment to install the battery, and it’s ready to go. The Flex Innovations QQ EXTRA 300G2 has helped me progress as a pilot more than any other. I have learned to trust it; it’s my practice plane. I can slow roll it on the deck now, hover, torque roll, and harrier all day long. It tumbles well too. It couldn’t do any of that before (I still have a long way to go, though). It is exceptional in the wind—15-20 knots of wind? Don’t care; go fly it. The Aura8 makes it fly like a plane twice its size. I thought that was BS marketing at first. I have an expensive Extreme Flight Extra, but I still tend to fly the QQ300 as my 3D Trainer.

Durability: I am extremely happy with its durability. First flight occurred May 2020 to present. It has held up to 4 years of hard use, all stock components. I am not easy on the ESC, each flying session consists of 8-10 flights, back to back, without much rest between flights using the optional 4s Motor.

Using 4S batteries ranging from 2200-3200. It’s heavier than I want, but it can hover and harrier all day long. With the 4s 2200, I set a 5-minute timer, and land with 3.8 volts per cell. 33004s pack, results in 6.5 minutes.

The airframe weighs 1150g no battery....

Batteries I...Continue Reading

Next step was to cut the control surfaces. I read the instructions and reviewed the process by watching Soren’s video, and it was helpful.

Arthobby wing, aileron/flaps cut (5 min 34 sec)

. In the end it’s not difficult, however compared to what I am used to building it is very different. While we are on the subject, I was confused by the drawing and instructions compared to what I saw on other people’s Odyssey pictures. Pictures of others Odyssey showed no gap between flap and aileron. I was confused because the drawings are different. So….I posted a question on RCGroups (#4200 … https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...thread/page280 ) regarding control surfaces. In the end, I just followed the drawing.

Next is cutting out the servo bays and building the servo boxes, again I was careful not to get carried away with epoxy, reminding myself of the goal of keeping this thing as light as possible. I nearly skipped the step when epoxying a servo bay sized piece of fiberglass in the servo bay. But I did it anyway, using the paper towel method of soaking up excess epoxy, resulting in just a fraction of a Gram in weight gain. Yes I measured it….

I am planning on taping and gluing in the servos in to the bays. Thinking about control rods. Do I use simple Z-Bends, build a carbon fiber control rod, do I go with ball link connectors? That’s when I noticed that the flaps servo cover was different than the Aileron. Why? I emailed Andre @ Arthobby for some clarification. The...Continue Reading

Over the weekend I completed the Lacquering. . . . I was worried about this step. Worried about how to apply it, worried about ruining the finish, and worried about how much weight it would add to the air-frame. As a complete rookie lacquering for the very first time, how did i do? Pretty good actually, it really is dead simple.
Here in Canada, Deft is not easy to find, I chose Watco brand rattle can (Satin finish). Other builders have had success using it, and it was available from the local Home Depot. The instructions call for a brush on method, spray-on or Brush either is good.

Step 1: Lightly spray wing with 1:1 Ratio of water & Rubbing alcohol to raise the wood grain. let it dry.
Step 2: Lightly sand surface with 400 grit sandpaper
Step 3: Apply coat #1 Lacquer.
Step 4: Lightly sand surface with 400 grit sandpaper
Step 5: Apply coat #2 Lacquer.
Step 6: Lightly sand surface with 400 grit sandpaper
Step 7: Lightly sand surface with 600 grit sandpaper
Step 8: Apply coat #3 Lacquer.
Step 9: Paint
Step 10: light sand with 600, and 4th coat of lacquer over painted wind tips to protect the paint.

As for weight, The wing before lacquer began at 402g ended at 418.5g after 4 coats. 16.5 g added, I wish it was less. It is what it is. Considering the size of this glider its not so bad.. I still have to add paint to ascent markings. Lessons learned. If I where to do it again I would apply any paint after the 2nd coat of lacquer, then finish it all...Continue Reading

Sunday: The task for today is to fiberglass the wing center joint at the root. This is a pretty critical step for this glider, because this will provide all the strength when pulling G's. Unlike some old school kits that I have built in the past, there is no dihedral brace. This is where all the pieces literally come together to create a bond greater than the individual parts. Using Painters tape I taped off the border to prevent epoxy from getting to places I don't want epoxy to be. This kit calls for a 35mm strip of fiberglass (Medium), and a 50mm strip of lighter weight 3/4 oz glass cloth covering the heavy glass strip. I have never used this method of adhering both glass strips at the same time. I like it, it worked well.

