tuwood

I had narrowed it down to those two engines as well and finally decided on the 100 because I'd read of the YS being finicky to tune & the weight factor.
When I got to the LHS & saw that the Saito 125 was practically the same size & weight as the 100 I couldn't resist. I figured I'd probably get close to the power of the YS 110 for the weight of the 100.

Either way you go I'm sure they'll all fly the Ultie real well!! Good luck.

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

Do you have both of them already?

David Cutler

Yes. I have a YS110 that I bought when it first came out, that has been in a Dago Red Mustang and a Vector Flight 540 Edge, and a new, never used, Saito 100.

As I say, I'm torn between building very light and using the Saito, or building strong and using the YS.

-David C.

tuwood

I was able to spend about 4 hours in the shop tonight.
I finished the bottom of the top wing including sheeting & cap strips.

I thought it was a little odd installing the sheeting between ribs 6-7 but I'm assuming it's for extra strength on rib 7.

My daughter also wanted me to show you her scrapwood creation.

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

I guess it depends on how you want to fly it.

tuwood

I have a fuel tank question. I bought a 12 oz. tank per the kit recommendation but I just noticed today that the ARF comes with a 16 oz. tank.
I would like to use the larger fuel tank because I"m sure the 1.25 will be a bit thirsty but am curious as to why they recommend the smaller one.

Any thoughts/opinions?

tuwood

I have never used either engine, but from what I've read the 1.10 is a real stump puller so being a guy I have to recommend going with more power!!

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

I just went over this yesterday with my brother (who's getting the other ultimate).
Here's what I told him.
The 125 uses 35 cc according to a Saito site.
From the engine forum they are breaking in their engines and getting 13 minutes on a 11 oz tank at full throttle.
So we figured using a 14 oz tank we should get 20 minutes at least of regular flying.
If someone has some real data I would like to know how close that is but I think the 16 oz tank would be for a 120 that uses 45-50 cc of fuel/min.

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

Tuwood, nice art work. But that wing looks too straight, it may fly itself if your not careful

tuwood

hehe, thanks. well hopefully it stays straight after a few high-G snap rolls!

tuwood

OK, I'm about tired of building wings! Hehe, one of the many benifit's of a Bipe.

I finished sheeting the top wing & have moved onto the Aileron setup on the bottom wing. I have them hinged to the wing & have spent the last hour sanding the TE & Aileron's smooth. Man, I need a dust mask. (cough cough)

Unfortunately Goldberg hooked me up again with some odd sized aileron stock for the inner TE of the wing. 2 of them were good but 2 of them were over 1/8" narrower than the good ones & one had a big flat spot at the top. Hopefully I can find some at the LHS because I'll need a pound of filler to make the other ones work. I could possibly glue some 1/16" sheeting onto it to make up the difference.

I did notice that the CA hinges that came with my kit seemed very thin. I have a GP slot machine for cutting the CA slots & when I put them in they fell right through the slots. I grabbed a pack of GP hinges & they are 3 times as thick so I'll stick with them. I'm sure the stock CA hinges are probably OK, but they didn't inspire confidence in me.

tuwood

I finished beveling the aileron's for the bottom wing. I have to run to the LHS before I can do the top wing ailerons so I moved on.

I went back a few steps and finished the rudder assembly and then did the final steps of hinging & beveling the rudder/elevator assemblies. I did notice that the bevel seemed very "non aggressive" on the elevator so I bumped up the angle a little bit. I eventually want to try some low speed 3D type maneuvers & the extra throw may come in handy as a triple rate option. For example my SSE has approx 45 degrees of throw on the elevator & the high rate recommendation on the Ultimate is 14 degrees. I'm sure somebody will tell me I screwed up but I figure it's better to have the extra throw there in case I need it rather then to need it and not have enough bevel.

With the tail feathers complete I moved on to the fuse. I pretty much rubber banded it all together & glued in the "C" & "D" formers. I did notice that there was a minute twist (probably wouldn't have mattered) in the chassis when I stuck the fin in and put my square on it. I couldn't tell it was there just looking at it or putting the square on the chassis only. I'm pretty peranoid about everything being straight so I'm glad I caught that.

enjoy & is there anybody out there still reading this thread. I'm sure I'm not the only one building an Ultimate.

oh, one more question? Any tips on building the landing gear block for the Stan's aluminum gear I have coming? As of now, I'm planning to stick a piece of ply in the normal LG area & reinforce with some triangle stock. I'm just waiting for the gear to get here before I do that part.

Tony

evdo

Tony- I and I'm sure others are out here following your build, great job! I received an ultimate kit for xmas and have yet to begin, your build will make it much easier once I get down to building!

-Tom

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

Yes!!!! Keep posting, I've had the sinus thing going on so I haven't been building lately but I'm starting back up tomorrow.

I had the same problem with the ailerons. I was really disappointed when I saw that the ailerons were a sheet too small for the trailing edge.

Here's what I got accomplished last week.
I spent way too much time on it, I first went with the design with the bell crank but I didn't like it so then I moved it further away.

