PacificNWSkyPilot

My Feedback: (19)

Hi Charlie,

It seemed light, and tough. It worked great. It split while stored, hanging from the ceiling. I'm hoping that I won't have issues with the one I didn't drill through.

~ Jim ~[8D]

Muttdog

To be honest flying only at an altitude that is safe for a deadstick is not really a lot of fun and it really limits some of the things you can do. I do get the reason behind it though. I also learned that the GSSneeds a lot more altitude then my .40 size trainers with flat bottom wings do as the glide slopes are not even close. As far as the electrical connections I double and triple checked them before Itook it apart. As for the gas tank, I already had 2 full days of flying and literally almost ran it out of fuel. If Idid not make the last landing correctly Iwould not have had enough to go around (I was on 10 minute timer but engine was VERY rich) so there is no question that is not the issue. Also, the failure was not limited to 5 minutes, just in that instance. I have had it do it to me on a totally full tank when Iwas first testing it and the last time was when Iwas defueling the plane and simply running the lines out. I do agree about the Spark plug and she will fly with a new NGK plug.

Charlie P.

You can do about any Aresti maneuver while still having an exit strategy in the event of engine failure. At least any sensible "real" stunt pilot should have a plan for surviving the event of a dead-stick.

Ever watch an airshow put on by a glider pilot that includes low passes? That's all dead-stik.

Ihad about 20 consecutive dead-sticks when Ifirst got my Kangke .50 engine in a Super Kraft 50 (sleek shoulder-wing ARF). Landed fine &onthe runwayevery time and Ididn't baby it - Ijust kept to 50 feet up or better after the first eight or so. ;-) The advantage, Iguess, of learning R/Cwith a two-channel glider way back when. And also of having a 2,000 ft grassrunway.

If you do a maneuver that stalls the wing at low altitude and you have no air-speed to recover from a flame-out, then perhaps you deserve the outcome as tuition in the School of Hard Knocks.

Joystick TX

Been grounded for a while to get through two eye surgeries, had cataracts removed and new lenses put in. Vision is much better now; went through a gallon of gas in three days with the GSS. Nothing came loose or fell off.

I did have a little double vision in my right eye for the first days flights, but both planes flew well in formation.

Life is good.

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

I know I'm an extremely late comer to this thread, but I'm getting ready to order one of these. With the discount code for tower members ($50), the free shipping ($9), and the $30 rebate I'm almost forced into picking one up, lol.

I've been doing my best to read through the thread and what I gather is the landing gear, hinges and pushrods are the most important mods to the plane. Are tail wires a real necessity ?

Thanks

Joystick TX

I would say the tail wires would be great insurance. If you watch the videoon thisforum you will see why. The video is fairly recent, so it should be easy to find.

The plane flys as good as the Ultra/Ugly Sticks and looks like a real airplane.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

The landing gear is personal choice. The stock ones are used by many of us without incident. Can you screw them up? Sure, but I think at that point you would screw custom gear up as well. Some are changing them just so the fuselage and wings are easier to tote around?

There's a common mistake made early on in the testing of a lot of these planes. With the suggested CG, this plane uses a LOT of runway/covers a LOT of real estate when landing unless there a pretty good breeze (10mph+?) coming down the runway. It's a great big wing that doesn't want to stop flying, so it floats..... and floats, and floats some more. Obviously several things can lead up to this, but I think much of the problem has to do with a super conservative CG suggested for test flights. Anyway a rookie flier will often want to fly the plane onto the surface of the runway in an attempt to get it to slow down - and I'm here to tell you that's a bad plan. A 14-17 pound plane is never flown into a runway, for any reason. You WILL tear out whatever gear you have installed. If not on the first landing, it surely wont be long. Suggest you not mount the wheel pants until you've got some testing and some confidence under your belt? When you screw up with those mounted, your damages increase dramatically as the pants will be driven right through the bottom of the wings....

Assuming gas for power, the tail wires are something I would consider a necessity. I would consider metal geared servos a necessity as well.

This is a big plane. Get past the 90-120 mentality and think 1/4 scale durability when assembling/picking out your hardware and I think you'll be fine!

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

Thanks for all the great info, luckily I'm well past the 90-120 mentality having flown pretty much nothing but 100-150cc aerobats for years till taking a break and coming back into the hobby, now 50cc is as big as I want to get. I'm planning on a Dle 30 for this one. Good to know about the gear, I actually prefer the look of the wing mounted gear.

My first SS was the .25 size quite awhile ago , then had every size since then. I'm finding myself attracted to the planes I began my hobby flying with. No more just concentrating on the crazy 3d stuff. I'm really enjoying my 1.20 warbirds and scale civilian stuff. I can't wait to get this Giant SS going.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

Awesome! You'll love it!

I assumed you were one of the many guys coming up through the ranks or just getting your feet wet with a first gasser. Sorry! Welcome to our group. Looking forward to hearing about your progress and thoughts about how it flys. BTW, I wouldn't hesitate to move that CG back AT LEAST an inch. You may want to go even further after a few flights with the 3D experience under your belt...

