Marine_S7

Did you see the pilot smiling?

davidvalencia

.... Hello I just got the Gp Cherokee w OS55 and P muffler
any suggestions? recomendations ?
It seems like a nice and easy plane to fly....( good reviews)

Marine_S7

I like the center of gravity about 3/16 of an inch tail heavy, you are aloud 7/16 for and aft, so you are still in range, it makes the plane feel a bit more snappy, personally I think doing this makes the plane a true intermediate plane.

Awesome plane, I can’t say anything bad about mine.

davidvalencia

Tx for suggestion....I will come back after first flight..
rgds

garden

Hi guys
I am new at this sport, but i just received my new cherokee and was wondering if the motor could be mounted upright.
I am planing on putting a os46ax with a bisson pitts muffler on the plane.
Thanking you in advance.

squeakalong

My Feedback: (8)

Garden: The motor could be mounted upright but it would certainly spoil the nice look of the Cherokee, and, you'd be wasting your time putting the Bison Pitts muffler on in that situation...think about how the muffler mounts. I mounted my OS 46AX with Bison Pitts muffler sideways per the instruction manuel and was very satisfied. Takes a bit of time to make the cowl cutouts but the overall look is well worth the time. Remember to make a cutout over the carb so you can choke the engine for starting if need be.

BTW: ordered/received my Pacific Aeromodel Knockabout ARF and am putting it together. Not quite as nice an ARF as the GP Cherokee but looks like a real good candidate for floats. ALL in all, even with the amount of work I put into the GP Cherokee, it sure flew very well. (See above). Got my Spectrum radio back and they had to re-program the bind...they fixed the radio but NEVER said a word about the resulting loss of my Cherokee, OS engine, and Bison muffler. They didn't get any repeat sales either...

ChuckW

Don't bother trying to mount it upright. There is absolutely no advantage to this. In fact it will just make cutting the cowl much more difficult. Follow the instructions and it will turn out great.

ChuckW

I don't think this is necessary. Most good 2-strokes don't need to be choked. If you do want a little bit of extra fuel for priming, just put your finger over the muffler outlet and flip it a time or two. The little bit of extra back pressure will force more fuel from the tank to the carburetor.

garden

Thanks fellows for the advice I will do it as they say.

Happy flying

Bob

Viper Pilot

Just finished building a Midwest Cherokee kit I've had for about 8 years. It's been sitting on the shelf just waiting to be built.

Since I haven't seen one of these at the field, I thought it'd be something different. A week before finishing mine, Great Planes comes up with an ARF.

Wouldn't yiou know it.

BTW, my Cherokee is a fine flying plane. I should have buit it years ago.

funcars

I'm really impressed with your GP Cherokee configured as a floatplane and just purchased one. Did you add any reinforcement to the bottom of the fuselage to accept the float mountings? How about CG where did you position the float step? After flying with yours for this period would you recommend anything?

Appreciate anything you can send me.

Tks,

Gary

garden

Gary
Have not yet completed putting mine together yet.
Still have all the things to do yet that you mentioned.
Wish i had more to offer but from what all i hear its a great flyer.
Bob

captinjohn

REPLY... I got a Midwest Cherokee several years ago. I put a SuperTiger .60 on it for power. It sure was a fun plane to fly. It was the first plane that flew so good inverted ...I got quite good at it. One time I was doing touch and goes on pavement. Then I tried something neat. I would get it going down the runway (not to fast to take off) and give it full up and I could keep the front wheel off the runway and let up on gas a little to settle back down...then pick up nose again. That was the only airplane I had that would do wheelies!!!! Some FUN!!! Capt,n[sm=lol.gif]

*JCB*

My Feedback: (9)

I didn't really do any reinforcement. The only things i added to the plane were 1/8" plywood plates secured with some tri-stock, to accept the screws for mounting the floats. The step of the floats is about 1/2" aft of the CG. I can switch from land flight to water flight in a bit over 5 minutes. I do have to move the battery next to the fuel tank when I fly off of floats to get the right balance. I have about 7 or 8 flights off of water without a single complaint. The plane lifts off nicely and lands nicely as well. I really have a blast flying this plane off of water. Also, remember to get the incidence of the floats right, I believe mine is just shy of 3deg, but you could probably go with less and still be fine.

