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Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF

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Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF

Old 02-14-2016, 06:33 AM
  #1776  
Tom Nied
 
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Aren't those Super Sportsters great? I have a Great Planes ElectriFly Super Sportster EP Brushless ARF and it's just a sweetheart to fly. After this Escapade, I think I'll go back and try to finish my Giant Super Sporster.

I think you should be OK with the .61, as long as you pay attention to getting the CG right. My Escapade has a Magnum XLS 46 and preliminary balancing puts the battery right over the front of the tank. You might only have to mount the battery over the receiver.

Todays goal will be to cut out my AMA numbers and get it on the wing. With todays forcasted weather of cold and snowy, it will make for a good indoor activity.
Old 02-14-2016, 11:32 AM
  #1777  
jeffie8696
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I had a small case Super Tigre V60 on mine for a short time and it worked well
Old 02-15-2016, 04:10 PM
  #1778  
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That went together really fast. It's pretty much ready to go. Here's what's in it:

OS 61 FX
(5) Hitec HS-485HB servos
Macs muffler
Lemon 7 channel diversity stabilizer with satellite antenna
RCD3002 remote glow plug driver
APC 12x8 propellor

The battery is in the back of the fuselage right about the middle of the Escapade decal. It balanced at .69mm. I really like the remote glow plug starter. One less time you need to put your hands near that spinning propellor. It's going to be quite a while before I get to fly it. It's snowing again right now.
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Old 02-15-2016, 05:17 PM
  #1779  
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Looks like a winner. I liked mine but I think next time I would go with the MX.
Old 02-15-2016, 05:27 PM
  #1780  
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That does look good, should really scream.
Old 02-18-2016, 02:34 PM
  #1781  
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I splurged and bought an aluminum spinner and a Xoar wood prop. I'm hoping to maiden it this Saturday if I can get a long enough run with no snow.
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Old 02-18-2016, 05:28 PM
  #1782  
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Oh, fancy pants. Just jealous. I'm going with a prop nut Geat Planes aluminum safety spinner nut, easy to change out props. But that spinner does look great. Too windy for me here in the Chicagoland area and I have just few things to check. I should be done by this weekend.

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Old 02-20-2016, 03:06 PM
  #1783  
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The maiden flight went well today. I tried to video it but the camera battery died. Great flying plane. It was moving pretty fast with the OS 61. It was a bit hard to get slowed down and I had a couple of real long landing runs. I have to work on that. Hard to complain out there flying in the middle of February in CT. It was 58 degrees and 3-4mph winds.
Old 02-20-2016, 06:17 PM
  #1784  
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That's great oldsneakers. Where did you set the CG? 73mm? I've spent a lot of time checking and rechecking, and re positioning my battery to get it just right. I've decided to set mine at 73mm. My battery ends up over the tank about a 1/2" back from the front edge. (Magnum XLS .46) Several people have stated that 73mm helps in slowing it down for landings. Next is lateral balancing.

Envy that you could get out to the field and fly. Crazy windy here lately in Chicagoland
Old 02-21-2016, 01:07 AM
  #1785  
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My CG is at 69mm. As you can see from the picture, I had to bury the battery that far back in the fuselage just to get to 69. That OS 61 must be a heavy engine. The plane felt pretty balanced flying it. It had unlimited vertical even with the weight.
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Old 02-21-2016, 08:00 AM
  #1786  
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I asked where your CG was because quite a few members of this forum have suggested 73mm to help slow it down, especially in the landings. You're at 69mm which is not too far off. You would have to add a little weight to the tail to bring it back to the 73mm location. I'm sure you are aware of that. It might make a difference. Although your wing loading is already higher with that larger engine. I think Great Planes designed the Escapade for the OS 55, with the battery ending up right where the manual suggests, right over the receiver. Just my thoughts. It's supposedly a hot little plane with a 46. So your 61 might be a bit heavier for the design.
Old 02-26-2016, 06:06 PM
  #1787  
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Well, I finished it. I know I'm pretty slow, but I fit in work on it between work and house duty obligations. Also, just didn't feel rushed. Checked and rechecked everything. CG set at 75mm. Took several tries to get that right. .20 of an ounce to get lateral balance. We're in the midst of Winters end, so it's going to be awhile until I can do backyard engine tests and eventually a maiden. I'll have to post a picture while it still looks good. Although, it looks like an Escapade. Don't know why I waited this long to put mine together.
Old 02-28-2016, 02:52 PM
  #1788  
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Better late than never. Good job. Now get out there and fly it! You just have to find a line between the snow banks.
Old 04-30-2016, 04:45 AM
  #1789  
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I've been flying my Escapade for the last few weeks on a pretty rough field. I went long on a landing, got in some taller grass and ripped off the landing gear along with the bottom of the plane. I don't think the two piece gear is such a great idea. I'm going to rebuild it with a Dubro one piece. And use nylon bolts to attach it. On another note, I had epoxied a board across the two front panels to stop the hum I read about. It must have fallen off after my first flight. On the second flight my friends heard the noise and said to land fast, something was fluttering. I had forgot about the hum. I do kind of like it. I'm leaving the board off.
Old 04-30-2016, 10:15 AM
  #1790  
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That is exactly what I ended up doing and it worked great. Are you talking about the cheeks humming alongside the engine? I used a threaded rod to connect them at the front and it gave me a convenient place to add weight for balancing. I literally flew the wheels off that plane.
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Old 04-30-2016, 10:45 AM
  #1791  
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Yeah, that's the noise. It freaked my friends out when it started. Good fun.
Old 07-12-2016, 04:24 AM
  #1792  
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Originally Posted by oldsneakers
Yeah, that's the noise. It freaked my friends out when it started. Good fun.
That hum will eventually cause the glue joint between the firewall and fuselage sides to crack. That happened to mine. I epoxied some tri-stock strips and a bottom thin plywood piece to hold it together.
Old 07-12-2016, 04:40 AM
  #1793  
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Well, it finally happened. After 8 hard flying years, my Escapade literally fell apart from fuel soaking and rough grass field flying. That is despite fuel proofing and recovering the plane as well as rebuilding the bottom front of the fuselage. I have flown the Escapade as much as all my other planes combined. Excellent plane and I got tremendous use out of it over the years.

