OK, thats a big picture, but I'm pretty proud of this little plane, it is my first kit built plane!! I bought the kit shortly after I soloed, and planned on it being my second plane. Well its a good thing I got the Voyager as a second plane, because I am a SLLOOOOOWWWWW builder. This is a lot like the trim scheme I want to use on my Cap232. What do you think?
Modifications
I didn't build this exactly as per the plans. First off, I didn't want another trike gear plane. The Tiger 2 builds as a trike, but it wasn't too hard to modify it to be a taildragger. If you are building a Tiger 2 and would like to know how I did it, shoot me an e-mail. I also decided the control surfaces were a little too small, so I indesciminantly enlarged them. Actually, I had to make a new elevator, as the balsa stock supplied with the kit for the elevator was horribly warped. So rather than spend a week of effort to straighten it out, I spent two bucks for a new, straighter, larger piece of balsa. Then I kind of eyeballed a bigger rudder from the plans, with interesting side effects.
Building....
What fun! not exactly. I am told that this airplane is a pretty easy build. The experienced builders spreading this rumor are probably right, as the skills it took to build it were not that great. But since this is my first kit, I took it slow, and was very picky. I decided early on to deviate from the plans a little bit, and that complicated matters. My biggest problem came from a combination of beginner ignorance and bad wood. The sheeting for the wing was warped. I figured
I would just glue it on straight, and it would dry that way. Wrong. It caused the wing to warp to the sheeting. I was able to fix it over about a week of wetting the wing, and placing weight (a hammer) on the high side. Repeat every night for 7 nights and the wing is straight as an arrow. I encountered other instances of poor wood quality with this kit. I had to abandon the cornice on the bottom of the wing, it fell apart in my hands. Thats alright,
it flies just fine without it, and saves a little weight.
Flying!
This little Tiger is just plain fun! Take off is simple, and landing is a breeze. The landings are perfect. It comes in at any speed you like, and drops nicely when you let off the gas. A little up elevator flare, and that's it. The only problem I have with the airframe is a concequence of the engine selection. The prop blast from the YS 45 is too much for the thin little cheek cowl. It vibrates like wooden tuning fork at full throttle.
The only other problem I have is my own making. Since I made the rudder so much larger, it causes the plane to pitch down pretty sharply when you give it full rudder. I will have to mix that out with the radio. Aside from that, this plane will do it all. The powerful engine and large control surfaces make hovering a possibility, as soon as I learn how to do it.
Update
It is one week later, and I have mixed out the rudder problem. It will now knife edge all day long, it will even climb in knife edge. Stall turns look beautiful, and are much easier than the Kangke. I am going to put some flying wires on the tail surfaces. You can really wring this plane out, and I don't want those nice light stick built stabs to break.
Update #2
The Tiger just about met its death today. I put a new APC 10x7 prop on the YS, and Oh BOY!!!, does this baby really move! Too fast, it turns out. I encountered some nearly fatal flutter of the ailerons. The problem was the torque rods, which are glued right into the light balsa ailerons. They were not strong enough to hold position at mach 2, and they enlarged the holes they were in. FLUTTER!!!! I was able to back the throttle off and land the plane with a combination of rudder control and VERY sloppy aileron response. I am of the opinion that better wood might have not experienced this problem. I have had many instances of poor wood quality with this kit, which is truly unfortunate, because it is such a great little plane.
If you have any questions about this plane or just want to talk about our hobby, E-mail me!
