Clark County R/C Barnstormers Forum: Brushless Easy Star Build Thread

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This is a build thread for the Multiplex Easy Star. It is intended as a helpful guide, and as a supplement to the manufacturer's instruction manual. The Easy Star is a very fun plane to fly and is even the perfect plane on which to earn your wings! Bob, our illustrious Club President flies this very plane and can't say enough good things about it. He has 200+ flights (on the original stock brushed motor!) on his Easy Star to date, and says he hopes it even reaches 300 flights!

It's Christmas time all over again!

Here is what the kit looks like when you open the box:

As you can see by the above picture, all of the foam airframe pieces are carefully wrapped individually in bubble wrap. One other thing that really intrigued me, was in how creatively all of those pieces are "stuffed" into the box so that they don't get bent or warped. The small accesory parts box (contains motor, wiring, hardware, control horns, velcro, canopy clips, allen wrench) is in the top-left corner of the box. Also, you will notice that the pushrod sleeves, wires, antenna tube, and spar rod are all taped together to the top flap of the kit box (the white tubes you see in the picture above).

Pictured below, are all of the airframe parts laid out (fuse halves, canopy, horizontal stab/elevator, vertical stab/rudder, both wings). I had to have my wife "pencil me in" for photo shoot time on the kitchen floor. 

Accessories box:

All of the parts from the Accesories box are pictured below (except for the allen wrench, which is also included but not pictured):

Something that is very important (and a bit obvious, I know), is to make sure that all of the parts are accounted for. There is nothing worse than getting part way through a plane build, and realizing that some parts are missing! The best way to prevent this, is to use a pen and check off each individual part as you go through the kit's contents. If a particular part is missing from the kit, you can simply contact the supplier and they will gladly ship out the necessary part(s). The manual conveniently has a complete list of the parts (found on page 19), so your job is that much easier. One thing I noticed which could cause some confusion, is the mentioning of 2 glue in rudder horns. In fact, one is used for the rudder, the other for the elevator (both parts are identical). Here is my checklist:

One thing you will probably notice about the manual, is that it is multilingual. Apparently, our kind German friends at Multiplex decided that they wanted to share the blissful Easy Star experience with four other nationalities (French, English/American, Italian, Spanish). The English instructions are found on pages 15 through 20. The English is not perfect, but certainly understandable, and the pictures are a great help when you don't quite understand the context of some instructions.

Building materials/work area:

- Large, clean, flat surface (table, etc)
- Wax or Parchment paper to line the work surface with (not required, but helps to keep CA, epoxy, Gorilla Glue from sticking to the surface of the table)
- Regular Medium CA (Don't use foam-safe CA - it won't work!)
- CA Activator spray (also called "CA Kicker")
- 5 Minute Epoxy (for securing the servos, motor, and pushrod sleeves)
- Gorilla (Polyurethane) Glue (not required, but is better than CA for gluing the fuse halves together)
- Paper towels (for wiping away excess glue from joints while curing)
- Toothpicks (handy for applying glue [CA, Epoxy, Gorilla Glue] to small areas)
- Medium-sized hobby knife (Xacto-type) and spare blades
- Kite string (also not required, but handy for ensuring squareness of horizontal and vertical stab to centerline of fuse)
- Masking tape (great for taping off areas while glue cures and attaching lead weight to the nose to balance the plane)
- A sheet or two of fine sandpaper (for smoothing over rough edges)
- Ruler
- Small or medium-sized Philips screwdriver
- Needlenose pliers

More to come later so stay tuned! 

