1FastMopar

I just received my new GUS, and it looks real nice, with my novice eyes, monokote seems tight, and no wrinkles. I also notice that there are dual landing gear mounts, so if you're gonna go taildragger you can push the gear forward. I see on this thread that it wasn't always like that.. I already dropped the plane off with a friend who has over 20 years of flying and building, he's gonna assemble it for me, as I'm self employed and just don't really have the time now. The DLE 55 engine will be here tomorrow, I will get it running right away and get the break-in process going. If all goes well, it'll be in the air this sunday! :-)

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Good luck! BTW I have 5 inch tires on Glass landing gear because of the extra weight and prop clearance, the 55 will require at the very least a 20 inch prop..................Doubt the factory gear will hold up long with that big engine on the front?

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

As far back as I can remember the Giant Stick has always had dual gear mounts from the factory.....

I found a 20x10 three blade works well with the 55 on the Giant Stick, a 22 or 23 inch has issues with ground clearance even with over sized wheels.

Ernie Misner

Gizmo, where did you get your glass or carbon fiber gear?

1FastMoPar, where did you order your GUS from? The 40 size is from Great Planes, right, or? what about the 90, 120, and Giant size? You guys have a link? In particular I am interested in a 20cc size. Thanks.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

The gear game from an old friend who has more "Stuff"than most Hobby Shops. This was part of that "Stuff", used but good, that being said I have no Idea where it came from some years past. Does work well on a larger plane and is Ideal for mine w/5 in. Dubro tires. Sorry I was of little help.

Gizmo

1FastMopar

Got it and DLE55 engine from Tower Hobbies.. Great price, great service, and free shipping!


I broke the engine in on the bench, a few flips and it was running, ran great right from the first, and carb was spot on! So far I got a 21x8 on it, and turns that 7600rpm wide open. :-) Buddy of mine helped out assembling the plane, started saturday, then I came over on Sunday, and we had it finished and ready to fly last night.. Now I can't wait till the weekend for it's first flight. Weighs 14.6 without fuel.. I put a 24oz tank in it so I can fly for more than 10 minutes. lol

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Good Luck!!!!

1FastMopar

Thanks! I was just thinking on this, I got the plane on the 17th, engine on the 18th, plane done and ready to fly on the 22nd, and it's pretty clean, too. :-) I wasn't gonna get insanely fancy yet, I'm a novice at best, never know how long it'll stay in the air. lol I'll take some pics of the work and post them up. We noticed one thing, the ailerons and flaps are crooked from one side to the other, although I don't have it set up with flaps, they are all ailerons. I can't imagine in my wildest that this plane needs flaps. I'll take a pic of that too, maybe some of you have seen this before.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

I have flaps that I find unnecessary. Your trims and servo adjustments should center the ailerons/flaps, that being said check the throws after the adjustment Do not get out of hand until you are familiar with this set up, you have way more power than you think! I have a GUS with a G-38, not a Hot-Rod but enough to get you in trouble if you are not giving it respect. I have an Ultra Hots, about the same size as the GUS with a DLE 55 on it, truly an overpowered plane almost to the extreme!

DMehalko

My Feedback: (42)

Another follow up, 7 Flights in, DLE40cc Twin is running sweet and sounding awesome! The all HIGH-VOLTAGE setup is working beautifully, direct 2s LiPo on the ignition, and direct 2s LiPo on the rx and servos, couldnt be happier with the performance, simplicity, and endurance. I flew 5 10min flights and both packs were still above 8.10v

j301

My Feedback: (12)

1Fast, you are correct, it really doesn't need flaps, had mine set to flap/all ail/crow on a 3 position switch. I did find that it 1) didn't need all aileron, and 2) flaps were nice to have as I went with big motors like you. Had to put the batteries aft to get it to balance, so with the extra wt, half flaps helped slow it down.
As for the stock landing gear, I agree, get BIGGER wheels, 5 to 6" for prop clearance. Also you will need to beef them up with the extra weight. With anything less then a greased feather on an ice pond landing they WILL bend, and at $20 a pop for a prop, what I did was cheap insurance (see photos). The springs came from ACE, you will be tempted to pick out the ones you can "stretch by hand," don't, get the ones that you can't pull apart (and I bet you $20 I can tell you why!)

