Ken Bryant

My Feedback: (10)

I just got back from flying my new Skylark and I can say that I am very pleased with this plane. I was looking for a fun, toss around the sky plane and I got it. This plane is a CLASSIC for a reason.

The pluses:
1. Good smooth covering that needed no real reworking.
2. Lasercut ARF that appears to be very well constructed at the factory.
3. All hardware was more than capable for this type plane.
4. OS 46 FX has great vertical performance on this airframe.

The minusus:
1. Fuel tank position. Not real happy with the way the directions tell you to have it.
2. Well.. there is no number two

Building the plane:
This has to be one of the easist ARFs I have ever Built The manual is very detailed and covers everything nicly. I switched the rudder and elevator control rods to carbon just because I had the carbon rod.

Flight performance:
I will admit I never even read the manual on what the recommended control throws where. I just set it up to the same way I set up most of my planes. I used dual rates to tame it down in case the max throws are a bit more than what I like. I ended up being glad I tamed it down. Once I got the control throws tamer I really started to enjoy the plane. It rolled nicely and would loop very well. When I put it into a spin I did have to use oppisite controls to pull it out. It would go into the spin and not recover with neutral controls. The OS 46FX that I used pulled the plane vertical without a problem. The engine has been in several other airframes in the past and has allot of time on it.

If some one is looking for a good second plane or just something to toss around I really would say that the Carl Goldberg Skylark Arf is a great choice. This plane gets my seal of approval Like that means anything to anyone

k9rwt

I would agree with everything that Ken said about the Skylark. It is a nice plane and I love the way it flies. I would add 1 other minus which I discovered the hard way. The main gear blocks on mine were not very well glued in. They popped loose on a less than perfect landing (darn bifocals - I thought the plane was about a foot off the ground but it didn't agree with me). Anyhow - when I started surgery on the patient I discovered that the only thing broken was the glue joints holding the blocks in. I ended up adding some 1/8 doublers on the ends of the blocks ( the plane has what appear to be 1/16 ply doublers on the 3 ribs that suport the blocks) and used some epoxy so if the gear come loose now there will be a whole lot more that needs to be repaired.

I have an OS 46AX on mine and it goes from Zero to Holy Cow in a flash, vertical is outta sight in nothing flat. Now if we could just get some decent weather I can go punch some holes in the sky. If you want something that is just fun to bat around the sky with, this plane certainly fills the bill. I would recomend though that if you fly off of a grass field you take the time to open the wings up and beef up the LG blocks. Would I buy another one? Absolutely!

Bill Gordon

Ken Bryant

My Feedback: (10)

Good info, I'll keep an eye on those blocks, Thanks!

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Yes, it IS a classic. I saw one at Toledo and noticed how small (by today's standards) the ailerons were - but they got the job done!

Ken Erickson

Funny, the last kit I built was the Goldberg Skylark 56 in about 1976 or 7. The kit said to power it with a .15 or .19. I put a .35 on it, thinking I was some kind of a hot pilot. It sure did fly nicely. This was a low wing version of the Falcon 56.

Npthing but ARFs and Molded Foamies since.

Guess I have not been reading the magazines well enough. Knew the Falcon was back quite a while ago. Have to look up the Skylark.

Good memories,

Ken, AMA 19352

HitecMan

My Feedback: (43)

I too had some trouble with the landing gear blocks. I have a two year old ST GS 40 under the hood, and once you get the motor to run properly it is a rocket, mine for some reason ends up with the landing gear towards the sky. It is a fun plane to make inverted high speed passes. The plane is my sunday flyer, but it is no putt around plane. And questions about the plane PM me.

Ken Bryant

My Feedback: (10)

OK, now that I have been flying it for a couple weeks I want to add to this.
Issues:
#1 Yep, Main gear blocks cracked and split. Required a fair amountof work to fix.
#2 Nose wheel steering mount came loose. It's not held on with lock nuts or any locktitie. FIX THIS before assembling!
#3 Tail covering stripes have departed the plane. They need a better seal.
#4 Need to mix up the colors from top to bottom.

Still this is one of the funest goof around planes I have and enjoy flying it allot. THe OS 46 with a MACs pipe ROCKS on this plane.

