RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF  
View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Tower Hobbies
Enter up to 4 keywords or Tower stock numbers
Logged in as Guest



Users viewing this topic: none
  Printable Version
       

All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> ARF or RTF >> RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF
Page: <<   < prev  1 2 3 [4] 5 6   next >   >>  

Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/21/2008 2:51:41 PM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		Build update: Spent 2 hours+ on cleaning up all the hinges on my Cherokee ARF. ALL of them were very stiff with lots of dried CA, hard pieces of balsa shaving from the hinge slots and glue hardened covering material mixed in. What a mess. Now the hinges work much more freely with movement the way they were meant to have. I swear this particular model was assembled by a newbie at 4:55PM on a Friday right before a Holiday break.

However...it's shaping up and that's what is important here. Onward and (hopefully) upward. Joe

(in reply to sqeakalong)
       Post #: 76

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/26/2008 2:44:21 PM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		Got the Aileron servos/extensions/covers and the Flap servos/covers (using Y-Harness for the Flaps) installed on both wing panels. Went over the entire covering again using one of the Top Flite Iron Socks for the first time (instead of wrapping a soft hankerchief around the Monokote iron) and the sock did a great job on the covering..looks much better. Plan to cover the wing roots with either Monokote or thinned epoxy to protect the bare wood and will attach the Monokote 1/8 " stripes (White) to hide the jagged covering edges just a bit. Last night I took out the metal push rods and three of them (the two longest and one of the medium length pieces) were absolutely covered in heavy gray corroded "crude". Spent about an hour just cleaning up the various metal rods but they are all clean and ready to install now. Went over the three "non-chrome" music wire pieces with liquid silicon to add some corrosion protection.

Onward to success!! Joe

Edit: Anyone who has flown their Cherokee ARF from grass have comments on using/not using the wheel pants for grass strip takeoffs and landings? Thinking of going to a bit larger wheel size with regular treaded R/C tires (without wheel pants) for the grass fields instead of the lightweight foam tires include in the kit. Thanks.

< Message edited by sqeakalong -- 6/26/2008 2:52:03 PM >

(in reply to sqeakalong)
       Post #: 77

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/26/2008 7:56:44 PM   
Corsair 29


 

Posts: 56
Joined: 10/8/2006
From: Selma, AL, USA
Status: offline 		Grass is a problem with this plane, and bigger wheels are neccesary for this. I attempted to fly off of grass with both a glow and electric setup, both ended flipping over and cracking the very thin plastic canopy. I will not be attempting this again.

Another thing I noticed that the bottom of the front fuselage, forward of the wing is taking a pounding of some sort, with holes to the fuselage. I repaired it twice, I haven't pin pointed to the origin yet, but a friend said it might be from the nose wheel pants. I've also noticed it on another cherokee.

(in reply to sqeakalong)
       Post #: 78

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/26/2008 9:34:31 PM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		Well, Corsair 29, I was afraid of that. Was thinking if the nose wheel/pant got tight via grass, dirt or whatever it would just "skip" along acting like a brake untill it either took off or flipped. And don't get me started on that canopy...you would not believe the crud they painted over on the "gray" flooring (stands proud of the paint) or the amount of balsa dust I blew out of the canopy upon inspection...the pilot was totally covered with balsa dust.

Don't know what ever happened to Don's Great Planes but this one is certainly "not great".

Thanks for the comments though and I'll adjust the landing gear situation accordingly. It does not make me to unhappy not to have the pants on the plane as the paint lines are a mess via paint seepage under the tape they used. Oh well....onward we go....

(in reply to Corsair 29)
       Post #: 79

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/27/2008 3:07:41 AM   
pdansalvish



Posts: 333
Joined: 4/10/2002
From: Lusby, MD, USA
Status: offline 		I flew mine off grass with no problem using the foam wheels and pants. I'm using an old OS 46 FSR for power. I found the trick is to leave the plane run on the ground for a while and just give a little bit of up and it will take off on a nice level climb. Touch and go's are real sweat with the flaps. I am planning to ditch the pants; on the grass field they take a beating. Now I did found one problem with mine. When I started to cleaning the plane yesterday, I found the canopy bubbled and warped from being in the sun. Great Planes is sending a new one. Also, I have to keep ironing out the wrinkles; I guess 100 degree days with 100% humidity will make anything wrinkle. The plane is fast on 1/2 throttle with my 46 and is very agile. Without the flaps it has a very fast sink rate. But, it slows down real nice.

(in reply to sqeakalong)
       Post #: 80

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/27/2008 6:56:28 PM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		I'm leaving the wheel pants off mine for now as all the fields used hereabouts are grass. I'll clean up the pants and re-paint them for use on something else down the road...maybe a VK Cherokee built from plans or something. (I DO like the Cherokee look)

Soft landings. Joe

(in reply to pdansalvish)
       Post #: 81

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/27/2008 7:16:16 PM   
jrf


 

Posts: 2368
Joined: 12/30/2001
From: Burbank, CA, USA
Status: offline 		You might want to check out the Knockabout at www.pacaeromodel.com. I think you would be a lot happier with that one.

