GWS: Formosa

Model Airplane News, Apr 2004 by Harris, David

Pint-size pattern park flyer

Jan Huygen Linschoten, an early 17th-century Dutch navigator, passed by the island that today is known as Taiwan and exclaimed, "Ilha formosa!" (beautiful island). It is therefore fitting that GWS (which is based in Taiwan) would call its latest park flyer the "Formosa." This sharp-looking model takes to the name well, as it's not only pleasing to the eye but also pleasing to fly.

IN THE BOX

The Formosa has relatively few parts and comes with a step-by-step photo-illustrated instruction booklet. The foam fuselage is molded in halves and includes the vertical fin/rudder. The flying surfaces are one-piece foam moldings from which you must cut the control surfaces. The power system supplied with the Formosa is the GWS 350-C that's geared 5.33:1, and the kit includes a choice of props. It also contains a safety spinner, landing gear, control rods, hardware and a set of decals. To get the Formosa airborne, you'll need to supply a 4-channel radio, a 15A electronic speed control (ESC) with battery-eliminator circuit (BEC), three microservos and a 7- or 8-cell NiMH battery and charger. Every time I build a GWS plane, I get this feeling of deja vu; they all use the same proven format and build sequence, which is straightforward and easy. Let's get started!

CONSTRUCTION NOTES

* Fuselage. Construction starts by installing the pushrod tubes in the fuselage. The tubes need to be 370mm long. I don't have a metric ruler; I use a simple formula to convert millimeters to inches: I multiplied 370mm times 0.03937, which equals 14.56 inches. I then round the answer to the nearest whole number. After I had installed the pushrods, I glued the fuselage halves together with 5-minute epoxy and held them together with rubber bands while the glue dried. The Formosa sports a removable canopy hatch that's attached with a magnet, and this allows easy access to the radio components and battery.

Next, the motor and gearbox are mounted to a hardwood stick that's glued into a matching molded recess in the nose of the fuselage. I noted that the motor assembly was easily slid fore and aft, so I waited until I completed the model to mount the assembly; this would make it very easy to achieve the proper center of gravity without having to add weight. I now fitted the cowl, and the directions recommend using a pair of scissors to trim it to size. Instead, I used a Dremel rotary tool with good results.

* Wing. For strength, the one-piece foam wing uses a bamboo stick as a spar that's glued into a molded slot, and it's covered with a white decal to conceal it. Using a sharp hobby knife, I cut the ailerons free from the wing and beveled their leading edges. I used a sanding block to make the bevel. I then cut a groove in the wing for the aileron torque rods; they must be installed before hinging the ailerons to the wing. I cut three equally spaced 10mm slots in each aileron and then glued all of the aileron hinges in the ailerons using the kit-supplied foam-safe glue. I used a pencil to mark the wing where the mating hinge slots needed to be cut. I then made the cutouts and glued the ailerons and torque rods into place. The landing-gear wires are screwed to plastic mounts that are glued on the bottom of the wing. The last step of the wing assembly is to install the wing hold-down support.

* Tail surfaces. Like the ailerons, the elevators and rudder need to be cut free, beveled and hinged, so I decided to do them together. I hinged the rudder making sure that I didn't install a hinge in the elevator cutout. The rudder hinges are glued into place after the stabilizer has been installed in the fuselage. Next, I removed the elevator from the stabilizer, beveled its leading edge, glued the prebent joiner wire into place and hinged the elevator to the stabilizer. I temporarily installed the wing so I could properly align the stabilizer as I glued it into place with 5-minute epoxy. I used a ruler to center the assembly and set the plane on a pair of level 2x4-inch wood blocks while the epoxy dried. I then glued the rudder into place and installed the control horns.

* Radio and motor installation. Radio installation is a snap. I simply pushed my Hitec Electron 6 receiver into the cavity at the rear of the canopy opening. To control the ailerons, elevator and rudder, I used three Cirrus CS6.3 servos. They fit neatly into the fuselage, and I glued them into place. To get the power from the 8-cell, 95OmAh NiMH Kan battery, I used a Castle Creations Pixie 20 ESC. It's rated to 20 amps continuous and features a BEC and a brake. The battery fit neatly in the molded battery cavity, and the removable canopy hatch makes installing and removing the battery a simple task. One thing I did notice, though: there's no provision for cooling air to flow over the battery during flying sessions. Be sure to monitor your battery so it doesn't overheat.

* Final assembly. As I stated earlier, I waited to install the motor so I could use it to balance the model without adding unnecessary weight. As it turns out, this was not necessary; I had plenty of room to place the battery where needed to balance the plane without adding additional weight.