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Ben
4 Posts |
 Posted - 09/30/2005 : 10:50:46 AM
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Just thought I'd drop a note to say that I finally finished and flew my Luckenbach/Aegea He-Mantis (ne' Pretty) for the first time last night. Hopefully gonna fly it at the OVSS Fall Round-up this weekend up in Muncie.
I ordered a set of cross-tails from Phil, and a v-mount from Bud Elder. The tail of this thing is SUPER light, and I had painted the fuselage (green, it being a Mantis and all). So much so that I had to add 1oz of lead to the tail to get it balanced at 4.125" from the LE! From an aesthetic view, I'd love to keep the fuse painted, but I've got the radio gear and battery back as far as I can go with it, so might have to sand the paint off the nose to balance. My all-up weight is somewhere around 70oz (a little fatter than I wanted).
Servos:
Rudder & Elevator: HS-85MG's
Flaps: HS-225MG's
Ailerons: HS-125MG's
Rudder and Elevator Linkages: 0.60 CF inside #9 bondable teflon from Rick, stretched 2.5x
Finished Fuselage weight: 45oz
Finished Wing weight: 25oz
Photos forthcoming!
ben wilson
AMA #717440 / LSF II #7806
http://www.louisvillesoaring.org
http://www.thelocust.org |
Edited by - Ben on 10/03/2005 12:23:16 PM |
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Anker
83 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2005 : 2:57:53 PM
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| Ben, You'll love it. Enjoy.Anker |
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Ben
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 11:47:24 AM
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Flew my Mantis at the LOFT/MIST Fall Round-Up this Sunday, after having flown it for only 90 minutes on Thursday, and realizing that I'd need about 1oz on the tail to get it to balance 4-1/8" from the LE. Used .9oz of lead flashing under the rudder to balance.
The Mantis flew well in the windy and constantly changing conditions, but I, sadly, did not :) I made landings when I could and never landed in the crops or out-of-bounds, despite my far-ranging tactics. Had two really good flights and 4 marginal ones. Nonetheless, it was a blast to fly.
Determined to get rid of the lead on the tail, I reconfigured my battery and radio last night. I'm flying with 4x1500mah AA TIEG cells from Balsa Products. They are just about 1/16" too tall to fit in my pylon (I have a plywood "floor"), and so the only other place I could go with it was in the "neck" of the fuselage. I had to split the pack into a flat 2x2 pack to accomplish this. This allowed the batteries to slide almost all the way back to the pylon. Used some foam to keep them up there. The receiver (a Hitec Super Slim 8channel) slides up about 1.5" past the opening in the fuselage, and is held in with more foam. My fuse has a switch-jack in the top that further keeps the RX in place.
Even with all of that, it still balances a little fore of the 4-1/8" mark, so I'll probably end up painting the tailfeathers and/or the boom itself to add the minor amount of weight needed in the tail area, and that will allow me to keep the pylon open for a ballast compartment.
So, long story short -- Phil's cross-tails are just *too light*! Be prepared for some gear re-configuration if you are swapping out a v-tail. Or, perhaps, you could shorten your fuse a bit...
ben wilson
http://www.louisvillesoaring.org |
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Phil Barnes
100 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 3:30:47 PM
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| The configuration you ended up with is the same as what I did in my old Aegea Mantis. Its not really so much that the tails are too light but more like the fuselage is too long in front. My new Supra models have fuselages made by Mike Lachowski that are just right. |
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Ben's Aegea He-Mantis
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