My Review of the Tower Voyager
by Clark VT
This plane is now discontinued, but the review still stands
Update August 2002: I traded the trusty 'ol Voyager away for some profile fun fly planes.
You can read about how that went here
I have been flying this plane for the better part of the summer, and so far I really like it. It is an EXCELLENT second airplane, and with a good instructor, I think someone with talented thumbs could even learn on this plane. I am Not one for long drawn out reviews that describe every glue joint and impression, so I will just touch on a few of the highlights (and lowlights).
Construction
Building, er, I should say Assembling this airplane was kind of a chore. As far as arfs go, this one leans toward the more time intensive side. That said, it is still an arf, and everything went together smoothly, and the instructions are very easy to follow. Some of the hardware is really crappy, like the pushrods and clevises. I replaced the dowel pusrods with homemade carbon fiber pushrods from some old Beeman carbon arrows I had lying around, and used the standard Great Planes nylon clevises, which are much better than the cheap little clevises included with the kit.
There are a few other things I have done with this plane in the building that I would recommend. First, I recommend fiberglassing the wing joint. I do it on all my planes, it is just good insurance for a very critical point on the plane. Second, use more fiberglass tape on the inside of the cowl. I did it from the beginning and I have had no problems. Others I know of did not do this and the thing eventually disintegrated. Third, and most importantly, reinforce the horizontal and vertical stabilizer. I strengthened the vertical stab by drilling four holes in the bottom where it glues to the fuse. I epoxied hardwood toothpicks into the holes and then drilled corresponding holes in the fuse. I then glued the stab in with the added strength of the toothpicks supporting the stab. Next, take some triangle stock and brace the horizontal stab to the fuse from the underside. To so this, just install the horizontal stab like it says in the directions. Then after the epoxy has cured, cut pieces of triangle stock the length from the front of the stab to just in front of the elevator. taper the ends so it looks nice. Carefully cut away the covering where it will go and epoxy the triangle stock so it braces the stab to the fuse. This re-inforces the weakest point on the plane, and absolutely must be done to this plane, if you do nothing else. I didn't do it at the beginning and learned the hard way. A gust came up and blew my plane off the table (DOH!). It only fell two feet, and the horizontal stab broke right out.
My only complaint with this plane is the covering. The sticky-back shelf paper type covering really sucks! It is not really very tough, and the painted on trim scheme wipes off when you clean it. It also wrinkles badly in the summer heat. The wrinklng is the most irritating thing, but still does not keep me from recommending this plane to anyone.
Flight Characteristics
OK, enough about building, er, assembling, how does it fly? Fantastic! It is an all around good sport flier and an exceptional 2nd airplane or step up from a trainer. Inverted flight is really quite good with just a semi-symmetrical airfoil. Outside loops and rolling circles are no problem. I can do the IMAC basic pattern sequence easily with this airplane. All high praise for a $100 arf and first low wing.
After several flights I have come to the conclusion that with an OS 46FX, I needed about 4 degrees of right thrust for good tracking on uplines and in loops. Landing is an absolute breeze. It seems nearly as easy to land as a trainer. Just for kicks I balanced it throughout its recommended range. Tailheavy, this plane becomes a blast, and landings are still really simple. I recommend balancing toward the rear of the CG range. Just be sure to set up a low rate on the elevator for landing. Noseheavy, this thing still flies pretty good. Flight becomes very stable and tracking is flawless. Landings are a little hot. Balance it right in the middle at first and then start moving it back, you will like it! My only complaint as far as flying goes is that there is not enough rudder surface area. Knife edge is not possible no matter where it is balanced, and the rudder just generally lacks authority.
Conclusion
If you are still with me, then I hope I have been informative and not boring. If you are looking for a good, inexpensive, arf low wing, this is it! In fact, I think you should Click on this dead link and go nowhere!!!
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