Gents, I love my PT-17, like I know many of you do. If you have questions, comments, tips or just want to show pictures of your PT-17 - by all means post them here. If you're having problems with your Stearman - post the questions and I and others will try to help. This is EVERYONE's thread, I don't own it !

I'll follow this up with my sad story of how almost destroyed my Stearman about 15 minutes ago.

Vinnie

Hit a goal post. I normally fly alone, but tonight I had two spectators. First flight was with the wing it flew 100 yards and went nose first into the grass. I started walking towards it, then decided to do a mini range test. I dropped the radio about 50 feet from the plane - picked up the plane and you should have seen it chattering away and motor going on and off. Some interference in the field for sure.

Well I had just swapped out my radio from a Hitec 555 dual conversion to a GWS 6 channel - so I figured it was OK to fly the stearman. I took the stearman out and was rounding the bend when it headed directly for a soccer post - dang two planes in 5 minutes ! I sure didn't get my flying fix in either.

Do you think she's repairable ? My frankenstein Stearman has certainly seen better days !

Vinnie

Pete,

I went to an airshow today in Geneseo NY and they had about 30 PT17 Stearmans. Check out the inner stuts - more straight than the GWS Stearman.

Here is a picture of me next to a Stearman and another of a short bank of Stearmans. They had P51's, A tornado, Spitfires (the replicas built for Tora Tora Tora), Memphis Belle (the real one) and you could get on the plane for a couple bucks. They had a bunch of other planes, alot of canadian and some jets, but oddly no corsairs at all !

The most exciting part of the show was when a guy flew a 1/4 scale RC Gas Plane. Man he was a great pilot and was hovering 3D a few inches from the ground, doing flat spins, inverted passes a few feet off the ground. Man it was great - too bad my video camera battery died too soon.

Vinnie

Originally Posted by Vindicator!

Gents, I love my PT-17, like I know many of you do. If you have questions, comments, tips or just want to show pictures of your PT-17 - by all means post them here. If you're having problems with your Stearman - post the questions and I and others will try to help. This is EVERYONE's thread, I don't own it !

I'll follow this up with my sad story of how almost destroyed my Stearman about 15 minutes ago. ******* - Soccer goal posts

Vinnie

Sorry Vinnie about your mishap and about my thread comments. Didn't mean to offend or be bull headed about you all posting there...just have gotten a little too large and perhaps your new thread may help those better with today's questions and new tips that my thread just is a little hard to manage due to it's size.

I hope you can put her together again soon!

Again, I am sorry
Carlos (BULL HEADED )

Here's my "Super Stearman" !
I did a few mods to the kit which was a "Slope Glider - unpainted"

Check out the build thread

Jim

No problem, I just thought it would be a great single thread for all Stearman owners. I guess you'd rather keep it more private. I misunderstood and am removing my long winded comments. My apologies for barging in.

Vinnie

I tossed a 12x8 prop on the Pt-17 - WOW, what a huge performance increase. She went to the moon with a small brushless. BUT - I have to change it - it must have been pulling >12 amps and the LiPo pack go scorching hot. The motor was fine, but the Tannic 850 will kill itself trying to give the requested amps.

If you haven't seen it already - here is my PT-17 vid on a smaller prop:
http://www.justgofly.com/Vids/

Vinnie

Originally Posted by Vindicator!

I tossed a 12x8 prop on the Pt-17 - WOW, what a huge performance increase. She went to the moon with a small brushless. BUT - I have to change it - it must have been pulling >12 amps and the LiPo pack go scorching hot. The motor was fine, but the Tannic 850 will kill itself trying to give the requested amps.

If you haven't seen it already - here is my PT-17 vid on a smaller prop:
http://www.justgofly.com/Vids/

Vinnie

Vinnie,

Just as I was going to find out your setup the posts are GONE?

Okay, can you post your setup, Brushless, gearbox ? Yes, the bigger prop is the best for this model since it has lots of drag....

Carlos

Originally Posted by fishdeth

Here's my "Super Stearman" !
I did a few mods to the kit which was a "Slope Glider - unpainted"

Check out the build thread

Jim

Jim,

I remember reading your build thread and thinking at the time that it didn't look anything like a Stearman. THEN I went to an airshow and saw some real Stearman and have decided I like the style you build more than the normal Blue/Yellow ones. How did the Red ones get started ? I like the tips you've provided and excellent pictoral ! Keep em coming !

