SIG AKROMASTER

[jim gilmore]

I've started the sig akromaster now. Their kit does seem to have extreemly hard wood in it. I was trying to pin the small jig piece to my board and the pinbent before penetrating the piece. All in all I am happy with the  kit.

[catdaddy]

I've started the sig akromaster now. Their kit does seem to have extreemly hard wood in it. I was trying to pin the small jig piece to my board and the pinbent before penetrating the piece. All in all I am happy with the  kit.

The Akromaster builds quick and is a great flying little plane. It is one of the first planes I built when I last came back to CL in 2000. My son won several contests with it in PAMPA beginner.

[Alan Hahn]

I've started the sig akromaster now. Their kit does seem to have extreemly hard wood in it. I was trying to pin the small jig piece to my board and the pinbent before penetrating the piece. All in all I am happy with the  kit.

Yes there is some variability. My first one had pretty heavy leading edges---I removed some of the wood to lighten them up a bit. FLew it with an OS 10 FP, and it was a lot of fun. Helped me (along with a UKey) get into the full patten. That one died letting my brother-in-law test CL flying. A second kit picked up at Sig last year has lighter wood. I do like the smaller CL planes.

[jim gilmore]

Yes, I also like smaller airplane.
Rick,thats a nice color pattern. Is it monkote or just dope and tissue ?

[Bill Heher]

One way to deal with too hard or fragile wood when pinning to a building board is placing the pins along side the parts so they wedge the piece to the board instead of trying to push pins through the part.

For example- spars can be held in place by crossing pairs of pins in an X above the spar at regular intervals. Ribs are held in place vertically by placing pins alternately on each side- usually 4-6 pins per rib.

[jim gilmore]

Thanks Bill, I had tried that. Limited space to work in a rv doesnt allow me to turn my work around much.
And the parts I'm pinning are the jig parts to support the wing. In the end I white glued them to the t/e and l/e and went from there....finers don't deal great at times with small pieces.

[Dwayne]

Had one years ago, flew it then crashed it, then used the wing to build and bring someone into the hobby. We built it together I taught him how to build a model using that wing. Took it out and it flew! Flew very well in fact, used it to teach Jay how to fly. That was 10 years ago and Jay is now 24 and on to other things but it was fun.
Dwayne

[Phil Hawkins]

I added 1.25" to the tail, put the engine (LA 15) as far back as I could, changed the tail from the Twister style to a Cobra style and put Calvin & Hobbs in the cockpit... Have not flown it yet.

[catdaddy]

Yes, I also like smaller airplane.
Rick,thats a nice color pattern. Is it monkote or just dope and tissue ?

The blue is monokote and the red is rustoleum

[Russell Shaffer]

Go with Phil's landing gear arrangement with the clamp.  The dowel and rubber band that the plans show doesn't work that great.  The dowel is too short and if the gear does fold back in a hard landing it breaks the bottom wing spar.  And do set the engine back as far as possible.  It's a fun little airplane.

[jim gilmore]

For those thatb have built and flown the akromaster, should I use the stock belcrang or try to fit a larger belcrank in ?

[jim gilmore]

While I deciding on if I need a bigger bellcrank, what tank do you think I should use ? I'm looking for enough flight time to learn the pattern.

[john e. holliday]

On the one my oldest daughter built we used the stock bellcrank.  She does know how to loop, but, doesn't fly it that much.  You may have to make a tank to fit. Have fun, DOC Holliday

[Geoff Goodworth]

Jim, Doc

I shortened the nose of my Akro to help balance the FP 10. It hasn't flown yet but RSM has a couple of tanks that fit the shortened nose. Oh, and I used the bellcrank supplied with the kit.

Cheers, Geoff

[George]

For those thatb have built and flown the akromaster, should I use the stock belcrang or try to fit a larger belcrank in ?

Jim,

I used the standard one on mine. If you do use a larger one make sure the control movement does not run the control horn to the end and put excessive pressure on the elevators.

You might want to use a narrow line spacing on the handle to limit movement also.

George

[jim gilmore]

I put my wingtip weight in and used 3 nickles. 15 grams. just a bit over a 1/2 ounce.