Lockdown Electric Stick

[Chris Freeman 3]

We are no day 5 in a 21 day lockdown in South Africa. As I work in a bank and do International FOREX transfers I am classed as essential services so I have to go to work. Evenings and and weekends are at home and the reduced traffic on the roads means that I have more time at home.

As I get up early in the morning I enjoy spending time in the workshop and prefer simple tasks that can be done before work. One of my long time mates is a doctor and really enjoyed flying my electric stick so I decided to spend this time building one for him. The airframe is a nice build as it is lots of sticks that are what I enjoy working with.

Progress is good as it is actually a fast build

[Martian]

Another build to stick at watching

[Chris Freeman 3]

The Stick is a great aircraft, I am not sure how many I have built over the last 35 years but it must be around 30! The smallest was TD 020 powered and the largest was 130" wingspan with 3 engines. I have continued to to make good progress and hope to have it ready to cover by the end of the weekend. Undercart mounting, wing tips and fuselarge sheeting done. I need to join the wings to do the wing mounting. My son and I once built a slightly smaller version of this stick in 1 day, started at 06:00 and finished it just after 19:00 on the same day.

[kc]

Clearly this is a version of the classic Ugly Stik but which one? Is it a kit or a plan and what wingspan? Looks much lighter construction than most.

[Chris Freeman 3]

I got a A4 page plan from a gent in Brazil who sent me an email, I saw his detail on a RC Groups blog. This was over 9 years ago and have built 4 versions, 1.1m, 1.4m, 1.6m and 2 Meters wingspan and all have been great flying aircraft. The 2 meter one has a module firewall to make it easy to change engines for testing. This way of building is both light and cheap. This is the 1.4m version.

[kc]

Interesting lightweight construction Chris. Looks like wing spars and webbing all reduce towards tip and no LE or TE sheeting. What's the expected weight?

[Chris Freeman 3]

Hi KC

Sorry for the late reply, the design has the same wing construction as the original Phil Kraft Stick with no sheeting and double spars in the center of the wing. The design is very light , I weighed the parts this morning and here they are:

Wing: 301 grams

Fuselage: 243 grams

fin and rudder 19 grams

stab and elevator: 40 grams

Total weight so far is 603 grams and thait is with covering in Solarfilm red and yellow and the check is HobbyKing. My flying example weighs 1265 grams without the lipo which is a 4 cell 3700.

[Nigel R]

Great stuff Chris, that was fast!

The Stik is a RC design classic, the reduction to minimal complexity of a wood build conventional aircraft.

I guess this at 55" / 1.4m would have originally had a 0.40 glow.

[Chris Freeman 3]

Correct Nigel, about a 40 size Stick but very different to fly compared to a glow Stick. The electric can be flown fast but also slowly as well. I do many touch and go's when I fly it. First built so that I can cycle my 4 cell lipo's that were not being flown enough.

[kc]

That's very light Chris. Light models crash lighter and crash less often!

I understand the concept came from Brazil but is the plan your own and could you put it on Outerzone etc if you wanted to? I am sure the design would interest many and it's a handy size at 1.4m / 55 inches.