Super Kraft Monocoupe 1/4-scale golden age favorite

Model Airplane News, Sep 2003 by Trachten, Craig

Produced from 1931 through 1940, the full-scale Monocoupe's beautiful lines and useful power-to-weight ratio made it one of the Golden Age's most sought-after aircraft. And I have no doubt that Super Kraft's faithful reproduction of its superior qualities will garner this 1/4-scale rendition just as much attention. It has been a long time since I enjoyed building an aircraft as much as I did this one. Its tremendous size and the top-shelf quality of its materials make the Monocoupe a keeper.

KIT COMPONENTS

The Super Kraft Monocoupe is an extremely well put together ARF. It comes completely built and covered in a beautiful scale pattern. The package includes all the necessary hardware, including landing gear, aluminum control horns and strut brackets-all of the highest quality. A fiberglass cowl and wheel pants and an excellent set of instructions and documentation round out this impressive package.

ASSEMBLY

* Fuselage. Assembly begins with the two-piece cowl, which consists of a cowl and a sub-cowl. Join the two pieces as instructed and put the assembly on your workbench. To determine how far the firewall should be from the engine's thrust washer, measure the height of the assembly from your workbench to the lip of the cowl and add 1/4 inch. When it's time to mount your engine and secure the cowl assembly to the aircraft, you will find that the two-piece cowl assembly makes one of the cleanest and easiest installations.

Because the fuselage is round, the main landing gear serves as a built-in work stand, so Super Kraft suggests that you mount it at this time. Simply attach the plate for the main landing gear to the fuselage and then the gear to the plate. The fitted, removable belly pan gives the model a nice, finished look and allows easy access to the aircraft's interior.

Now, it's decision time-gas or glow? Follow the instructions for whichever power system you choose. Because I had a Fuji 32 gas engine looking for a home, I went with gas. Though it's slightly over-powered, the aircraft balances perfectly (I can always throttle back!). I cut a piece out of the lower firewall to allow clearance for the Fuji's rear-mounted muffler, but this does not affect the aircraft's structural integrity.

* Tail feathers. The installation of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers is about as standard as it gets. Just make sure that nothing shifts while the epoxy is curing.

Attach the flying-wire brackets as described in the instructions. The measurements given will help you to find the pre-drilled holes under the covering. Do not attach the flying wires at this time.

Some of the hinge slots in the control surfaces are a bit too small to accommodate the CA hinges. Simply enlarge them with a no. 11 hobby blade, and then center the hinges in their places and secure them with a little CA. Assemble and attach the tailwheel assembly as directed in the instructions.

The empennage controls are extremely easy to install. I was most impressed with the aluminum control horns. A single through-bolt with a finishing washer ensures an easy alignment and installation. The rudder pull/pull horn uses a one-piece stud that's inserted through the rudder; the horns are then screwed onto the stud. I used the supplied wire to make the pull/pull cables for the rudder, but I used Dave Brown's fiberglass system for the elevator's "Y" pushrod. I used FMA PS500MBB servos for all of the control surfaces. At this point, you can attach the flying wires.

* Power. The Monocoupe's interior is large. I installed a 32-ounce Du-Bro gas tank in the nose and still had plenty of room to spare. To prevent the tank from moving around, I had to secure it in place.

When you mount your throttle servo, be sure that it is on the correct side for whichever engine you choose. Because I opted for the Fuji 32 gas engine, I mounted mine on the left and directly on the side of the cockpit wall to allow the pushrod to run directly to the engine.

Here is where the cowl is worth its weight in gold. Because all of the cutting had been done on the sub-cowl, I didn't have to cut, shape, or sand the outer finishing washer. With the cowl attached, none of the cutting is visible on the outer ring. A Dave Brown 3 1/4-inch Vortech aluminum spinner-cut to accommodate an APC 18x8 prop-caps off the Fuji. Dave will cut a spinner for any prop you want to use.

* Finishing. Slide the body fairing over the landing-gear plate and glue it to the fuselage. I used JZ canopy glue for this. Once I had attached the fairings to the fuselage, it was difficult to take the bottom access belly pan off. To alleviate this problem, I simply trimmed the rear of the fairings. I had a similar problem with one of the wheel-pant fairings and I remedied this, too, with a little trimming. To complete the fuselage, trim and install the windows, the windshield and the top access plate. I installed several servo screws around the windshield to give it that riveted look, and I put one in the top plate (do not screw it down tightly) to serve as a hatch-opening handle.