Originally Posted by AussieHoppy

there's a longitudinal spar through the fuse, and lots of structural foam bracing, I honestly dont know how anyone could have any airframe failures with this bird, she is built very solid

Two words: Midair collision.

This thing is so huge, that when it's flying there's very little room left in the sky for anything else!

Someone might mistake your wing for an airfield....

i'm not after speed, just thrust for a decent climb rate while lugging a minimum 6000-10000mah 4S

A man after my own heart!

Done with this thread.

Can you post pictures.

Originally Posted by Little-Acorn

This thing is so big, I made the tail removable (I hope) so I can pack it in its original box (I really hope) to bring it home and store it, carry it around etc. The fin and stabilizer seem to have some elaborate cutouts for a bolt or two, some internal nuts, etc., looks like some designer wanted the tail to bolt together too. But there are no such bolts supplied, and the instructions just say to glue the entire tail on permanently.

I cut a piece of 1/16" aluminum sheet. about 3-1/2" log and 1/2" wide, drilled a hole in either end. Then cut a piece of 3/16" plywood about the same size and shape and drilled two holes to match the ones in the aluminum.

I epoxied the plywood to the fuselage at the very end, with each end sticking out on either side of the fuselage. Roughed up the center of the aluminum and epoxied it to the bottom of the fin (cut a small piece out of the fin so the aluminum would sit just above the stabilizer). Assembled the tail, and drilled two holes thru the foam of the stabilizer, and put a nylon bolt thru the holes from top to bottom. The stabilizer isn't glued to anything, but it is clamped between the fin's aluminum piece on top, and the fuselage's plywood piece on the bottom. Take out the two nylon bolts, and the fin and stabilizer both come off.

I don't generally like to put lots of machinery in the tail of an airplane like that, due to balance issues, but something has to be done if I'm going to make the tail removable, which on this huge beast strikes me as necessary.

I also put nylon Kwik-links on the rudder and elevator pushrods. Didn't replace the entire pushrods as some have done (yes, they are mighty skinny). But I cut off about 5" on the end of each, leaving just 2" sticking out of each fuselage tube. Bent the ends around in a very narrow U shape about half an inch long, really just doubled it over on itself.

Took a 12" threaded rod (threaded along its entire length), cut two pieces about 5" long, threaded the nylon Kwik-link on one end and laid the last 1/2" of the other end on the narrow U of the pushrod wire. A thin coat of Epoxy to tack it (clamp it with a paper clip or alligator clip), let it harden, then put a lot more epoxy on it and wrap it with thread or string, and coat the outside with more epoxy and let it harden.

That's one connection (actually two, rudder and elevator) that isn't going to come loose. And the 6" length of pushrod outside the fuselage tube, is now 1" of thin wire and 5" of much-thicker-and-stiffer 1/16" threaded rod. And it's adjustable, and more trustworthy IMHO than those "linkage stoppers" that came with the plane.

Onward and (hopefully) upward!

Originally Posted by seojeff

Got my carbon tube today to replace that heavy fiberglass rod. This tube is nearly the same diameter (tiny bit thinner) and only 1.25" shorter. It also weighs only 72 grams vs the fiberglass rod which weighed 309 grams. Fits inside the wings even better than the fiberglass rod - less force required to push them together but still snug.

This is part # 020039 from Goodwinds, you can find it here:
http://www.goodwinds.com/merch/list....ultrudedcarbon

Thank you for this great research and info!

I just ordered one. This might help keep my language a little nicer when I assemble/disassemble my SSS.

I ordered the 48" one, same length as the heavy fiberglass (or whatever it is) spar that came with the plane. Lifting force on the outer wing panels is less than on the inner sections of the wing. And the bending moment is much less in the outer sections. I figure the spar tube inside the wing, without this inner main spar, is plenty enough for the outer wing sections.

Originally Posted by Little-Acorn

Two words: Midair collision.

This thing is so huge, that when it's flying there's very little room left in the sky for anything else!

Someone might mistake your wing for an airfield....


A man after my own heart!

LOL!

yeah, I reckon there'd have to be carnage if 2 of these had a midair

I'm leaving the stock 'glass spar in place, I'm not aiming for lightship thermaling, just as it was intended, a compromise powered glider, and with a bunch of lipo fuel on board I'm happy to spare the expense of a little extra weight, hence the question on 4S motor for thrust

I'm really looking forward to playing with this one

Originally Posted by Doubletap

No, have you bought yours yet?

