"Giant" Cessna

[Steve W-O]

 

(shop photo, not mine)

 

Well, maybe giant is a bit much, but it is certainly very large.

 

I put a CD in some of the photos for reference

 

Arrived at the beginning of last week, bought from Norway. Very slow delivery from the time I was first told it was on its way, but well packed, with an outer box around the main box.

 

The quality is amazing, comparing it to the other two makes of "larger" foam planes I have. It makes the wot4foame look very poor, and multiplex could certainly pick up some tips from it.

 

It comes with hinges installed, motor mount, u/c mount, pushrods, servo wires to the wings all preinstalled.

 

 

 

The battery bay easily takes two 4000mAh 3s side by side

 

 

The outside has moulded lines for the doors, hinges, fillers etc, so a marking pen will add a bit of detail

 

 

Comes with all the bits needed to finish it, even a screwdriver and spanner for those who have no tools

Edited By Steve W-O on 21/01/2012 08:58:26

[Steve W-O]

There are a couple of things I wonder about. The elevator has two pushrods, split just behind the servos, so it feels a bit stiff.

 

Some people modify it like this

 

but I can't see at the moment how to get the pushrod tubes out neatly to thread the servo wires through.

 

 

 

The two flap servo cut outs are made with the head of the servo towards the wingtip,

which may look neat on the drawing, but it means one has to be reversed, or one of the flap servo cut outs has to be modified. Also they have hinged the flaps along the centre line. OK, so that means you can use them for braking, think they would be better hinged on the lower surface and only being able to go down, it gives a much cleaner wing in normal flight.

 

The wing struts, which are obviously functional, are 8 gauge wire, which is heavy, some carbon would be nicer, but of course not so easy to make the end attachment points.

 

The inside is quite well detailed, four seats and a dash

 

but as someone else commented, you can't get the windows off to put any passengers in

[Tim Mackey]

Could you cut the floor, and add the office staff from below, with their own "floor" to cover up the hole?

I have done this on a couple of models that had the same problem.

[Steve W-O]

Posted by Tim Mackey on 21/01/2012 09:15:07:

Could you cut the floor, and add the office staff from below, with their own "floor" to cover up the hole?

I have done this on a couple of models that had the same problem.

 

The floor is above the batteries and servos, it also forms part of the load taking structure for the U/C and wing struts, so not the easiest way in unfortunately

 

I will find a way, my first thought is to cut around the foam on the back window, and use the cut away foam and window as a hatch with pins and magnets, It will also give me access to the "luggage area" for a couple of gyros (disguised as suitcases of course)

 

I took it out of the box this morning to check and take some photos, but it is back in the box until I have got on with the Linnet, so I have some time to think and listen to ideas

[IanR]

Sorry, Steve, but you can't do that - I mean, put it back in its box to get on with this Linnet thing, whatever that is.

 

Like you, I think, I'm not over-enamoured with the Wot 4 Foam E and this looks like a very interesting, better quality, possible alternative. At least give us some details so we can track it down and begin checking it out on the internet whilst we wait for your further thoughts.

 

Cheers, pal

 

Ian

[Foamie Dave]

Hi Steve, I had a play with one of these last year and its an absolute peach to fly, gerrit built ...you'll love it.

[Steve W-O]

T h i s is the Linnet.

 

 

 

 

 

And t h i s is the Cessna. At 119 funny money, it is good value.

 

Their delivery time is disappointing, nearly two weeks after they first said they would send it.

 

I will be using t h e s e servos, probably 8 of them, or five and two standard servos.

 

and t h i s motor.

 

I may put on slightly larger wheels and make new spats from depron, or leave the spats off altogether.

 

Plenty on youtube

 

 

There are others, but some of the best flying has daft music on it, so you can't hear the motor.

[IanR]

Cheers Steve,

 

+1 re daft music and motor/engine sounds.

