GhostRider32

Anyone ever built one of these? How hard is it to get the wing perpendicular to the fuse seeing how it is flat? Are these decent kits?

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Search this forum and the Profiles forum - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_105/tt.htm - for "Fun 51" for several threads on this kit.

David

GhostRider32

Wow, after all this time on RCU, I have never seen the profile forum.......

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

I never built one but have flown my friends a lot, it is very basic to construct, just use a "T" square and go for it. Building just doesn't get much more basic.
The plane flys nice with a good 40 size bb engine and is a good second plane in my opinion.
Be sure to Square up the wing and tail before gluing solid.

bps

My Feedback: (3)

I took two of these kits and built an F82 using two OS engines. Posted pics in the twin forum. Nice kit although a small and light model and with a .40 should be a rocket ship. Typical Great Planes high quality kit.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

The plane I flew has a bushing OS that is OK but I would like that extra that the bb engine provides. It would by no means be overpowered and would be much better for grass takeoffs, etc..

gene6029

I built one about 2yrs ago, still have it & it looks like new. I have had several motors on it & it flies well with all. I started out with an OS .40LA and for BASIC flying it was fine. Took off in 30 feet and flew great. I installed a OS .55AX & its ballistic. The kit is sraight foreward to build with no problems, good beginner plane. As a matter of fact, i used to teach model building a few years ago, and everyone in the class assembled their own kit plane. We would pick one type of model then all built the same plane together at the same time. This would have been an excellent candidate for that class....Cheap to buy, easy to build, and everything off of a trainer plane would work to fly it. Hope you get one and experience the fun of building and flying your own model....Gene

GhostRider32

I think I'm gonna order one, I have a Thunder Tiger .46bb that needs a home.

GarySS

My Feedback: (13)

I had a Tower Extra Special (a very simlar design) and the Thunder Tiger .46. I used a 6 oz. dubro tank and was always getting dead sticks when in extended dives on the down line. This was even when I swapped out the carb for an OS carb. I cured it with a bubbeless tank from Central Hobbies. Actually I would not recommend this kit even though it is fun to build as it is obsolete. Go with a Mojo 40 size and you will do more in the air once you get used to it.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Gary,
Sorry, I disagree. This plane is for a second plane and after a season then go for something extreme. Often beginners go for something way beyond their skill levels and loose the enjoyment quickley after distroying several planes rapidly. A full out 3d is not what I would consider a good second plane. Sometimes slow is better.
Many dropouts are due to going into the sport too fast, killing lots of planes and dropping out after spending lots for little gain.

GhostRider32

I'm definately not a beginner. I've been in this for about 15 years. I'm just wanting something to goof off with. It doesn't have to be a 3d monster for that. Not everyone likes to 3d all the time. Sure it's fun some of the time but sometimes I just like to do big loops and rolls and so on. The reason there's so many different styles of planes is because there's so many different people that like to fly different ways.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

I got the impression from you initial post that you had little experiance in building and thus little experiance as a flyer, sorry.
From what you discribe, the 51 will work out well for you, your left thumb will determine how relaxing this plane will be. It will do everything you stated you wanted and more.

GhostRider32

No problem. I was just wondering how they flew and how hard the wing was to align that way. I've never had a profile before. I've built lots of planes with regular fuse's, just no profiles. It just looks like a fun basher plane, even if it's not a 3d monster.

windsheer

This was one of my favorite planes. Had an OS 46SF with a 12.25X3.75 APC prop. Plane would do so many tricks and hover under half throttle.

gene6029

Gizmo, i gave the wrong impression when i said it was a good beginners plane. What iwas trying to say was it was a great beginners plane to BUILD. I think Tower was selling them @ $45 if you were a member or something, and at that cost if a new guy messed it up somehow, he didnt have alot invested. Sorry for the wording. What most people liked was that they actually got a chance to build something themselves & see it fly, and use the equipment off of their trainers. That kept the cost really down. I fly everything from Vintage R/C stuff thru 40% gas planes & still like the fact that i can put the Fun 51 in the truck & go fly without haveing to assemble anything. I can tear up the place with out the worry of looseing a lot of money if i stuff it. A person should be able to build the Fun 51 in a weekend & cover it in another even if they are new to building. Yes, there are better planes for 3D type flying, but for everyday relaxing flying at the local club its hard to beat.....Gene

daven

My Feedback: (1)

I bought and built the Tower Extra special when they started to close them out. Picked up the kit for $33 at the time, nice deal.