Say, Doubletap, you have the honor of starting this thread on the Super Sky Surfer. (Thank you! It's a great thread) And so yours is the first post in the thread.

Many threads on a certain plane, often use the first post as a repository for technical data (as you put in yours), plus other useful information, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), suggested mods, pictures of critical things etc., so people know where to look for most "common, useful" things.

You are the only one who can modify your own post, of course. Though I believe the forum moderators also can if you want them to.

Any chance you can start putting info into your first post in this thread, such as links to motors people have used and found successful, suggested mods (replacing the spar with a carbon tube, where to balance the SSS, successful propeller sizes, camera installations, flight quirks, what have you? Mostly the kind of stuff that lots of SSS owners would find handy? And/or pick a person with moderating authority, to do this?

This thread is already very useful as it is - thank you for starting it! It can become even more useful if the first post is a place where people can go to find pertinent baisc information particular to the Super Sky Surfer.

What do you think of the idea?

I took this video this morning at our glider field. Originally 20 minutes long, edited down to 3:21. I could have stayed up for an hour, great thermals today.

Super Sky Surfer (3 min 22 sec)

I didn't want to start gluing Velcro on the fuselage, so I made up a removable camera support. It's attached with two rubber bands, and when I fly it they go over the camera also for insurance.

Just make sure you lens is clean before you launch

Maidened the beast this morning. This may be a record: Bought it on Friday, worked on it Saturday, flew it on Sunday. I seldom get ARFs or RTFs, this one went quicker than most.

Two successful flights! Both fairly short. Amazingly, the SSS needed virtually no trim adjustments., other than the full up-elevator trim I always put in before a first flight. It did tend to nose up with that, no surprise, so I took it out for the second flight.

It launched surprisingly easily, into a light breeze. My sone was flying his Hobbyzone Champ at the same time, he had to keep his pointed into the wind almost constantly, but the SSS penetrated the wind easily.

I had all controls set to pretty high sensitivity, and elevator response was pretty jumpy. Aileron response was comparatively slow, it seemed to respond to rudder OK. Almost put it into a house at one point while getting used to its responses, then found it could do emergency maneuvering fairly well when it has to. It definitely flies better than my Lanier Condor 74" styrofoam glider, handles better that is.

Two belly landings in short dry brush, didn't hit anything I didn't want to.

On the second flight, I did one full-power climb, it kept stalling until I set it up to climb only 20 degrees or so, which isn't much for a model plane. Climb is adequate with the stock motor, propeller, and ESC, with a 3s 2200 mAh LiPo battery... but no more than adequate. Not bad for a beginner plane, it climbs OK, and also teaches the pilot about watchng airspeed and climb angle. Leisurely aileron response might have been due to the low airspeeds I maintained most of the time.

On the second flight I brought it by about a hundred feet up,pulled the throttle back, and lowered the flaps around 30 degrees, and the thing just floated forever. It didn't want to come down! I don't think I was hitting any thermals, but it acted almost like it was. Wish my Cessna would do that. Raised them, and it still floated some, no surprise, it's fairly clean.

I actually had two 3s 2200mAh GensAce LiPos in the nose for balance purposes, held together with a rubber band, but only one of them was hooked up. I made these flights with the stock ESC instead of the 60A one I had planned to use. The 60A one's motor leads were a little shorter than the leads on the stock ESC, and might have been hard to hook up if I had unplugged the leads from the stock ESC. So I made a battery-connector adapter for the stock ESC and flew with that instead. Such adapters are kind of unkosher for high-power applications, every set of connectors the power has to go through, diminished it some, and provides one more connection that can overheat (none did this time, I got lucky). And this ESC and motor don't draw that much power anyway.

Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, and two are twice as good!

Finally some pictures.

* Super Sky Surfer p0rn! She's naked, she's naked!

* See the 1/16" threaded rod epoxied to the elevator pushrod, wrapped in string. Thread probably would have looked somewhat neater.

* Also the aluminum piece epoxied to the bottom of the fin, added to make the tail removeable, and corresponding 3/16" plywood piece epoxied to the fuselage under the stab, with blind nuts for the nylon bolts that hold the tail on. Soon I will press the blind nuts fully into place with some epoxy under them, and reinforce both the aluminum-connector mount and plywood mount.

