Fly Electric!

'Sizzler'

Looking for some excitement in your life? Why not try SIZZLER? With a Speed 400 and 8 Nicads you can enjoy exciting performance even in the strongest of winds. 36.5" (927mm) wing and under 19oz (535g). Great fun!

The plane is very slippery with a thin wing, small fuz and almost no protrusions. As a result it climbs well from a firm hand launch and has a fast cruise at less than full throttle. This means 6 or 7 minute flights are common from 800's. It has a very brisk roll rate if you want it, but can do really long, slow rolls and reasonable four-pointers if you try. It has enough power for quite large loops. Being a semi-symetrical wing inverted flight is less effective but still OK. My favourite manouevours are slow rolls and the inverted 'Derry' turn. We have three at our club already and I don't think any of us have experienced any bad behaviour from the model. However, you do need bold colours and don't take your eye off it as it won't be anywhere near where you last saw it; it uses up a lot of sky! I guess this means the model is not suitable for beginners! Landings are not difficult although you do need to let the speed bleed off before approaching the patch and then hold it level a few inches off the deck until it settles. Battery changes are a breeze through the front hatch. The wing is removeable but I think the plane is also small enough for most of us to transport without bothering to remove the wing so it really is a pleasure to use. The servos and Rx are all behind the wing so despite its small size, nothing is crampted. I retain the front hatch with an internal rubber band (PicoJet style) so you don't need any tools to go flying.

Latest version (v3)
51 kb
Previous version (v2)
39 kb

The model is fairly easy to build and my latest one took just three evenings and a Saturday morning to put together. The wing is built from standard balsa (36" lengths) and uses an MH33 airfoil. I've used 1/32" balsa but 1/16" will be fine and is preferred if you can't find light 1/32". Glue the printed rib shapes to thin cardboard to make templates. With just 14 ribs they don't take long to cut. The aileron linkages are a little 'creative' but are easy to install if you screw the servo to the bearers before inserting and gluing them into the fuz. This approach yields rigid controls and no obstructions under the wing. Tape hinges are probably OK but I have used 'proper' mylar hinges as they are more solid.

The nose is a little tricky to curl around the motor bulkhead but the 'step' created between F1 and F2 helps. Curl each layer of the fuz in stages using medium or thick Cyano and accelerator to speed things up. The central crutch around the two formers under the wing helps keep the front and centre of the fuz straight. However, I found the best way of keeping the tail section straight has been to complete the middle and nose first. Then lay the fuz on its side and prop the rear-most point up by about 17mm (the fuz should be about 47mm wide under the wing and 13mm at the tail so half the difference is 17mm). Then glue the bottom sheeting to the sides which locks everything in place. Finally add the cross grain top sheet along the tail.

I use a Multiplex Permax 400 6v motor and would recommend this above the Graupner. I advance the timing by about 3mm (rotate the back plate in the opposite direction to motor direction). The prop is, of course, the unbeatable Gunther push-on although some like the carbon or CAM varieties. A 6x3 folder would reduce the risk of bending a motor shaft but none of us have done this yet with the Gunther's. The cooling holes seem very effective and the motor barely gets warm at 12-13A. 8x800 AR Nicads are probably the best cells, and clearly 500 AR's and 600 AE's are very effective as they are lighter. I've also been using HE 1100 NiHMs with great success but they have less punch than the AR's and take much longer to charge at 1C.

I use Supertech Naro HP BB 1.5kg servos for elevator and ailerons and have a fixed rudder. I'm using a Schulz ESC but any one suitable for the cells and current should do. I'm using the new ACT Pico 4uP Rx which at just 6.7g with a standard crystal is lighter than the smallest GWS and has a full 1km range with a half-length aerial. It goes a little bezerk when antennae are in line with each other so a little care with the direction of the Tx aerial is needed to achieve the claimed performance. Any small Rx should do.

More building instructions are shown on the plans. As usual I have Adobe Acrobat PDF versions which everyone should be able to open. PDF's print to different sizes on different printers so I provide three sizes. Download the correct paper size, double-click to open the self-extracting file, print the first page and measure the 'reference line' to decide which is the most accurate size. I also provide various CAD versions for those who prefer these (note that I use metric whereas many packages default to imperial). Let me know if you have trouble opening any files and I will try to help.

'PDF' A4 paper (156kb)
'PDF' Letter paper (152kb)

'TCW' CAD file (112kb)
'DXF' CAD file (112kb)
'DWG' CAD file (148kb)

Some construction photos follow to guide you. As usual, let me know if you have any queries or suggestions and I will be pleased to share your experiences and photos if you care to send them to me. Enjoy... you won't be disappointed! Please note that you may build the plane, modify it, do almost anything you like, except hold me responsible for anything or profit from my design.

Wing before top sheeting
21 kb
Closer view of wing centre with liteply central ribs
20 kb
Fuz crutch and 1/64 ply doubler (ignore triangular cutouts near front)
23 kb
1/64 ply bent and glued first
27 kb
trim top and bottom of nose with straight edge (viewed from the side)
17 kb
Rear radio compartment; note aileron controls
32 kb
Front motor/battery section
48 kb

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