Edited by Philip - 22 May 2007 at 4:15am

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Guests Guest	Topic: Brushless Easy Star Build Thread Posted: 22 Feb 2007 at 10:49am
	This is a build thread for the Multiplex Easy Star. It is intended as a helpful guide, and as a supplement to the manufacturer's instruction manual. The Easy Star is a very fun plane to fly and is even the perfect plane on which to earn your wings! Bob, our illustrious Club President flies this very plane and can't say enough good things about it. He has 200+ flights (on the original stock brushed motor!) on his Easy Star to date, and says he hopes it even reaches 300 flights! It's Christmas time all over again! Here is what the kit looks like when you open the box: As you can see by the above picture, all of the foam airframe pieces are carefully wrapped individually in bubble wrap. One other thing that really intrigued me, was in how creatively all of those pieces are "stuffed" into the box so that they don't get bent or warped. The small accesory parts box (contains motor, wiring, hardware, control horns, velcro, canopy clips, allen wrench) is in the top-left corner of the box. Also, you will notice that the pushrod sleeves, wires, antenna tube, and spar rod are all taped together to the top flap of the kit box (the white tubes you see in the picture above). Pictured below, are all of the airframe parts laid out (fuse halves, canopy, horizontal stab/elevator, vertical stab/rudder, both wings). I had to have my wife "pencil me in" for photo shoot time on the kitchen floor. Accessories box: All of the parts from the Accesories box are pictured below (except for the allen wrench, which is also included but not pictured): Something that is very important (and a bit obvious, I know), is to make sure that all of the parts are accounted for. There is nothing worse than getting part way through a plane build, and realizing that some parts are missing! The best way to prevent this, is to use a pen and check off each individual part as you go through the kit's contents. If a particular part is missing from the kit, you can simply contact the supplier and they will gladly ship out the necessary part(s). The manual conveniently has a complete list of the parts (found on page 19), so your job is that much easier. One thing I noticed which could cause some confusion, is the mentioning of 2 glue in rudder horns. In fact, one is used for the rudder, the other for the elevator (both parts are identical). Here is my checklist: One thing you will probably notice about the manual, is that it is multilingual. Apparently, our kind German friends at Multiplex decided that they wanted to share the blissful Easy Star experience with four other nationalities (French, English/American, Italian, Spanish). The English instructions are found on pages 15 through 20. The English is not perfect, but certainly understandable, and the pictures are a great help when you don't quite understand the context of some instructions. Building materials/work area: - Large, clean, flat surface (table, etc) - Wax or Parchment paper to line the work surface with (not required, but helps to keep CA, epoxy, Gorilla Glue from sticking to the surface of the table) - Regular Medium CA (Don't use foam-safe CA - it won't work!) - CA Activator spray (also called "CA Kicker") - 5 Minute Epoxy (for securing the servos, motor, and pushrod sleeves) - Gorilla (Polyurethane) Glue (not required, but is better than CA for gluing the fuse halves together) - Paper towels (for wiping away excess glue from joints while curing) - Toothpicks (handy for applying glue [CA, Epoxy, Gorilla Glue] to small areas) - Medium-sized hobby knife (Xacto-type) and spare blades - Kite string (also not required, but handy for ensuring squareness of horizontal and vertical stab to centerline of fuse) - Masking tape (great for taping off areas while glue cures and attaching lead weight to the nose to balance the plane) - A sheet or two of fine sandpaper (for smoothing over rough edges) - Ruler - Small or medium-sized Philips screwdriver - Needlenose pliers More to come later so stay tuned! Edited by Philip - 22 May 2007 at 4:15am