Randy8

My Feedback: (5)

Hello All, New to the hobby so to say. I learned how to rc on a gws slow stick inside a hangar, go figure. I have a private but nitro is much cheaper than 100LL. I am an A&P by trade and a fellow co-worker got me hooked, flying is flying no mater the size the skys open for fun. I moved up to a Park Zone F4U over this past summer and needless to say the hook line and sinker are attached. Got the GP Cherokee for the holiday and almost done assembly but have a few questions. The servo leads out of wing, what is the best postion. I figured fwd than up, maybe ty wrap near the bend up? Also final exhaust stack location, bend out of way of NLG fairing or just leave, do the fumes effect monocote. O' the kaos of this hobby, three year old, not enough time, but the sun's shining somewhere!

Marine_S7

Look through the pictures I posted you can see the why I did my exhaust works for me

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

Need a little info!! I Have my Great Planes Cherokee built as per instructions. An OS .46 AX is installed with a Slimline Pitts muffler. JR 790 receiver and 1500 Ah 4.8V battery pak installed at GP's location point. The only thing I did not install is the nose gear wheel pant as I fly off of grass. My problem is that the aircraft is extreemly tail heavy. Has anyone out there experienced this same problem? The instructions give a CG measurement of 3 1/16" back from the leading edge with the craft inverted. It has taken 8 1/2 ounces of nose weight to balance a slightly nose down configuration. Have I done something that I am not recognizing? This seems like an awful lot of nose weight. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

twostroke

My Feedback: (6)

Has anyone got one with a saito on it, I would love to see a picture of one

squeakalong

My Feedback: (8)

Frisco, do you have your battery pack located as far forward as you can to help with the balance? 8 1/2 oz. seems like a lot of extra weight up front; do not recall adding that to mine.

Joe

landeck

My Feedback: (1)

I have a OS 46 AX with a Bission Pitts muffler installed. No wheel pants (grass) and a Vortech spinner in place of the plastic spinner. Without battery it was slightly nose heavy and by placing a 1200 mh nicad right behind the cabin, it balanced perfectly. The finial total weight is 6.5 lbs, 4 oz less than the advertised min weight of 6.75 lbs. I find it hard to believe that the plane can come out that tail heavy requiring 8 1/2 oz nose weight. What is the total weight of your plane?

Bruce

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

Thanks to all those who responded to the weight problem with my GP Cherokee. I have checked the location of the battery pak and receiver and they are located on the plate provided as far forward as in can get them (up tight to the fuel tank). I have not deviated from the instruction manual and for that reason I cant understand the imbalance. I have not checked the total weight of the craft as of yet. I understand that a full tank of fuel will give me proper flying characteristics but when fuel is burned off, it will open up a whole new world of flying. I may as well add the weight to the nose and see if I cant get a flight in to test its handeling. That might be a problem with all the snow here lately. ""SKIS ??""

Regards, Ed

squeakalong

My Feedback: (8)

Ed, what are you using to balance your Cherokee? I use the Great Planes balancer and balanced mine inverted on the balancer (canopy down). With a O.S. 46AX and Bisson Pitts style muffler I remember my Cherokee coming out a tad nose heavy which was all right for the initial flight. I then moved the CG back about 1/4" and all was OK. I really do not remember adding anything in the way of extra weight.

In the spirit of trying to assist, is there anything you might have added/changed on the stab/elev and fin/rudder to create extra weight? Did you use a lot of epoxy to secure the tail pieces or anything like that?

Joe

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

Joe, No, I have not added anything extra to the craft. It is just as it came out of the box and built accordingly. The only thing different from using a Great Planes balancer, I have a balance device using pointed end erasures with mearuring devices on the front for gaining exact measurements for the CG. It has balanced all of my nine other aircraft to perfect balance. I have checked it with another plane of mine and it CG's perfectly. Yes, I did the balance of my Cherokee inverted also. I'm confused on this one.

Ed

squeakalong

My Feedback: (8)

I am too, Ed. I'm going to look up the manual and go over a few things to see if I can come up with any additional ideas. Frankly, the only other thing that comes to mind is very heavy wood used in the tail pieces or the fuselage when they were assembled. Perhaps you would want to contact Great Planes Customer Service tomorrow and let them know about this situation as something is really amiss here.

Joe

EDIT: As an experiment try a heavy rubber tire on the front nose gear and see just how must of a difference that makes in the required extra balance weight.

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

Joe, I appreciate the input you have lended and I think it might be wise to contact Great Planes as you suggest. Maybe you are right about the extra weight of the wood at the factory. After reading the forums on this plane, some suggested their planes were built at 4:55 PM on a Friday lending to some of the problems they listed. Its funny, I first noticed this tail heavy problem when I set the plane completely built on a high table to admire. Never would it set on its nose wheel. And I am talking completely built, motor, muffler, battery, radio gear, tank etc. etc. This is when I pulled out the balancer and found the weight problem. Thanks again and I will post any answer I get from GP's.

Ed