Distributed Exclusively in the U.S.A., Canada
and Mexico by: Great Planes Model Distributors P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021
www.electrifly.com
www.greatplanes.com
Probably one of
the fastest growing parts of this hobby is electric powered
planes, and among those would be Park Flyer type planes.
Electrifly is providing a large selection of these Park Flyers
on the market today, and with such a large selection there is
a plane to suit just about any type of flying a pilot may want
to do. One of their newest releases is the Sopwith Camel EP
ARF. The Sopwith Camel was Britain's front-line fighter during
World War I.
When
I was growing up I absolutely loved the Peanuts comic
strip. I think I had almost every book of these comics.
And one of my favorite parts of the Peanuts was Snoopy
when he was playing the World War I Flying Ace. I loved
how he sat up on his doghouse with his leather cap and
goggles "flying" over the battlefields of
Europe looking for the Red Baron. And of course his
"plane" was the Sopwith Camel! Now when I
was a young kid I probably wouldn't have recognized
a Sopwith Camel if it fell on me, but I did know that
was the plane that Snoopy flew! As far as I was concerned
back then the only plane used to shoot down the Red
Baron was a Sopwith Camel. Ahhh, to be young again!
Fast forward a few decades and now I have the chance
to fly a Sopwith Camel, so of course I jumped on it.
Wouldn't Snoopy be proud of me?
So, let's dig in and see what this plane has to offer.......
Actual Flying Weight:
27 oz (1 lbs 11 oz). Motor Used: Great Planes Rimfire 28-30-950
Out-Runner Brushless Speed Control Used: Great Planes Silver Series
25A Brushless ESC 5V/2A BEC Battery Used: Great Planes ElectriFly LiPo 11.1V
1500mAh 15C BP Srs Prop Used: Great Planes 10x4.5 Power Flow Slo-Flyer
Elec Prop
Radio Used: Futaba T9CAP Receiver Used: Futaba R148DF 8-Channel Channels Used:
4 total - Ailerons,
elevator, throttle, and rudder. Servos Used:Futaba
S3114 Micro Servos, 4 ea. 2 ea. ailerons,
1 ea. elevator, and 1 ea rudder.
Unpacking The Box
The Electrifly Sopwith Camel
EP ARF arrived on my doorstep in a glossy coated cardboard
box measuring 38" x 7-1/2" x 7-1/2".
The side panels of the box well document the plane and
do a great job of explaining the features of the plane.
The side panels also list all of the "extras"
that are required to get the plane in the air. The front
of the box displays the AMA
Park Pilot Logo, which means that the plane weighs
less than 2 pounds and flies under 60 mph.
Opening
the box reveals the major components of the plane sealed
into plastic bags. All of the components bags are taped
together and then taped to the box. This is done to
prevent the parts from shifting and getting damaged
during shipping. The cowl and dummy radial engine are
packed in foam to protect them from damage. All of the
smaller parts for the plane are contained in a separate
cardboard box.
Wings,
fuselage, horizontal & vertical stabilizer, and
the instruction manual are all in plastic bags to protect
them during shipment. All of the smaller parts are contained
in sealed plastic bags and are separated by the assembly
they belong to. While not contained in the box I have
included a shot above of everything that is required
to complete and fly the Sopwith Camel. This includes
the motor, ESC, receiver, banana plugs, battery, props,
servos, and servo extensions. All of these items must
be purchased separately. The part numbers for all of
these items are listed above in the specifications
section.
The Manual
Great Planes has
a great reputation for putting out some of the best
instruction manuals, and the manual for the Sopwith
Camel is no exception. The manual is 24 pages which
are printed in black and white. Included with the manual
is a small paper which is an addendum to the manual
to correct a mistake. The first several pages list all
the items, tools, and materials you will need to complete
the plane. Also included is a listing of the major components
included.
The manual describes
each step in detail and contains pictures for each step.
Each step is explained in detail and there should be
no problems in understanding what needs to be done.
Page 16 contains the step affected by the addendum included
with the plane.
I found
that in cases like this it's better to change the step
in the manual so that I don't "forget" about
the changes when I am assembling the plane. In this
case I stapled the change directly below the affected
step.
