RCM PRODUCT REVIE Ww I CSS ee Sa FUSS Great Planes While Giant Scale aerobats are all the rage, sometimes it’s nice to have a smaller bird that still looks great and will fit in the car all assembled. And yes, there are aerobatic aircraft that are not Extra 300's! Enter the Great Planes T-Crafi, a Sport Scale version ofa venerable aerobatic performer designed around the smallest 4-strokes available. In full-scale the aircraft is a distant cousin of a Cub, but the thousands who have witnessed Duane Cole's dazzling airshow routine will atte clipped wing T-Craft with some extra “attitude” under the hood is an impressive performer. By Dennis Adamisin The Great Planes T-Craft comes in a brightly dezorated 4.5" x 7.5" x 38" box covered with pictures and st describing the model. Everything was neatly pack packaged with paper wrapping, offering some special protection for the large molded windshield. All the die-cut parts are clearly marked with part numbers stamped on, The instruction book also includes diagrams ofall the die-cut sheets offered as an aid to identifying parts. Two 36" x 46" rolled plan sheets are supplemented by an outstanding 48-page instruction manual. One of my favorite features of the manual was the centerfold. It has the plans reduced to FCM Janvary 2002an Antonio Hobby Shop Inc. 550 Showers Drive Ste. 1, Mt. View, CA 94040 Hours Mon.-Fri, 9:30 to 6:00 + Thurs. a 650-941-1278 18:00 + Sut, 9:30 t0 5:30 WWW.SAHOBBY.COM Serving You Since 1965 WE'REONTHEWEB WWW.SAHOBBY.COM 15,000 Sq. Ft. of: R/C Aircraft, Gas and Elect RIC Cars, R/C Boats, Trains, Lionel, Marklin, LGB, Bachmann, Plastic Models Galore, Aisles of Books, Wood Ship Models and Crafts 11" x 17" so you can follow along while you check the next building sequence. Die-cutting was the usual outstanding Great Planes effort with parts falling out of the sheets cleanly. 1 used Great Planes thin and medium CA. for most construction aloag with some Great Planes aliphatic wood glue and epoxy, Construction: I started construction with the sil surfaces. Curved segmen:s are die-cut and the rest is framed and ribbed with various sizes of 3/16" balsa strips. These are assembled over the plar that I protected with Great Planes Plan Protector — an excellent barrier to prevent gluing the assembly to the plan! After rounding off all the edges, the elevator halves are joined using a pre- bent piece of 3/32" music wire. Great Planes supplies a large patch of CA hinge material from which the hinges were cut, Iused the Hobbico hinge slot cutter to make short work of what used to be one of my least favorite tasks. The wing is a very robust D-tude structure and the semi-sy-nmetrical wing ribs are equipped with "feet* so the wing can be built flat on a building board. After assembly, the feet are broken off. The T-Crait uses two plywood dihedral braces betweenthe 4 spats which are supplemented by wo 1/16" plywood braces overlapping the spars and encapsulating te other plywood braces — this wing will not break in the center joint! The center leading edge has a large cutout corresponding to the top of the FROM January 2002 windshield that is well braced with 1/8” square basswood spars top and bottom and plywood facing. Great Planes supplies a couple of really nifty plywood dihedral stands to hold the wing at the proper angle. The wing halves are joined prior to the leading edge sheeting being installed. It was easy to build a straight, strong wing. ‘The T-Craft has an extremely neat aileron servo mount designed for the ual aileron servos; the hollowed out ribs make installing servo wiring a cinch. The large barn door style ailerons are bu'lt over a center core by capping the leading edge on the die- cut aileron outline core and then installing ribs top and bottom that get tapering out at the trailing edge Awhile back I had built a Great Planes Electri-Cub, and saw some of the same attention to weight saving detail in the construction of the T-Craft fuselage. The sides are built-up of several die-cut pieces and strip stock, with some doublers and triplers used to good effect. Lots of lightening holes are used to kee the bulk down, yet the structure is extremely strong. The upper rear fuselage utilizes a crutch to simplify and align the fusela, other bulkheads are notched in. The gine is mounted rotated about 35 degrees downward from a true side mount, allowing the engine muffler to tuck inside the cowling and vent through the bottom centerline of the firewall. Great Planes has done a nice job engineering the 2 degree side thrust into the firewall and the plans show you bow 10 locate the engine mount so the engine comes out centered. The front of the ABS cowling is also tipped at 2 degrees so the prop looks parallel with the front of the cowling, The upper rear fuselage is formed using three 1/8" dowels. added some gussets in the dowel joints to the bulkheads. The cowling and wheel pants are vae-formed in ABS. The instructions show how to cut narrow overlapping strips from scrap ABS then glue them in place on one shell, then join the opposite shell over it.I did all this using liquid plastic model cement, The seams are further reinforced on the inside surfaces using fiberglass cloth applied with PVC pipe cement After filling of the seams using ‘Squadron Putty, and some careful sanding, I would put the cowl and wheel pants up with the best I've ever seen in plastic or fiberglass. They have also proven to be quite durable. Covering: No particular aircraft is duplicated, but I wanted a color screme representative ofan aerobatic mount, I settled on Top Flite MonoKote in ‘overall White with Teal and Orange, and used Black pin stripes and checkerboard. The ABS cowling and wheel pants were first primed then painted (teal) with Top Flite LusterKote. The color match with the MonoKote is excellent. Great Planes supplies several decals, including an instrument panel; however, no floor is provided fora pilot, [cut one out of lite ply Thad on hand and installed a 2" (1/6) scale Williams Bros. pilot. After covering, | installed the windshield using Gop adhesive. | am quite happy with the way it turned out and it has earned some appreciation from the ccrew at the field Engine: The review model was powered by an O.S. FS26 Surpass 4-stroke mounted on the Great Planes universal engine mount supplied with the kit. This is only my third 4-stroke engine and frankly I was nervous about having enough power to fly the T-Craft through aerobatics; I soon learned that my fears were unwarranted. With the engine rotated around, it was a cinch to point the tiny muffler out the hole in the lower firewall. The O.S. was tested with a Top Flite 9x 6, 104, and 10x6 prop and a Great Planes aluminum spinner nut is fed by a 6 ounce Du-Bro fuel tank, A Great Planes fueling port was also used.