Am I being too picky?

[Bob Johnson]

Recently I won a Sig Acromaster kit at a local contest, and I thought a 15 size plane could be a real kick. I began to think of a few fun ideas to kit bash it without major modifications. Then I opened the kit and was disappointed to say the least. The wood seems a bit on the heavy side, though not petrified, and the leading and trailing edge pieces are curved. I can address these shortcomings with out problems but I really didn’t want to put that much effort into what I hoped would be a quick fun project, i.e. if I’m going to go to all that trouble I might as well build a bigger stunter.
   So the question is, am I just being picky or have any of you encountered the same thing? Please note that I’m not ragging on Sig, but I do think the kit I have would be frustrating for a beginner to build straight and light. I’ll probably go ahead with my plans to build it but by the time I’m done I doubt there will be much of the original kit used. Comments welcomed.

Bob
 

[Bob Reeves]

Hard to say, I have found bad/problem wood in kits from all 3 of the major control line kit makers I usually just replace it an go on.. On the other hand, I know Brodak and RSM will jump through hoops to make it right. Have never contact SIG but they will probably do the same.

[Ron Merrill]

Bob, said it and i couldn,t agree more, Brodak,RSM,Ultra Hobbies and Walter have good wood or will make it right.  Ron.

[Ron King]

The wood seems a bit on the heavy side, though not petrified, and the leading and trailing edge pieces are curved.
Bob
 

Bob,

Curved (or bowed) LE and TE stock is common. The wood has some internal stresses that show up when it's stripped to the smaller sizes. I'm not familiar with the kit, but the spars might also be bowed as well. This is not a problem. You should attach these pieces with the bow away from the surface and pull it down in the middle as you glue. A typical C-tube wing with spars top and bottom, LE and TE sheeting, etc. will be fine -- if your building surface is true. 

As far as the rest of the wood, Sig has always been a quality company and stands behind their products, as do others. Because the kit was probably put together during a mass production run, I doubt if anyone got the "Pick of the Litter" unless they went to the factory and got to choose their own wood.

I would go ahead and build it, fly it, and have fun with it. 

My two cents,

Ron

[john e. holliday]

If this is just a quick build go with the kit wood.  I do not think I have ever had a kit other than the ones I got from Walter that had straight wood.  I have learned to use the bowed wood to my advantage.  If you ever run into people that remember when I flew combat in the 60's & 70's, I don't beleive I ever had a straight wing.  They would bow when I covered them.  Using jigs has helped some, but, stunt wings to me are easier to deep straight.  DOC Holliday

[Bill Little]

Build it and have fun!  If the warp is in the horizontal direction (up and down across the LE, TE), make saw kerfs and glue it back straight.  Takes all of 5 min. with CA.  Also, I *think* the LE. TE material in the Ackromaster has enough extra for another full rib bay on each side.  If it does, copy two more ribs and make it that much bigger span.  Sand the dickens out of everything else and fly it!  I have seen box stock ones (minus LG) fly like crazy with FP 10s and a light finish............

Bill <><

[rob biddle]

  Hi Bob,  Most kits that I have bought had a few little details that could be better, mainly wood selection and unfortunately to constantly keep kits in stock they have to use what is currently available, this may or may not incure customer complaints.
 
  I think that most of the kit manufacturers genuinely provide the best that they can "average out" over the production run so that there is a reasonable amount of consistancy from kit to kit. From what I've seen and heard they are more than happy to rectify any problems that you may encounter.

  I'm currently building an RSM Thunderbird 2 and must say that overall the quality of the wood is quite good, the only gripe I have is that some of the 1/4" stock is a bit hard/heavy. This isn't a problem as I used the heaviest stock for the stab. I'm running an LA.46 up front and think I could use a little more weight in the tail.
  If I was building it for a .35 as I'd originally intended I would have changed the engine crutch and probably used an open bayed stab (ala Veco) to try and keep the weight down around 38 oz. Hopefully I'm on track to be sub 45 oz with the LA.46.

  As you say that the bowed L.E and spar stock could be a problem for beginners I agree, in the early days I used to just replace parts I thought I couldn't use as I had no idea of how to rectify them.
 Cheers, Rob.

[Bill Little]

Hi Rob,

LA 46 and sub 45 oz. in a T-Bird II will be killer.  I plans built one, used the '70 big frame Fox 40 Stunt, and it came out at 42 oz., with out trying too hard.  That plane had a KILLER corner!

As to replacing parts, I didn't have that luxury as a kid.  The closest Hobby Shop was 30-40 miles away!  I was raised by a very mechanical minded Grandfather who could fix anything, literally (he also had a penchant for NOT spending money!! LOL!!).  He made parts by hand if we couldn't get them, for the car, house, etc.,  and they worked as good or better than new.  He just helped me find ways to use what I had, or told me to figure it out.  I am very thankful for that!

Bill <><

[Russell Shaffer]

Put the heaviest pieces in the outboard wing, and it sort of self-corrects.

[Shawn Kuntz]

I just built an Akromaster and my wood was warped the same way.  I just pinned it down on the board, glued it and sanded.  It looked pretty good after covering it with silk and giving is a Sig Supercoat finish.  I haven't flown it yet but I expect it will do well.

[Paul Taylor]

We have had a Ackromaster sitting in our LHS for about 3 years now. It was the only C/L kit they had. (It is a R/C car shop)
Any way I stopped by the hobby shop the other day and it was gone!

I am going get one because it was the last plane I built when I was a kid.

[Jim Oliver]

Bob,

The leading edge pieces of my kit were a little warped and quite heavy--so, I took my Dremel and "hollowed" the leading edge pieces.  Made them look sorta like the old machined  Flite Streak leading edges.

This made the parts easier to straighten and saved lots of weight.

Also, I used a Thunder Tiger 15 in mine--I cut 5/8 inch off the nose and didn't need to add any tail weight.  I modified a metal tank to fit the smaller space, then learned that the little 15 uses so little fuel that I could have just used a smaller tank with out any problem.

Jim