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Guests Guest	Posted: 26 Feb 2007 at 7:16am
	Joining the fuse halves together The instructions say to use Medium CA and Kicker, but there is a downside to this method. When you use kicker with CA, the two surfaces bond instantly, no waiting. This also means that if you happen to skew the fuse when you press it together, there's no repositioning that can be done. On the other hand, if you instead, try to just use CA without the kicker, it won't bond instantly, but it also will run out of the seams and all over the place. A better solution is to use Gorilla Glue. Dave and I both have used Gorilla Glue for our Easy Stars and it works great! When you apply it, be sure to use a very thin coating (more like a skim of it) on both fuse halves, then immdediately wipe it off of the pieces with paper towels. Trust me, this stuff works great and works best when used sparingly. Gorilla Glue expands while it is curing, so it also fills in gaps very well. To get the best results, once you've gotten the pieces aligned and pressed together, clamp them together with either several different-sized rubber bands, or blue painter's tape (masking tape). If you decide to go the tape route, listen very carefully. DO NOT pull on the tape as you are wrapping it around the joints as this will warp the airframe (causes twist) and make it less enjoyable to fly. Just lightly wrap the tape around the joints just enough to clamp the pieces together sufficiently. While the glue is drying, get some more paper towels and wipe away any excess glue that happens to ooze out of any of the seams. Neglecting this step will only make your job tougher because then you'll have to sand off any excess blobs once it's dried (cured). Also, be sure to give the glue 6 to 8 hours to fully cure. Any earlier than six hours and you'll get annoyed by how everything loose wants to stick to it. Here is a picture of my Easy Star clamped together with tape while it cures: Edited by Philip - 28 Apr 2007 at 8:29am
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:22pm
	Why is my plane's spar rod too long? Relax, it's not too long, and you certainly don't have to cut it down to size, so don't! Follow these steps to get a near-perfect spar rod: Measure 1/8 inch in from each end of the spar rod and mark the measurement with tape (or whatever works for you) for use as a depth gauge. Do this for both ends of the rod, then firmly press the spar rod against the foam which extends beyond the channel that the rod lines up with. See pictures below for reference. Spar rod before drilling into wings (note the black part showing on the very end of the spar): Spar rod after drilling to proper depth (the black portion on the end of the spar rod is no longer showing): Here is what the end of the spar rod channel looks like after being drilled: Once you get both channels drilled to the proper depth, it's a good idea to make sure the wings lock together nice and tight, without any gaps showing. Here is a picture of how my wings locked together after I drilled out the spar channels: Note: the blue tape visible on both joints of the wings is only there to hold the wings together for the picture, since the spar caps have not yet been installed. Next, glue in the spar caps with CA and kicker one wing at a time like the instructions tell you to, making sure the cap installs flush with the rest of the wing (including the ends which snap together to connect the wings to each other). DO NOT push the spar rod into either wing at this time. Wait AT LEAST one full hour before doing this, otherwise, you probably will not be able to get the wings apart again (which you have to be able to do in order to mount them in the fuse!) and will have to start over with a new set of wings.
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:23pm
	Gluing in the Rudder and Elevator control horns Follow the instructions to cut the rudder control horn to size, then use CA to glue the rudder and elevator control horns in place. Once I've glued them in and wiped away any excess CA that has oozed out, I like to apply a few strips of blue painter's tape to make sure the horns stay in nice and snug while the CA cures. One last thing: make sure that CA does not run down into the hinges of the rudder and elevator, as this will lock them in place. Check out the pictures below of both the rudder and elevator taped up waiting for the CA to cure:
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:24pm
