Stormbird by Aeroteam & Doc Hammond

[Peter Garsden]

The desire to build this moulded rocket ship came when I was speaking to Tony Fu at the time I was building my Jart. I had also been telling him about the barbiturate pills I needed to calm me down after flying my D40 which has to be the maddest plane ever. He said that I ought to try the Stormbird, which was not only fast, but also very aerobatic. He also gave me some great advice about my Jart - very helpful man. I ordered some bearing kits but they never arrived.

It is described by the Doc an upgraded version of the RCRCM Typhoon. I always fought clear of them because they would break easily on landing, the idea being to sell spare parts.

I then noticed that T9 Hobbysport were advertising it for sale. As is often the case it was permanently out of stock. I waited from July until Christmas when finally they took delivery (apparently a container load of wings went missing), so I quickly put in my order. As usual with T9, the order arrived the following day - great service.

The plane is so well made and beautifully finished. Everything is so slim and aerodynamic, but as usual no instructions.

I couldn't work out how to attach the elevator so emailed Richard and asked him for a battery recommendation. He advised the 1600mah 4 cell battery and the magnetic switch of which I had one in stock.

Days later I got a string of emails from Doc Hammond, so helpful. He sent me the movements of the moving surfaces and the C of G which is 85mm from leading edge. He also attached instructions for the Aresti and Schwing which are very similar. Really helpful and detailed.

There was a carbon rod in the kit but no tube, so I enquired and was told there should have been a tube attached for the rudder (the elevator servo goes in the fin). Fortunately I have a tube left over from my Willow which was written off some years ago, so will use that. I think later models use 2 servos in the fin for both rudder and elevator.

There really is so little room so I have gone for the recommended KST 125MG thin 10mm servos in the wings (4 off). I have also ordered the bearing kits which I have not used before, so hopefully they will be OK. I can see from the instructions that there is very little room and you have to be very careful.

A fellow flyer Dave Gains has got one. He said he fiddled for 2 weeks to try and get the servos flush in the wing but failed, so hopefully I will have more luck. He opted for blister covers. He also couldn't fit a servo in the fin, so we will just have to see how we go on.

I have ordered a KST 08N which is 8mm and tiny weenie for the fin and elevator with a frame, so hopefully that will be OK.

I am still figuring out how to put the tube in the fuselage. Doc recommends dabs of cyano (thick) then run epoxy in beads down the sides. I think I am going to also use neomodium magnets and a steel wire to hold it in.

I see now that one uses a ball bearing clevis to take a wire joining the elevators together. attached by a wire to the  servo blow.

More of this later

Edited By Peter Garsden on 17/01/2017 18:25:25

[Peter Garsden]

Well I finally made a start with the tube to go down the inside of the fuselage. Always tricky to get them to stay in the right place long enough to glue securely. If you use cyano it can grab the tube where you don't want it to. Epoxy is a mess and can go everywhere. Doc J said he uses thick cyano then runs thick epoxy down the outside of the tube. I wasn't sure about this so opted for:-

1. Run a wire down the middle
2. Use neomodium magnets from Guy's Magnets on the outside to hold it in position.
3. Dabs of cyano and epoxy thickened with Xilica powder for the rest.
4. In the far end a short piece of carbon covered in Vaseline so as not to stick but guide the tube through the rudder blister and put it in the right position.

[Peter Garsden]

You can see the wire in the photo above, and the tail servo holed below with the tube at the bottom, which hopefully will be out of the say of the elevator servo when it goes in.

I have wrapped the fuselage in cling film to protect it from gooey gluey fingers. Seems to work.

[Peter Garsden]

What a great servo tray made out of very thick fibreglass. Very strong and much better than plywood. I am still tempted to run a thin strip of Kevlar down the bottom of the nose cone as it feels really thin. I must be careful to lay it very flat because there is not a lot of space for nose weight etc.

[Andy Meade]

Lovely looking machine there Pete - your hanger must be bursting at the seams by now!