SDH

I have been flying my Skylark ARF for several months. I have a Thundertiger Pro .46 in it. It's insanely fast and tracks like it's on rails. I replaced the stock tank with a 10 oz. Sullivan (stopper out the end). I glued braces in, to mount it as high as possible so the stopper would be even with the spray bar. It just clears the cover. I had to open up (raise)the firewall hole and it is a tight fit, but it works great and clears the front gear linkage fine. I automatically junk the stock ARF tanks because my World Models T-34 got filled with fuel when the stopper shrank. I've seen two others split at the seam. Every ARF I've had came with the same tank regardless of brand. It's not worth losing a plane for a $5.00 tank. I also clear doped the fuel tank compartment out of habbit. I Loc-Tited the front gear mounting nuts and epoxied carbon fiber around it after hearing of a failure in this area. I also replaced the rudder and elevator rods with Sullivan "Blue" Golden rods. I put them in all my planes after losing my Cub when the junk wood things flexed and tangled. Golden rods are a no brainer replacement item just like the tank. I decided to put off opening up the wing to shore-up the mains until I saw if it was going to be a problem........... It's a problem. Just of note. I called Goldberg and told the lady about the problem to see what they might be doing about it. She was not friendly at all about my inquiry, did not refer me to any form of customer service and told me "If you have a problem, send your receipt and the supposed defective item (in this case, an assembled 60" wing) to the address listed in your owners manual. It will be evaluated and if found defective and not abused, will be replaced." They win. I'll fix it myself. I'm certain they have grenaded the bridge between my wallet and theirs. A friend bought a Top Flite Flightsreak ARF that came with a warp in the wing. He called and had a new wing on his doorstep two days later. Go figure. All that aside, I adore this plane. It is the best touch and go plane ever. I go full blast down the runway and lift off only when I run out of real estate. Go around and do it again. It flairs and touches down so sweet it'll make ya cry. Everyone at the field comments on how nice it looks, runs and fly's. I like it a bunch.

SDH

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NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

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Ken, I was going to post nearly the same thing. I was strutting proud at the flying field with my hotrod Skylark, powered by an OS .35. The old timers were "tch-tching" and predicting doom because of such blatant overpowering of the model.

The Falcon 56 is truly just a Skylark built upside down. I've built and flown plenty of those too.

My first "multi" model was a Senior Falcon that I flew successfully for several years and many modifications. I just bought the ARF version a short while ago.

SDH

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Ken Bryant

My Feedback: (10)

Time for an update:

The stock fuel tank split at the seams. Need to replace that with something better.

Been flying hte plane like there is no tomorrow, Love it. It's my tear up the sky bird and it does.

OS 46, MACS Muffler and 11X6APC are a great combo for this plane too.

k9rwt

Ken - Thanks for the tank info. I'll have to check mine and make sure it's still in one piece. I'm like you - I love this plane. A couple of us went out the other day and I put in 12 flights and most of them were nothing but touch and go come around
and do it again, well ok a little inverted and a few loops thrown in for good measure. This plane is really fun to shoot T & G's with. It flies like it's on a rail and settles in so nice and gentle. If someone is looking for an airplane that you can take to
the field and have a really relaxing, fun fly type of day with this one certainly fills the bill.

Regards:

Bill

Ken Bryant

My Feedback: (10)

WARNING!

Well, I have to tack on some more information on this plane. The Red stripes that are on all the surfaces, REMOVE THEM! I had my plane crash and the red stripes are at fault. I had the stripe on one wing lift in the airstream. Caused a SEVERE roll tendency. Like a speed brake or aileron stuck on one side. Fortunatly the crash was minor and very reparable. But this is one crash problem that is very preventable. Just wanted to get a warning out there.

k9rwt

Well - Mine went in about a week ago. I was making an inverted pass and when I pulled out the wing folded. I gave it a 6 to 6.5 on the "Spectacular Scale" - no floaties (wasn't high enough) and I didn't have to dig the engine out of the ground. The fuse broke just in front of the wing saddle and upon closer examination of the wing the dihedral brace failed. It had evidently been going for some time as not all of the break was fresh. I think it should be repairable so I guess I have one winter project lined up now. I think that when I put the wing back together I'll take the dihedral out of the wing and see how much difference that makes in the way it flies. I guess the thing that disappoints me the most is that I wrote Goldberg to let them know and haven't heard back from them yet. I certainly don't expect them to replace the plane, I just wanted to let them know that they may want to look at that area a little closer. Oh well - I still love this plane and am determined not to let it die. Good luck with yours.

Bill Gordon

SDH

That sucks Bill! You're right. I wouldn't expect any reply from Goldberg after my experience with them. They're certainly no Top Flite in the customer service area. My Skylark is on the charger right now for flying tomorrow. I still haven't reworked the main gear, but need to real soon. If anything happens to this plane, I am going to build a Bridi Dirty Birdy 60 from a kit. The design is nearly identical and you don't have to worry about hidden, heavy, crappy wood, construction with a hot glue gun and junk covering. I am about at the end of my tolerance with ARF's. I only get to fly a handfull of times a month. It's not worth struggling with a pile of junk. The bridi kits are available in .40 to Gas sizes. I have never flown a Bridi plane, but I got to meet Joe Bridi last year at Sepulveda Basin in LA. He is a real nice guy and my flyin' buddy Larry bought a big Dirty Birdy from him. I've heard nothing but praise for his designs. I'm not sure if Joe has anything to do with the Bridi kits currently available and I don't know how good the kits are, but they are priced decent. I'll add the link. If anyone has or gets one of these kits, please let me know what you think.