	Gluing the tail group (aka empennage) together nice and square The tail group consists of the horizontal stabilizer, elevator, vertical stabilizer, and rudder. From now on, we will refer to it as the empennage. Building the empennage properly is one of the most important steps when building a plane. If the empennage is even slightly crooked, it will greatly impact how well the plane tracks (how well it will fly in a straight line). The instructions tell you to first glue the horizontal stab and elevator to the fuse, then glue on the vertical stab and rudder. This is fine, however, the best way to ensure that your empennage ends up nice and square, is to first glue the horizontal and vertical stabs together, then glue the entire empennage to the fuse. This way, if one part is not quite square, you can always adjust the entire part instead of having to adjust two separate parts. The instructions suggest using a builder's square to verify that the horizontal and vertical stab are at right angles to each other. For this step, I opted to instead use kite string. I cut two short lengths of string (16 inches each should be plenty), then tied a knot about 1/2 inch in from one end of each string. I held the knot of one string just below the edge of the corner of the left horizontal stab, and taped it down with blue painter's tape (masking tape). I then aligned the vertical stab straight up and down, held the other end of the string over the top of the vertical stab, and taped it down firmly. I then taped down the knot at the end of the other string to the right horizontal stab, then adjusted the vertical stab again so that it was straight up and down, and taped the end of the right string tightly and firmly to the top of the vertical stab very close to where I had taped the left string. When you tape the first string on, the vertical stab might not be perfectly straight, but that's O.K. because once you tape on the second string, they will both pull against each other and hold the vertical stab straight in line (just like the really tall TV and radio antennas which have tension cables running from the top to the ground on either side to provide stability). After you've attached the second string, use your builder's square to double-check the right angle on both sides of the vertical stab. Now you're ready to glue them together with CA. Since you have the two pieces aligned with string on both sides, you will need to slide the vertical stab forward and rotate it up to free it from the horizontal stab. Also, it's not such a good idea to use kicker with the CA right off. Apply a small amount of CA to one surface (I chose to apply the CA to the vertical stab instead of the horizontal stab), then press the two pieces firmly together, being sure that they line up square with each other, and that there aren't any big gaps in the two joints (between the horizontal and vertical stab). Wipe away any excess CA that oozes out of the joints until no more oozes out. Then, check one more time to be sure that the empennage is square, and spray the joints with CA kicker. Wait about one or two minutes, then run a thin line of CA (don't use gobs of it) right along the two top joints of the horizontal and vertical stab (one on either side) and immediately spray with CA kicker. Do this one more time. This creates glue "fillets" which go a really long way in making the joints solid. In the picture of my plane's empennage below, you can clearly see the strings I used for alignment:
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:25pm
	Gluing the empennage to the fuse First, install the wings so that you may use them as a guide for gluing the empennage in square. To do this, start with the left wing and push it straight all the way into its slot. Then, insert the spar rod into the left wing, pushing it all the way in until it stops. Give it one more short, firm push to make sure it's in all the way, then push the right wing onto the spar and into the right side slot until both wings are connected together tightly. Line up the empennage with the slots in the fuse, and push it firmly down in until it is snug and straight. Next, you will check to be certain that the empennage is square with the center line of the fuse. To do this, cut a length of kite string that is about 30 inches long (too long is better than too short!) and tie a knot in one end just like you did earlier. Tape the knot just inside the bottom part of the nacelle (motor mount) with blue painter's tape. Take the other end of the string and pull it tightly against one corner of the left horizontal stab (where you taped the string on earlier to line up the empennage). Take a Sharpie or permanent marker and mark where the very edge of the horizontal stab touches the string. Now line up the string on the corner of the right horizontal stab (just like you did with the left side), and make sure that the mark you made on the string lines up with the edge of the right horizontal stab. Lay the fuse on top of a stack of books or some similar flat, level, elevated surface (I used an empty popcorn can on my kitchen floor for this). Sight from the front of the fuse (looking straight down the nose to the back of the plane, and note whether or not the gap between the wings and horizontal stab are equal. If not, readjust the horizontal stab a little at a time until you get it just right. Double-check this just to be sure, then glue the empennage onto the fuse. Here's a photo to better illustrate how to check for proper alignment of the empennage with the wings:
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:29pm