Heres a couple pics of a Red one from an airshow, I had to get a picture of me standing in front of one of the planes Notice the HAT !
Vinnie

Originally Posted by guapoman2000

Vinnie,
post your setup, Brushless, gearbox ? Yes, the bigger prop is the best for this model since it has lots of drag....
Carlos

I run my Stearman on a brushless motor. I won't go into details, since I sell brushless motors and don't want to upset anyone for advertising. I'll let one of you guys post a link if you like. Brushless is the only way to go with the Stearman. On a 350C it's probably more like the actual stearman though - so if you like to fly scale, you don't want brushless. But good luck with recovering from the stalls the Stearman is famous for. I think you need to be a pretty good flyer to fly scale !

I've been experimenting with different props - The 12x8 was way too much for my batteries but was absolutely spectacular performance. I might try to double up my LiPo's to get 3S2P and see if I can land her on the moon . I put on an 10x6 and measured the amps around 5 or 6 (can't remember) and the performance was terrible - I hated it. On a 10x8 it flew fast but verticle was not good. One an 11x7 she is spectacular doesn't over amp the batteries (10 amp max on my cells) and keeps the motor nice and cool.

So I highly recommend 11x7 and brushless motor. You can still fly slow, but will have higher top end when you want to climb. I haven't tried a 12x4.5 - but I imagine it would slow it down nicely and give plenty of torque for climbing.

Tip: When you turn - go one click higher with the throttle and you won't stall ! I can fly her 2 feet off the ground all around the field with 180 degree turns and not lose an inch of altitude.

Vinnie

After having the wings fold up on me a few times, I read through the various threads and found that many of you guys are adding stiffeners on the struts. So after a queue from PeteOhms, I added half a carbon fiber tube to the LE of my strut and have not had any more problems ! (Thanks Pete)

Well that's not all true - no problems with the folding. Last night a buddy came out - so I set him up with my hybrid tiger moth. We flew on the buddy box and he seemed to have a handle on the plane. So I took off on the Stearman. As I was pulling away I saw he got confused and was headed straight down and spiralling. I pulled my hands away from my controls to help him. Net effect - two planes crashed. So I'm a little tired of stitching up the FrankenStearman - she may sit for a few days before I marry her to some more PolyUrathane.

But for now - a picture of the strut.

Vinnie

I just used wood. plenty stiff.

Howzabout this to save yourself a gearbox and props. It's saved me a bunch !

Only problem is it's still makes the motor susceptible to damage when I land inverted

Rubber bands - are rubber tubing that comes in 10 foot lengths from the hardware store. I use the same tubing but cut thinner on wobbly prop adapter. Wobbly's are from Aircraft-World.com

Don't mind the partially broken band - I trimmed it and actually put another band on the stick. Stick is a shock absorber now. The prop still shatters if it hits anything while spinning on the brushless - since it's spinning like a bat outta heck (no edit needed moderator ) But if you hit while gliding in - you'll save a prop too. I'm more concerned with the gearbox and motor though.

Vinnie

I did two videos - one with the PT-17 with a 10x4.7 prop and a JustGoFly.com 300DF motor and another with an 11x7 prop and a bigger 400F motor. I really like how it flys on both of these setups. The 10x4.7 is slower but has alot of power to turn and extremely controllable. The 11x7 is alot faster - can go verticle with 26+ oz's of thrust on my 21+ oz plane. But I don't dare fly it on the street in front of the house. I had one guy sitting in his car waiting for me to hit something. But the amount of control I had made me feel very comfortable and confident I wouldn't hit anything. I zipped in between a few trees on my property to make sure the control was there.

Here is the first video:
PT-17 flying mellow around the neighborhood on JustGoFly 300DF 10x4.7 prop

and if you can't play this with your media player - try upgrading to 9 or 10 here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...ad/default.asp

Let me know what you think.

Vinnie

Originally Posted by Vindicator!

Brushless is the only way to go with the Stearman. On a 350C it's probably more like the actual stearman though - so if you like to fly scale, you don't want brushless. But good luck with recovering from the stalls the Stearman is famous for. I think you need to be a pretty good flyer to fly scale !

Vinnie

Hi Vinnie,

My LHS sells the Stearman with a 400C motor. Will this motor be sufficient enough to solve the stall problem which you mentioned the GWS Stearman is famous for?

BTW, downloaded both your Stearman vids. Very nice. Thanks!