Tiger 40

My Landlord approached me the other day, a friend of a friend had a serious accident a number of years ago and is now a quadriplegic. This model passed to a friend who then passed it to Neil with the words "maybe Tony can do something with it". At some time in the past someone had decided to recover the wing and had stripped all the covering off, somehow while in storage the ribs got broken but the main framework was intact. The TX and RX batteries were both stone flat but it was an old 35meg JR setup. The engine was rock solid as was the carburetor. Sadly I haven't documented very much since at the outset I wasn't sure whether I'd find something nasty and have to junk the whole thing.
So far I've replaced all the broken ribs (actually with ribs from the smashed Speed Air) and recovered the wing. The aileron hings are Dubro type pin hinges and would not come out! This meant I couldn't remove the ailerons without doing major damage. However, whoever stripped the covering stripped right back to the edges leaving me with nothing to stick the covering to! I eventually had to cut 1" strips of covering, cut slots for the hinges and pass the strip down between the aileron and the wing, this gave me enough to stick the main covering (one piece) on.

If you look closely you can see she's resting on the tail, the CoG is that far back! Although the new 5 cell battery isn't in. The engine was treated to an hour in the oven at 110^oC and then after run oil put through it. Looking at the interior and the engine compartment I think this plane flew but once!
With the battery in the recommended position the best CoG I could get was 38%! Moving the battery to the engine compartment gave me 34%
I've turned up a lead weight to go in the spinner 49gm. With it in the spinner and the battery under the tank I can 33%, so I've put the battery in the engine compartment with gives me 31% CoG
Tomorrow is engine runs and throttle servo adjustment.

I also thought the wheels were just a tad too small, the wheels originally fitted could only be called 'cute'
The nice thing about using an 'oiler' is that the propellers are so much smaller allowing you to use much shorter legs. The Speed Air always looked like she was standing on stilts!

Another don't do it!
I'm thinking of the torque loading when the model is turning (in any direction), the mass will act like a huge gyroscope, and resist changing direction. (Like a rotary engine!)
Then there is the sheer rotating mass that will make the throttle response seem 'soggy'.

crash happy wrote: Looks very nice, what kind of age is it ? Where does the fuel tank sit & I take it there is no cowl for the engine ?

Somewhere between 2002 and 2005 Crash. The tank was sitting on the engine centre line, I was concerned about fuel feed problems so I've put it as high as I can underneath the turtle deck. I initially thought the engine (it's a Thunder Tiger Pro 46) had been fitted upright by mistake, then I looked at the picture on the build manual! There is a cowl but it's a pain to get on and off so is being left off while I prove the engine and throttle points.

When I was setting control throws I discovered I couldn't get enough aileron throw, this is how they used to do it when servos were expensive items! I found the piece of crank that pushes into the ailerons had never been glued and was waggling up and down inside the aileron losing about half the throw. Fuel tubing keepers have been put on those clevises.
With the battery being potentially inaccessible I fitted a new On/Off with a charge point.
The balance point is now on 27%

Warnings gratefully received, interestingly I have had a rotating lead weight in the spinner of the Liberty from the get go and never noticed a problem. Shit for brains here forgot to factor in the weight of the cowl and muffler, took the weight out, added the muffler and cowl, CoG on 27%! The recommended is 30% but that can wait until after the maiden. As you can see, the tail plane isn't straight but the fin is, it'll have to stay as is for now, short of cutting the whole thing off I don't know what to do, I expect there will be a small amount of coupling.

Spent the afternoon setting up the throttle end points and mixtures. First thing was at anything under half throttle the engine cut dead when the glow leads were removed. Tried a new Super Tigre plug, better but not right, then put a new OS 8, perfect, then I was able to adjust mixtures at full throttle vertical (feels like the thrust to weight ratio is better than 1:1 goody ) and idle on horizontal. Paul Heckles once told me, "time spent setting the throttle controls correctly is paid back 100 fold" I then left her to run out the tank at just above idle.

THE BLACKBIRD wrote: Looks a nice big place you have there Tony, like the thatched roof

It's called a Lapa, a place where we sit and have lunch or coffee, especially in the summer, it's cooler under there. There's also a Braai (Barbecue) with a fireplace in case the evening gets cold. We have a Barby once or twice a week.
The black HDPE pipe that's hanging down was put up to retain the cement capping while it was still wet, still there after 30years, typical SA!