Build Articles
HET-RC - Der Storch
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June 15, 2004 - 04:03:47 PM

01 - Here's how the Der Storch comes to you.	02 - A shot of the wings, elevator and rudder.	03 - Fuse, wing strut and hardware.
04 - Annie did an initial dry fit to make sure everything slid together and trimmed the excess covering on the inside of each wing rib leaving about 1/8th of on inch to hold the covering. Next she applied some wood glue to the rods and one side of the wing and joined the two halves together. Be sure to wipe off any excess glue that may seep out for a clean finish.	05 - Next dry fit the wing strut to the wing strut base and using a pencil mark off the shape of the strut base. Using a knife carefully cut a little to the inside of the pencil marks to remove the covering from the wing strut base.	06 - Dry fit the two pieces together and make sure that you have a nice fit between the two parts. Once satisfied, simply use some medium CA to bond the two pieces together. Be sure that the two parts are perpendicular (90 degree angle). Annie used a small metal square to make sure that the strut was perfectly sitting at 90 degrees.
07 - While the wing and the strut base dry, she started on the horizontal stab and vertical stab. As she did on the wing strut and base, Annie marked off with a pencil the point the vertical stab would come in contact with the horizontal stab and removed the excess covering material.	08 - Dry fit the two pieces and taking special care not to use too much CA, Annie bonded the two parts using medium CA. The vertical stab is much smaller than the wing struts so special attention was taken to make sure not too much medium CA was used, she quickly used the metal square to insure that the vertical stab was 90 degrees to the horizontal stab.	09 - I stressed to Annie that it was very important that the two parts set at 90 degrees as with any plane you want her to fly straight. Allow ample time for the glue to setup before proceeding.
10 - The next step was to double check the slots in the horizontal and vertical stab. And also check the elevator and rudder slots that will be accepting the CA hinges that are supplied. Annie dry fitted all the CA hinges first and checked for adequate depth into the surfaces.	11 - I've been trying to show Annie how to build clean, which also means reducing the misting/haze that can sometimes come from the covering being exposed to thin CA when drying. As a result I suggested Annie apply some blue painters tape to the top and bottom of the horizontal and vertical stab about 2/16th of a inch from the edge. She then trimmed the CA hinges to proper length insuring just enough of the hinge would be inside both sides of the parts being bonded.	12 - Before using thin CA to soak the CA hinges, be sure that you have an equal sized gap on both the right and left side of the elevator. Annie simply moved the elevator 1/2 inch up and down to make sure that there was no binding of the elevator against the horizontal stab. She then, used a few drops of thin CA on each of the hinges (only 2 drops per hinge) making sure not to get any on the surfaces or blue painters tape. After a few minutes, she repeated the process on the rudder. I suggest to Annie that she rotate the part 90 degrees so that the CA would not run up and down but flow flat. After a good 15 minutes she removed the blue painters tape and the end result was a very clean surface with no white misting from the thin CA.
13 - Next she moved to the fuse again and carefully removed the clear covering from the area that the entire tail surface would sit on the fuse. Using a pencil again, she measured off to find the exact center of the bottom of the elevator stab and used this as a reference to insure it would be glued dead center. Medium CA was used.	14 - Using a knife, Annie removed all the covering material on the bottom of the wing strut. It is critical to make sure you do this as the bottom part you see exposed will be the only point at which the wing will bond with the fuse. Basically this is the point which the fuse hangs from the wing and is critical that we get a good solid bond.	15 - You will notice a piece of tape on on side of the wing strut, be sure to leave this in place as it is the C/G point which we will be balancing the plane later.
16 - Take your time on this part, if you hold up the fuse with the bottom battery cover off, you will be able to see a large rectangular section on the top of the fuse where the wing strut will slide into. Holding the fuse up to a light might make this easer to spot. You should be able to feel your way on the covering to find the area that you will need to cut out. If in doubt, cut closer to the middle of the rectangular box and work you knife outward until you come in contact with the balsa opening. Remove the excess material revealing the opening, the wing strut should slide into the fuse, it may be a snug fit and if necessary you can trim away a little material but not too much. Also, be sure the strut sits 90 degree in the slot (very important as you entire wing will be off if you're only a few degrees off. Annie used medium CA to bond the wing strut to the fuse, don't use too much but be sure to get adequate coverage as this is the key point on the plane that the fuse will hang from the wing.	17 - Once everything has dried, attach the main gear into the slots on the front of the firewall. Using the supplied screws and straps lash down the main gear wires. I suggest that Annie use a small drill bit to pre-tap the holes. I should point out that it took a little manual bending of the main gear wire together to get a proper fit into the slots.	18 - The wheels and wheel collars are supplied in the kit and are pretty straight forward to attach, just be sure not to bind the wheels. You want them to spin freely. Also, I gave Annie a bottle of "Lock Tight" so she could use a few drops to make sure the retaining screw for the wheel collar did not come off... impossible to find in grass if they come off.
19 - Here's how she should look after the gear wires and wheels are all installed.	20 - Starting to take on more of a plane look now, almost finished.	21 - Setting up the receiver and servos, just making sure both servos are centered before installing into the fuse.
22 - Installed the provided control horn for the rudder along with the simple Z-bend on the end of the push rod.	23 - Installed and attached the provided control horns on the elevator and connected it to the push rod here.	24 - Annie ended up using a scrap piece of balsa to support the rear of the servos. Once installed she simply installed the servos and after making a simple Z-bend on the end of each push rod.
25 - We decided to tie-wrap the connector on the BEC end to the scrap piece of wood supporting the rear of the servos. This keeps everything nice and clean with no wires bouncing around inside.	26 - Installed the battery pack, I'm using a Kokam 3s 1500 mAh pack with an 8C rating. Should be able to get well over 15 minutes of flight time with throttle management. Easily delivers 10 minutes at full throttle.	27 - If you look at the plane closely you will notice that there are two bamboo dowels that come out of the front and rear of the wing strut. Later (not yet) you will be using some rubber bands to lash the wing onto the wing strut base and around these bamboo dowels.
28 - Used a tie-wrap to lash down the simple speed 400 can motor and prop. Simple but should do the job.	29 - We decided to do the maiden flight close to home, so we went a few blocks down the street to test the Storch out at a near by field.	30 - Here's Annie with her Der Storch ready to go, all trimmed out and C/G checked. A bit sunny for my taste but I've learned not to argue with her when she wants to fly...
31 - A nice gentle push at full throttle and off she goes...	32 - Annie at the stick... no talking to her when she's flying.	33 - A few pictures of the Storch in flight...
34 - And another...	35 - Coming around for a landing after about 12 minutes in the air... Annie flew most of the flight at 50% throttle.	36 - Final approach... and she's ready for the 2nd battery pack.
37 - For those of you wondering, the plane has all the throws and C/G information in the construction manual.  But since you're already here looking at this page we've included all the specifications to the right. The Der Storch is Annie's little baby, it's her everyday flyer and has put many flights on it.  The next step for her is to change out the motor and controller to a Typhoon 6/20 & Tsunami-10 controller to see if we can squeeze out about 1 hour flights on a single charge.	38 - Here are the specifications for the Der Storch: Rudder Throws: 15mm right / 15mm left Elevator Throws: 8mm up / 8mm down C/G: 60mm from the leading edge Motor Used: Speed 400 can BEC Used: 15 Amp Wattage Controller Battery Used: Kokam 3s 1500 mAh 8C single pack Prop Used: 6 x 5.5 Graupner speed prop.