Lanier RC: Staudacher S600

Model Airplane News, Feb 2001 by Onorato, Jim

MAA- and ]MAC-legal, scale aerobatic airplane kits and ARFs are all the fashion these days-from Lasers to Extras to Giles to CAPs and now Staudachers. Bubba Spivey of Lanier RC* has come out with two versions of the Staudacher: the 5300 and the S600. Both are 31.5 percent kits and differ only in their canopies and forward hatches; the 5300 is a single-seater, and the S600 is a two-seater. I chose the Staudacher S600, but to see how the Staudacher looks in both configurations, I also built an S300 canopy and forward hatch.

THE KIT The Staudacher continues Lanier's BFPP (balsa, foam, ply and plastic) concept that has been successful in their other large-scale kits. Lanier has made several recent improvements, and the Staudacher benefits from these refinements. Top-grade lite-ply is used instead of lauan, and many of the plywood and balsa parts are laser- or router-cut. The only ABS plastic parts are the cowl and wheel pants, and Lanier has optional fiberglass replacements. The Staudacher has symmetrical, foam-core wings, built-up tail feathers and a lite-ply, hardwood and balsa fuselage. This kit doesn't contain hardware, but it lists everything needed. The plan's two rolled sheets are AutoCAD-generated and show plenty of detail. Surprisingly, the wing is drawn to 3/4 scale, the fuselage to Ifr scale, and the tail group is drawn full size. Fortunately, this wasn't much of a problem since only the tail group is built over the plan. The 19-page instruction booklet contains step-by-step written instructions and plenty of photos.

I used Great Planes* 6- and 30-minute Pro Epoxy on the plywood parts and thin and medium Pro CA on the balsa and plastic parts. I attached the wing sheeting to the foam-cores with Zap* Finishing Resin. I used Robart* Super Hinge points on all the control surfaces, and Sullivan* fuel tank, wheels, tail wires and pushrods.

BUILDING THE WING The wing is tapered and has a symmetrical airfoil. The wing-panel foam-cores are precut; be careful with them, because the feathered trailing edges (TEs) are delicate. When viewed from the leading edge (LE), each core's top surface is flat, and the bottom is tapered. I marked the top of each wing panel so I wouldn't be confused later. I used white glue to fix the fiber wing-spar tubes in the foam-cores, and I used epoxy on the eight hardwood spars.

The wing panels must be partially sheeted as follows: from the forward spar to the LE, from the rear spar to the TE and 10 inches of the center section at the root. I trued all the sheets and edge-glued them with white glue. I attached the skins to the foam-cores with a very thin coat of Zap Finishing Resin. While the epoxy was curing, I sandwiched the partially sheeted core between its foam packing pieces on my pool table, covered the core with a piece of wood, added six 5-pound bags of lead shot and let the epoxy cure overnight. The instructions tell you to do both sides of a panel at the same time, but I found this a little tricky, so I did them one at a time. I used balsa sticks to simulate capstripping.

Next, I attached the LEs and endcaps and cut out the ailerons and servo wells. I placed the wing panels in their foam packing pieces to keep them square as I cut out the ailerons on my band saw. I covered the exposed edges of the wing and aileron with balsa. I used five large Robart hinge points, an FMA* 355M servo (103 oz.-in. torque) and a Rocket City* swivel link with a 4-40 pushrod for each aileron.

TAIL GROUP I built the fin and rudder over the plan with 3A-inch balsa stripwood and some She-inch laser-cut balsa parts that I first laminated. The fin post is a piece of %-inch lite-ply. The stab and elevator halves are built in the same way as the fin and rudder are, but the elevator halves aren't joined because each is controlled by its own servo. I inserted slices of %-inch dowel into the fin and stab to reinforce the points to which the tail wires would be attached. I used the cable from two Sullivan tail-wire kits that come with both cable and Kevlar. (Don't fly the Staudacher without tail wires!) I used three medium Robart hinge points per control surface for the rudder and elevator hinges. In the fuselage's rear I mounted two Futaba* servos for the rudder and two for the elevator.

FUSELAGE Before I started to work on the fuselage, I removed the excess wood from the sides, doublers and top former and sanded the edges to remove tabs, notches and fuzz.

Then I followed the instructions to assemble the fuselage.

When it came time to sheet the turtle deck, I dampened the balsa sheeting with a mixture of ammonia and water so that it would bend around the formers without cracking. I particularly like the carbon-fiber tube; it's permanently fixed in the fuse and slides over the aluminum wing spar. This prevents the wing spars from wearing away at the holes in the fuse sides and causing the wing panels to loosen.

The removable forward hatch and canopy frame can be built according to the plan. Be sure to cover the fuselage top former with wax paper before you begin, or you won't be able to remove the hatch and canopy easily. Since I was modeling both the S600 and the S300, I built two canopy frames and two forward hatches. The 5600 has a long canopy and a short forward hatch, and the 5300 has just the opposite. Since the combined length of the two pieces is the same for both versions, they are interchangeable. The same fuselage top former is used for both the 5600 and the 5300, so it incorporates enough slots to accommodate either version.