• Wing Span = 44" top/42" bottom
• Wing Area = 412 sq in
• Length = 37"
• Weight = 6.2 lbs or more
• Servos = 4
• Engine = 0.46 or more

Building the Plane

After opening the Box I found the two Wings, Fuselage, Elevator, Stabilizer, fibergklas Cowl, PE Wheelpants and a large Bag of Accessories. All was separate packed and in Very good conditions. The Manual describes the Building Process very good with a lot of photos and Sketches. I build it straight ahead without any changes (only the Horns where replaces by my favorite type) and added a SuperTiger 46, Receiver, NiCad and Servos.
I decided to follow the Manual and covered the plane with Oratex (a heat shrinking Covering with textile structure) and painted the plane. I don't thought really about the heavy tail, following the manual that seems to be ok ... After all it was a shock to reach the CG. In this configuration was the need to add over 1.5 lb in the nose!
This all was done within the Evenings of one Week, next Weekend to the club field....

Flying the Plane

I gave the plane to a friend (a very good and experienced pilot) for the first flight and trim. The overall weight of 7.5 lb. calls for trouble ... Final check, full Power, the plain goes straight ahead and climbs, trim was minimal, so far so good, but is was fast. Control response was good. A stall check in high altitude nearly ended in a crash. The plane stalled at very high speed over the right wing and needs a lot of altitude to recover. With a good airspeed it was easy to control, but under powered for vertical figures. Reducing the throttle results in a nearly dramatic lost of speed. My Friend was able to land it  without any damage.
Conclusion: Back to the building board!

Rebuilding the Plane

The only way to reduce Weight was to make the Tail light. with such a short nose a minimal change on the tail will have dramatic effects for the amount of lead in the nose. So the Plane was first build back to the ARC stadium. The Balsa used for Elevator and Stabilizer was very soft, so i decided to build a new one using the old parts as guide.
The new parts where made from hard Balsa as shown in the drawings.
 

Next i removed  the servo mount from the kit. There is enough room to mount all Servos 2 3/4 inches near to the CG. Build two mounts (one for one, one for two servos) fitting vertical between spacer 2 and 3 from 1/8 light plywood as shown in the next drawings.

The Fuselage with the Servos at the Original Position
  The Fuselage with Servos in the new Position.

The new Servomounts are not glued to the Fuselage. On one side a glued in stripe of balsa hold the mount in position and screws hold the new mounts on the top side on the wing saddle. So you can install the servos before mounting the complete system in the fuselage. Depending on the size of your Receiver try to find a place behind the firewall ore mount it between spacer 2 and 3 like i have done. Hear you can take a look to the final installation in my Plane

The NiCad is placed direct behind the Firewall under the Fueltank. While on the building board i build new wheelpants from balsa. they are lighter and better looking. Finally i covered the Plane using Oracover (also known as Untracoat). I decided also to change the Engine to a OS FS 48 with a APC 12x6. Rechecking the CG made me very optimistic, so i placed a nice pilot in the cockpit. Final Overall weight (dry) was now 6.2 lb. (with 12.5 oz lead  in the nose) .

Flying the optimized Plane

Back to the club filed taking the plane out of the car my Friend looked a little bit nervous. After checking the weight he was much more friendly :-)
Full throttle, airborne and it was a different plane.  Stall was much more gentle, minimum speed lower, much more easy to land  and it was possible to fly all basic figures. Second round was my and from this time (Spring 1999) im in love with this plane. The sound of the FS 48 and this small Bipe is a perfect combination.  The only difference, but normal for Bipes, is the drag. Throttle Management in final Approach is very important. Deadstick is no problem if you have altitude and hold the nose down. if you have only altitude above the plane (what is never from interest for pilots) it is a handful to make a gentle touchdown.

History

late Summer 1999: It happens. Dead engine in low altitude over a field. No way to reach the runway. Minor structural damage and a broken undercarriage.

Summer 2000: it happened again, but this time over a cornfield. Major damage on the Fuselage. I decided bo by a new one to modify it much more.

Autumn 2000: The Great Lake V2.0 is ready for flight. Visit again for the full Story. For now - no lead in the nose, final weight 5.3 lb., painted oratex and flying wires.

Photos