There are two things about the manual that I would like
to comment on.
While
the major components of the plane are listed in
the "Kit Contents" section there is no
listing for all the smaller parts and pieces included
with the plane. As there are several types of small
pieces and screws, a printout identifying each part
would help the builder to ensure that they have
the proper part when assembling the plane.
The
second item I noticed while putting the plane together
was the pilot figure and machine guns. Nowhere in
the manual does it instruct the builder to install
these parts. Rather, they just "appear"
in the instructions during the step of putting the
windshield on. While this is a minor issue, it was
a bit surprising to see something like this, as
Great Planes manuals are usually very complete and
leave nothing out. It's a very easy step for the
builder to glue the affected parts in using medium
CA.
The
Sopwith Camel is covered with Monokote. As with most ARF's the
covering will need to be tightened up, as wrinkles will more than
likely develop during shipping. To remove the wrinkles a bit of
special care needs to be followed. The manual recommends avoiding
using a heat gun to stretch the covering on the plane. This is
because of the small size of the wings. Using a heat gun can cause
the covering to pull and warp the thinner sections such as the
wings and the tail surfaces. Because of this they recommend using a
covering iron only to remove the wrinkles from the covering.
Before starting to shrink the covering it's a good
idea to first use a trim iron (or a regular covering iron) and seal
down all the edges of the covering. This is done to avoid the seams
pulling away as the covering shrinks while removing the wrinkles.
Use a regular covering iron to remove the wrinkles and tighten the
covering on the structures of the plane. This can take a bit, as the
covering iron doesn't put out the amount of heat that a heat gun
will, so be patient as you shrink the covering. My Sopwith had a lot
more wrinkles in it than most of the Hobbico products I have seen.
While not a bad thing, I mention it because it took a lot of time
for me to get all the wrinkles worked out with the covering iron,
almost 2 hours worth of work.
Once all the wrinkles have been worked out I used the covering iron
with a hot sock on it to seal the covering down to the wood
structure. This will help keep the covering tight as the plane is
used.
The plane comes with the insignia pre-installed on the fuselage and
wings, which turned out to be a huge problem. As I was shrinking the
covering on the fuselage I moved it over the section that had the
insignia on it which caused the edges of the insignia to "melt" and
pull back (see picture above). The first thing I thought was that I
had my iron too hot so I double checked it, and it was at the
correct temperature for Monokote. The one insignia was pretty much
shot so I thought I would try to find a work around on the insignia
on the other side of the fuselage. I reduced the temperature on the
iron and made my movements over the insignia quick so as to not build
up too much heat. Unfortunately this did not help, as the
temperatures that would not damage the insignia was too cool to
shrink the covering. So that didn't work.
There was no way to fix the damaged
insignia. Now I know that when the plane is in the air flying past
it would probably be impossible to see the damaged insignia,
but I would know it was there and needed to fix it. Luckily
the colors on the insignia are pretty close to colors of
Monokote I had on hand in my "bits and pieces" box. It took me
approximately 10 minutes to cut new insignia out of Monokote
and apply them to the sides of the fuselage.
As you can see in the picture above, the new
insignia are close enough to the old ones that nobody should
notice. Because of this I was stumped as to how I was going to
shrink the covering on the wings. A little bit of
investigation revealed that the larger insignia are applied
with adhesive. I was able to peel the insignia away from the
wing, shrink the covering, and then reapply the insignia to
the wings. I would highly recommend that anybody putting this
plane together do this in order to not damage the insignia.
One other issue I found with the insignia was on the aileron
gaps. The insignia was cut at the aileron gap. However they
only slit the material once and did not remove the material
from the entire gap. Because of this the decal interfered with
the movement of the aileron. Using a hobby knife to cut away
the decal from the other side of the gap corrected this issue.
Tail
Section
The assembly of the plane starts by
mounting the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. The Sopwith comes
out of the box with all of the control surfaces pre-hinged. However
it's a good idea to give a little tug on each control surface to
ensure that the hinges are properly secured in place.