[MattyB]

Nice model, but I have to admit I am confused as to why they brought this out. The Schwing at 2.2m is not meaningfully bigger than the old Typhoon and already outperformed it, so why was another 2m needed that costs exactly the same? Has the Doc explained the differences anywhere - maybe this has more forgiving handling? I do know a few Schwing owners who like it but who have told me it does need to be setup very carefully to get the best out of it.

Edited By MattyB on 19/01/2017 10:15:49

[Peter Garsden]

Good question Matty. I think this is meant to be a faster more aerobatic version of the Schwing, which has a much slimmer fuselage and the Stormbird is probably more robust and faster - not sure.

Best way I can respond is to leave you in the hands of the Doc himself, who answers these questions on the RC Group Thread here - **LINK**

[Peter Garsden]

Actually here is a better link - **LINK**

[Peter Garsden]

Next job in the instructions was form an end plug in the ballast.tube. I have tried this before on 3 previous mouldies and never been fully successful. This is such an improved method:-

1. Make a 3mm ply plug for the end to fit inside the tube.
2. Rough up the last 10mm.
3. Use a ballast slug to line it up 10mm from the end
4. Run thin cyano round the edge to hold it.
5. Layer some thick epoxy mixed with silica powder and build up to wedge it in.

[Peter Garsden]

The elevator servo from KST is soooo tiny. I have never seen anything so small for £34.50. It is a miracle of engineering.

I used some 2mm stainless steel studding and glued the swivel fitting to it with cyano and accelerant. I then measured the length to make sure I could use an adjustable metal clevis on the other end.

I filed down the top of the clevis to make sure it didn't bind on the side of the fin.

I ordered a frame for the servo but it is too big, so I am going to make a plywood mount and use that ad this servo has lugs and screws with it.

[MattyB]

Might it be easier to pot the elevator servo? Stick it in a thin sandwich bag, mix up some 30min epoxy and micro balloons, dab it in where you want the servo to sit then squish and hold in place for a couple of hours. Once cured pop it out, put a few dabs of silicon based glue or hot glue in each corner then pop it back in place.

[Tom Satinet]

Posted by Peter Garsden on 21/01/2017 20:43:32:

The elevator servo from KST is soooo tiny. I have never seen anything so small for £34.50. It is a miracle of engineering.

I used some 2mm stainless steel studding and glued the swivel fitting to it with cyano and accelerant. I then measured the length to make sure I could use an adjustable metal clevis on the other end.

I filed down the top of the clevis to make sure it didn't bind on the side of the fin.

I ordered a frame for the servo but it is too big, so I am going to make a plywood mount and use that ad this servo has lugs and screws with it.

You might need to grind the other side of the clevis to top it binding on the output shaft of the servo.

It depends on how much servo travel is used for the elevator movement.

I don't see why it was designed with a tail mounted servo - it seems a lot of hassle. I would go with a normal pushrod.

[Peter Garsden]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys - food for thought. As I haven't got an tube and carbon rod spare I will probably go for the sandwich idea - or may still try the plywood mount, just not sure yet.

[Peter Garsden]

I decided to go for the plywood frame as this servo has lugs for screws to hold it in situ.. The plan was to:-

1. Mark the position of the frame with a pencil
2. Apply mould release wax to the bottom and sides of the servo.
3. Mix some fibreglass powder with epoxy
4. Spread it in the glue area
5. Put the plywood mount in position.
6. Wipe away excess glue with a meths soaked cotton wool bud
7. Add the servo with arm attached.
8. Screw down the servo
9. Line up the clevis with the wire connecting the elevators with the other half of the tailplane attached to line it up.

Seemed to work. It is now drying

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Peter Garsden]

Thanks Andrew. I have made my own ballast slugs by cutting down 19mm curtain rail into 35mm lengths then filling with lead on top of a floor tile. Works OK for me. I have several sets.

I suppose I am a bit of a cheap skate using KST but that is what the instructions recommend primarily. Tony Fu speaks very highly of them and the are cheaper than MKS, which I know are the dog's b's.

