Slowpoke

Model Airplane News, Feb 2000 by Randolph, Randy

A slow yet frisky sport flyer

There is no question that the indoor RC movement with its nearly weightless airplanes and tiny radios has attracted a lot of attention-so much that a second generation of lightweight, slow-flying airplanes has been developed for those of us who don't have access to indoor flying facilities. Called Park flyers, they're capable of indoor as well as calm-weather outdoor flight.

It follows that other airplanes Would be developed along these lines. Such craft can handle the wind on an average day at the flying field vet provide the same slow, yet frisky, type of performance achieved by indoor and slow flyers. Enter the Great Planes* Slowpoke!

This model has what it takes to become popular with giant-scale fliers as well as members of Small Model Airplane Lovers' League (SMALL). It neatly bridges the gap between park flyers and typical sport airplanes. It will fly slowly and still behave well in a moderate breeze. I think this airplane will find a home at just about any flying field!

CONSTRUCTION

From the artwork on the package to the kit's stripwood, hardware and die-cut parts, this airplane just begs to be built! The manual is well-illustrated and offers step-by-step instruction from the first glue joint to the finishing touches-including what to expect when you're flying the plane.

All strips, sheets and die-cut parts are bundled with the hardware according to the subassembly for which they are intended. By any standards, this is a good kit.

* Tail feathers. According to the instruction manual, you should build the tail group first. The stab is on the left side of the plan and the elevator is on the bottom right. Because of the size of the plan, the manual suggests that you detach the stab plan so you'll be able to work on it while you're assembling other parts. I don't like to cut up plans, so I built the stab first and then removed it so I could assemble the elevators and fin/rudder on the building board. It took a little extra time, but it kept the plan in one piece.

I did cheat in the tail area. The provided wood was rather heavy, and the tail is not a good place for extra weight, so I substituted lighter wood. By and large, the kit's wood fit the job, but in this case, it missed the mark. Other than that, I built the tail by the book.

* Wing. The wing is wide: its center section just about fills up my 20x24-inch building board! Before starting on the wing, I separated all of the wing parts from the die-cut sheets and sanded a few edges here and there. Because I followed the manual step by step, the center section "grew" as smoothly as one could want. Everything fit perfectly.

Instead of using the traditional dowel-- through-the-leading-edge (LE) approach to the front wing/fuselage anchor system, the SlowPoke has a nice, square, plywood-- encased appendage that fits into the center rib just above-yet is part of-the LE (a very slick system worth remembering!).

After you've completed the spars, ribs, capstrips and top sheeting, you lift the center section from the building board. Then you add the bottom sheeting, capstrips and landing-gear mounts. I advise you to drill the gear mounts before you install them. At this point in the construction sequence, the wing uses a sub-LE and you add the actual LE when you've completed the wing and it has both outboard panels joined to the center section.

Begin the outboard panels by laying down the trailing edge (TE), capstrips and sheeting and then adding the spars, ribs, top sheeting and TE. A plywood gauge that comes with the kit helps you set the dihedral rib at the proper angle.

To ensure that the bottom remains flat, complete the panel while it is still pinned to the building board because you add the top sheeting over the ribs that taper toward the tip. When the panels are complete, the tips are added. I was a little disappointed with the way the tips had been cut, and they seemed flimsy compared with the rest of the wing.

The outboard panels are butt-- joined to the center section with the help of two 1/8-inch dowels that help with the panels' alignment. I would have liked a joiner of some sort, but this method seemed satisfactory. After you've joined the panels and the glue has set, add the LE, and the wing is then complete and ready for sanding.

* Fuselage. To build the fuselage, you add two plywood doublers to the two partly built fuselage sides and build up the rest of the sides with balsa strips. Build the first side directly over the plan and the second over the first. This practice is very familiar to old-time modelers, and it works very well to ensure that both sides are the same.

When the sides have been completed, they're joined at the tail, and the bulkheads are attached from the tail up to the firewall while the sides are pinned over the top view. When the bottom part of the fuselage is complete, add the top bulkheads from the tail post forward. Install the servo mount between the cockpit formers, then attach the engine mount to the firewall.