Wid's Guillow's kit 508 Stuka

[WIDDOG]

Well I'm taking the Stuka Challenge again. I tried the Stuka challenge once before. I have mixed feeling about the Stuka. In this trim flight it seemed like it had potential to fly. https://youtu.be/qLejrL72Kr4. Since than I would like to think I gotten better at trimming and flying. The problem I had was the wing broke so easily. I remember someone saying to try re enforcing the wing with thread. I will definitely try the thread this time.

I also have experience with scratch building a Stuka out of a magazine article. https://youtu.be/nNzItN8o98Q Although I was not able to get better flights out of it; At least the wing didn't break so easily. I guess it's a learning curve. I recently learned that I was not doing Stretch Winding properly.

[WIDDOG]

Does anyone know when the Laser Cut versions of the 500's going to be for sale? I am cutting my Stuka out of Contest Balsa Wood.

[WIDDOG]

I now have the wings rough framed. I am hoping to hear from other members about how to re enforce the wing. Last time someone mentioned wrapping tread around the joint.

[WIDDOG]

Well I have the parts cut out for the fuselage. I really look forward to the 500's being LC! I remember using 1/8 " rubber at 2 loops or 4 strands. I don't think I will need a removable noseblock. I had read the other post and they talked about noseblocks. The one member kind of gave me the idea of not making a removable noseblock. I think the Guillow's thrust button is large enough. I have read that with the old style gray rubber that they may have used twice the length of the rubber per the rear hook and propeller hook distance. Now I think with the newer latex rubber that about the max distance is 1.5 the length of rear hook and propeller hook. I understand the rubber does bunch up but at 1.5 length I think there is enough room with the Guillow's designed method to stretch wind the motor.

[WIDDOG]

I do have the wheels rough framed. I noticed something kind of interesting. The one picture on the instruction sheet is draw with a larger wheel than the other drawing. I had some Guillow's 3/4 inch wheels so I built mine with the smaller wheel. I used the 1 inch wheel the first time I built this kit. Because, The kit supplied the 1 inch wheels. In my opinion the 3/4 inch wheels where easer to work with. Also I think they look a bit more scale than the 1 inch wheels.

[WIDDOG]

My new flying field is a practices soccer field. There are a couple of goal nets but no beaches or bleachers. My old winding stooge requires that I set it on top of something. Setting it on the ground would be too low to be able to work with it.

With my new experimental stooge I hope to be able to clamp it on to a soccer net. I did some bench tests on the exp stooge and it worked fine.

[WIDDOG]

I decided to wait and fly the model before I put on the decals. I made my Dive Flaps from a foam paper plate. I was able to do a couple of trim glides. The model did not like the 7 inch prop. It seems to work better with a 6 inch prop. Due to rain I had to quite the trim flying. Too early in the trimming to tell if the model will fly or not.

[WIDDOG]

Quick update... The winding stooge works great. The Stuka flies not so great. I got it back on my work table and will try to make adjustments. I have not given up hope on it but it just doesn't seem like it wants to fly.

[WIDDOG]

Most of my posst are about me trying to fly rubber powered model airplanes. I have in the past at least tried to improve my models appearances. Here is a photo that I archived from the Guillow's Model Photo's. It is my first attempt at the Stuka challenge.

[Bill Gaylord]

Nice job. The Stuka's my favorite little Guillows build. I could see it being a little tricky. Mine flies well with electric power, although it really climbs under power but will dive a bit on glide to the point of requiring a good bit of up elevator to land level, even after experimenting with CG. It probably would be a bit difficult to trim for FF, given the scenario.

[WIDDOG]

I believe I remember seeing your Stuka flight video on youtube. I was super impressed with it. I really have to take my hat off to you RC conversion guys. Not only did the model look great it actually flew great as well.

[Bill Gaylord]

Thanks. It really did surprise me. It's a hands down better flyer than the little FW190, in that it's very stable and can be horsed around with no problem. The 190 has to be flown carefully, and at speed. I imagine it could be a really good rubber flyer, especially being a good 20gms lighter or more.

[WIDDOG]

I'm still waiting for my re supply of rubber to arrive. While i'm on hold with the Stuka I decided to go ahead and start kit 509. I am using the kit wood to build the Avenger. Once again I am more interested it getting the kit built and will cover with white tissue. I'm more interested in flight ops than how the model looks. If I can get the model to fly well I will rebuild a nicer looking one.

[WIDDOG]

The build is moving right along. The kit wood is very heavy 15-19 lbs. I will build and try to fly it anyway. Next time I build this model I'll probably use 6 lbs wood. Since i'm working on different rubber motors I don't mind so much using the heavy wood. The die cut parts come out rather easily. Also i'm kind of trying to see how fast I build this kit.

[WIDDOG]

Well I did finish the Avenger. Came in with a AUW of 48 grams. I don't know what the wing loading for the 500 series kits are. I sort of remember reading somewhere around 34 grams? Anyway I did try to fly the model with different rubber motors. I learned quite a lot about rubber motors. I learned that more rubber is not always a good thing. Too much rubber caused the model to over torque and not fly straight. I did video but I could not get the model to fly well enough to post any flying video.

I will build the same model with Contest Balsa and see what happens.