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The Lanier Stinger .40 is a scale-like mid-wing sport plane with excellent aerobatic characteristics and a realistic appearance in the air. The Stinger features full-length ailerons and a symmetrical airfoil as well as balsa sheeted foam wings, ABS cowl, turtledeck and wheel pants. The airfoil is thick (about the same as a Stick), the tail surfaces are very large, and the fuselage is quite tall making the Stinger an excellent stunt plane yet very capable of slow, gentle flight. This kit is by no means an ARF (almost ready to fly) and poses a reasonable challenge to the novice builder. The kit comes with no hardware other than a very well designed main landing gear with built-in toe-in. This makes a great kit for those picky builders who have definite ideas about what kind of control rods, hinges, engine mounts, etc. that they want to use or who have an old wreck sitting around that they want to cannibalize.The instructions are simply typed up pages with no pictures but the full sized plans are excellent and provide all details needed by an experienced builder. The kit's wood quality is excellent and the die-cut pieces are easily removed and require no trimming or sanding. The ABS parts are also well designed and can be cut exactly on the perforated lines with confidence. The wings come as two foam cores with slots in the top and bottom for balsa spars. The fuselage is 3/16" sheets with 1/8" lite ply around the wing saddle and 3/8" tri-stock reinforcement. The tail section is built from 1/4" balsa square sticks with a 1/4" wood dowel joining the two elevator halves. There is an adequate supply of materials in the kit to allow for a couple of miss-cuts without coming up short. At a price of $49, the Stinger kit is a remarkable buy and depending on the spare parts on hand, the Stinger can be built very inexpensively. Construction of this kit began with the wings. The balsa spars were glued in place and the sheeting was installed using 3M spray contact adhesive. The plans called for flat 3/16" wing tips but 3/8" rounded wing tips were used instead for structural and aesthetic reasons. Also, the full-length ailerons were cut back 3/4" to form solid wing tips. In addition, the ailerons were tapered at the trailing edge and Du-Bro strip aileron horn wires were used with double nylon bearings to reduce the possibility of slop in the aileron linkage. The double bearings worked out well making the ailerons very solid and flex-free. The overall strength of the foam wings turned out quite satisfactorily. The fuselage of the Stinger was found (the hard way) to be the weak spot of this kit. A hard landing can cause the entire fuse to break in half at either the leading edge or the trailing edge of the wing as there is nothing but balsa forward of the wing and aft of the wing. This problem is easily dealt with (in this case as a repair) by gluing 1/16" birch plywood strips that extend a couple of inches fore and aft of the wing on the fuse sides and floor. The weight added is negligible and will help the Stinger hold up better to less than gentle landings. In building up the tail section, carbon fiber tape was used across the leading edge of the elevator to add some extra strength to the joint between the 1/4" wood dowel and the two elevator halves. It was recommended by the owner of a giant scale Stinger that the elevator be cut down to about half its size and the horizontal stab be extended by that amount because the elevator surface is larger than necessary and keeping the plane trimmed during flight was difficult. However, it was decided that because of the smaller scale of the .40 that the original elevator configuration be maintained. This has proven to be correct as trim is not a problem with this aircraft. The ABS parts were easier to work with than expected. To reduce cracking due to vibration, fiber glass squares were epoxied everywhere a screw hole was drilled and the cowl edges were lined with 1/8" lite plywood forming a lap joint where the two cowl halves come together. Sheet metal sheers were used to cut the plastic parts and worked well. The plastic parts fit in place with little effort and really added to the scale look of the plane. The colors chosen for the Stinger were navy blue and white. Ultracoat was used as the film covering and 21st Century paint matched the film closer than the other brands examined and was thus used. The results of the painting was very disappointing. Even though the white turned out beautifully, the blue sputtered quite a bit and left a slight bubbly texture on the ABS parts. The instructions on the paint can were followed very carefully and many trials using various nozzle settings and spraying techniques were attempted. Also, after a couple of weeks of sitting in direct sunlight, the blue turned several shades darker. These problems have not occurred using other brands of spray paints. Aside from the less than smooth finish and color changing of the paint, the final finish of the plane is acceptable. A Magnum XL .46 engine with a Pitts Slimline muffler was selected for this kit which fit comfortably inside the spacious cowl. As per plans, the engine was mounted on its left side and a 10 ounce fuel tank fit nicely under the ABS tank cover. A Robart 4-connector fueler was mounted just inside the cowl to eliminate the need to disconnect fuel lines during fueling which would be most inconvenient because of the engine being completely enclosed in the cowling. Servos and control rods were installed exactly as shown on the plans without incident. Semi-flexible (the blue stuff) Golden Rod was used for the engine throttle and 2-56 rods with steel clevices were used for the elevator and rudder. The plans called for steel bolts for both the wing hold-down and landing gears (Lanier is apparently trying to sell more kits) but nylon bolts were used instead. As seems typical for Lanier kits, the Stinger .40 came out nose-heavy. By relocating the battery pack as far aft in the turtledeck as possible, the plane finally balanced properly on the recommended CG without the need of any extra weight being added. Lateral balance was another story. Almost 2 ounces of weight was required in the left wing to bring the plane level after all equipment was installed. Even still, total weight came in just over 6 pounds which is a nice weight for a plane of this size and configuration. The first flight of the Lanier Stinger was a little startling. Upon throttle up the plane pulled hard to the left and ended up off the runway but then rose up out of the grass quickly and with good power. Once airborne, only a little trim was required to get the Stinger flying nice and straight. After a couple of flights, the proper amount of right rudder was discovered that held the airplane straight until the tail lifted off the ground when it would track nicely. In the air, the Stinger responds instantly to the controls and exhibits no unusual behavior. Upon stall, the plane drops nicely without any particular wing dip and inverted and knife edge flight is very easy and natural. The Stinger slows down beautifully for landing and the Magnum .46 engine is more than enough power. Another weakness in the Stinger was revealed the first time the runway was missed and the plane was set down in the grass. The 2-1/4" wheels and the wheel pants do not do well in grass and the landing gear was ripped right off. Use of larger (2-3/4") wheels and the removal of the wheel pants eliminates that problem. The Lanier Stinger .40 is a wonderful airplane to fly. It's predictability and presence in the sky is pure joy. Admittedly, the kit is slightly more difficult than most to build and get set up correctly but the end results far exceeds the effort. And at $49 for the kit, it is an excellent buy. The Stinger can do all the aerobatics yet fly as slow and gentle as a trainer. This is really a great airplane! |
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