From the time I got the kit in the mail and it flew its maiden was 12 days and I'm a pretty slow builder. The Extra Special is a twin to the Fun 51 except the profile shape was a little different.

Started out with a Webra .40 black head, but went to an OS .46FX for more power. Put many flights on that plane, its not the best hovering plane due to its quite short coupled. However, this makes it do some great inverted flat spins, it would even climb inverted with the .46.

Put many flights on that plane, very fun. I had no issues aligning the profile fuse to the wing. Do it the same way you would with a standard fuse.

GhostRider32

Thanks all.

GarySS

My Feedback: (13)

Sigh, OK if you insist on this one! My Recommendations:
Subsitute some spruce longerons through the fuselage (maybe one on the bottom of the fuse and another through the middle in place of the balsa. This will add strength behind the wing where these profiles tend to break. You can save back the added weight by eliminating the lite-ply wing tips. Just leave them off and cover over with Mono/Ultra cote.

Beef up the main landing gear area with some plywood pie shaped pieces laminated into the structure. The fuse can break there too.

Add some wood on the top of the canopy area where you think you will be grabbing it to carry from your vehicle to the field and back, etc.

I would cover the fuse and wing before gluing the two together. I've done it both ways and prefer covering first. I needed four arms/hands trying to cover the whole assembled airplane over a week's time!!

While flying if you get a dead stick point the nose down for the runway at about a 30 degree angle and when just over the grass do you flair. THese thick wing designs don't really glide exceptionally well. ONe good thing is the LG bends back quite easily.

Picture of my bird:

Tango Juliet

I bought one last month and the only reason I haven't finished it yet is because of the Holidays and I need to rebuild my OS 46AX after a mid-air with Cobra99. I'm at work now, otherwise I might post pics of it to this point. I still need to install all the radio gear and control surfaces, but she's almost done. Actually I have some pics of her on our club forum site at www.acma-rc.com under "Sport Planes", "Newest Project". To cover it, I applied a narrow strip at the joint between the fuselage and wing, then covered the wings, and then the fuselage sides after cutting out an area for the wing to slide through. Worked like a champ, although I may regret the Chrome Monokote later.

Fragmentum

My Feedback: (8)

The last time I flew my Fun 51, the fuse broke (finally, after MANY flights!!!). I trashed it and kept the wing for several years. I'm resurrecting it and just got a new kit in. I'm adding some carbon fiber in the landing gear area and maybe some other 'durability' mods.

Plane is a pure hoot to fly, and relaxing, too. Considering duplicating the fuse, modify the wing and build a P-82 as well.

Fragmentum

Tango Juliet

I was off from work last week and took it out to the field to do the maiden on Friday. When I rebuilt the engine, I had to use a metal epoxy on a portion of the muffler. After the first start, the vibration caused the repair to fail, so I packed up and went home. On Saturday I mounted the muffler from my 55AX and tried the maiden flight again. At the completion of the first circuit, just as I was going to add some up elevator trim, the engine quit and I dead-sticked into the dirt across the runway. I let it settle in a little too flat and kind of pancaked it[&o]. The soft aluminum landing gear spread out and bent backward some, so again I packed up and went home. I pulled the gear off and straightened them as best I could in a bench vise. Sunday morning, while it was still charging, I mounted the landing gear back on it and packed up for the field. After about an hour of chit-chatting, I got down to fill the tank and realized I forgot to put the muffler back on after re-installing the landing gear[:@]. At least I can say it's still flyable. Hopefully next weekend (2/7-8) I'll be able to get a real flight on it (after I figure out why the engine quit).

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

talking about a little extra vertical fin and rudder. I bet it doesn't Dutch Roll any

Fragmentum

My Feedback: (8)

Here is the Fun51 i complete January of 2000. Not sure what the scheme of the new one will be....

Fragmentum

My Feedback: (8)

Finally got to gluing some pieces together in the 'Fun 51 Resurrected' project but held off on the first initial gluing step of putting the fuse ply halves together. I think I am going to strengthen the landing gear area with some Kevlar cloth BETWEEN these halves in the landing gear mount area before this gluing step AND after. This is where my last one finally broke!!!
I’ll add my modifications here and hope this will help others make their Fun 51 stronger and a longer living plane!!!

I am also going through all my battery packs to see which ones, if any, can still be dependable after sitting for 3 to 4 years....

Fragmentum

Alex7403

in those pictures is that OS 46 LA on the airplane?

if so how does it fly with that motor?

i have a 46 LA which doesn't have a house, i was thinking about Fun 51 or uproar.

for 46 AX its not seem much of airframe to screw it on...