@Smithy. 3-in-1 Lathe-Mill-Drill Own your own machine shop Non yucannce osrom eas and bul rsa oly mages Fears ci me Mol arcing vr 995 metal—wood,orplastic. ee $ Do quality work right away! ‘Smithys are used by mode! builders: worldwide for: en sires titans Sa Shere ‘Gee “Fe ud we ean Anginsencwes ey ane nee ss! Call today for your FREE “Metalworking Basics” Tnfo Kit! (800) 345-6342 & OSmithy, Sse Visi us at winw smity.com EREE Say IN-YOURSHOP ial Laminates > Textured for maximum bonding strength. P High fiber content—less than 35% resin. P Tapers & Shear Webs > Wide assortment of szes. 1k Carbon Braided Sleeves & IC2000 CA Visit our website for details: www.cstsales.com Order Desk: 1-800-338-1278 CST-The Composites Store P.O. Box 622, Tehachapi, CA 93681 ROM Janey 2002 Radio: For con:rol,a Futaba SkySport T6YF 6-channel Sport radio using four channels te drive five servos was installed. The pair of Hobbico CS micro aileron servos supplied power through a"Y" harness I fabricated out of {two 24" servo extensions, plus a Futaba servo plug. The [-Craft has ample room forany size servos; L used mid sized Hobbico CS-35's to net a small weight savings over standard size servos. Ina similar vein I used a miniature RCD-555 receiver tosave some weight. The receiver and battery pack were installed aft of the servos to achieve the aft C.G. limit; these components could have been located well forward if needed to achieve the C.G. The switch and charge plug was stalled usinga Great Planes switch mount. This allows for radio charging \without removing the wing. The struts are balsa, fitted with CA hinge material in the ends, and mounted using sheet metal screws, The review model ready to fly weight was4 Ibs., 4 02, (68 oz.) which vwas within theadvertised 3.75 Ib-4.5 Ib. target weight ringe, ‘The ins.ruction manual shows low id hi rate control surface throws but does not stggest differential in the ailerons. [set up aileron at the high rate position ard the down aileron at the low setting — works great 12 Flying: ‘or the Firstruns I had the FS-26 equipped witha 10.x4 prop which I figured would be light enough to prevent overheating the new engine. After a couple of chokes, the O.S. started on the first flip, and afastrich setting was chosen. It sounded pretty good so I leaned the high-speed needle a little ‘more, but keptit off peak. Even with the ‘grass cut short] had trouble getting up to speed, but we got airborne, Airspeed was too slow to do much, but the engine really sounded like it was running nice so Tkept flying to get some time on the engine before bringing it in foran ‘uneventful landing. Mindful of overloading the still new engine, I replaced the 10-x4 prop with a9 x 6. Rpm sounded about the same, and the engine did not sound like it was laboring, Immediately a‘ter breaking ground the change was apparent. The extra pitch iereased the airspeed enough that everything gota lot better. On subsequent flights | got a little braver with leaning the mixture, ended up measuring 10,400 rpm on the ground. ‘Ona subsequent flying session, I broke the 9x 6 ona landing, andl went ahead and used a 10x 6, Statie rpm fell to just under 9,000, but again the airplane flies noticeably better with the larger diameter prop. My concems with the power of the FS.26 evaporated, as the T-Craft is capable of scale looking maneuvers. ‘The TCraft fies "bigger than it looks, being very easy to fly smoothly. All positive G maneuvers thatthe full- scale E-Craft might perform are well within the repertoire, The recommended control throws work well, the ECraft grooves well and is very responsive. I did nice three turn spin the first try, recovering quickly following release of control inputs. Ditto with snap rolls, although I usually get I-1/2 rolls. It holds energy well during the landing descent and slows to a craw! fortouchdown, My only real criticism ofthe F-Craft is of the landing gear system. It might be okay on a paved field, but even our very smooth grass field has been rough on the ‘wire gear and fairings. The fairings are 1/8" balsa, MonoKote¢ and strapped to the wire landing gear leg using pieces of +#64 rubber band glued in place. First off, the arrangement is hokey looking, and mars the overall clean eppearance, and second, it simply did not hold up for me. The first flying session ended with one fairing Napping in the breeze, in the second flying session, after they loosened again, I simply removed them. ‘The 5/32" wire landing gear seems extremely soft, and | ara not going to be happy until | replace the wire gear with fan alaminam un In the last flight of the first flying session, I purposely flew out the tank just to see how much time I could expect from the FS-26 turning the 9x 6 prop and using 6 ounces of fuel, Well, the engine finally shut offafter 26 minutes ‘of almost all-ful throtte flight! Conclusios ‘The T-Craft is another wonderfully designed and engineered kit and is well executed by Great Planes. There isa lot to build but it isnot difficult for someone who has built a few kits before, and the builder will be rewarded with a very pretty little aerobat capable of realist ooking full-scale maneuvers. The model can be transported to the field assembled, and the FS-26 Surpass isa perfect match forthe Craft, although I bet a 2-stroke ‘would also fly it well. >