-Al

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

Thanks, I am really pumped about this thing and I hope my comments didn't come across as arrogant. Just trying to explain that I'm having the same type of fun now as I did 20 years ago. I've got an old smoke system laying around I might throw in there for the heck of it.

Good to know about CG, will definitely make the change.

Muttdog

A full inch? WOW, I was not expecting that. Will there be any negative effects doing that? Is that what most others are doing? I did notice high landing speeds and once almost stalled it trying to slow down. Thank God for DLEpower as a stab of the throttle and it was instantly flying again.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

CG placement is a matter of personal taste. It flies great an inch back with no bad habits. The only thing you'll notice is it's ability to slow much quicker. Regarding safe, as far as stability, you can double that inch, or more, but I'm not suggesting that without some serious experience. Just saying it's been done.... ;^)

Muttdog

Good Stuff

PacificNWSkyPilot

My Feedback: (19)

Ahicks,

There's a lot of truth to what you said. A conservative CG does create minimal resistance, which minimizes the slowing down by drag.

To anyone who is interested in slowing their GSS down for landing:

An oft-overlooked, critical factor to slowing a plane down, is to simply work on your throttle/carb settings so that your idle is as low as possible. A good-flying plane likes to keep flying under even the smallest amount of power. Given the GSS's huge wing area, it's something of a kite, and likes to keep flying. You can also reduce the propeller's bite. For instance, go from an 18 X 8 to an 18 X 6. You get the idea.

A very simple fix to that is to use flaperons, which work amazingly well on the GSS. Why? Because flaps change the shape of a wing, changing its angle of attack, creating both lift and drag (which = slow down and still stay airborne). This plane has barn-door ailerons, so the secret here is to not use a ton of flap. Too much flaperon, and a plane with barn-door ailerons can drop. They're highly effective, so don't overdo it. 30 degrees is plenty. Flaperons often lift the nose, so I recommend you program a bit of down-elevator in with your flaperons, if you have that feature in your radio. I have a JR 9503, which allows it. The GSS will slow down beautifully.

Flying any plane onto the runway really depends on the runway itself. It's one thing to fly your plane off a bumpy field for twenty feet while it's still gaining speed; it's another thing entirely to fly onto those bumps at twenty or thirty miles per hour. I used to fly all sizes onto our field in Maine, but we rolled that field until it was smooooth. It spoiled me, and I don't really like the fields here in Texas. Bum-um-umpy. I slow my planes right down here to land them.

Moving your CG back helps to slow a plane down, but it complicates the handling, making it 'touchy.' That should be something you use to get more aerobatic ability from a plane, and NEVER to slow the plane down. Sorry to disagree. Pilots with medium-to-advanced skills can handle it. The added touchiness would further challenge an already-taxed newbie, perhaps beyond his skill level. Slowing the plane down can be done other ways that don't add pilot-stress. Remember, that CG that has been moved back is also moved back in the air, and can complicate things throughout the entire flight for a newbie. Contra-indicated, in my opinion. We have to remember that the advice we give here will be used by pilots of all skill levels.

Landing gear is pure personal preference. Somebody here once mentioned that maybe I liked having my gear on the fuselage rather than the wing. Give the man a ceeegar.

Gear on the wings is a royal pain in the arse. They jam the garage door! Lol. I store mine on my garage ceiling. I'm not fond of wire gear. I started out a century or so ago with the SIG wing-mounted gear, and I also love wheelpants. I don't have to tell many of you guys, guys who love wheel pants like I do, what that means when the gear "pop" backward during a bounce or a rough landing. I HATE patching the holes the pointed backs of the pants put up through the wings. Ergh. I went to flat stock gear on the fuselage, and never looked back. On my GSS, I bought a pair of aluminum gear for a Giant Stik. They work great and are very wide. Fell in love with how they look. I originally bought a pair of the Super Stearman gear as so many recommended, and was going to use them. Incredibly stiff, and moulded at the top. Gorgeous, heavy gear. 4 inches narrower than the Giant Stik gear, though, so I sold them to another guy here in the thread. The GSS can carry the Stearman gear easily, and depending upon the engine setup used, tends to need the weight in the front.

Hope this is of some help.

