If you are a weekend, schoolyard type guy.....and don't fly every weekend......want something fairly easy to build that is a great sport flier, build the Sterling S-1 Ringmaster. I know a lot of people here will disagree, however, I started C/L in 1953 and built my first S-1 Ringmaster in 1955.
Obviously I don't agree, but with some care I suppose it could be made to work on some level. Bypass stuffer mod is mandatory, but cheap and easy. There's plenty of good information about Fox break-in, follow it to the letter.
If anyone does want to do it, dig up the Ringmaster control setup recommendations from the SSW archives. Nothing, repeat, nothing, it more important to making the Ringmaster fly well is to use a much slower control system. It needs to be configured to provide about +-20 degrees elevator movement for a full hand motion. You can do it with a very narrow handle spacing, but much better, with a very slow control setup in the airplane. That means pretty short pushrod arm on the bellcrank, and a long elevator horn. Any more than about 20 degrees is pointless and will just cause a stall the instant you try to do almost anything.
The second and almost as important is to keep the nose on the airplane. Particularly with a Fox. Throw away the stock luan plywood doublers, make new ones from 3/32 hard ply, and make them go back to at least halfway back on the wing. While you are tossing things, throw away the stock motor mounts and replace them with mounts that go back almost to the wing LE. Then throw away the stock plywood wing joiner and make a "T" joiner from hard 1/8 ply. Throw away the bellcrank platform, and replace it with hard ply and reinforce it making sure to tie it into the spar and the ribs inboard of the mount. Throw away the elevator horn, too, make it longer out of 3/32 hard ply with several bushed holes to give the desired reduced control movement with some adjustment ability. Use at least a 3" bellcrank, and a 3.5 or 4" won't hurt anything. Lighten the airplane up with replacement ribs and (mostly cosmetic) spar. Hollow out the leading edge starting on the second open rib bay - don't do it on the first open bay or there's a good chance that it will fold right next to the rib where the sheeting ends. Probably not with the Fox but you don't want to build in a known weakness. Put the leadouts closer together, about 1" apart, centered on a point ~2.5" from the LE. You could make them adjustable but the ideal position doesn't vary too much. Start with about .015x56 lines, a 10-6 wood prop, CG at about 1" from the LE. Don't be afraid to cut the lines down a foot at a time if it seems a little floaty at times.
I think the frustration factor will get to you at some point, which is why I recommend something different for a Fox. Just doing a stock kit airplane with a 15FP, Veco 19bb, 25LA, etc will fly far better than anything you can do using a Fox, but it doesn't meet the criteria.
Brett
Topic: SUGGESTION'S WANTED...... (Read 4685 times)