ghendrix01

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Hi All,

In the mid 90's I bought a Kyosho Piper Seneca from a guy complete minus the radio system. It was fairly small using 2, .10 engines (51 inch w/s). After I corrected the thrust on the engines, it flew pretty nice. Unfortunately, I sold it cause it was so small (bad eyes with age). I copied the plans with the intention of scratch building a new one at some time. Well, now is the time, but since the eyes are not any better, I took the plans to Kinkos an had them enlarged to about 1.5X (now 84 inch w/s). I have the wing built and just started the tail feathers.

I haven't decided on what size engines to use. I was thinking .46 two stroke, but also thought maybe .25 two stroke. Any suggestions?

I will post some pics as soon as I get the thing framed up completely and then more after it is covered. It may be a little heavy as I am using balsa thickness based on the enlargement (well, not quite as thick as the enlargement would indicate). I'm also using more servos than the smaller version.

George

Toolman-RCU

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George, I had an RCM Piper Seneca and am currently bulding another. I have a thread going on the forum right now concerning the build. The RCM model is 84" and weighs about 12 lbs. I am running twin Surpass .70's and is adequately powered but not overpowered. I would not use anything less than your .46 two strokes especially if you end up heavy. I am curious as to the type of construction the Kyosho has, because it is almost impossible to build this type of plane light. Please post some photos when you can.

ghendrix01

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Toolman-RCU,

The Kyosho Seneca was all balsa. It was quite light and flew well after I adjusted the down thrust on the engines. The fuse is completely balsa and all of the formers are wide open which helped with the weight. The ribs were complete but just 1/16 balsa. I never weighec it but I would have been surprised if it weighed more than 5 lbs. It was small.

I used 1/8 balsa for the ribs which is probably overkill. I also used 3/32 balsa sheeting and most of the wing is sheeted. I don't have an accurate scale so I can't weigh the wing. It feels a bit heavy. I probably should have hollowed out the ribs. I haven't decided on whether to frame up the ailerons or use solid material. Framing would cut down on the weight, though.

The engine nacelles on the original were also balsa with ply engine bearers. I plan to use nylon engine mounts instead with a 3/16 firewall. My major problem now is finding a fuel tank that will fit in the nacelle behind the firewall in front of the leading edge of the wing. I may have to cut into the leading edge and reinforce it with ply just to fit an 8 oz tank. Not much flight time with that size tank and .46 engines. Oh well, I never stay in the air more than 5 minutes anyway.

I'll post pics when I get further along. I have just finished the vertical fin and rudder.

George

ghendrix01

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Here are a couple of pics of the wing and vert fin/rudder.

Toolman,

Whow, does your version have lots of fuse formers. The one I'm building has only 9 formers. I'll post pics of the fuse when I get to it. Building the hor stab and elevator right now.

George

ghendrix01

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Here are some pics of the engine nacelles. They're almost ready do join to the wing.

George

ghendrix01

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More pics. All major parts now built.

George

ghendrix01

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Well, the Seneca is finished except for windows and canopy. I have yet to get some material and make a mold for them. Here are some pics of it as of now. Guess I can list specs: Power - Tower Hobby 46 (2 of course), 7 servos, Hitec receiver, Futaba Super 7 tx, 1200mA battery. It weighs 9.5lbs. WS = 82" and L = 58". Started cutting parts Dec 28, 2004. Finished covering March 7, 2005. I hope you all like it.

George

ghendrix01

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On another note, a RCU member contacted me via email asking for a copy of the original Kyosho plans. I need that person to email me again I have lost all of my email contacts due to a system crash.

George

mike s

George:
The Seneca looks great, looks like you did a ecellent job. I requested the orginal plans.
[email protected].
Again if you e-mail me I can send you a money order for copying and postage.
Thanks

My address is
Mike
1148 Sky Ridge Dr. Pittsburgh PA 15241

dgliderguy

George,

I've got a Kyosho Seneca kit coming, that I won on Ebay (for a mere $47). Can you tell me what you did to adjust the engine thrust?

Thanks,

Don.

ghendrix01

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Don.

The original Seneca I had was built by someone else. I bought it complete minus radio equipment. With this in mind, if built correctly, you might not need to adjust the engine thrust. I only found the problem during the first flight. The plane would climb with increase in engine speed.

I would check the thrust during construction, before completing the cowl area around each engine. Check the angle of the mount rails relative to the wing. The down thrust should be 1 to 1.5 degrees if I remember correctly. If it is wrong, you should be able to adjust the rails by adding a wedge shape to the top of the rails. That is what I did, but since the cowl area was already complete, the spinners had a larger gap at the top than at the bottom. I calculated the thickness of the wedge and then made them from hard plywood.

When I built the enlarged version, I checked the angle of the firewall relative to the wing when I mounted the nacelles to the wing. I have yet to fly the enlarged version but hope it will fly as well as the original. After I got the thrust correct, it was a pleasure to fly with one problem, that being my eyes. It was too small. Thats why I built the enlarge version.

Good luck building and flying it.

George