Flying Choppers

I’m currently building a Sig Banshee. I’ve read quite a bit about tweaking a Twister but other than chopping a couple of inches off the nose to compensate for muffler weight, I have not seen anything about Tweaking a Banshee. Is it OK out of the box? Sig says it flies like the Super Chippy. Can it be made to fly better?

Instead of shortening the nose, move the wing forward 1.5 to 2 inches. It's not difficult. Shorter nose and longer tail, both good. What engine are you planning to use? Why? There's enough wood in the kit spars to extend the wingspan a couple of inches. Then you'd need to splice onto the flaps, add tipweight box, adjustable leadouts, aluminum gear, and maybe stretch the stab and elevators. Somewhere along the line, it gets to a point that it's more trouble than it's worth to do all the possible mods, and you're better off starting out with something more up to date, like the Brodak Pathfinder or Cardinal. IMHO. Steve

I think it is pretty standard to shorten the nose of a Banshee either by simply cutting it or as Steve suggests, moving the wing forward. Banshee's are certainly capable of easily winning Intermediate (in the hands of a good pilot) and probably Advanced.

There is no reason to go overboard with mods, as Steve relates. It is simpler to go for a more newer design which are planned around the (usually) heavier and more powerful poweplants.

And as far as I can tell the Chippy is a great flier---assuming the weight can be kept reasonable.

I've built my Banshee as per plans, then crashed it, then rebuilt it, then crashed it, then rebuilt it again. During major crashes, I've been making small changes to make it better. It flew on Fox 35,Magnum 40GP(OS FP clone) and ended up with Brodak 40 for it's power. Here's what I've done to mine:

1) move the wing worward by 1 inch if you are planning on using Fox 35 and 1 1/2 inches if FP40.
2) replace plywood supplied with kit with birch plywood.
3) increase stab/elevator span by 1 inch on EACH side.
4) make the last 5 inches of inboard flap fixed into the wing. Same goes for 4 inches of the outboard wing.

I have only shortened the nose by 1/2. Because of that, I have to use tail weight(1/4 oz). I used whatever tip weight came with the kit and it was adequate. A tip weight box couldn't hurt though.

Enjoy the plane! Trimmed correctly, it flies the pattern very nicely.

The Sig Banshee fly's just fine out of the box. If your new to flying just build it and enjoy. BUILD it light. Don't put on to much paint. If I were to build one now to learn on, I would use only clear dope on the fuse and monocoat the wings. A good paint job dose not make it fly any better. Also I would take 1 1/2" off of the nose. Use less then a 4oz tank. The Banshee is a good flyer and can be as good as the twister if made strieght and light. I hope that your going the use a good power plant.

Scott(IMHO I like this plane)Riesex(

LAST EDITED ON Oct-05-03 AT 00:07 AM (CDT)
 
I've built three Banshees so I'll give you some opinions on how to improve it.

First as you already know shorten the nose 2 inches. All the Banshees, I've done have had the nose cut off. I have not tried moving the wing forward, but that might make an interesting change by giving the relatively small stab/elevator more authority.

Next add a cheek to the inside of the nose. This will reduce engine vibration by tieing the nose to the wing more solidly giving you better engine runs. Use standard 4 oz uniflow tank (or 4 oz clunk tank set up for uniflow) mounted in a way that allows adjustment vertically. Every setup I had ended up with the tank 1/8 in. approx. above the centerline of the engine, but you will want to change it to get the engine runs upright and inverted consistent. Put a piece of 1/8 copper tubing bent in an "L" through the fuselage in front of the tank extending into the air flow on the inside of the fuselage. This will give you some forced air to the tank. In wind you will find it also richens the fuel mixture on the upwind side the circle. Not always a good thing but you do get a good indication at the end of the flight when the engine revs up into the wind.

Controls need to be set-up as slow as you can make them. The Banshee with an FP40 can be pretty sensitive to control input. I made the mistake on the yellow one below of using a very fast control system (Full up to Full down with less than 1/2 inch of leadout movement. I had to set the spacing between lines on the handle to 2 inches to avoid overcontrol. If you can install a 4 inch bellcrank do it. In any case put the flap pushrod into the inner hole of the bellcrank and the top hole of the flap horn. You may have to use the top flap horn hole for the pushrod however in order to get flap clearance for the pushrod. Use a carbonfiber pushrod; they're stiffer and lighter than a standard 3/16 music wire rod. Using 4-40 insert and clevises will allow you to adjust the flap/elevator neutral ( I have never been able to bend music wire to the correct length anyway. )

The landing gear needs to be set up for the field you fly on. The kit plans show a grass field set up. If you fly on pavement you'll need to move the gear back so the wheels sit just under the front of the wing and sized with 2 inch wheels to allow an 11 inch prop an inch of clearance when horizontal. I also like to lengthen the tail wheel strut so the plane sits more horizontal at rest, this helps the take off by reducing the tendancy to jump off the ground too fast on release. If you can mount aluminum or carbon fiber landing gear, do so. They are stiffer than wire gear and can reduce bounce on landing. Use Dave Brown lite foam wheels; this reduces bounce on landing and weight overall. (just wish they didn't wear so quickly and get flat spots when you leave the model on its wheels.) See pictures below of how I mount the landing gear and tail wheel on my latest Cardinal profile. This could be done on the Banshee too. A mounting plate for the main gear is made of 1/8 lite ply with blind nuts and placed between the plywood sides of the nose. The end of the gear extends up into fuselage into hardwood (Maple). The tail mounting plate is also 1/8 lite ply inset into the fuselage with blind nuts installed. You'll notice how I bend the tail wheel strut. This backward bend allows adjustment and also makes the tail wheel "soft" on landings. If you touch the tailwheel first it won't bounce the model down as hard. I also solder my stooge loop onto my tail wheel strut.

Oh yes, I almost forgot because I have started to take them for granted; add adjustable leadout and a tip weight box. These are essential trimming tools on any C/L model. You'll notice on the red Banshee below that the inboard tip is opened up for a sliding leadout adjustment. The yellow model uses a pine piece that has 1/8 inch holes drilled on 3/16 centers in the tip.

Here are some models done with these changes. Enjoy the Banshee. Its a capable model that can get you through learning the pattern and into the Advanced level. Hey, It worked for me!

Thanks for all of the great ideas.
I will be using a Fox 35 that has been modified by Marv Denny.