On a bad note, mine is no-more. On my radio, when you get to 'sub trims' type screen, the first thing it stops on is "Ch 1- Elev Norm/Rev". I was running up a new 20/10 prop after breaking in my twin 44 with a 20/8 with a few more flights, went to the trim menu and was adjusting the idle, taxied out and throttled up. about 8' of roll and she was climbing like crazy, thought something had broken and slid aft. Tried to level her out, got worse! Let off the throttle and let it finish its little off the deck loop and was going to "pancake" it in at the end to save the motor, again when I pulled back to flair-strait in nose first. I noticed the elev had about 15 degrees nose up attitude, thought I broke the servo. Got to the table ran the servo and everything wiggled, paid a bit more attention to which way and yup, up was down. Back to sub trim, hit reverse and the 15 deg. went away. All I can think is that the reverse got 'bumped' (super easy to do on my SG10 I guess) as I toggled over to idle on sub trim. It would have been my 2nd flight of the day, and my old normal routine is to check all surfaces when I first assemble at the field with a quick check at start-up. Now its check all surfaces EVERY time I start up AND taxi! The wings are likely save-able, but the fuse is toast.

1FastMopar

Thanks for the tips! I will get some springs and do what you did before I fly it this Sunday.. Sorry to hear about your bad outcome.. :-( I'm new at this, but part of my preflight is to check that all controls are working, and doing the right things, also battery check every time.

j301

My Feedback: (12)

No problem, don't know if you can see it, but I used electrical sta-kon type eye terminals for the screw side, just pulled the plastic part off and soldered them. The other side is the rest of the 4/40 extension that you can get with the metal clevis.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

We had a Stik meet today at our club. A good time was had by all. The newest one was just completed last night and is no more....
My Giant Stik is the one in the back with no prop on it and my Big Stik 40 is the one in the front center.

1FastMopar

Very kool! The Stik seems to have a group of flyers who just love them. I took my new GUS out yesterday for the first time, what a blast.. At first I was flying with a 20x10 prop on my DLE55, and was a little disappointed, but for the last flight I put a 22x10-6, and OMG what a difference, it's a beast, and what was more cool is the sound of the prop going subsonic as it went down the runway at full throttle, some others were a little shocked to see a Stik hauling ass like that.. lol I'm very green in this sport, only been flying since the first of the year, but I am fortunate enough to have become friends with Dino DiGiorgio, and he was nice enough to come out yesterday and put the maiden flight on my GUS, pretty cool stuff there.. Only bad thing was, I changed the prop, was having fun, and the rains came and cut my flight short..

Being new to the hobby, I had no idea who Dino was, but quickly realized he's a pretty big figure in the world of Scale flying, what a great guy to have as a friend as a very green flyer, and more-so that he even gives me the time of day.. lol Dino is one hell of an ambassador to the hobby, he helped not only myself yesterday, but many of the seasoned vets. We spent a good bit of time dealing with receiver issues, Dino had one of those little Spektrum receiver diagnostic deals with him, and we found that the DLE ignition puts out a ton of RF, we ended up using a long extension he had, and moved the satellite antenna as far back in the fuselage as possible, and that cleaned up a lot of the issues. Again, I'm new to the hobby, so many of you may already know these things, but I learned a ton yesterday..

I can't wait to get out this coming weekend and do some more flying, I am gonna mount my GoPro on the plane, just gotta find a solid place to mount it so it does not end up breaking off. I'm thinking screw the bracket through the landing gear.

Bullethole

like your suspension setup. Here is mine. It's not quite as sophisticated, but it works.

j301

My Feedback: (12)

Hey man, whatever works! Looks beefy enough, I would be careful on grass though, it might "trip" if you get into some taller stuff.

Twin_Flyer

My Feedback: (4)

Several months ago there was an article on Model Airplane News (I think) about converting the standard stick from a high wing to a low win.

has anyone do that? I have a big stick i bought off of eBay, so its a generic model, 74" WS or there about and am considering the same conversion but wondered what flight changes I might expect.

I check all the moments with a Robart incidance meter and everything seemed to be zero-zero whether it was right side up or upside down. Thats the firewall, wing saddle and tail.

Thanks,
Bill S.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

I haven't done it myself but I have seen several posts and pictures over the years of guys that have. Looks pretty straight forward to to. I suspect not that much different to fly and most likely better inverted performance.

1FastMopar

I think the one written about is here on this thread pages back..

Bullethole

Don't fly off tall grass. We pay our landscaping guy too much money for the grass to get that long. We also have a paved runway. But, if I did, my carbon fiber prop would take care of any grass.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

A friend converted a Stick to low wing, I was not impressed and thought it a step backward. Just my opinion as it seemed to be less stable and not worth the effort? He really doesn't seem to care for it much, and it just seems to be left home a lot.

1FastMopar

I'm a newbie, but why mess with a proven, great working plane?? I guess just to try it, and be different.

meinekeman

this is my big stick prop hanging, http://youtu.be/kD8kbvDsp88

Twin_Flyer

My Feedback: (4)

The MAN article made the standard high wing stick look like the Midwest Giant Sweet-N-Low stick thats no longer available.

I like the look and its also a classic!!



Bill S.