RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

I tore out the gear plate on my first one and after alot of sanding and epoxy it was good as new! I never had a problem after word but the one thing about the gear thatI noticed it how rigid they are. There really is not alot of give and they are hard mounted with those steel screws. It definitely lends it self to being torn out. When I built my new one I used alot of thin CA to help keep it strong but we will see if it stands the test of time.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Hey, I did mine this morning too, but in a traumatic way. My engine opens and closes throtlle by itself and I still wonder why it does. Anyway the plane suddenly speeds up out of control while taxiing. It veers off the field, hits the curb, break both landing gears and hit a tree. All I could do is trying to keep it from airborne and steer it clear off people. To my amazement, the plane had minor damage. Besides the broken landing gear and some tore off cover, and broken prop, it still intact.
Anyone gives me any idea why the glow engine throttle arm moves by itself. It's Magnum 40 XL engine. I used JR radio channel 18 and JR servos.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Could be a bad throttle servo. I would check that first. Then check the connectors on the wire between the servo and the rx.

Bruce

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; ">I still haven't finished my second one.</span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><div></div><div>To be honest, I'm a little afraid. I figure the longer i take to build it, the longer I get to keep it :(</div><div></div><div>I've had some bad crashes lately and everyone at my club says that while they're amazed at how far I've come in a few months, it's probably done me more harm than good.</div><div></div><div>I might just fly my electrics and my trainer for the rest of this season and work on the glows next spring. I have all winter with electric FPV too for a lot of stick time (I hope).</div></div></span>

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

That happened to me a couple of years ago, but not as dramatic as your story. I was taxiing and suddenly the plane started to go all over the place. I was able to cut off the engine between glitches and no harm done. I sent the radio tx and rx to Futaba for inspection repair just to be safe. But I suspect there might have been interference in your case. Luckily it happened while on the ground and not up in the air.

Also, check for loose servo, battery, switch, or Rx connections, or bad battery. Also, make sure the antenna wire isn't passing between the servos. Remember that the Escapade antenna tube is right behind the rudder and elevator servos and you might have the antenna passing between them.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Just noticed that Tower has increased the price of the Escapade to $129.99 now.<div>
</div><div>I bought my original one for $98 with a coupon that brought it down to around $80, and the second one was $100.</div><div>
</div><div>I think this will be my last one. I would sell this one now but I've already glued the wings. Only thing left to do is put in the battery, route the wiring and fly on Sunday.</div><div>
</div><div>In my opinion this was a steal at $98 but for the extra money I think there are better planes out there. I had quality control issues with both kits I bought but Tower Hobbies are awesome and came through both times for me.</div><div>
</div><div>On the other hand I have some spares if anyone needs them; two sets of wheel pants I can't use because my bumpy field would rip them off, and a spare set of landing gear.</div>

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

$130 is getting pretty steep for a 40 size ARF. The Escapade is a nice plane, but come on!!!

I have a set of spares for everything but the fuselage and canopy. The fuse is the part that breaks for me always.

I just bought a Phoenix 330 Special, size 60 for only $150 at the LHS. Beautiful ARF with all surface installed and pinned. But then Tower Hobbies just raised the prices on the Phoenix ARFs. I think they came up with a new version to a lot of their Phoenix ARFs, I suspect to make them more electric friendly. Sometimes, making an ARF more electric friendly might mean heavier weight and bigger price. Something I don't need since I fly nitro.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

I don't think the kit even includes the cowl for that price. I could see the price increase for the included cowl and maybe some better QA, but from what I can tell it's the exact same kit.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

I think the Escapade would look nice in a cowl, but only if the engine is installed on its side. It makes no sense to have a nice cowl and then install the engine upright. That's what the Escapade 60 is like. Better off keep it cheaper without a cowl if the engine is going to be upright. JMO.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

My LA Racer 40 is squarely in the Escapade niche...54 inch span, 48 inch length, moderately thick airfoil, about 5 lbs or less, you can power it nicely with a cheap plain bearing 40, or go for broke with a 46-55 BB. I like it so far...excellent hardware, beefy adjustable motor mount, fiberglass cowl and the parts fit is superb. A few small issues here and there, but overall I keep wishing I could build this well myself! I paid $125 very recently including shipping. Based on that, it sounds like the Escapade is now just about priced out of the market.

Jim

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Maybe all the ARF prices will go up soon.[:o]

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

I always thought the escapades were a good value for the dollar (I have both) the 40 size I still think is worth $129 I put together a super sportster ARF that cost me $159 (40 size) and I still feel that the escapade is a better plane in quality, flying, and time needed to assemble. when I cartwheeled my sportster and broke the tail off I realized the horz. stab was badly warped I would replace the escapade with another but I have not gotten another sportrster both were powered with the same engine and radio eqp.Greg

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

I have been repairing the landing gear mounting block area on my Escapade and realized that the fuselage sides at the firewall glue joins have broken loose. This is from the engine area cheeks vibrating severely from engine vibes. I had glued a dowel across the two cheeks to reduce vibration, but I guess it wasn't enough. I plan on beefing up the whole bottom forward of the fuselage.

