 |
|
|
The Hanger 9 Das Ugly Stick is sold only as an ARF (almost ready to fly) kit. It comes in two sizes, 40 and 60. Only the 40 size will be reviewed here. The all balsa and plywood construction in addition to the plastic wing and horizontal stab tips combine to make the Ugly Stick a very rugged model. The wing is a standard D-tube structure with an extensively sheeted center section providing exceptional strength. The kit includes a clearly photo illustrated instruction manual making assembly simple and straight forward even for the beginning builder. The kit also comes complete with all necessary hardware short of radio equipment, engine and propeller. Though very colorful and attractive, the quality of the covering was a bit disappointing and has proven to be less than rugged. Being a contact paper type covering, the glue does not hold up well to fuel and tends to peel a little around the edges and corners. That being said, the covering on the Ugly Stick is certainly no worse than typical ARFs and is adequate. Hanger 9 bills the Ugly Stick as an excellent basic or intermediate trainer or full blown aerobatic "barn burner." It certainly is all of those things. Beginning pilots have had great success learning to fly with this aircraft because of its toughness and gentle landing characteristics though it is very responsive and can perform all sport and aerobatic maneuvers such as tight loops, rolling circles, inverted flight, vertical climbs and outstanding outside loops. The Das Ugly Stick has no serious structural weaknesses and can be built exactly according to the plans with more than adequate results. Building the Stick in this manner makes it perfect as a trainer. However, many modifications were made during the construction of this kit but most were out of personal preference rather than necessity. The most important modification made to this kit was the wing dihedral. The Stick comes with a built in dihedral of about 15°. In this kit, almost all the dihedral was removed to make the plane more aerobatic and to enhance inverted flight. Another change was the landing gear. By design, the Stick is configured with a "trike" style landing gear and for the sake of simplicity it was converted to a "tail dragger." A fiberglass main gear was mounted using nylon bolts and a Dubro tail wheel was installed. Another deviation from the plans was in the way the wing is attached. The plans called for a rubber band hold-down but because this kit was to be used as an everyday plane, it was decided that nylon bolts would be more convenient. As more of a quality concern than preference, the aileron control linkages turned out to be rather sloppy and aileron deflection was very limited. After considering several alternatives it was decided that the installation of separate servos mounted in each wing would provide the most stable and responsive throw for the ailerons with a slight sacrifice in weight. In retrospect, this may have been over kill but there is certainly no substitute for duel aileron servos in terms of durability and responsiveness. Other preference type modifications included cutting the ailerons back from the wing tips 1.5" to form solid wing tips and using Flexible Golden Rod for the throttle rather than the rods supplied. All control surface gaps were covered with film to help prevent flutter and hinges were pegged with toothpicks to prevent them from coming loose during flight. Installation of the servos and receiver is simple as there is plenty of room in the fuselage for everything. An Enya CX .45 was chosen for this model and balancing came out perfectly without any need for weights or shuffling of equipment. The model was also checked for lateral balance and it too was perfect. Adjustment of the throws on this model makes a huge difference between a gentle trainer and an aerobatic sport model. The large rudder provides plenty of control for windy conditions as well as some spectacular aerobatics. On the first flight, the Ugly Stick lifted off the ground quite authoritatively and after dialing in a few clicks of down trim it flew very straight and true. With the throws set at full deflection, rolls and loops were violent and the plane responded instantaneously to maximum inputs. On the other hand, the Stick's ability to bleed off speed during landing approach was very impressive and it touched down as gently as any trainer. The Ugly Stick flies great with no wing dihedral and performs very well as a tail dragger proving all the modifications made to the kit to be worth while. The Hanger 9 Das Ugly Stick is certainly a rugged and well designed model capable of meeting the needs of the beginning pilot as well as satisfying the demands of the more advanced sport flyer. It's ability to withstand hard landings together with its gentle and predictable flight characteristics make the Ugly Stick an excellent "every day" type of model regardless of the pilot's skill level. There are many manufacturers of Sticks on the market. The Ugly Stick can be found for under $100 which is less than most but it is certainly among the best in it's quality and reliability. |
|