* Lots of left thrust in the motor mount from the factory, so much that I had to put a washer between the prop and the drive plate on the motor shaft so the prop would clear the cowl. Not sure if that angle is deliberate, but the plane flew pretty straight. If it works, don't fix it!

* Like father, like son. Two Sky Surfers!

Originally Posted by howieb38

I didn't want to start gluing Velcro on the fuselage, so I made up a removable camera support. It's attached with two rubber bands, and when I fly it they go over the camera also for insurance.

Just make sure you lens is clean before you launch

LOL yep finger prints ! Heck i flew for around 13 minutes once with the damn dice video cam upside down

One more pic: A noticeable gouge in the wingtip, was like that when it came out of the box. Oh, well. I'm sure there will be more.

I finally got tired of trying to ream the main spar into the wings last night. It never got any better, even after many tries, the only result was that my hands got really tired. If I hadn't been watching Superman II with my sons, probably couldn't have done it at all. So when I got up this morning, clamped my hand belt sander upside-down into the vise, turned it on, and sanded the entire main spar from one end to the other, rotated it slightly, sanded again, rotated a little more, etc. etc., until I had sanded the entire surface for halfway around the spar. Then it fit!

I figured I could do that since I've already ordered one of the carbon-fiber tubes to replace the main spar with, adding a BUNCH of lightness. Rumor has it that the carbon fiber tube fits better, with less friction. So I could sand the baseball bat down a little, and if I wrecked it I'd soon have a replacement anyway, that I planned to use full-time.

Originally Posted by Little-Acorn

Finally some pictures.

* Super Sky Surfer p0rn! She's naked, she's naked!

* See the 1/16" threaded rod epoxied to the elevator pushrod, wrapped in string. Thread probably would have looked somewhat neater.

* Also the aluminum piece epoxied to the bottom of the fin, added to make the tail removeable, and corresponding 3/16" plywood piece epoxied to the fuselage under the stab, with blind nuts for the nylon bolts that hold the tail on. Soon I will press the blind nuts fully into place with some epoxy under them, and reinforce both the aluminum-connector mount and plywood mount.

* Lots of left thrust in the motor mount from the factory, so much that I had to put a washer between the prop and the drive plate on the motor shaft so the prop would clear the cowl. Not sure if that angle is deliberate, but the plane flew pretty straight. If it works, don't fix it!

* Like father, like son. Two Sky Surfers!

All the motors are at an angle but mine is certainly not that much ! hmmm but it is mighty close to the same isnt it ?

Originally Posted by fastfwd

All the motors are at an angle but mine is certainly not that much ! hmmm but it is mighty close to the same isnt it ?

Yep, certainly seems to be. It could be that that's deliberate. Mine flew straight as an arrow with the motor angled that way. Maybe the original designers set it straight at first, and found their planes curving to the right under power? And so put this angle into the motor mount to compensite? I've been doing exactly that with various Hobbyzone Champs, it's an old Indian trick.

Well folks- I no longer have a SSS-

the 9x6 prop worked great- i had 350 watts of power and with the hollow spar was able to climb decent.

the plane was about 500 feet up, and 800 feet away, when I had a 2.4 ghz brown out or lock out- or I don't Know what the hell to call it- the plane was at near full throttle and in a turn when i lost all radio function- no rudder- no elevator- nor ailerons- and throttle stayed on all the way to the ground in a fast 45 degree dive .......

the lipo burned, 3 cameras broken, including a gopro- the plane hit pavement- Anyone want to buy a fixer-upper? would now fit in a much smaller box...maybe in about 20 pieces-so some assy required...

lost 1 #11 key cam $30, 1 HK wing cam $37, 1 gopro naked $179, 1 rx no longer trustworthy $39, and 1 SSS $139- I know how to repair planes- not this one- way too many pcs..

good news- the hollow spar is intact and so is the motor and esc- the receiver appears intact- but not sure i want to trust it- I bought it on ebay as new and only flew it in this plane- I think it was my 7th or 8th time out with the SSS- tx is a newer Hi-tec optic 6 that has never lost signal as long as I have used it (8 months... rx is a hitec optima 6 - i have used this same combo out to 2000 ft and 2800 ft altitude with my Radians...
I do not believe I will purchase another SSS- it just hits too hard when it crashes and doesn't fly as well as my Radians
I may post a couple of its last flight videos yet- was nice talking to you all-