Temporarily mount the bottom wing in place using the 3 x 20mm screws
and 3mm washers. Now place the horizontal stabilizer in place on the
fuselage. The instructions call for holding it in place and then to
look at the stabilizer to see if it is parallel to the wing. However
I found it a bit cumbersome to hold the plane and get a good look at
the position of the stabilizer. I used several small strips of
painters tape to hold the stabilizer in place on the fuselage. With
it in place, look at the position of the stabilizer from the rear of
the plane and check to see if the stabilizer is parallel with the
bottom wing. As you can see in the above picture the stabilizer was
a bit high on the left side. If the stabilizer isn't correct sand
down the side of the fuselage to level it out. Be careful as you
sand as the wood here is soft and it's easy to take too much
material at a time. Do a little bit at a time and recheck to see if
the stabilizer is parallel with the wing.
Next we need to check that the
stabilizer is square with the fuselage. Start by marking the
middle of the cross-brace in the cockpit area and place a
T-pin here. Next locate the vertical stabilizer so that the
middle of it is centered on the fuselage, and stick a pin in
to hold the horizontal stabilizer in place. Tie a loop in a
long piece of non-elastic string (sewing thread words well)
and hook it to the pin in the cockpit. Place a piece of tape
on the string with a mark on it. Now slide this so that the
mark is on the gap between the stab and elevator. Swing the
string to the other side of the stab and check to see if the
mark is at the same gap location. Pivot the stab on the pin
until this mark is the same on both sides of the stab.
With the stabilizer centered on the fuselage
hold it in position and turn it over. Use thin CA to glue the
horizontal stabilizer in place on the fuselage. Although the
control surfaces are pre-installed the rudder has one hinge
that will need to be glued in place. Place the rudder and
vertical stabilizer in place on the horizontal stabilizer,
ensuring that the hinge at the bottom of the rudder is in the
hinge slot in the fuselage. Use a square to ensure that the
vertical stabilizer is sitting square and use CA to glue it in
place. Use thin CA on the bottom rudder hinge to secure it to
the fuselage.
Elevater &
Rudder Hook Up
Two long wire pushrods are used for the
elevator and rudder controls. Work a fiberglass control horn
on to the Z-bend of the pushrod and then slide the pushrod
into the guide tube located in the side of the fuselage. Place
the control horn into the slot located in the control surface.
To secure the control horn use a few drops of thin CA followed
by medium CA to secure the horn in place. Repeat this
installation for the elevator pushrod.
Temporarily connect the rudder and elevator
servos to the radio and center the servo arms on the servo so
that they are perpendicular to the servo body. Using a #56
(.046" [1.2mm]) drill to enlarge the outermost hole in the
servo arm. Mount a screw-lock pushrod connector to each servo
arm.
The instructions call for using CA to secure the servos in
place. However I chose to use screws to hold the servos in.
The servo installation is pretty standard. Mark the servo
mount holes, drill a pilot hole, use a mounting screw to cut
the threads in the mounting hole, and use thin CA to harden
the threads in the wood. After the CA has dried mount each
servo in place in the servo tray. NOTE: This needs to be done
prior to installing the servo tray in the plane.
Place the servo tray into position in the
fuselage. Use thin CA to glue the servo tray in place. To
install the pushrods to the servo arms the servos need to be
connected to the receiver once again. Also, center the control
surface so that it is in the neutral position. I use two hobby
sticks (a.k.a. popsicle sticks) and two small clamps to keep
the control surface centered for this. Now insert the pushrod
through the screw-lock pushrod connector (you may have to
remove the servo arm in order to accomplish this). When you
are satisfied with the position of the pushrod tighten the
screw-lock connector. Place a small drop of threadlock on the
screw prior to tightening it.
Mounting the ESC and Receiver
The ESC and receiver is mounted on a tray
located inside the fuselage below the cockpit. The tray worked
into place inside the fuselage and then glued into place using
medium CA. Once the tray is in place I used adhesive backed
Velcro to mount the ESC and receiver in place. There is a tube
in place in the fuselage to run the receiver antenna to the
back of the fuselage, with the excess wire left hanging out of
the back of the plane.
I would like to make one note here. The manual recommends
using a mini receiver (Futaba
R114F 4-channel mini receiver) in this plane, and I highly
recommend doing this. I did not have one of these receivers
available and instead I used a standard 8-channel receiver.
