WATTAGE Mad Dog EP 400

Model Airplane News, Aug 2004 by Welsh, Joe

This electric ARF has performance to please!

Inspired by the popular .40-size Sportsman Aviation Mad Dog, this electric-powered park flyer from WattAge packs all of the excellent flight characteristics of the larger plane into a compact and convenient package. If you're looking for a sport plane that's fun and easy to fly, has a wide flight envelope and can handle basic aerobatics, the Mad Dog EP 400 is an excellent choice.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

The first thing you'll see when you open the box is the illustrated and detailed instruction manual. Under that, you will find each half of the built-up balsa wing and the built-up stabilizers; all have been nicely finished in a semi-transparent red covering. A highly visible zigzag pattern on top of the wing will help the pilot see the orientation of the plane at all times. The lightweight, built-up wing has vacuum-formed wingtips glued to it-a nice touch. Underneath the wing, the vacuum-formed, painted fuselage is in a protective box. Next to the fuselage are two boxes that contain the included Super 400 cobalt motor and 7x4 propeller, canopy, wheels, wheel pants, landing gear, prop and nearly everything else needed to complete the plane. You'll only need a 4-channel radio, micro-receiver, three sub-microservos, a 30A speed controller, a 7-cell flight pack and adhesives to finish the plane.

ASSEMBLY

The Mad Dog can be assembled fairly quickly; the advertisement "Buy it today, fly it tomorrow" is not an exaggeration.

First, I epoxied the wing panels together with the included spar. I then glued the horizontal and vertical stabilizers to the fuselage. Before gluing anything to the plastic fuselage, be sure to sand the gluing surfaces so that the adhesive will have something to "bite" into. After allowing the epoxy to set up for a few minutes, I used the included CA hinges to hinge each control surface.

I made one small change to the order of the steps listed in the manual. I decided to install the landing gear later so that it would not be in the way during the rest of the assembly.

All three servos are easy to mount in the i servo tray, and the pushrods come built up with wooden dowels. I only had to center the servos and connect the pushrods to the control surfaces. The included motor was easy to mount in the motor mount, and the cowl is attached with three screws, so it's easy to access the motor. The Mad Dog doesn't come with a spinner, and although I couldn't find one in my workshop that was the right size, a slightly larger one fit reasonably well. The instructions suggest that you use the included spacers to keep the wheels centered on the axles. I found that the spacers were too thin to be used for this purpose, so I left them out and simply trimmed the wheel pants so that the tires would not touch them.

A Velcro battery strap is already installed, but I could not take advantage of it when I had properly balanced the plane. I moved the battery all the way forward (against the firewall), and the plane balanced without the need to add extra weight. The Mad Dog was now ready to take to the skies.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Assembly time is short, so the Mad Dog can be chewing holes in the sky in no time! The performance of WattAge's Mad Dog surprised me a bit: I expected it to fly well, but I didn't expect the wide performance envelope that the plane delivered while using only 7 cells! I was impressed by this plane's speed and ability to slow down. The included cobalt motor gives the Mad Dog the punch it needs to get moving, and the generous wing area allows you to slow it down to a manageable speed for landing. Two thumbs up!

Cirrus; distributed by Global Hobby Distributors.

Futaba; distributed by Great Planes Model Distributors (217) 398-6300; (800) 682-8948; futaba-rc.com.

Global Hobby Distributors (800) 854-8471; (714) 963-0133; globalhobby.com.

Hitec (858) 748-6948; hitecrcd.com

WattAge; distributed by Global Hobby Distributors.