Sonerai plan help

[Chris Baines]

Hello everyone,

right basicaly im new to this forum, iv built a few planes in the past but only small trainers. Im now looking at something a little more fun to fly.

I went and bought this months RCM&E mag and it has the plans for the Sonerai formular v racer. I am very intrested in this plane so iv decided to go ahead and build it. Iv being down to my local model shop today and bought the wood, spinner, wheels, fuel tank and iv decided to go with a .25 2 stroke.

My problem is that iv being out of building for a few years and to be honest i cant think of what servos and RC gear would be best suited to this sort of build.

Anyone got any sudjestions ?

Chris

[Dead-stick]

Hi Chris, I've just had a look at the plan and I would say that it has been designed for standard gear, although mini servo's and a micro RX would suffice too.
Hope this helps.

[Chris Baines]

Hi Dead-Stick,

This has helped me thanks for that, im more than likely going to start work on it later this afternoon, im tempted to open a work log so that people can see the plan come to life.

The only other problem i am having is what battery im going to need in the plane. I would like a fairly good flight time, i have a 4oz tank to go in.

I need to put together the plans ... going to scan them in later and use duplicats to make the plane from so i can keep the originals should i need them again.

Chears
Chris

[Andy Gates]

I would imagine any 1400 - 1700 mAH reciever pack ought to be enough power to enable a good afternoons flying

[Jimbo565]

Hi Chris
I have just completed building the Sonerai and it's now at the covering stage.Ihave used standard servos throughout,3 in the fuz and one in each wing for the ailerons.The throttle servo is between f2 and f3 along with the battery and receiver and elevator and rudder servos are between f3 and f4.I have fitted a Slec 4oz. tank which requires moving f1 forward !/4" to acommodate the tank and prevent it protruding into the battery bay and fouling the wing fitting.
I am using a SC25 two stroke and it fits like a dream.The building instuctions are first class and easy to understand so you should have no problems there.The only mod i have done is to fit a servo in each wing,never been to good with bell cranks.The canopy is cut from a pop bottle and fits well.
Send me an email if you so wish and i'll send you some pics of the installation.I'm off to Cyprus next Wednesday for two months so you better be quick.

[email protected]

Cheers
Jim.

[John Markham]

hi everyone i have just finished the sonerai but have yet to fly it, it is fitted with all standard radio gear and covered in solatex i had to ease the le a small bit to allow a 4oz kavan tank to fit without fouling the wing fitting, the only problem i have and would like some advice on is the c of g it measures 60mm on the plan but seems too far forward, using the 30% rule it should be 72mm which seems better, anyone know which it should be. thanks, John

[Peter Miller]

Hi John, These days I work with a 25% CG but you can try moving it back if you want, I find that with that CG location my models including the Sonerai are very aerobatic without being twitchy and they recover from spins very positively.
On other remarks above. I used a short tank and did not have to relieve the leading edge.
I wonder how much weight the Soalrtex added, I like the material very much but Sonerai is quite small.
One servo in each wing is quite acceptable and does make life easier so go that way if you feel like it.
I have a 900 Mah battery but maybe I don't fly as much as many people do, even though we have allovcated frequencies in our club with NO duplicates. You can fly non-stop if you want and some do.

[John Markham]

Hi Peter many thanks for your reply about the cg,i'll try it with the rearward position but won't be frightened to try your original position if i think it needs it, looks realy nice in solatex and although i hav'nt weighed the model yet it still feels quite light, i used just the one servo and the whole project went together very nicely, when i have flown it (hopefully soon)i will let you know how it went. John

[Phil Meredith]

hi chris, just a quicky, you say you are going to scan the plan to build from, just a warning that sometimes scanning alters the size, double check the scans on the plan before cutting,
if yiu find they do alter you can put them into ms paint and use stretch and skew to size them by n% before printing them,
phil

[Peter Miller]

With regard toCG positions. Normal full sie aircraft CGs tend to be about 25%. I am currently designing a scale model from the origianl construction drawings, this is a two seat homebuilt. The CG range for the full size is quoted at 19 to 25%.
On full size aircraft the CG is just behind the main wheels on a tail drager or just in front for a trike.
One figure given is tohave the aircraft level and draw a vertical line from the point of contatc of the wheels, then draw a line at 60 degrees back from that for a tail dragger. The CG shold be on or close to that line. NOTE that on a high wing aircraft the CG will NOT be up at the wing but much lower down.
I was working on a Varsity (Trike undercarriage) once which was up on jacks The underwing jacks were just about on the whel contact line. Someone had forgotten to place the tail trestle and when one of the props was removed the aircraft started to rock back and the nose wheel came off the ground. Only the fact that every one in the area threw themselves onto the nose wheel (it got really crowded) saved the aircraft
CGs a
can be farther back but you need biger tails.
I will be interested the hear how far back you can get it before the model becomes uncontrolable.

[GREGORY WILLIAMS]

Hi All, I'am getting back into flying models after decades and to say i'm rusty is an under statement. I want to build the Sonerai as a first up but i'm confused as to where the control rods to the rudder and elevators run through the fuz and is it possible to run the servo further out into the wins to get rid of the the control rods and run straight off the servo.

[Andy Gates]

Gregory

If you have come back in as you say you have after a short rest, you will find thing have changed much for the better.

With the size and weight of servos having dropped considerably, the convention now is to bury the servos in the wings for ailerons and flaps which does provide very short and positive controls. For this machine "Naro" or HS 81 type servos will be fine
Much the same can be said for the rudder / elevator ones, although the plan shows the servos in the fuselage so you just need to add slots to suit the horn and servo placements

[Peter Miller]

There is no reason why you can't fit the aileron servos in the wing and do away with the pushrods and bellcranks. I would suggest Mini servos rather than micros, in the past I have found that the micro servo gears will strip if the ailerons are knocked in transit. That can really ruin a days flying. I would suggest Supertec Mini Servos from and J. Perkins stockist.
The rudder and elevator are connected using snakes, not pushrods. I use Dubro Lazer rods because these are not affected by heat which can cause trim changes. Sullivan also make good snakes with metal inner cables.
The only thing to watch with snakes is that they are supported as close as possioble to the control surface while still allowing full travel.
I have used these sankes on models with .46 twos rtokes and .52 four strokes so you need have no worries on that score.

[GREGORY WILLIAMS]

Thanks guy's, I will let you know how it is going once i get my teeth into it. Greg W

[John Markham]

hi everyone well i know it's been a long time since i said i would let you know how the sonerai flew, well i used the c.g. as peter said on the plan and she flew like a bird, i still fly it and have had great fun with it. cheers John.