If you haven't guessed by now that I am obsessed with weight, I am a big believer that a lighter plane flies better. I have made this mistake before when glassing center joints by using fast cure epoxy like a 5 or 15 minute, I won't make it again. Use slow cure epoxy (thin like maple syrup), use as much epoxy to wet out the glass completely. At this stage you are going to think you have put on too much but its OK, use paper towel to soak up the excess epoxy. This will do two things. Push the cloth against the surface, and gets rid of unnecessary and heavy epoxy. Paper towel is the most important tool for this job. Just be patient, soak up epoxy little by little until the excess is gone. You will be able to tell by looking at it, there should be no...Continue Reading

Saturday nights job is to carve out the foam at the wing roots to accept the wing bolt blocks and join the wing half's. I think primarily this is to provide some support the wing bolts and prevent crushing. Blocks are less than 5g. Carving the blocks only takes a few minutes on the belt sander. Take it little by little until satisfied. I am happy with the way it all fit together.

Supporting one end of a wing up with a scrap piece of foam, up to the blue print specs to get the right amount of dihedral, and epoxying it together. This time I needed a thicker epoxy, lightened with some micro-balloons. I was careful again not to go crazy with the epoxy when gluing wing half's and blocks. It is tempting to squish in a lot of epoxy and glue it together. However lots of epoxy does not equal more strength. Strength at the wing joint comes from the fiberglass center joints. (Tomorrows job). I measured the before and after weights, the epoxy cost me another 1.6g.

Also.......I found a wonderful beer by Black Bridge Brewers, these guys know how to make an IPA. Outstanding. I can have a beer on a Saturday.

Friday evenings job is to glass the wing edges. This is to support the carbon rods to the tip extensions. I will be building the Odyssey in the dihedral configuration. Using as little epoxy as possible. Wet it out then using paper towel to pick up the excess. I am using slow cure epoxy from a company called Raka (raka.com), I had some left over from another project and it is wonder stuff to work with, high viscosity compared to the hobby store stuff. This should allow me to keep the epoxy pretty thin.

Fall 2018 Odyssey ECL (the "L" is for Light) build log.

After a couple of years of following the ArtHobby thread, and watching anything I could on YouTube about the ArtHobby gliders I ordered the Odyssey. I struggled with pure glider verses electric assist. I e-mailed Andre, and he advised that the new light weight version was about to be released. The new ECL version was quickly shipped and delivered in less than 7 days.

Electronics:
Castle 25 ESC/Bec
Art1300 (capable of lifting a 1300g air frame),
Rx a Lemon 0052 (Vario Altimeter-Telemetry)
Battery 800MAh 3 Cell Lipo battery.

The projected weight for this version of the Odyssey, according to the website, is estimated at 900g. I am skeptical at hitting that target as everything that I have seen on the web is greater than 1100-1200g.

So how does the ECL measure up so far? Individually the raw parts before assembly weight in at 944.56g, The big unknown, is how much the glue, lacquer and paint is going to weigh? This is known as builders bloat. I am going to do my best to track every little thing and I will keep this blog post up-to date with all the data to save you the trouble of digging through my long winded posts.

The Weigh-In
Battery 80.38g
Esc 23.52g
Servos 69.6g
Rx 12g
Fuselage with motor 184.16g
Carbon Boom 38.79g
Parts bag(s) 39.42g
Control Rods 20g
Servo covers 8.18g
Servo Wire 10g
Micro Deans connectors 9.96g
Fiber glass cloth 10.13g
Vertical Stab and Rudder 42.42g
Horitontal Stab and...Continue Reading