	Gluing the servos into the fuse BEFORE you install the servos, be sure to center them first. This is done by plugging both servos into your receiver, turning on the transmitter, then turning on the receiver. Also, make sure all of your servo trims are set to Neutral on your radio. Then, turn off the receiver, and then the transmitter. Do not turn off the transmitter first or else your servos will move from center position. Next, unplug your servos from the receiver, and using a philips screwdriver, remove the servo arms and install them at right angles so that one will go in each servo slot with the arm pointing out completely perpendicular to the fuse. Do not continue below until you have completed the above steps or else you will have a very hard time getting your servos set up correctly later on. As per the instructions, I wrapped tape around the servos (I used a single layer of blue painter's tape). You will notice that the tape wraps around where the servo lead exits in a small rubber grommet. I didn't like the idea of wrapping the tape around the servo lead, so I cut out a notch in the tape at the point where it wrapped around the grommet. I then fed the servo leads through the holes (as in the instructions), and used 5 minute epoxy to mount the servos. I think it pretty much goes without saying, but it's important to completely finish installing one servo at a time. Mount one servo, allow at least 5 minutes for the epoxy to set up, then mount the other servo on the opposite side. I applied the epoxy to all of the contact surfaces of the servo cutouts in the fuse, and pressed the servos in place. I then applied an additional amount of epoxy where the edges make contact with the foam. I didn't put any epoxy on the part of the servo that did not have tape on it. The two pictures below (left side, right side), show my servos installed (surface epoxy is visible): Edited by Philip - 28 Apr 2007 at 8:23am
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:32pm
	Gluing the pushrod sleeves to the fuse Following the instructions, glue the pushrod sleeves to the fuse with epoxy first, then with CA and kicker. It's also a good idea to epoxy the rudder pushrod sleeve to the front part of the horizontal stab (carefully, so as not to glue the pushrod and sleeve together) to provide stability and eliminate any "slop" (slack in the pushrod which results in poorly operating control surfaces).
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:33pm
	Attaching the pushrod connectors to the rudder and elevator control horns Per the instructions, attach the pushrod connectors to the rudder and elevator control horns. Attaching the rudder pushrod connector inverted (upside down) on the control horn is advised because it tends to put less stress on the pushrod wire and prevents a condition referred to as "binding", which is hard on your servos and uses more power to run the servos (this in turn will run down your flight battery and result in much shorter flights). Be sure not to tighten down the nut too much, rather, the pushrod connector should rotate freely in the control horn. However, you also do not want the pushrod connector to wobble, so get it tightened just right using those two guidelines. Once you're satisfied with the tightness of both connectors, use the point of a toothpick to put an extremely tiny drop of CA on the shaft where it meets the nut. DO NOT use more than this amount of CA or else you risk locking the nut on permanently. Edited by Philip - 28 Apr 2007 at 8:27am
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Guests Guest	Posted: 02 Apr 2007 at 2:33pm
	A note on the Power System The 6 volt brushed motor that comes with the plane kit is not bad, and NiMH battery packs will give you nice flights. I started out with this setup on my first Easy Star and as stated at the begininng of this thread, Bob, our Club President, has over 200 flights on his original brushed motor (using NiMH battery packs). However, there is a much more powerful and more efficient alternative. Brushless motors have a much higher, more efficient power output, and do not wear out as quickly as brushed motors. Coupled with lithium polymer (often referred to as "lipo") battery packs, brushless motors cannot be outmatched. Having seen the results of a brushless/lipo Easy Star (on which this thread is based), I can definitely say that when comparing the two, the difference is night and day. Lipo batteries last much longer than NiMH batteries do, and do not develop any sort of memory. As with anything, there are pros and cons to each option, so to be fair, here is a side-by-side comparison, including my final conclusions: Now that we are completely clear about the differences between brushed and brushless motor setups, it is time for you to choose which setup you think would work best for your situation. In my humble opinion, the only reason to not go with a brushless motor/lipo battery setup, would be higher initial cost. However, you certainly end up saving more money in the long run if you choose a brushless/lipo setup from the start. Dave (here on the forum) and I chose to go with a brushless setup, and we both chose to use the same motor. Here are the components I chose: Motor: Warp4-5T Inrunner Motor ESC: Castle Creations Tbird 18 ESC (Speed Controller) Battery Packs: 2 Common Sense RC 3s 2000 mAh Lipo battery packs Edited by Philip - 20 Nov 2007 at 1:02am
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