Mods and Changes
I made several changes and modifications to this plane. Some
of which added weight to the final product. Here's what I did.
Added lighting system Reinforced all 3 landing gear mounts with
1/4" light ply, epoxy and carbon fiber
Replaced
landing gear mount #4 wood screws with 4-40 brass inserts and machine screws Replaced
pan head sheet metal screws on wing tube ends with 6-32 brass inserts and machine screws
Missle
rails were attached with screws and threaded brass inserts instead of gluing them in place, making the rails detachable.
Weight and Balance
The CG for this aircraft
is located 7 1/2" back from the leading edge of the wing root. The assembly manual indicating
it is 8 1/2" is incorrect.
Cermark's website says the airplane's
all up weight is 9 pounds. I don't see how that can be. Mine came out to just under 11 pounds and I don't know where
2 added pounds came from unless they used a light .60 for the motor when they weighed it.
So, I did some research. An OS .61 weighs in at 23.6 oz. with the muffler. The Jett .90 with muffler weighs 32.3
oz. Added weight - 8.7 oz. Battery for the lighting system added 3.5 oz. I am going to guess the lighting kit, consisting
of 3 LED's, some wire and the RC switch added 2 oz (tops). That takes the potential for additional weight to 14.2 oz,
leaving me wondering where the additional 17.8 oz is coming from. One possible source is the receiver battery; a 5 cell, 3000
mah unit. I don't have the spec on the recommended pack, so I am at a loss there.
Canopy
Fit
The canopy fit is poor between it and the fuse. Very disappointing.
