ClarkFlyer

Doug, I have an OS .52 4-stroke in mine and it works well. Goes a bit above scale looking speed so I run mine at maybe 75% throttle.

Having said that, I continue to have issues with this plane. I'm ready to declare it a very poorly engineered plane. Sorry I ever purchased it.

As you may have read, I replaced my landing gear with a single strut, made from 5/32nds wire. I figured it would give some bounce in my hard landings. Well, yesterday I made another hard landing and the main gear blocks ripped out of their sockets. Now.....I take responsibility for my landing, wasn't the plane's fault, but it struck me odd that the gear blocks popped out without splintering any of the surrounding wood. Makes me wonder just how much glue was holding those blocks in. It'll be an easy repair because like I said......did NO damage to any internal part of the wing.

doug52

Thanks for your insight I will go ahead with the Magnum 4 stroker. but I will inspect ALL glue joins as much as possible before I begin to assemble. I did notice that CA will not stick to whatever was used for fuel proofing in the firewall area. This seems odd to me but I have been building electric for several years now (no fuel proofing required)

Richard Say

Doug,
I am flying the Ryan on a Magnum .52. I admittedlly am a 4-stroke devote' but I think the .52 is absolutely perfect for this aircraft. The difference between this and a 2-stroke may be a couple ounces. The slight weight gain however is up front where you usually need it in this size aircraft. The real bonus is the sound and the different type of power that it delivers, which is perfect for this plane. Mine is very happy with an 11 - 7 1/2 prop. I hope that I have convinced you. Also, I have 3 magnum 4-strokes, and am very happy with all of them.
Sincerely
Dick Say

doug52

Richard
Thank You for your advice. My concern has been wing loading and the reports that the wings "flex". I inspected the wing and have found that there is quite a bit of flex just inboard of the wing rib next to the aileron. looking inside the servo bay I found that the wing spars are made of balsa! I feel that this is inadequate for a model of this size. I am considering skinning the covering in front of the spar and adding carbon-fiber re-enforcement. On another note I can't quite get the Magnum 52 quite far enough back on the engine mounts did you use a different mount ?

Sincerly
Doug Casel

Richard Say

I used the mount that was fornished, but had to grind off one of the bolt heads to move the engine back on the mount.

Richard Say

Here is the latest flying mis-adventure with the Ryan STA. After I flew twice on Sunday 8/28 and made the second landing ( I thought the craft was difficult to control just before touchdown ) I saw that the wing was drooping badly at the trailing edge when I was taxiing back to the flightline. The wing mounting bolt had fallen out!!!
Call me Lucky Dick!
Dick Say

MerlinFan

My Feedback: (27)

I concur with all the complaints about hardware and wing flex. If someone pulls the wings off one I hope we'll hear about it in this fourm. Mine has dubro 2 3/4" wheels. What were they thinking when they put those tiny wheels in the kit. Have new tailwheel too kit's, was way out of round. Am using an AXI 2826 with 4200 3 cell lipo. Good for 20 min flights. This is my second 4 ch plane and my first low wing. I've got 8 flights with about 12 landings (none hard yet) I have my doubts about the gear and wings longevity. Havent put the pants on yet. Dick, your pics look great I like the way you painted your wheel pants silver. HL

Cubano8

Here's a Video of a SA Ryan that I took. The plane belongs to a fellow club member. He also noticed the Flexing on the wing the day he maidened it, and he strengthen the wing. Next time I see him I will take a photo of the plane, and post it here. I believe he had a .46 on that flight, and recently changed it to a .32.

The landing was not pretty, but the plane is still intact:

[link=http://www.ercflight.com/SARYAN.wmv]http://www.ercflight.com/SARYAN.wmv[/link]

MerlinFan

My Feedback: (27)

OUCH!! How much do your Ryans weigh, mine is 4 1/2 lb with 1 oz of lead and a true turn spinner for nose weight. 13x10 apc elec prop.

doug52

I have not finished mine yet , but I too feel the wings are way too flexible. I skinned back the covering in front of the main spar are reinforced with carbon fiber and epoxy. The spars and the round leading edge are all balsa. A fiberglass arrow shaft leading edge and lite-ply main spar would fix this wing!