http://www.bridiairplanes.com/crew/

Steve Hulse

Rube Goldberg

In the beginning for my Pop and I, we started out with a Sig Klipper. Then on to the much more civilized CG Falcon 56. Pop was quite impressed with the looks of the Skylark that he borrowed a set of plans from a fellow modeler and had the repro shop enlarge them to 135% giving the plane an 80" wingspan. With an OS 61 turning a 3 bladed prop due to ground clearance issues, it is a fine flying airplane. It's on its 3rd rebuild, but from the trailing edge of the wing back it is the original 26 year old scratch built plane.

k9rwt

Steve - Thanks! It's funny that you mention the Dirty Birdy as I have one that I picked up 4 or 5 years ago thinking that I might get back into the hobby (I got out 20 some years ago due to job / family) and I had flown both the Kaos and Kaos 40 and really enjoyed them and this one was a good price so I bought it and stashed it away. You're right about Joe - NICE guy, so was Carl Goldberg. I taught myself to fly years ago and had a Sig Kadet that was rebuilt so many times and was so heavy that it just kind of waddled into the air - good thing about that was that you could fly in quite a bit of wind and it was solid as a rock. I finally retired it and bought a Sr. Falcon and managed to strain it through a few fences and wrapped it around the goalposts at the practice field that we flew from but it survived.

Since I'm an "Old - Newbie" I haven't had much experience with the customer service these days but one that has really impressed me is the folks at Skyshark down in Arizona. I bought one of their Edge 540s and have had occasion to talk with them several times and they are just really nice folks. All of the guys here who have seen the plane have been impressed with the quality and can't wait to see it fly. Shouldn't be more than a couple of hours to finish it up so I won't be without a plane for much longer, plus I'm gettin tired of the Hanger Queen jokes every time I go to the field!!

Later:

Bill

Ken Bryant

My Feedback: (10)

Hey Bill,

Thanks for adding to this thread as you have. I just noticed your location. Next time I am up in the Quad Cities I might just be looking for a place to fly. Might have to give you a shout

FWIW, my skylark is fixed and has an upgraded nose gear. Flies straight as an arrow just like nothing ever happend to it.

Thanks fot the bridi link, I think I might check them out

SDH

At the field this morning, several guys were talking about how fast my Skylark is when our club president says: I bet my Dago Red can beat it. I went over and looked in his truck at his Dago Red ARF (.40) and jokingly tell him he's best to leave it in the truck. Boy that got his butt puckerin'. He got the 'ol Dago Red out and we had a race. After the beating, I got out my salt shaker and proceded to fill his wounds. The sad thing is, and he thought I was kiddin', I was low on fuel the knight before and decided to dump a little bit of my control line fuel in my R/C can to get me through till I got back down to the hobby shop. The C/L fuel was 10/25 for my fox's (It's all I had). I normally run 15/18 Powermaster. Anyway, he wants a rematch next week to redeem himself and I quickly agreed. On the way home I stopped by the hobby shop and picked-up a new gallon of 15/18 and a set of Prather aluminum o-ring disc wheels. I'm pulling the baffle out of the muffler and doing a little aerodynamic cleaning such as grinding off ends of screws that stick out of the control horns and a few mods in the nose area. He has retracts, so it's only fair that I get disc wheels right? We'll see next weekend.

Steve Hulse

Ken Bryant

My Feedback: (10)

Hey Steve, when you get done I want to see some pictures of that modified Lark. Sounds too cool.

k9rwt

Ken - we would be glad to have you come visit. You can fly over the bean field on the east edge of our field - that's better than the corn like last year. I think a couple of guys discovered that corn will reach up and grab your plane when you aren't paying attention on final! At least there aren't any fences between our field and the farm so we don't have to worry about straining a plane through them. Let me know if you are going to be in the area and we will try to get together. Just remember that if the ground is white you might get frozen thumbs!!!
My poor little Skylark looks so sad laying there all in pieces. It will get new life this winter. Maybe by then I'll have heard something from the folks at Goldberg. [&o][&o] Maybe it would be more appropriate if I lived in Hell, Michigan!

Later:

Bill

k9rwt

Well - an update on the Skylark situation. I did finally hear back from them and we traded a few emails and I sent them some pictures. I told them that I didn't think that it was a design problem, rather I think it was probably just a defect in the dihedral brace in this kit and I'm sure that with all the touch and goes that I have done it just finally went. They did offer to sell me one at a really reasonable price and I may take them up on their offer but I do plan to rebuild this one. I just enjoyed flying it too much. That's a winter project. Right now I just maidened my Skyskark Edge and will probably finish out the flying season with it and a Magic that a buddy of mine gave me. The Magic is a hoot to fly - especially in the wind.We had enough wind last Saturday that I was able to just hold it up above the field and let it slowly sink to the ground.

Happy flying everybody - for those of us up North make good use of the good days we have left!

Bill

squibb52

Hi just wanted to know how you mounted or installed the blue and gold rods, i use them on new built planes, but dont see how you installed them in an ARF plane ?? DON