 

Regards

Ian

[Stephen Grigg]

I really like this one Steve but its not what Im into ,but its very impressive.I note from the vid ,they have proper wing struts on theres

[Steve W-O]

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 21/01/2012 12:20:16:
I really like this one Steve but its not what Im into ,but its very impressive.I note from the vid ,they have proper wing struts on theres

 

 

Yes, the wing struts are heavy, 8 gauge piano wire. I want to look at using some 3mm carbon rod, but I will probably need to turn some fixings, and that means getting into the garage, and that will be a major challenge!

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Looks great Steve. Flys well on the flaps too.

 

One thing I did notice - quite a bit of left yaw in the full power verticals - might it be worth making provision for a bit of extra right thrust when mounting the motor?

 

BEB

[EZ-Hawk]

Bit boring, but if you like that sort of thing!!

[ericrw]

I needed to put collets on the wing struts as one of them came loose whilst in flight but no harm was done !!

[Steve W-O]

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 21/01/2012 13:48:57:

Looks great Steve. Flys well on the flaps too.

 

One thing I did notice - quite a bit of left yaw in the full power verticals - might it be worth making provision for a bit of extra right thrust when mounting the motor?

 

BEB

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, gl;ad you noticed, I will have a look at the videos, and will definitely add some right thrust.

 

I also noticed on the one video that he seems to have to hold quite a bit of down elevator in under power (porpoising) so will loot carefully at the thrust line.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

I like it Steve, 75" span eh? The foamies keep growing!

Needs a bod in the office

 

 

 

[Steve W-O]

Took the pushrod tubes out this morning.

 

Butchered the end of a piece of brass tube, chosen to just slide over the pushrod tube

 

 

The tubes just protrude from the back of the fuselage

 

 

 

Slid the brass tube over the pushrod tube, and twisted it to cut through the glue

 

 

On the front end, the tube is buried about a foot back from the hatch, so I put the pushrod back in, and used that to guide the brass tube to the right place, it was just long enough.

 

Then with the pushrod still in, I threaded some servo wire through the clevis at the back

 

And pulled the pushrod from the front, it pulled the whole lot out, and pulled the wire through.

 

 

Once the servos are in, I will solder the wires, embed them into the foam, and cover with white tape, and they will be well hidden.

 

 

I also weighed everythiing, and the whole plane, minus power system (motor, esc, battery and prop) is just under 2000g.

[Cyclicscooby]

I like it... Big, slow, flaps, foam... Excellent..

 

 

Luv

Chrisie.. xx

[Myron Beaumont]

Chrissie

Well now we know what you like

[Steve W-O]

Nearly finished putting it together, but what wing joiner?

I have the supplied steel tube, looks like a bit of rolled bean tin, I have some very nice seamless stainless tube, and my preference, some carbon tube.

The load is taken partly by the tube, and partly by the wing struts.

Never taken so long to put an ARTF together, every servo wire had to be soldered to extend, changed the way the servo wires to the tail go through the fuselage (most people put them through the holes left after removing the pushrods, but I didn't want to see them. Had to make a new duct for the wing servo wires, make a mounting for the nose wheel servo, put in stronger axles, make new pushrods for the controls. Just seems to be going on for ever for what it is.

[Cyclicscooby]

All the 'quick' simple tasks, in the model room, take 5 times longer than you thought they would.. It's the law I think ?!

Inbetween 5 flights today, I managed to glue on 5 half-ribs, then had to leave them to dry.. So much for my quick 3wk STOL project.. I'm about 2 months in at the mo, with no end in sight.. !

 

Sure you'll be airbourne soon enuf..

 

Luv

Chrisie.. xx

Edited By Cyclicscooby on 14/04/2012 00:05:49

[Steve W-O]

Ran some tests this morning, using a 13X6 prop, 450W and 1680g static thrust, using a 12X7 prop 440W and 1600g static thrust, using a "13X7" prop, 1600g at 500W. The reduced thrust in the last one was due to the cowling being on, the other two reduced by about 12% with the cowling on.