Richard Say

Hi Fellas,
Here are my problems/remedies experience with the Ryan STA. I use 2 3/4" wheels and enlarged the openings in the pants to the maximum (without changing the shape of the pants) that I could. The struts broke so I replaced them with light aluminum struts. The wings construction, while semingly fragile, will hold up to spins, loops and rolls, etc. The pants can be repaired with vynil tape and painted over for a nearly invisible repair. The strut screws and wing hold down bolt should be checked after every flight. I plan on purchasing an extra set of pants to hold in reserve. They wont last forever. Finally, I power mine with a Magnum .52 four cycle. I added no weight. I fly at about 1/2 to 2/3 throttle and do my limited aerobatics at that throttle setting. When landing, I go to dead idle and feed in up as the speed bleeds off. I hope this adds to the info base on the Ryan. Dick Say

Richard Say

Hi Folks,
OK - I give up on the wheel pants. If the grass is more than 1/4 inch deep, they cause a problem. I took them off tonight for good and spent the rest of the evening doing touch and gos'. What I would like to know is; has anyone seen a picture of the full size STA (PT-16) without the wheel pants. It would just make me feel better if I could get a pic of one without pants. Also there might be some details I could copy. Let me know.
Thanks
Dick Say

old bird

Dick Say, I went and Googled the Ryan STA right after I was given the plane as a present. There are lots of information available, and pictures. I wasn't looking for a picture with no wheel pants so I can't say for sure. I haven't got mine in the air, too busy flying the T-34 and the Seagull Zero while our weather is holding. I did notice that the wing stiffened up a lot after I shrunk all of the wrinkles out of the covering. Mine looked like a prune after being in Nevada for a month, but that is standard here. Your input here has been encouraging and I'll be heeding most of your tips. I really want to put this old OS .61 4-stroke in the STA, but it is 3.5 ounces heavier that your Magnum .52. I don't know if I can move the battery back far enough. We will see.

Best regards from old bird.

MerlinFan

My Feedback: (27)

Sorry Dick, I couldn't find a pic of afull size sta/pt16 without pants there was one on google but it was a great planes model which is more scale.
Also, I havent seen an sta without a curved windshield. The flat windscreens seem to be on the PT22s. However don't fret, it's a great trainer for your beautiful Fiat G-50. I'm assuming it hasn't flown yet because in your pic the wings are unpainted. My STA is a stepup plane to a KMP Hurricane. First I'll assemble my Hangar 9 p51 and GP Tiger Moth. I still have to decide on glow or elec. If someone made decent onboard sound I'd go electric for sure. Moth has OS 91, P51 has AXI 4130 @ 22 volts. I,m on 2 wk vacation can't wait to fly my Ryan again. HL

Richard Say

Hi Old Bird, Merlin Fan & all,
Maybe this winter I will convert the STA to a PT 22 or something. Thanks for the compliments on the Fiat G-50. I will be painting the wing pretty soon and will post pics. I am also cutting out parts for a Mitsubishi Ki-51 from my plans which I will post as I get into the construction. I am at that stage in my life when I am only scratchbuilding those aircraft which have always been favorites on my must do list. My Seagull Zero ARF was a fine flyer and real high quality product.
Unfortunantly, it only lasted for 2 flights. MY OWN FAULT. As you will note in the photos, I painted it in camoflage colors. When I was flying bye across the field, with trees in the background behind the aircraft, it literally became invisible and I crashed it. Live & learn!
Have a great day
Nice talking with you
Dick Say

doug52

Richard
http://www.airminded.net/
Holcombs Aerodrome has some pictures and some original drawings of the Ryan have not seen any without the wheel pants cut-away view shows the flying wires attaching to the rear of the wheel pant. I have seen but could not locate a picture of the PT 20 without wheel pants.
Doug Case

ClarkFlyer

I'm test flying my Ryan today after modifying the landing gear and wing.