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

Also, when I was doing the wings, I pinned all of the middle wing trailing edge and ailerons together and used the disc sander to trim all of them at the same time which was really quick and accurate (measure it with a sample piece to get the right angle if you need to).

tuwood

Thanks guys, glad to know your out there.

I finished gluing the fuse former/sides together & glued the firewall & wing-mounting blocks on.

I added a couple extra pieces of triangle stock to the underside of the firewall & epoxied in the remaining gaps on the back side of the FW. I'm planning on putting more triangle stock on the top side of the firewall but I'll wait until I get the rounded formers in place so I don't interfere with anything.

I ran into an issue with the wing-mounting blocks. The rear slots were not even. The right side slot was 3/16" further forward than the left side. The front slots were dead even so it was a blatant laser cutting issue on the doubler. I contemplated triming it to make the block even on both sides but when I dry fit it & put it on the wing it didn't matter if it was straight or crooked so I opted to leave it alone. Plus I was worried about weakening the overall structure by hacking it up with my dremel.

I went with the standard side mount engine & I haven't figured out my throttle configuration yet. If the throttle arm is around a non reinforced part of the firewall I may just carve a hole to allow the arm to travel into the firewall. I'll have to figure out a way to seal it though so fuel doesn't get in....

FlyingPilgrim

My Feedback: (26)

tuwood, ref: lg mount- just use a piece of 1/4" aircraft ply cut to size. Take note of the angle of the LG on the plans. I epoxied mine in at the same angle as the block cutout on the plans, and when I mated the LG to the block, I found I had too much forward rake on my LG. I ended up shaping a plywood wedge and gluing it onto my mount in order to bring the gear back to location of design on the plans. To avoid this, you may want to alter the angle you install the LG block to the fuse sides.

I found the same problem with the rear wing mount cutouts on the fuse doublers- off by about 3/16". I cut/filled to make them even. Probably a lot of guys just glue it together as is, and never notice that it's crooked.

For throttle, I have been using flexible cable (Sullivan, I think) and cut the yellow plastic housing flush with the firewall. It leaves the throttle arm just enough movement without binding if you are VERY carefull with placement and angle. Move the throttle arm so it is in the posistion where it is closest to the firewall (open or closed, I can' remember). Then run a long drill bit through the cable anchor in the throttle arm to transfer the position onto the firewall. Remove the engine so you can drill the hole that you have marked. Make the hole at a slight angle so the path of the cable follows the arc of movement of your throttle arm.

FlyingPilgrim

My Feedback: (26)

I don't know if you can see the small wedge I had to add to the LG mount to correct the rake of the gear or not. The other pic is showing the small wood filler I added to correct placement of the rear wing mount block.

tuwood

I'm glad I held off on gluing the LG mounting block. My LG should be showing up any day now & I"ll make sure to line it up with the plans.

Thanks for the excellent tips FlyingPilgrim!

fisher1648

I test flew my Ultimate last weekend with a YS 1.10......all I can say is "I like this engine " Stump puller is a good description...it ran flawlessly with very little adjustement. In fact the only adjustment required was the high speed needle.

I am using a 12oz tank and will likely be switching to 16oz. At 1.5 oz/min full throttle burn rate I'm paranoid about running out of gas.

My ready to fly weight (less fuel) ended up 8lb 5oz....the 1.10 pulls it with authority to say the least.

tuwood

I thought long & hard about the YS 1.10 and was waffling between it & the Saito 100. If it hadn't been for the Saito 1.25 coming out I'm still not certain which one I would have gotten. Glad to hear it's working out for you!

After I discovered that the ARF version was shipping with the 16oz. tank I went ahead and picked one up. I'm not sure what the burn rate is on the 1.25 but I'd like to be able to get at least 10 minutes of aggressive flying with some fuel to spare on landings. I'm thinking that would be tough on a 12oz. tank.

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

I think I'm going to switch out my 14 oz tank with a 16 oz too and use the 14 oz for smoke oil.

tuwood

After I get this one completed I plan to retro in a smoke system (once I convince the wife to give me more money). There's nothing cooler than an Ultimate trailing smoke!!

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

I think the thing that convinced me on the tank size is a dead stick on a war bird this weekend-no gas! I just made it to the runway but I landed kind of hard and got air born just enough to stall about 6" off the ground and nosed over. That was my first nose over and I was upset, it just broke the cowl and pulled a little wing sheeting back where the wheel pants were but still...

A smoke system is practically free http://www.rcdon.com/html/the_ultimate_project.html

tuwood

Ouch, sorry to hear about your warbird. I had my first deadstick on my SSE last week when I ran out of gas, but fortunately I was already lined up on the runway & getting ready to land. I was at the point where I would have dropped the throttle to idle & the motor just quit so it couldn't have been better timing & the landing was normal.

That's a pretty cool smoke setup. I just assumed I'd buy the smoke muffler & pump setup, but I like the way he did that. I knew I took those metalworking classes back in high school for some reason!!