[NSRCA-discussion] Streamline

[Jay Marshall]

10/10/2006 - Day 1

 Received  via FedEx in perfect condition. Upon inspection the covering is
excellent and tight. Further inspection shows there isn't an assembly
manual. Finally found a mini-CD taped to the end which had the manual in a
PDF format. This is a builders plane - very little in the way of
instructions. Lots of pictures but few words!

Streamline is an apt name. It is only 2.5 in wide. Just about a profile
plane. Ailerons are full width. Control surfaces large - more like a 3-D
design. The cowling is un-trimmed. Manual calls for C.A., P.A. and A.B. glue
(just pictures). AB is two part glue, assume epoxy. Don't know what P.A. is.
Wheels are probably too small for grass. Lots of rudder however the hinge
line is 4.5 in. in back of the elevator hinge line. Both the elevator and
rudder servos are tail mounted. Light, fragile construction. I'll have to
take a close look at the small hard mount for the LG.

Don't know where the kit was made or where the manual was printed. Not in
the USA but not too bad. All metric.

Hinge material is substandard. The hinges are circular cutouts appx. ¾ in.
in diameter. They seem to be inconsistent in that some of them have
plastic/Mylar center layers and others do not. Best plan would be too
replace all of them.

Firewall has no epoxy on it and the blind nuts for the engine mounts are not
installed. These will be tough as you can't get your hand inside. There is
absolutely no info on where the mounts should be located! Can't tell if it
requires offset or not. This is going to be difficult. I hope the center of
the fuel tank hole is also the required center for the mounts. Right now I
plan to use the O.S. FL-70 engine, but this may change.

The fuel tank seems to be small and I'm going to have to measure the
capacity. Replacing it would be a problem because of the 2.5 in. width.

The tail wheel is hard coupled to the rudder. This is a no-no for grass and
I'll replace it with a spring coupled unit.

The horizontal tail feathers were assembled - all that was necessary was to
put a drop of CA on them. DON'T! The connecting rod between the elevators is
not glued in and if you glue the hinges now you can't slide the assembly
into the fuse slot. I did and ended up cutting the hinges, re-slotting,
installing the feathers, then re-hinging. Bummer.

Day 2
Mounting for the H stab is very poor - basically just the skin. Not even a
snug fit so I'll probably re-enforce it and fill the gaps. Replaced the tail
wheel as well as the rods provided wouldn't fit into the control horns.
Decided to start with an O.S. 46AX. The HP is greater and the vibrations are
lower than the FL-70.

Hinge slots missing from fuse tail.

LG is attached with screws to a thin piece of plywood. Doubled up the ply
and used bolts.

The cowl is a very poor quality molding. The rear edges are so warped
outwards that they are going to be very difficult to screw to the fuse. I
may have to build up the nose somewhat so that the contour matches that of
the cowl.

There is no engine mounting instructions either for drilling the holes in
the firewall for captive nuts nor for thrust line offset. Solved the problem
by using an old Hangar 9 al one-piece mount, tacking it onto the firewall
with si sealer, then checking the ability to align to the cowl and then
match drilling the mounting holes. The mount uses a clamp-down mounting
rather than bolts and allows me the ability to put a little right thrust in
it just by moving the engine around a little.

Day 3
Installing the motor mount blind nuts was almost impossible so I solved
problem by using blind rivets which also provide a little vibration damping.

The tail mounted servo's mounting holes are buried under the covering and
the locations are misidentified on the pictorials. They are on the opposite
sides shown and it is easy to cut through the covering to the wrong
locations.

Today
After several false starts I finally made the maiden flight. Had a bad servo
and the throttle linkage wasn't tightened. Taxi is rough on grass as the LG
is swept back too far - almost to the CG. Once airborne it flies very
smoothly. Only made one flight - dead stick. I want to check for loose
things before resuming tomorrow.  In spite of all of the building problems
it is a fine flying airplane for $109. It would be interesting to see what
it could do once trimmed out and in more qualified hands.



Jay Marshall

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