LiteSTICK Construction
As mentioned, you MUST add the dihedral string across the wings. All the other changes shown are VERY optional. I basically started out to build it "stock" but as you can see by the results, I'm just really bad at following directions (:-) and the other other mods just kind of happened as I was going along. The total weight as shown here with the additional 7th cell is 7.3 ounces.

close-ups of the fuselage showing the GWS 6 gram servos, Hitec "Feather" receiver and 7-cell 270 NiMH pack. The first picture shows the new position of the motor. See pictures below for how to do this.

Power package showing the motor, battery pack and the Jeti 5A speed control. One of the problems with really small components like this is that can get easily misplaced. I also have a Castle Creations 5A ESC but it's currently AWOL (:-)

On the right you can see the thin hardwood strips applied to the side of the fuse to fill up the hole in the motor mount. I also sanded down the height of the mount to allow the motor to fit this way instead of sideways.

Note that it's now impossible to slide the other plastic bits on or off like would be possible if you leave this alone. You could also do the same thing but more quickly by simply cutting off 1.5" or so of the motor stick. Glue it on sideways overlapping it by about 1/2". For a strong joint you can can bind the joint with thread, but this is not needed, and may even be a bad idea: what I do is to glue the pieces with medium CA and use kicker to make the joint more brittle. A few people have complained about bending propshafts and this way, the wood joint will give way before any metal gets bent.

The special NYBLIMP servo mount. It's made from hardwood Starbucks coffee stirrers. The servos simply slide in sideways and are held in place by the small green rubber bands. It's easy to make, very light, and doesn't require and tools or small screws to (VERY quickly) install or remove the servos. I came up with this to use on my small blimps, but it's also perfect for any small planes that use fuselage booms. Unfortunately it's not possible to use it on designs with an actual cabin.

I made the pushrods from .040" carbon fiber rod which is the largest size that would pass through the holders. Each rod was made in 2 separate halves and joined in the middle with heat shrink tubing (the thickened section).

The instructions say that the fuse is pre-drilled to accept the tail skid. Mine wasn't and I chose to make a new skid with a U-shaped base that I attached to the fuse with sewing thread and CA. It weighs only a fraction of a gram more but is a lot less likely to get wobbly and fall off.

The antenna for the Feather rx is very long. I poked a couple of holes in the fin to thread it through, but a lot of it still hangs back.

I first attached the dihedral string to both wingtips using impossible-to-photograph clear plastic tabs, but came to like the method shown below even better.

You can also see the tip of a .050" carbon rod that spans the leading edge of the wing panel. I added these to both wing panels and to the horizontal stab. I held them in place by scotch taping them in a couple of spots and then covering their entire length with very thin holographic shiny tape. Together the tape and rods added about 6 grams but provide a lot of visibility and resistance to accidental dings.

The second picture shows the small music wire fitting I made to attach the 2 pieces of thread. Make the thread just a little longer than needed and then adjust it to the exact length by putting a simple knot on either side. Keep adding knots until you get it right.

The better way to attach the dihedral thread is to tape thin rods to the wingtips. The rods can be relatively flimsy, but tape them along the full length of the tip to spread the load. (These pictures show the ugly blue tape simply because it's easier to photograph. If you end up using this methold use any sort of strong clear Scotch tape to hold the dowels in place).


BTW, I found that it apparently had enough power to ROG off grass, but the gear is short enough that the prop hit the grass as soon as the tail gets light. It would make progress, and look "almost, just about, ready-to-fly" and otherwise struggle valiantly, but it never actually took off.


Future things to fiddle with:

Some people have had trouble getting the hinges to work easily without binding. The HINGE PAGE shows the special tool (:-) I use to make this a fool-proof operation. The stock motor mount is simple and it works very well. However, I don't like how the sideways mount works, and it's a little difficult to mount in other ways, locations. My new, improved gearbox makes mounting easier and neater. Click here for gearbox info.
YOUR PICTURE HERE

YOUR INFO HERE
As mentioned above, the Sticks require some additional dihedral. Here's how to add a dihedral string to the PicoStick

If you like the LiteStick (who doesn't?) and plan to stick with this hobby you should start thinking about getting a good slow/fast charger. Many models are available from AstroFlight, Hitec, FMA and many others. You should plan on spending around $100 or so for a good one that you won't outgrow. In the meantime you can get by with spending only $5 or so to adapt the wall charger included with the Hitec 3SS radio to charge your battery. Click here for info on doing this.

E-mail me HERE to send in pictures and info about your own LiteSTICK or if you have any questions.

Click HERE to see my second Litestick with even weirder mods (:-)

There have been visitors to the LiteSTICK page since 9/10/2000.

To get some super-light heat-shrink tubing to wrap batteries and ESCs, click HERE.
To get some super-light sparkly tape shown in the pictures click HERE.

Go to NYBLIMP.COM

Go to NYBLIMP.COM, Get Buttons
Click above if you don't have navigation buttons at the top of your screen.