Hawk

Model Airplane News, Aug 2001 by Tracey, John

MODEL AIRPLANE NEWS

FIELD & BENCH REVIEW

Impressive performance at an affordable price

If you're looking for an inexpensive. small, sport model that's intended for light aerobatics and thermal soaring, then the folks at WattAge have the answer. The Hawk is a low-cost, high-performance glider that comes with a directdrive, Speed 380 electric motor, prop and spinner. and its sleek, smooth shape penetrates the air with little resistance. An aileron conversion kit is available. but it's definitely not needed for good performance. The plane's compact size not only means that the Hawk takes up less room in the car, but it can also be flown in smaller fields.

CONSTRUCTION

More and more planes are on the market that can be in the air within only a few hours of opening the box, and the Hawk definitely fits into this category. I began to put it together right after dinner, and it was ready to go in no time.

The assembly of this foam and plastic glider was very simple. The first step is to assemble the wings. They consist of an EPS foam core encased in closed-cell sheet foam and are constructed by epoxying the halves together. For extra strength and support, a sheet of thin plastic is attached on top of the wing with adhesive. This may not seem like enough to keep the wing together, but it is. I put this plane through the wringer, and the wing kept up with everything.

The fuselage is made from a blown plastic mold. I used a razor knife to cut out the holes under the wing saddle and canopy for the electronics and motor. In the front of the fuselage, there is a spot for a small hole that lets air in to cool the motor and ESC. The instructions call for this to be cut out, which I did, but I recommend that you do so only if needed. The problem is that when the glider lands on dirt, the hole allows dirt to enter the fuselage; I found myself constantly shaking it out. Landing on a grass field would keep it clean.

The tail feathers are made of the same lightweight EPS foam and closedcell sheet foam as the wing. To make life easy, they come prehinged, but the hinges must be bent back and forth a few times to break them in.

Both the stabilizer and the tail fin are held in place with small wood screws. I thought it would be easier to epoxy them into place, but I followed the instructions instead, and the screws worked like a charm. If you're also tempted to use epoxy on the stabilizer and tail fin, don't do it! It would be faster, but there are disadvantages. If you land hard on the nose and need to replace the fuselage, the epoxy makes it difficult to remove the tail feathers. In addition, the screws are actually stronger than the epoxy; in extreme crashes, they will flex a bit, but epoxy may crack.

I inserted two Cirrus C-20 servos into a small plastic frame that is held in the fuselage with a self-adhesive backing. They fit perfectly. Both of the control horns were a pleasure to install; WattAge's unique design uses a snap fit to hold them firmly in place. The pushrods snap into the control horns with a clip arrangement.

An aluminum plate sandwiched between the fuselage and the Speed 380 motor holds the motor in the nose. I made the hole in the nose of the fuselage a little larger than instructed, and this gave me a fair amount of room to center the motor.

WattAge recommends that you power the motor with one of its new 650 NiMH battery packs that comes with either 6 or 8 cells. The 6-cell pack is suitable for slower flying with less power and a lighter wing load; the 8-cell pack is perfect for faster, more aerobatic flight. The 8-cell pack is my favorite, but using 6 cells in the Hawk makes it only slightly tamer.

I mounted the prop and spinner on the included adapter. The prop's pitch is only 2.5 inches, and with such a low pitch, I thought the model might be a little underpowered. I was wrong!

I cut out the clear canopy with regular kitchen scissors. I usually cut out vacuumformed parts at least twice; I start by cutting 34 inch from the line and then gradually cut in closer from there. I taped the canopy into place on the fuselage and drilled holes for the screws. If you don't already have a no. 0 Phillips-head screwdriver, get one. It is a necessity when working with small airplanes.

CONCLUSION

The WattAge Hawk is a great bang for the buck. It's not often that I come upon a plane in which the performance far exceeds the price. If you have some flight experience and are looking for a compact electric plane that flies fast and is capable of aerobatics, this may be just what you are looking for. Because it's so small, I keep mine in the car at all times; this ensures that no potential flying opportunity will pass me by.

Cirrus Ventures, 115 Hunter Ave., Fanwood, NJ 07023-1030; (908) 322-7221.

Futaba Corp. of America, exclusively distributed by Great Planes Model Distributors Co., P.O. Box 9021, Champaign, IL 61826; www.futaba-rc.com.

WattAge; distributed by Global Hobby Distributors, 18480 Bandilier Cir., Fountain Valley, CA 92728-- 8610; (714) 964-0827; fax (714) 962-6452; www.globalhobby.com.