I have used it to flight test suspect radio receivers and to break in and test several engines. I have used 10 different engines on it. The engines I flew it with were:

1. OS 55AX - an animal
2. Super Tigre G51 with Macs one-piece muffler - the default engine for my plane with lots of power.
3. Irvine 40 ABC with tuned muffler - good power at top-end but not as much low end grunt as the 50+ size engines.
4. Norvel AX-40 - Ok power to use as a second trainer
5. Norvel GX-40 - As much power as a 46 glow until the crankpin broke off.
6. JBA 56 - an animal
7. OS 46SF - sweet and super smooth and quiet engine with plenty of power
8. Thunder Tiger GP-42 - flew briefly for a friend to tune it and verify performance. Surprisingly good power for this plane and very smooth and quiet.
9. Fox 40 small-case - got flying nicely finally, as much power as the GP-42 but noisier due to old muffler. Benefit is that it uses cheap 5% nitro fuel.
10. Thunder Tiger 75 FS - only 4-stroke I used on plane. Used a 11x7 3-blade prop. Good power and nice transition. Flew for 1 day and the fuse finally fell apart from fuel soaking and years of rough grass filed flying.

I stripped it out last night. It will be missed.

I will be posting an add to sell locally a set of used wings and tail feathers (I never glued my tail pieces on and it held up for 8 years with no problem, used threadlocking compound) , a set of brand new wings and tail feathers, and a used canopy/hatch.

P.S. despite the big range in engine sizes and weights, I never had to add weight to the plane to balance the CG. I only had to move the battery to balance. The Escapade is not so sensitive to CG location as some have indicated in this forum.

Last edited by hsukaria; 07-12-2016 at 04:44 AM.
Old 07-12-2016, 05:44 AM
  #1794  
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Great report. 8 years? You certainly got your moneys worth. I'm going to have to get mine out for the maiden.
Old 07-12-2016, 06:05 AM
  #1795  
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Originally Posted by Tom Nied
Great report. 8 years? You certainly got your moneys worth. I'm going to have to get mine out for the maiden.
It would have easily lasted longer with normal use. But I flew mine a tremendous amount and had a few rough landings along the way. Another thing to watch out for is fuel leaking out of the fuel tubing. That is where most of my fuel damage happened. The fuel tubing has to bend sharply from the tank through the firewall holes. In retrospect, I should have drilled out a big hole with a hole saw to pass the tubing with a more gradual bend and then plug the hole with something afterwards.
Old 07-12-2016, 06:09 PM
  #1796  
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My experience was very similar. Tried several different engines and all flew it just great. Mine died in combat. . I replaced it with a SIG Somthin Extra and I am liking it. But I still have my 61 Escapade.
Old 11-26-2016, 05:17 AM
  #1797  
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Originally Posted by Rock81
I have read this whole thread now and please forgive me if I missed it but how does this plane handle on grass landings/take offs?
Thanks in advanced
My first post/question about this plane from 5/11/2010 .
Originally Posted by Tom Nied
Great report. 8 years? You certainly got your moneys worth. I'm going to have to get mine out for the maiden.
Did you ever do that maiden Tom?

I bought an escapade a few months after my first post, bought a house a few months after that on consignment for $65, looked at it for two years in the box thinking (I need to build that), then installed laminate floors throughout the house, it was put in the top of a closet to get it out of the way, the wife got pregnant in January 2015, he came 3 months earlier then he should have, and three weeks ago I went to the safe, in the closet.... What's that, dang, I still need to build that. Well I did, I made a few changes, it already had tristock on both sides of the firewall & landing gear block. I epoxied the wing halves together, I epoxied the tail feathers in place, sullivan tailwheel, epoxy the cheeks/firewall, thinned epoxy in the fuel tank area, and epoxy the landing gear block for strength. I'm using futaba 3004 servos all around(5), saito 62, 2100mah life04 flight pack, and spektrum rx. The cg is at 70mm, my choice of flight pack left me with no where to put it but on top of the tank, and these is the cg I'm stuck with, should be fine from what I've read. I also ran a pushrod per elevator half. I'll post pictures later.
Old 11-26-2016, 05:27 AM
  #1798  
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BTW, I remember someone mentioned filling the wing gaps at the saddle, but don't remember what was used. Anyone one remember or have a suggestion. I've never had to fill a wing/saddle gap before, been lucky I guess.
Old 11-26-2016, 09:36 AM
  #1799  
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You will find its a wonderful plane with few bad habits (tail wags a bit), easy to fly, inexpensive and a quality plane
Old 11-26-2016, 05:43 PM
  #1800  
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I never did get my Escapade out for its maiden. Sadly I didn't get out to the field much at all this year. The times I did get out I was taking a Tower Razor that I finished a couple of years ago. The Escapade assembled quite easily and quickly. Paying attention to all recommended mods and concerns to be checked. Then I focused my attention on a Great Planes Giant Super Sporster. The size, mods and assembly have really stymied me. I was actually concentrating my time to the Sporster. Now the weather is going towards winter, I'll have to wait until next Spring for the maiden on the Escapade. It's amazing how work, home chores and other projects eat into my model flying. New Years resolution is going to be, "more model flying".

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