This receiver barely fits in place in this plane.
Mount The Motor
The Rimfire motor comes with a
metal mounting plate installed on it. This needs to be removed
and replaced with the fiberglass mounting plate provided in
the plane kit. The 3 3.5mm female bullet adapters need to be
installed on the 3 motor wires. The motor is then mounted in
place on the motor mount of the fuselage. It is mounted by
using 3 x 20mm Phillips screws (apply a drop of threadlock to
each screw). The screws are placed through the fiberglass
mount and then a 1/2" tube and a 3mm washer are placed on the
screw, which is then screwed into the pre-installed blind
nuts.
Connect the three wires of the motor to the three wires from
the ESC. The wires are not labeled and it does not matter
which wires are connected to each other. However, if the motor
runs backwards you will need to switch any two of the wires
from the motor to the ESC.
Install the Dummy Engine
A dummy radial engine is provided to help
provide some scale looks to the Sopwith Camel. The
instructions call for cutting away the ring from two of
the cylinders of the dummy engine. However this was
already cut away on the engine provided in the kit. Each
cylinder needs to be prepared to install pushrods for a
scale look. Use a #60 (.040"[1mm]) to drill holes in the
dummy radial engine, 2 holes per cylinder, with matching
holes at the bottom of each cylinder. A pushrod wire is
inserted in place for each cylinder.
To secure the pushrods in place turn the dummy
engine over and place a small drop of medium CA at the exposed
end of each pushrod. Once all of the pushrods are in place
work the dummy engine into the ABS plastic cowl. Ensure the
dummy engine is properly placed, with the cut out portion of
the engine aligned with the cutout in the cowl, and secure in
place with medium CA.
The cowl for the Sopwith is held in place on the fuselage by
magnets that are installed in the fuselage and the cowl. So
it's a simple matter of securing and removing the cowl.
Inspection Plate and Cockpit Hatch
An "inspection plate" is provided for some
scale detail. One inspection plate needs to be installed on
each side of the fuselage behind the cowl. These are glued in
place using several drops of medium CA.
The cockpit hatch for the Sopwith is held in place with
magnets similar to the cowl. Test fit the hatch in place to
ensure that it fits cleanly and securely. The fit can be
adjusted by shaving a bit of wood off of the backside of the
hatch.
The manual does not provide instructions to
install the pilot figure and the scale machine guns, but
rather they just "appear" in the next step of the manual. But
these parts are easy to install by using medium CA. The
windscreen is installed in place by placing several small
drops of medium CA on the hatch and placing the windscreen on
those drops.
Install the Battery Tray
A strap to secure the battery in place is
made from the supplied Velcro material, which is then fed
through the battery tray. In addition, a small piece of
adhesive backed Velcro is placed on the battery tray to help
secure the battery while it is in place in the plane. The tray
is secured in the plane with two #2 x 3/8" flat head screws.
Mount the battery in the plane and test fit the cockpit hatch
to ensure that it fits properly and that the magnets secure it
in place.
Mount
the Aileron Servos
As with the elevator and rudder
servos the instructions call for mounting the aileron servos
with CA. However I chose to install them with screws as well. The
aileron mounts needs to be built on the underside of each
servo hatch, which is installed in each side of the lower
wing. To position the servo mounting blocks place a thin piece
of cardboard (I used manila folders) between the servo and the
servo hatch as well as each servo mounting block. Mark the
location of the mounting blocks as well as the location of
each servo mounting screw. Use medium CA to glue each servo
block in place. Drill the servo mounting holes, cut threads in
each hole with the mounting screws, and then use thin CA to
harden the threads in the mounting holes. Connect each servo
to the receiver and center the servo arms in the same manner
as the rudder and elevator servos. Mount each servo on the
servo hatch using mounting screws.
Connect a servo extension wire to each servo
and use the installed pull string to pull each servo wire
through the wing and out the hole in the middle of the wing.
Mount the aileron hatch in place using four #2 x 3/8" Phillips
screws. Install a small aileron pushrod in each servo by
working the Z-bend into the servo arm.
