My Current Project

I was asked by a former Sundowner to build him a new trainer to replace his ARF. He originally wanted me to finish a kit he had started several years earlier, but we decided instead to start with a fresh kit. The new kit has been upgraded by Great Planes and builds straight and quickly.

After gathering the engine, prop, spinner, hardware, and looking at the radio he had for the new plane, I told him that I would not install a dry cell radio in any r/c plane. After shopping for the best deal on a new radio set, he bought a new Hi-Tec Laser 4 channel radio set with a fifth servo for only $129.00 + tax.

Construction began with the tail feathers. Right out of the box, glued and hinged, we were off to a flying start. I had already built and flown two other kits of this in the old design, so when he asked me to make a few modifications, I jotted a few notes on the plans and in the instruction book for the changes. He wanted a tail dragger with two aileron servos, and a bolt-on wing, which is exactly what he got.

The fuselage is all box-lox and frames up straight and square. Some fitting required here to get all the pieces nice and snug. With it held together with heavy rubber bands, a few squirts of thin CA locked the parts together. A bit of added triangle stock in strategic places and some gap filling CA glue fillets soon had the fuselage standing on its own wheels.

Here's a close-up of the finished wing panel showing the modification for the dual aileron servos and the paper tube running from the servo bay to the wing center. The new box-lox wing design retains the notched leading and trailing edges, but uses a trussed spar the full length of the wing. Everything gets dry fit and pinned to the building board before any CA is applied. The kit also offers the parts for two different dihedrals along with parts and directions for making the bolt-on option. Also included were the jigs for setting washout in the wings when applying the leading edge sheeting. The whole wing took two afternoons to complete. Kudos!! to Great Planes.

After sanding the wing to shape and final sanding the fuselage, it was time to start covering. I used Ultra Cote film on this project, and the roll of 2" square checkers made the lower pattern easy to complete.

I installed his K&B 46 Sportster engine and a 12 oz. fuel tank. I installed the throttle, elevator and rudder servos per plan, balancing the plane prior to finishing the covering. There was only the photos on the kit box to go by, so a little extra pondering time was spent laying out the fuselage color scheme. A few days later, I took the completed plane outside again for photos, and called the client to come and pick it up. When he arrived, he was absolutely satisfied with the finished plane.

My likes and dislikes: I liked the new design of the kit. The quality of the wood and die cutting was very good. Only light sanding was needed to clean up the parts.

I didn't like the laminated light ply wing bolt plate. To set myself at ease with the threadwork, I installed threaded brass inserts for the 1/4-20 wing bolts. It is unknown to me at this time if he has flown the plane yet or not.

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