Author Topic: New Staris ready to fly (Read 4697 times)

Matt Colan · « **on:** February 01, 2016, 06:41:07 PM »

I've been working on this plane for almost two years between schoolwork, traveling home and living a college life. There are a lot of firsts with this plane. This was my first complete scratchbuild (everything else had been kit built), first refinish, first time using Chromabase for paint, and my first wet sanded and buffed airplane. I had to strip the paint off the airplane when I first painted it over the summer because of a bizarre cracking issue. I brought it back to school with me, took it to Gene Martine's house and he worked with me to get the paint stripped, the finish built back up, repainting the airplane, and wet sanding and buffing.

Power is a PA 51 on a pipe, and the finish is Chromabase. The weight is a bit porky at 63 ounces. I learned with this plane, and the one I'm working on now how critical wood selection truly is.

I gotta thank Gene for putting up with me almost every weekend last semester working on the Staris, and for letting me use his shop and spray equipment. I wouldn't have been able to get the plane finished at school without him. Thanks Gene! I learned a lot! Just put the bill for storage and equipment usage with my student loans!

Just need to wrap the leadouts, and bench trim it, and it will be ready to fly.

Avaiojet · « **Reply #1 on:** February 01, 2016, 06:47:19 PM »

Matt,

Great looking model!

Outstanding for your first scratch build.

Charles

John Leidle · « **Reply #2 on:** February 01, 2016, 06:50:20 PM »

Good looking plane Matt , that plane will carry 63 ounces with ease, John

Serge_Krauss · « **Reply #3 on:** February 01, 2016, 08:21:09 PM »

Outstanding, Matt. The closest I've gotten to "outstanding" was when I locked myself out of my car. That looks like a 20 pointer!

SK

john e. holliday · « **Reply #4 on:** February 01, 2016, 09:53:39 PM »

Looks great.

louie klein · « **Reply #5 on:** February 02, 2016, 07:55:12 AM »

Great job with the build, but WOW!!! what a finish---Louie

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #6 on:** February 02, 2016, 08:11:15 AM »

WTG Matt! Looks really great. I agree with the others who say you got plenty of airplane & power to shrug off the 63 oz...

Art Jessup · « **Reply #7 on:** February 02, 2016, 10:27:46 AM »

Beautiful Matt, good luck competing with it!!
Artie

Randy Powell · « **Reply #8 on:** February 02, 2016, 11:16:06 AM »

Hope it goes well for you, Matt. It's a pretty plane.

john ohnimus · « **Reply #9 on:** February 02, 2016, 01:05:04 PM »

Looks great Matt!!

Randy Cuberly · « **Reply #10 on:** February 02, 2016, 06:44:16 PM »

Really nice Matt!

I agree that it should trim and fly very well at 63 OZ. The PA51 is truly a sleeper powerhouse. No sweat there.

Randy Cuberly

Matt Colan · « **Reply #11 on:** February 02, 2016, 10:06:46 PM »

Thanks for the comments guys! Bench trimmed weight came out to 65 ounces, way above what I wanted but it is what it is.

The weather is supposed to turn to crap for the next week so I gotta wait a little bit before I can put the maiden on it.

Steve Fitton · « **Reply #12 on:** February 03, 2016, 02:18:10 PM »

I'm sure it will fly fine, even at 65. You have to July to get it in trim, so no worries there! It looks great!

Matt Colan · « **Reply #13 on:** February 04, 2016, 02:56:08 PM »

Quote from: Steve Fitton on February 03, 2016, 02:18:10 PM

I'm sure it will fly fine, even at 65. You have to July to get it in trim, so no worries there! It looks great!

I managed to get it down to 64 1/2oz.

The wind all next week is supposed to be gusting into the 20s...ugh!

Matt Colan · « **Reply #14 on:** February 12, 2016, 08:25:58 AM »

This morning I got myself and my roommate up an hour early and we made the trek to the soccer fields by campus to get the first flights on the Staris completed. In short, the airplane flies AWESOME!!!!!!! The only trim adjustments I needed was a trim tab adjustment and a small handle adjustment.

I couldn't be happier with the airplane!! Can't wait to get some more flights on it and get comfortable with it!

Shug Emery · « **Reply #15 on:** February 12, 2016, 04:09:42 PM »

I know you will be tearing up the circle with that plane Matt. Whoooooo Buddy terrific job. Can't wait to see you and that Staris fly sometime.
Shug

Steve Fitton · « **Reply #16 on:** February 12, 2016, 04:16:58 PM »

Take good care of it so you can get a heroic score in the 180 Building this summer!

Matt Colan · « **Reply #17 on:** February 12, 2016, 05:02:44 PM »

Quote from: Steve Fitton on February 12, 2016, 04:16:58 PM

Take good care of it so you can get a heroic score in the 180 Building this summer!

I definitely will be! No more 12 point airplanes!

Chuck_Smith · « **Reply #18 on:** February 13, 2016, 03:58:48 AM »

Really nice plane! I see a lot of Busso in the design. Intentional or on purpose?

Matt Colan · « **Reply #19 on:** February 13, 2016, 09:15:55 PM »

Quote from: Chuck_Smith on February 13, 2016, 03:58:48 AM

Really nice plane! I see a lot of Busso in the design. Intentional or on purpose?

If there's any Buso influence, it was on accident. The first paint job I had on this plane looked great, but I wanted to put less paint on to try and reduce some weight. The paint scheme that I applied has three influences. The top of the wing was based directly off my grandfathers SV-11 he built back in the mid 90s. Attached is the only picture I have of it down here at school. From other pictures I've seen, that was a spectacular model and I wish I got a chance to see it.

The bottom of the wing is based off of Curt Contrata's Super Staris that I saw fly at KOI a couple years ago. Again, since I was trying to reduce weight, I dumbed down what I had the first time. The reason I did someone different on the bottom was when Curt's airplane turned vertical, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world seeing something that different on the bottom, and I decided to copy it.

The fuselage and tail is based off Gene Martine's airplanes. The straight lines helps accent corners and the straight lines of a maneuver like a square (which is something I know Steve preached about, and also Randy Smith). The tail is almost a direct copy off a Staris he built a few years ago that I saw pictures of. The scheme on the tail, at least to me, gives the illusion that the tail is bigger than it actually is.

I'm currently have something pretty...wicked drawn up on my computer for my SV-11 which I hope to have finished in the next couple months...stay tuned!

Matt Colan · « **Reply #20 on:** February 17, 2016, 08:15:09 PM »

Here's a video of the Staris on it's 6th flight. I need to shim the tank but overall, I'm very happy with how the airplane is flying so far, and hope it will fly even better with more flights I get on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zdsOqqSIMI&feature=youtu.be

Ward Van Duzer · « **Reply #21 on:** February 18, 2016, 01:12:21 PM »

Matt,

You had one of the best finishing instructors you could wish for! Enjoy...

Ward

Author Topic: New Staris ready to fly (Read 4697 times)

John Leidle