MetallicaJunkie

I thinking of getting one, the Escapade sure looks like GP's answer to H9's Pulse

Edit: Ordered already, gonna power it with a 70 Surpass I

lowwinds

Well i flew mine today. O.S. 46 ax in it . At half throttle it was moving along nicely so i kicked it up to wide open. 3 seconds later the wing ripped off by the front mount and plane torpedoed into the runway at full speed. My opinion you get what you pay for. Cheap price and cheaply built . Lasted only 1 flight.

NorfolkSouthern

I flew my Great Planes Rapture 40 all last Summer with a .46 AX, many times (or most of the time, perhaps) wide open. It cartwheeled on two occasions, but that was due to airspeed and crosswind landing errors. The first time, I had to rebuild the wing. The second, it just ripped some of the covering. No damage to the fuse. I never had a problem with flutter, and one guy at the field commented positively on how well it held up in a violent snap: It kept right on going. Flew it for the rest of the day. Then I flew it for the next day. And now it's getting some new covering for the next season. I guess I'm starting to sound like Stickbuilder. You definitely get what you pay for, both in time and money. I think I'm gonna name it "Old Ironsides".

NorfolkSouthern

Tom Nied

lowwinds, so what actually failed? Was it the former where the wing root front square pieces key into or the wing root front square pieces?

Kostas1

Sorry for your lose! []

Could we just see some pics of the damaged airframe?
It seems to me a bit weird as for the building quality of this GreatPlanes ARF.

I think GP have proven their quality built ARF's all these years.

I may be just lucky enough,
but i fly a SuperSportster 40 ARF with an OS 65LA and 11x6 APC prop for ~4 years now and i haven't seen any balsa fall off [>:][>:][>:]

lowwinds

When it let loose it was the new style of ribs that mount into the fuse. not the old style with dowels. Nothing left to show you . The fuse. was scattered over ninety yards of the field . The positive was that it was very cool to see .

Tom Nied

Well examining mine I can tell the former that holds the wing root front tabs from the wing are in direct relation to the plywood mount for the landing gear. If either one of these fail or let loose you can have the wing pull off and catastrophic failure to flight can occur. This would spoil anybody's day. Excessive speed seems to be the nemesis of this plane. I'd like to address this issue and prevent this failure happening to my plane. Mine is going to be powered by a Magnum XLS 46, plenty of power I fear. I'm not sure if the wing root rib is what gives out or is it the tabs of the wing root rib, or the former. Just wonder if a dowel would have been better. Anybody have any thoughts?

NorfolkSouthern

Seems to me like this would be a good candidate for an LA 40 or 46.

NorfolkSouthern

Tom Nied

Well I thought so too, originally. I was originally thinking something like a Thunder Tiger GP 42. But it seems to balance out pretty nice with a ball bearing ed .46 Even still, whatever the engine, this wing separation story needs studying.

e30pq

My Feedback: (1)

I received my Escapade yesterday. I haven't started the build but this is my first ARF.

I will be installing a TT46pro and duel aileron servos.

If anyone has any building suggestions to prevent the wing separation issue please share.

Tom Nied

I emailed Air Support at Great Planes and got the following response, "we're sorry to hear of the problem, We haven't heard of any problems with this model", plus the usual form email they send regarding these queries. I think that the wing mounts could use some wood to strengthen their position. The front is mounted to the rear of the landing gear mount and if taxiing in some rough grass if that should fracture, the wing could come off from the front. Would be nice if RC Ken would chime in on this. He's got one for a review and it sounds like him and his friends have put it through some testing. I wonder if anyone has glued the two wing halves together at least at those indexing tabs. I also wonder if some judicious application of epoxy to the inner side of the root rib in the corner would help strengthen it. Another thing that could be done is put some wing dowels front and back and fasten with rubber bands. Would certainly detract from the clean and neat appearance the Escapade has. Not seeing lowwinds crash remains it is hard to tell what actually happened. Maybe this is an isolated incident. He didn't put up any photo, so who knows. I've seen wings rip off fuselages in flight and it is always a "game over" moment.

JMHO

MetallicaJunkie

does any one have pics, of the way these wings mount? i ordered one on monday and will recieve it soon

MetallicaJunkie

found what i was looking for.....ll make sure to glue the wing halves together with 30 min epoxy and add some triangle stock wherever i can to beef it up.....they are so short any how.....

ptuxbury

Hey Tom,

I did what you were asking about... I epoxied my two wing halves together. I was particularly careful about clamping the two halves of the tab that holds the wing to the plane. I figured I have no need to have them in two halves.