~ Jim ~[8D]

Muttdog

Jim, I am glad someone brought up the Flaperon option. I experimented with flaperons on my Pulse XT 60 and found them to be very effective. Like the GSSthe pulse does not need them but boy does it slow her down to a crawl on touchdown with very good control. I had planned on trying it with the GSS at some point but Iam still shaking the plane down since the maiden. Glad to hear it works well and I will definitely try it. My runway is paved and fairly short so S turns are the norm to stop before the end comes (and it comes quick). I have not had any issues to date with the GSS in getting her wowed down but Ido make sure to touchdown right as the pavement begins so I have as much room as possible to stop. As for the landing gear Ialready had two deadsticks that resulted in fairly hard landings in grass and both times I was very happy I made the change to fuselage mounted. I am pretty sure that it would have sent the wheel pants into the wings on at least one of them. Instead I re bent the landing gear and was on my way. On those 2 hard landings Irealized that my LGwas not strong enough and since modified it for the heavier load.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

Jim, you're right. With all due respect, I couldn't disagree with your assesment any more. The plane's ability to fly on these rearward CG locations has been well documented here previously. I'm not the first/only one that's been here/done that. Thinking you might want to actually try moving the CG back an inch prior to suggesting/warning people about creating anything "touchy" or ill handling ? If you had tried it, you'd know better. It's completely tame at 1" back. Yes, agreed, if you carry this to an extreme and keep going back beyond that you can get into something that might want to drop a wing when at speeds you might find on short final, or possibly when yanking it off the ground after a way to short take off run. That's not good if you don't have the ability to judge your speed accurately.

I've flown mine at 2.5" back without that unprovoked wing drop problem though, and the plane is not in the least bit squirrely at that setting (it does stop on a dime!). I did suggest caution prior to moving back beyond an inch - but mostly so people who would like to try that (and I recommend that highly even just for "sport flying"!) do so cautiously so they can play with the plane, slowing it down up at 3 mistakes high to see what it does. Obviously adjustments must be made when on final as well (keeping a little extra power on a little longer?). Nothing scary, just something "different".

Flaperons are something you can play with, but they add lift as well as drag, AND the potential for adverse yaw issues (adverse yaw = plane turning in to down aileron instead of the expected away from it). This isn't anything peculiar to this plane. Many/most others do/act the same, and this argument is also well documented as probably not the most effective method of slowing it. If you want to try it out/play, keep in mind also that spoilerons can sometimes be used effectively to kill lift, possibly accomplishing the same objective here. You could try playing with that setup as well. The up side to spoilerons is there is no potential for adverse yaw.

Joystick TX

I have been flying my GSS with flaperons for over two years and love them. My CG is also a little over 1 inch back, haven't measured it since I quit moving it back..

Make sure that you still have some "down" aileron control when they are in the "flaps down" position to prevent the adverse yaw condition.

Testing at 3 mistakes high like ahicks said is a great idea; I'm shocked at how many people make changes and test them during landing. I guess it keeps the hobby shops in business.

rockin daddy

My Feedback: (32)

My Giant GP Super Sportster flys great with an old Fugi 32 and an 18-10 prop. The balance is perfect! It hand starts easy. The Brinelli 40 will rip it and will most likely be a good choice. Should have alot of vertical. My Fugi 32 is a magneto motor, and a bit heavy by todays standards. An electronic solid state battery ignitionmotor will be less weight and give better performance.The plane is a "cupcake" at low speed too! I would like to build a full size Super Sporster! What a great plane it would be!

Charlie P.

Been done.  The 1932 Kinner Sportster K-5.

Joystick TX

Cool, can we enter our GSS's in Giant Scale now?

PacificNWSkyPilot

My Feedback: (19)

If somebody came up to me and asked me to list viable ways to slow a plane down, I could give them six different answers, maybe ten.

None of them would be "moving the CG back."

If somebody were to ask me to chose the single thing most likely to make a plane touchier and put it at risk, I would say, "moving the CG back."

It makes no sense to advise people to take the most extreme course first. Or a course that's not normally prescribed to resolve that particular problem. Not when there are any number of well-established, straightforward tried-and-true alternatives.

Why complicate a problem to solve it?

~ Jim ~[8D]

PacificNWSkyPilot

My Feedback: (19)

rockin daddy,

What's your GSS weight? Sounds like those engines will work great, weight-wise. I doubt that you needed any more power, but that's why that funny stick on the left can move down as well as up, eh?

~ Jim ~[8D]

Muttdog

I am also interested to hear what others are getting for weight. After the Flying wires and the Landing gear additions, my GSSRTF (no fuel) is 14.5 lbs. Mine required no ballast to balance it. I was able to move my RX and Ignition batteries to achieve the factory recommended CG point. I have plenty of room to move them to adjust the CG as necessary

Joystick TX

I'm right at 14.3 lbs. No additional weight was required to balance the plane.

My two 2300ma batteries are just forward of the bulkhead over the center of the wing. I may try moving them back a little more. When I go inverted the nose drops a little, so it would probably be okay to move them a little more to the rear.

It is almost time for me to check the fuel filter screen on the engine, so I may move the batteries at that time.

Got to go fly right now, the winds are going to be 10-15 mph for the next few hours, got to make hay while the sun shines!

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

With the EI Syssa engine, I'm at something just over 14lbs as well, no weight required. With the mag powered Quadra in it (original config), I was at 16.5 lbs. To balance that, I had 12oz of lead under the horizontal stab, as well as having the battery in a compartment just ahead of the stab.