If you PM me, I can send you the Schwing instructions, which I have on file.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Peter Garsden]

Well I made up a wiring loom this morning using flat servo wire for inside the fuselage, and normal silicone for the wings. My handy digital soldering iron is worth its weight in gold. I am intending to seal the female connections with hot glue for strength. Inside the fuselage, once superglued in, they will get a coating of epoxy and fiberglass powder for extra strength.

[Peter Garsden]

Next the wings - I need 4 scalloped out metal clevis. I put them in the vice and ran my Permagrit drum grinder which worked a real treat and produced the scallop needed to clear the servo bearings in that the clevis will be only 5.5mm away from the bearing for the ailerons and 7.5mm for the flaps. This ensures that everything fits under the hatch.

[Peter Garsden]

Tonight I started to make the plug for the end of the ballast tube. The instructions show a claw ended nut being secured with a glove of fibreglass bandage and a mix of epoxy and coloidal silica. I was concerned that the glue would get into the nut,, so went for another method

I filed down a piece of square pine to fit over the outside of the tube into which I will recess a 4mm nut. I can then pack a small piece of wood below to support the tube whilst it is glued in place. I have used this method before but usually with a cradle of fibreglass bandage. The instructions say support the tube from underneath whilst it dries with a piece of wood. Because the fuselage is very narrow and there isn't much room to support the cradle on either side of the tube which is only about 3mm wide at both sides, I think I will use the method recommended in the instructions

.

[Peter Garsden]

To reinforce the multiplex plugs, the instructions say use a large heatshrink tube and glue it in position with thick superglue. I prefer to use hot glue pressed into place with 2 sheets of aluminium.

[Peter Garsden]

Just thought I would show you the servo frames and bearing kits, which I have never used before. It means that to move the clevis one doesn't need to remove the servo. It was necessary to cut one down for the flap servo to avoid the balast tube runnning down the middle of the wing root. It takes a 12mm brass rod and serves as extra ballast.

The metal bearing screws into the hole in the servo and clamps the clevis in position. You can see in the top photo that I have file a groove to provide a clearance for the servo linkage when it comes out of the hole for the servo horn.

Edited By Peter Garsden on 19/02/2017 20:12:49

[Peter Garsden]

Here you can see the Multiplex M2 clevis scalloped to clear the bearing arm, and the metal clevis which had to be cut down to the last hole, which is at 7.5mm and rounded off. This is the flap servo. The KST servos comes highly recommended - an MKS at a more reasonable price of around £30 each.

This is the aileron servo in situ with the frame glued in and the cover filed away to make room for the screws. One can see that the clevis has been filed down to make it thinner. I was talking to Dave Gains who also has a Stormbird. He told me that try as he may, he could not get the top of the clevis to avoid contact with the cover which is meant to be flush. It protrudes by about 1mm but even so one cannot use the cover supplied. I will either have to use a blister cover, or a piece of double sided sellotape with adhesion round the edge and a double layer in the middle which is a bit higher. I hope it works.

This is the flap servo in situ - tricky to wind the wiring loom round the edge of the servo. One cannot run it along the trailing edge because it would bind on the servo link rod.

[Peter Garsden]

It always amazes me that it is a lottery what parts are included in these very expensive glider kits. To complete the fin and tailplane one has to supply the connecting rod from the servo to the elevator, the clevises, but most importantly a piece of tubing with an outside diameter of 2mm and an inside diameter of 1.6mm. This fits through the hole in the ball clevis to join the elevators to the push rod. One cannot use brass because it is too soft to create such thin walls. I struggled to find a stainless steel tube, which I had to order from Hong Kong. It took 2 weeks to arrive. Just the sort of part which would have been good to supply. Still I have cut it down and it fits nicely.

Edited By Peter Garsden on 19/02/2017 21:01:32

[Peter Garsden]

I had to consider if I was going to ty to glue the tube in position before I put the pushrod in the fin or when it is in situ. I gamble that I can wiggle it in position and glue it beforehand. Then there is the problem of not getting any glue on the ball joint.

The instructions say use a pin. I take out the ball, apply vaseline, then use a pin to apply the superglue. It works. Phew!

I forgot to take the masking tape off before attaching the clevis so decide to cut it off with a balsa knife with very little space