Jim

(in reply to sqeakalong)
       Post #: 82

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/27/2008 8:07:25 PM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		Hi, Jim. Thanks, but I've decided this is the last ARF for me. There are some nice looking one's out there but this one has taken the "WaHoo!!" out of ARF's for me. Been building models for 50 years, R/C for 35 years...wrote for modeling mags, trained many newbie R/Cer's to fly over the years, and built many models. I'm no stranger to building model airplanes. This build, however, is just plane (sorry, couldn't resist ) frustrating. So far there has been a lot of time spent correcting other peoples "hurry up's" and it would have been far simpler to just do it myself in the first place. I'm not perfect by any means but what I recieved in that box is far less than one should expect in this day of ARF's. Looking forward to, and hoping that, the first flight will make it worth while.

Soft landings. Joe

(in reply to jrf)
       Post #: 83

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/28/2008 6:30:31 AM   
ChuckW


 

Posts: 1772
Joined: 6/15/2006
From: Clovis, CA, USA
Status: online 		Just an update on my crashed Cherokee. GP is replacing it free of charge. Their regard for customers is amazing compared to so many other companies.

This time the tail will be glued and I'm thinking about a 4-stroke. Anybody running one? How nicely does it fit under the cowl?

(in reply to P-51B)
       Post #: 84

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/28/2008 4:00:13 PM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		Jim, incoming return on your PM to me.

Chuck, glad to see you're getting another model to replace the crashed one. I agree the tail area is of concern. Put mine on last night. I ran CA over ALL the exposed wood area and after drying went over the top and botton ply mount area to smooth the raised grain a bit. Put thin CA in all the hole, including the STAB, to harden the balsa. Put the 1" bolts through the STAB and actually threaded them through the hardened balsa. Had large gap issues, especially where the rudder mount faces the fuselage (used GP 1/32 sticky foam to close the gap). Large open gaps around the dorsal fin where it engages the fuselage will be filled with 1/32" and 1/16" soft balsa and some color trim stripes cut from Monokote applied to seal the area from potential fuel/oil seepage. Added medium CA along the inside trench where the fin engages the fuselage and held it tight until the assembly dried. Used Blue Locktite on the assembly bolts and when I tightened everything down it came together nicely without squashing the Stab balsa. Nice and solid now.

Soft landings. Joe

(in reply to ChuckW)
       Post #: 85

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/29/2008 11:19:29 PM   
sevans16


 

Posts: 278
Joined: 11/16/2006
From: Las Vegas, NV, USA
Status: online 		Here are pics of my OS 56FS-a. I have not mounted my cowl yet. The engine is turning a 13x6 apc right at 10K RPM(still on 1st gallon). There is very little prop clearance with the 13" I would say .5-.75" ground clearance. I have not had any problem with good landings.

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize 		Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize


_____________________________

AMA# 737516

(in reply to sqeakalong)
       Post #: 86

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/30/2008 2:21:44 AM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		Hi, jrf! Say, Jim, I checked out the Knockabout ad and...Whoa!...that's one nice ARF! My wife came over to look at the pics and SHE liked the yellow one..wanted me to order one right away! That's a lot of model for the money and I really like the idea of trike, taildragger and float options already set up on the plane (I like the taildragger and floats options). May go that route if I don't come across a set of VK Cherokee plans. (I REALLY like the Monocoupe offering, too) Soft landings. Joe

(in reply to sevans16)
       Post #: 87

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 6/30/2008 4:00:19 PM   
jrf


 

Posts: 2368
Joined: 12/30/2001
From: Burbank, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Yeah, I really like my Knockabouts. (I have one on floats and one on wheels. Different colors, of course.)

Remember, as far as quality is concerned, the important thing is which factory in China made it, not which US company imported it. Hobbico/Great Planes uses several manufacturers in China to make their ARFs and the factory that makes their lower priced stuff is the low bidder.

Some of the smaller importers, like Pacific, Aeroworks, Sig and Quique have a policy of using only the best quality manufacturers to make their products.

I can guarantee that Pacific pays a lot more for each Knockabout than Great Planes pays for the Cherokees.

Jim

(in reply to sqeakalong)
       Post #: 88

RE: Great Planes Cherokee ARF - 7/7/2008 2:06:11 PM   
sqeakalong


 

Posts: 167
Joined: 2/8/2008
From: herebei, USA
Status: online 		Got back on the Cherokee ARF: Filled the gaps running alongside the Rudder/Fin (on both sides) with some 1/64" ply strips and balsa. Closed the gaps with Monokote to seal the area. BTW: Tech info says the plane is covered in True Red Monokote...Bought some...doesn't match; mine is a lot darker in color and looks to be the Dark Red Monokote. I took some 1/4" square balsa and knocked off the edges a bit, pushed them into the three holes in the tail and cut them off flush with the top. Added a couple drops of thin CA to harden them and covered the areas with Monokote. Looks much better. Added the control horns to the Elev. and Rudder...Be SURE to harden the areas with a couple drops of CA as the wood was quite soft on mine. Replaced each GP nylon clevis with a DuBro 2-56 metal clevis and fuel tubing band.