I also applied an extra coat of epoxy in front of the firewall, and also coated the inside from the firewall back to where the wing tab fits in the fuse. I did this for two reasons - a little added strength, and also fuel proofing around where the tank will go. This may help strengthen that area you refer to.

Now that I'm hearing about wing strength issues, I'm seriously going to consider glassing around the area where the wing tab fits in the fuse. I never 100% trust ARFs - it never hurts to add a little extra reinforcement.

Tom Nied

ptuxbury, yeah, I'm so use to having a wing in one piece that I'm inclined to glue mine together also. If damage occurs down the line and I'm not into a repair, I'd replace the whole wing. More than likely I would do the repair. I'm also thinking of glueing the empennage on, but noticed that in the final assembly notes that Great Planes suggests using the fuselage area under the empennage for securing tail weight if needed.

I think its wise to strengthen some of these critical areas. Gosh I would hate to only get one flight on a plane.

ptuxbury

What is there to prevent me from drilling two more holes in the piece of ply that the current wing tab fits into, and installing two wooden dowels into the leading edge of the wing? This might help prevent the same disaster lowwinds experienced.

I'm almost done with this plane. Just the servos inside the plane, and the control pushrods. I upgraded my tail wheel to one of the sullivan wheels with the spring in it.

I'll take some pictures of the reinforcement I did tonight and post them later.

Tom Nied

Wow, you're way ahead of me. I still have to acquire the onboard radio, but I think I'm pretty close in my selection from Servo City. Nothing is preventing you from taking extra precautions to prevent wing separation in this model. Seems like there could be different ways to do it. A couple of dowels keying into the front plywood mount like you suggest may be just fine. Would consider that myself. We know the wing isn't going to pass up through the fuselage, we worry about a wing separation going opposite of the fuselage. I mentioned a couple of dowels and rubber bands, but who wants to detract from the Escapade's good looks. How about some kind of fiberglassed strap that would lock in place from front to back underneath the wing? I don't know, maybe this is over-engineering. I do way too much of that. Just don't want a wing separation or surface flutter to shorten the lifespan of my Escapade. I'm just finishing an Avistar which is my second because I had so much fun with my first. I flew the hell out of my first and I like to do that with my planes. Get a lot of flights out of them, before I send them to the landfill.

flynte

Just checked, and the bird cleared customs yesterday and should have it by Tuesday. I just hate our customs as a package can sit there for up to 15 days [:@]
I just seeth when it can come across the States into Canada in two days and then it just sits in customs for a week or more. Oh well, guess they need a place to set there coffee cup while they cards or play catch with our packages. Sorry, just venting.
But on the upside is it'll be here soon and can get started on it

flynte

Tom Nied

flynte, you didn't get it yet? Holy Crap, you got more patience than me, and I thought I was good.

flynte

Not yet, hopefully by tuesday. Got the flight pack and battery sitting here waiting and the motor is coming with the plane.

flynte

ptuxbury

Okay. Here is the picture of what I did to reinforce where the wing attaches to the fuse. Two plywood triangles, and lots of epoxy.

I think I am going to look at the leading edge of the wing and see if I can put some dowels in. That would make me feel better about flying this thing.

I installed the rudder and elevator servos this morning. I also installed my TT 46 Pro engine. I like to use machine screws and nuts to hold the engine to the mounts. In order to do this, I drill clearance hole in the mount for the 4-40 machine screws I bought, and then machine a flat spot on the bottom of the engine mount so the nuts I use have a flat spot tighten up against. I use the nuts with the nylon locking inserts in them. For some reason I just never get a good feeling about self-threading screws, or even tapping the engine mount.

After some thought, I think I will try to install the cowl. I won't be able to fly for a while, so I may as well try it.

flynte

Looks good. Did you also add the extra piece between the triangles or was it existing?

flynte

F4U Corsair

My Feedback: (22)

My instructor told me right from the start that is always good to go over any ARF and strengthen up any weak points and check all visible glue joints. I have a H9 PTS Mustang that is an excellent flyer with all the training crap removed, several guys from my club went over the entire airframe before I assembled it and pointed out weak spots that needed beefing up, the fuse is pretty flimsy as delivered. Unfortunately with any ARF you can't see under the covering in the wing/stabs[>:]. As this airframe gets flown, more weak areas will surface that need extra support, you guys are kind of like our test pilots

MetallicaJunkie

looks like it came with that part...

ptuxbury

The extra piece between the triangle pieces was already there.

I agree with StikDude... Since this is a brand new product, and we are the first real users of this plane, we are test pilots to some extent.

I'm sure someone from Great Planes is checking in on this forum to see what's happening.