The motor is a Turnigy 35-48 900, and the ESC a cheap HK 50/60A.

As I have heard that someone else has one on the way, will add some more pictures, not in any particlar order.

rudder servo installed and cable extended. I turned the horn about 40deg to get it at right angles to the servo, and the servo at right angles to the hinge line.

Elevator servo wires joined and extended. I reversed one of the servos.

Extra ply plate to hold nose wheel servo, this is the only non-digital servo, but it is metal gear

Plenty of room, the logger is logging main battery current, main battery voltage, servo current, motor temperature, RPM, throttle position, altitude and three axix G. Will add airspeed as soon as I feel like drilling the wing and slotting it for the tube

[Steve W-O]

There's room for 2 3S 4000 mAh batteries, either next to each other, or across the fuselage.

I drilled another hole through the firewall, tricky to get all the wires through the hole in the middle behind the motor mount, and they are in the way on the other side then to.

Quite a few wires with the sensors, servo and ESC.

Where the wing wires go into the fuselage, there was a tiny square tube, you can see inside the round bit, I added the round piece to make it possible to get the connections under the wing. Put red heat shrink in the flap cables, the same on the other end on the wings.

Used the scraps to fill the snake exits (big one nearly done at the bottom, small one at the top of the pic to do) just put CA on the scraps and squeezed them into the hole, cut off and sand.

There is a fair bit of moulded detail, don't know the best way to make it show, previously just went round the lines with a fine marker, didn't look too bad.

Cut two extra holes in the bottom of the cowl for cooling

[Tom Wright 2]

Hi Steve

The assembly job is looking good and well worth the extra effort and attention to detail as I think this model should be capable of giving long reliable service .

After designing and building ten or more models over the past two years your thread prompted the excuse to order a 182 as an indulgence and maybe as sentimental journey as I flew full size 182 s back in the eighties The firm I worked for at the time based one at the field were I got my ppl and let me use it free of charge ,cor those were the days !

The cost of this kit would possible buy a little over an hours flying in a 182 these days .Any way I am gradually getting over the shock of ordering a none wooden model ,as my foamies are all home built at a negligible cost the 10 ft Blue Monster probably cost no more than £25 in airframe materials so the 182 is indeed a luxury but at least very pretty .

Thanks for posting the build, it will come in very useful when mine arrives, your deliberations and deviations should help make it a relaxing job to put together.

Tom.

[Steve W-O]

Couple of things I found this morning.

The stickers stick well, but it is really necessary to wipe down with alcohol first, I forgot on the cowling, and the parts where it is sharply curved and pointed lift, nothing a bit of CA won't fix, but probably wouldn't have happened if I had wiped it.

The other point on the stickers is that the ink they are printed with is quite brittle (look like Duco paint), so you have to be very careful pulling them off if you are not happy with the position. Pulling them off is not helped by the slits cut for the curves either.

The other point is that the set nuts for the wing screws are not central in the holes in the foam, the ply they are mounted in is very firmly attached to the inside of the cockpit. I eventually drew a map of how they are offset, so that I could remember which way to push them.

Under the front of the wing are two pieces of plywood, I glued them together, then hold them onto the wing with masking tape, otherwise they keep falling out!

I think if you want power in reserve, you might want to look at a bigger motor, or a 4 cell pack, I was aiming for about 70W/lb at 10V, which for me and this type of plane is plenty, it will be off the grass in 25'-30', and will climb far steeper than scale. My Mentor flies very well on less.

[Cyclicscooby]

Looked at the link again, and it's down to 99 funny things now... If only I had 99 funny things..

I was lookin cuz i've got a spare E-flite Power32, 60A, and 4s 4100... Which I presume would be enuf at 700W... ?! And ironically, it came out of a wooden Cessna 182, which was too heavy for it, so it seems right to put it back in one..

The foam looks quite thick compared to other foamies..

Luv

Chrisie.. xx