So, everybody watch out for the cheek vibes causing the firewall glue joints to break.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

I have suspected that the front pieces were vibrating and causing that weird noise on my escapade, my 60 size does not do this and it has a 91 four stroke on it. Greg

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Maidened my second Escapade today. She flew fine but I think I need to shift the CG forward a little and maybe go down a prop - she landed very very fast with the 55AX and to be honest, was a little too much for me to handle at this point. I will get one of the experienced guys to fly her tomorrow morning and see what they say, but I suspect it will be my Alpha 40 for the rest of the season.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

irdabrit,
How slow does your engine idle? It should be around 2500 rpm or lower. Also, what prop size are you using? If the pitch is too high, it will land faster. I use an 11x7 prop for my Escapade. Also, a forward CG will increase landing speed. I would stay within the recommended range.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Try setting your CG at 70mm. This is still within the range specified by GP but will help you slwo down the landings some. Also try a 11x6 on your 55AX. Mine slows down nice with this set up. The Escapade is a little tricky to land until you get used to it because it wants to come in fast so you have to force it to slow down by using the elevator to keep the nose up and hold it up till she lands on her own.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Totally agree.I've owned two electric Escapades and both were nose heavy and difficult to land at the recommended starting point CG. Moved the CG back to the 70-72mm range and it is MUCHeasier to land(and flies better also).

Bill

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Yeah it really does fly better with it set in this range. I am still not sure why CG is set the way it is by GP but who know. I just re-balanced mine at 72mm and lands at about the same speed as a nitro trainer.

Closecall with mine today though. Was doing some high speed runs to tune out the motor with the new Jett pipe and heard a loud POP at mid field. Well the pop came from half of my horizontal sta tearing of from flutter! Luckily it wasnt the control horn side and I flew it back around the pattern and made a bumpy but safe landing. I guess I need to do some more work to the tail to prevent flutering. Upon closer inspection the other half was just barely hanging on when I landed so I got really lucky. Check the pics. One thing I did notice is how cheap the hinges are on this plane. There was barely any glue holding them in and they pulled right out. I am going to rehinge the entire airplane with Radio South Hinges this week and buy some heavier linkage hardware to stiffen everything up.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

TruBlu02,

Sorry to hear about your close call.Nice job on the recovery and landing!! Sounds like you need to stop abusing your aircraft!!!! http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...sn/biggrin.gifhttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...sn/biggrin.gifhttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...sn/biggrin.gif

Let us know how you make out with the repair. Here's a link to a manual addendum for the Great Planes Extra 300 SP that discusses some considerations for control linkage setup to minimize flutter problems.SomethingI hadn't really thought about before I read it. Might not relate to your situation but perhaps it will be helpful to readers in general.

Bill

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

You are probably right about the abuse. I do fly this airplane very hard, and probably beyond what it was designed for! But i would be lying if I said I wasnt going to keep doing it! This time around though I am going to spend some time really tightening things up to better prepare the plane for high speed flight. I am going to go with heavier linkages all the way around and i am ditching the single servo aileron setup for a dual airleron servos with with short titanium pushrods with ball link attachments. This should remove any slop!

Bill I also wanted to thank you for the link you posted about servo geometry. I have heard it mentioned many times over the years but I have never spent the time to learn anything about it. The tech addendum it great! It breaks it down in simple terms so even I can understand it! Thanks again!!!

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

hi,
reading 67 pages is too much for me.
i wanna buy this plane and i heared about changes that are recomended before flying. for example: epoxy the "wing base" (the thing that holds the wing into the body), Sullivan tail wheel, small battery and etc.
if you can mention those recommendation (that are not written in the manual). i will be glad!!!
thx and sory for my bad english..

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

I followed the manual completely. Only thing I did differently was to put some fiberglass cloth and epoxy on the landing gear "bay" (pack the blind nuts with vaseline first so the epoxy doesn't get in them) and coat the rest of the front of the plane with thinned epoxy to fuelproof it. I also went for a 55AX I got cheap on RCG instead of my 46.<div>
</div>

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

tamos,

Besides what IRDABRIT said, I would glue (some guys used a bolt) something between the engine cowl cheeks and beef up the joints between the firewall and the cowl cheeks. They vibrate badly and cause the glue joints on the side of the firewall to break (sometimes makes a buzzing noise in flight also). That happened to my Escapade, but fortunately, I caught it before it was too late.

ps. your English is not a problem.

RE: Great Planes Escapade .40 ARF
 

Good point. I think I'm just going to cut them off. Is there really a reason to have them on there?