Advice on a secondhand Flair SE5A

[flyeruk]

I have just purchased a second hand Flair se5a and was hoping for a bit of advice

The airframe is in pretty good condition and so is the covering. Im guessing its Solartex. The wings have been covered,top and bottom all the same colour. From looking at pictures on the net,i can see that the underside of the wings are a lighter colour.

I dont want to recover the wings so would it be possible to paint the undersides with solartex colours?.

Also,the ailerons are configured with the bell crank system. There is no servo at present. The linkages seem very good with no slop at all. Is it okay to leave it as it is,or should i put servos in the wings? Again,i dont really want to cut the covering so what would be a decent servo to use with this system?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

 

Edited By flyeruk on 05/08/2014 20:55:31

Edited By flyeruk on 05/08/2014 20:56:20

Edited By flyeruk on 05/08/2014 20:57:06

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Yes you can paint no problem, be careful though you soon add weight, if bellcranks are well fitted they will be fine.

John

[flyeruk]

Thanks for the quick reply. Thats good to know regarding the bellcranks. What would you advise regarding a servo for the ailerons?

[Mr.B.]

Hi,

I recently re fitted a second hand flair pup. Painting solartex should be OK provided you can clean any old oil off. The textured surface makes it difficult. I would be tempted to try 'panel wipe' from a vehicle refinishing suppliers. (it used for degreasing panel before spraying) but try it on a bit of scrap first.

I converted the Pup to 2 standard size servos in the the wings. My Pup was a Mk1 kit with solid wing ribs so the covering had to come off to cut the holes for the servo lead. The Mk2 Pups had skeleton ribs. Any standard size servo will fit in the snake set up. It worked well enough.

Mr B

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

One servo driving 4 ailerons ? I would fit something like an hitec 645 metal gear myself or similar spec alternative. They are standard size but a deal stronger and not expensive.

John

[flyeruk]

Im also thinking along the lines of a Saito 45 or sc 52 fs. It was fitted with an os 2 stroke and think it deserves

a nice 4 stroke.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Cant advise on which engine would best suit, but agree with the 4 stroke choice if pushed I would go with the 52 option for the extra weight up front helping with the c.g. nice model i'm sure you'll love it

John

[flyeruk]

I will keep you posted and add some pictures as i go.

[Mike Etheridge 1]

I bought a second hand Flair SE5A over a year ago to use at my club's 'scale day'. I did some slight modifications to but still have not flown it. The engine is an SC 52 four stroke which functions quite nicely. My plane also has a cranked system to operate the ailerons.

MJE

 

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 05/08/2014 23:43:55

[Jez Harris 1]

There have been probalbly tens of thousands of the Flair range built over the years using the std bellcrank set up with a single servo.

There is no need to go overboard on servo power as its a scale model and if flown accordingly doesnt need 10kg of servo grunt.

Use a disc on the servo with offset linkages to give some aileron differential.

Mt 1/3rd Scale mick reeves pup that I'm bulding at present will have bellcranks and servo mounted servos.

Jez

[Cuban8]

Don't forget that the Flair SE5 has been around for 'donkey's years' and the standard servos we had when it first appeared were nowhere near as powerful or durable as those we have today, but were quite adequate at the time.

It's not going to have the performance of a Pitts Special or be required to perform hard 3D (we hope!) so the Hitec 645MG with 8 - 10 Kg of torque is well over required spec. but as they're available for around £22 or so, not a bad choice.

[Jon H]

I would go for the saito 45 on a 13x5 turnigy type A wooden prop (it must be the type A), and a bog standard servo like a futaba 148 or hs311 for the ailerons. This is not a heavily loaded model and you don't need anything fancy. I have the flair nieuport with a saito 45 and the turnigy 13x5 and my dad has the pup and se5a. All of them fly with standard servos and the pup originally flew on an OS 48 but this was replaced with a 52 as it wore out!

To paint the underside of the model use humbrol paints number 71 satin oak. It looks good once applied but will need a fuel proofer. just be careful you choose something that wont eat it.

[flyeruk]

I can assure you that i wont be throwing it around like a pitts lol.
I saw a puppeteer a few weeks ago,pottering around the sky and it looked fantastic so just had to get a ww1 bipe. The se5a also sits nicely in the back of the car fully rigged.

Edited By flyeruk on 06/08/2014 08:48:56

[Engine Doctor]

Hi . Solartex takes paint very well .First clean with cellulose thinners .It would be best to spray the paint so as to get a thin smooth coat. just remember that paint is heavy. An enamel like flair Spectrum has good covering power and a light coat would do the trick and be fuel proof . You would probably have to mix the colour required as the range is quite limited .

[Engine Doctor]

Oops computer had a stutter and posted twice ?

Edited By Engine Doctor on 06/08/2014 10:13:34

[flyeruk]

How about Solarlac? They have in in antique which looks like the correct colour.

[Scott Douglas 1]

I flew mine on a Saito 45 four stroke. Used one aileron servo.. ( 1 Futaba 128 or 148 I think ) but nothing fancy, it was fine!

[Bob Cotsford]

and Solarlac is much more fuel proof than Spectrum paints. I have a 1 1/2 Strutter that was painted using matte Humbrol which covers better than the gloss, then proofed with satin polyurethane. 30+ years on it still has much of it's original paintwork. My Baronette - painted with Flair Spectrum - has bald spots.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

One servo ? weighing a bit more, costing a little more, only Twice the torque of a jr 591 but driving 4 ailerons ?

Overboard

John

[Djay]

I recently got given an old one of these, but never flown. It is covered in nylon painted with Humbrol paint and no fuel proofing, and there is no problems with paint lifting or coming off.

I fitted an ASP 52 fs and standard 3003 futaba servos, just the one on the ailerons.

The servos are more than enough for this model, and the 52 fs is more than powerful,

It flies a treat, and you can throw it around like a pits as it is so small, light and agile. It does not fly as slow as the Pup, but I prefer flying this out of the two.

As long as the c of g is correct it will fly a treat. I needed no lead in the nose as it balanced perfectly. As for the extra weight of an fs engine, it makes no difference to the way it flies.

Just use standard equipment and enjoy it.

Darryl

[flyeruk]

I have fitted a second hand Saito 45. I know its at the bottom end of the recommended engines but it runs really well and i thought i would give it a go.

As you can see from the pics,the muffler lines up well with the scale exhaust tube on the side of the fuse.Would connecting the muffler to this pipe,have any adverse effect on the running of the Saito?It looks like it has been set up this way in the past as the pipe is hollow. Also,if i used this pipe,what would be the best way to connect the muffler to the tube?

Edited By flyeruk on 09/08/2014 20:34:26

[flyeruk]

Still not figured the best way to root the muffler. Any ideas much appreciated.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Steel flexi pipe any good, O.S. do them for their engines, do Saito do them, different thread I believe.

John

[cymaz]

High temperature silicone tubing. Slip over both ends, job done.

[flyeruk]

Im still waiting for the solarlac paint to arrive.All the servos are fitted and working well. I have used Futaba 3001s all round including 1 on the ailerons. The bell crank system seems to work well with hardly any slop.

Im still not decided on the muffler routing but have picked up a couple of 8mm copper fittings which i think i can use to come up with a system.

Couple more bits of advice if i may,im running the 45 saito and cant really figure out the size of the standard fuel tank. Has anybody who has this model,know the size? Im just wondering what sort of flight times i might get with this engine/tank set up.

Also,i have read a couple of posts suggesting the recommended CoG of 100mm is not right,saying it makes the model very tail heavy, Can anybody with experience of flying this bipe give me there thoughts on this issue?