I've had 6 flights with this plane and on three landings, the gear came off. The problem is they use very thin plywood for the wire to mount to and there just isn't much area for the glue to stick to. And as somebody mentioned, the wing is flexing because of a very light spar and a maybe 5/32 leading edge.

I pulled the covering off and ran a 1/4 hardwood dowel across 4 ribs and then recovered.
I took an aluminum landing gear from an old trainer and mounted it on the bottom front of the wing, building support mounts on both the inside and outside of the wing. Attached the gear with nylon 1/4 20 bolts. While it isn't scale anymore, it looks great and appears to be much stronger than the original landing gear.

I also replaced the wing supports with airfoil shaped aluminum and replaced the elastic lines with light cable using turnbuckles. The dowels in the wings and these cables make for a very solid wing.

Hope this thing works....I'm getting pretty tired of rebuilding every time I fly.

Mavrick 15

My Feedback: (3)

hay everyone, I just bought a .46 la and i am looking for plane to put it in. Would you recommend this plane or not? And has anyone tried to make fiberglass wheel pants?

ClarkFlyer

No, this is a very poorly engineered plane. The 40 LA would probably do it but you'd be at a scale speed with nothing to spare. I haven't tried to make fiberglass wheel pants. I'm afraid I wouldn't know where to start.

Richard Say

Hi Folks,
Thanks for keeping me in mind. If you run across an STA (pic) without wheelpants - let me know. I definitely would not recomend the STA to anyone. A better choice for the O.S. .46 would be a Global T-34 or a Seagull Zero. Both are well engineered and great flyers. They are in the same price range and can sometimes be found on E-Bay for even less. Lets all think about converting the STA to a PT-22 or something, eh.
Have a great day
Dick Say

Richard Say

Hi Merlin Fan & Folks,
I just painted the Fiat G-50 wings and posted a few pics.
Dick Say

Richard Say

Hi Folks,
I just had an idea concerning the wheel pants problem with the STA. I am going to find out if they can be ordered as replacement parts. If so, the next time I install them I will trim a 1/2 inch off the TOP of the upper end to raise the wheel pant. I think that would solve the problem (for me) of the pants getting caught in the grass. Also, I will put balsa spacers IN the gear cover sides to prevent the side to side movement of the pants. What do you think?
Dick Say

ClarkFlyer

Dick, you may have a good idea. How would you attach the pants with the flanges removed?

Well, I flew my STA after modifying the gear and the wing. Problem was, I forgot to rebalance the plane after doing all that. It flew well but when I went to land, it wouldn't flare.......too heavy in the nose. I landed three times and on the last landing, I broke a landing gear plastic bolt, which was no biggie. My modified gear held up well. The wing also did not flex. Another small modification.....I extended the needle vale so it protrudes underneath the cowl. I wasn't liking reaching into the cowl to adjust the valve, worrying about both the prop and the muffler. I think maybe I finally have it. I sure do enjoy watching this plane fly by slow, hearing that 4 stroke...cool looking plane.

Its just a shame that they engineered it so poorly. It makes me suspect of any Sportsman Aviation planes. Has anybody had any experience with any of their other products?

Richard Say

dsk,
Glad to hear you are having some good luck with your STA. The wheel pants/landing gear fairings could probably be attached at the top (if shortened) with nylon 90 degree brackets. Another possibility would be a hard balsa flange permanently attached to the wing which the fairing could be epoxied or pinned into. I do think raising the whole assembly would solve a lot of problems.
Dick Say

Richard Say

dsk,
Eureka!!! Iv'e got it. A plug attached permanently to the wing that the landing gear fairing would slide onto and be secured with screws or other. How does that sound.
Dick Say