Install a second pushrod on the fiberglass
control horn. Slide a piece of small heat shrink tubing over
the pushrod from the aileron servo and then place pushrod from
the control arm inside of the heat shrink. Glue the control
horn in place in the aileron in the same way that the rudder
and elevator horns were installed. To finish the installation
secure the aileron in the center position using hobby sticks
and clamps as we did on the tail surfaces. Connect the aileron
servo to the receiver, turn on the radio, and center the
aileron servo. Use a heat source (such as a heat gun) to
shrink the heat shrink over the two aileron pushrods to secure
them together. Wick thin CA down inside of the heat shrink to
ensure that the two pushrods are secured.
Install the aileron pushrod tabs into each aileron and secure
using thin CA.
Mounting the Wings
The upper wing is secured to the
plane by four metal cabane struts. Make sure that the struts you use
are for the cabanes and not the landing gear mounts, as they all
look similar. As the cabane struts are mounted and the wing is put
in place do not apply CA to the struts until the wings are mounted
and you are sure the struts are in the proper position. The manual
shows how each strut needs to be placed, so pay attention as there
is a front and rear strut. Place the upper wing on your work area
upside down and place the cabane struts in the recesses on the wing.
Use #2 x 1/4" screw to secure the top wing to the cabane struts. Connect
the aileron servo wires to the dual servo extension and then secure
the bottom wing in place using two 3 x 20mm screws and 3mm washers.
There are 3 different wing
strut mounting tabs so refer to the instructions for the
proper placement of these tabs. Once the tabs are in place
secure them with thin CA. 4 interplane struts are
used to secure the outer portions of the wings. Once
everything is properly positioned the cabane struts are glued
in place using thin CA.
Assembling The Landing Gear
The front and rear landing gear
struts are secured to the bottom of the fuselage and the
bottom of the wing using six #2 x 3/8" flat-head Phillips
screws. The wheels are mounted in place with a 2 x 35mm bolt
and two 3mm bolts. The bolts are placed through the front
landing gear strut and a nut is installed, and then through
the rear landing gear strut with another nut applied to hold
it in place. Use a drop of threadlock on each nut to secure it
in place. Make sure that the wheel rolls freely when
tightening the bolts. The wheel cross tube is placed between
the wheels by sliding the axle both into each end of the tube.
Aileron Connecting
Pushrods and Propeller Installation
Place the Z-bend of each half of the aileron
pushrod into the pushrod tabs on each aileron. Place a piece
of heat shrink on the pushrods. Center the aileron and use a
heat source to shrink the heat shrink around the aileron
pushrods, and then wick thin CA into the heat shrink to ensure
the pushrods are secure.
The prop is mounted using the propeller washer and nut
provided with the motor. Tighten the nut with a 8mm (5/16")
wrench. Install the aluminum propeller cone and tighten using
a piece of wire through the hole in the cone.
Balancing and Control
Throws
The Sopwith Camel should initially be
balanced with the CG 2-7/8" back from the leading edge of the
top wing. Once the plane has been initially flown the location
of the CG can be moved to suit the flying style of the pilot.
I used a Great Planes
CG Machine to balance the plane. I
needed to add 2-1/4 ounces of weight to the nose of the plane
in order to get the plane to balance level. The weight can be
attached directly to the motor mount at the front of the
plane.
The control throws should be set to the rates indicated below.
A deflection gage shown in the pictures makes it easier to
check the throws of the control surfaces. However it's not
absolutely necessary. The throws can be checked using a ruler;
the method for this is described in the instruction manual.
Control Throws:
Aileron:
High
Rate:
5/8"
(16mm) 19 degrees Up & down
Low
Rate:
3/8"
(10mm)
16 degrees Up & down
Elevator:
High
Rate:
1/2"
(13mm) 15 degrees Up & down
Low
Rate:
5/16"
(8mm) 10 degrees Up & down
Rudder:
High
Rate:
1"
(32mm) 22 degrees Left to Right
Low
Rate:
5/8"
(25.4mm) 14 degrees Left to Right
I've
been flying for quite some time now, and have done more
than a few reviews, so normally taking a plane out for a
maiden flight is no big deal for me. But for some
reason I was really excited to get the Sopwith out to the
field and fly it. Unfortunately I had to let it sit, as
all I could do was look and wait for weather that I
could fly the plane in. Finally we got decent weather late
one afternoon, so I grabbed the plane, my cameras, and my
son and headed out to the field.
After getting the Photo Shoot pictures taken I got the
plane ready to fly. I put the battery in the plane and did
a quick check of the controls to ensure that they were set
properly, and after a range check of the radio I armed the
ESC and it was ready to fly. I eased the throttle forward
a bit to get it rolling and then I opened it up. The plane
was off the ground in about 5 feet. I brought the plane
around and leveled it out so that I could check the trim
of the plane. At about half throttle the plane required
two clicks of up elevator to bring it back to hands free
operation.
With the plane trimmed it was time to find out what she
could do. Immediately I discovered that at full throttle
the plane was very responsive and really fun to fly, but
wasn't scale in any way, shape, or form. However, bringing
the throttle back to about half would result in more
scale-like flight. I also discovered that by switching the
plane to low rates it would fly more scale-like as it was
maneuvered around the sky. Rolling the plane while on high
rates results in a near axial roll that required very
little input from the elevator. However switching to low
rates required up elevator to keep the plane level as it
tracked through the roll. Loops were easily performed and
it was very easy to make large graceful loops with the
plane. Taking the plane up a bit I tried put the plane
into a stall. The plane "mushed" a bit and stalled
straight forward. After flying it around a bit I lined up for a landing. As I brought it into the
runway one thing became quickly clear, landing for this
plane is very realistic. By this I mean that the plane
really needs to be flown down to the runway. Trying to
"float" the plane into a landing made for a hard bounce on
the runway. As I landed it on the runway I let it taxi out
to a stop and one other thing became evident. Ground
handling. With the short front end on the plane I found
that if I didn't in elevator to keep the tail on the
ground it would nose over very easily.
On my second take off I had a small problem. I got a bit
squirrelly on the runway and ended up taking off on the
rough side of the runway. Somewhere in this the landing
gear spread apart and the landing gear cross tube came off
of the plane and was lost. I didn't find this out until I
brought it back in for a second landing. With this cross
tube missing the wheels had a habit of turning in and
causing the plane to be very difficult to handle on the
ground. Unfortunately the still shots for this review were
taken after the cross tube fell off, so if you see it
missing in the pictures this is why.
The Li-po battery that I was using was the larger 1500 MaH
size, and with this I was able to get 12 minutes flying
time. However, I didn't stop because the battery was dead. I had to stop when I broke a prop and didn't
have a spare at the field. I think I could easily squeeze
another 3-4 minutes of flying time out of the batteries. I
wish that I hadn't broken the prop as I was having just
too much fun flying the plane.
As I got a bit more
comfortable I found that this was really a fun plane to
toss around the sky. Take offs were accomplished in about
5' as the plane just seemed to leap off the ground.
Although I was flying at our "large plane" field, I tried
to keep the plane in as small of a space as I could so I
could get a feel for how small of a space the plane could
be flown in. After flying it I would feel very comfortable
flying the plane in the space of a baseball, football, or
soccer field or at the local park. Just a word of caution:
if flying at any place other than a regular flying field
make sure your radio won't interfere with any planes being
flown nearby.
I had wanted to head home and
pick up the spare prop for this plane, but unfortunately
we were running out of daylight. So I didn't get the
chance to fly again that day. One thing is for sure,
I can't wait for the weather to get nice enough to fly
again. I want to spend more time flying the Sopwith Camel.
Snoopy would be proud of me!!
Overall
I really liked the Electrifly Sopwith Camel ARF. It
has opened up a new type of flying that I wasn't able
to do before. Instead of loading up and heading to the
field I can grab this plane and head for the school
yard down the street and get in a quick flight or two.
I'm honestly excited about being able to do this. One
thing was foremost in my mind as I flew this plane for
this review, and that was the fact that I was having
way too much fun flying the Sopwith Camel.
As I wrap up here
there are a couple of items I would like to make note
of.
I don't know if
there is a better way to do the landing gear cross
tube so that it doesn't get lost if the wheels spread
apart, maybe a little bit of thread lock would help
"glue" it in place but still allow it
to be removed for wheel maintenance. I could not
find the one that I lost at the field and had make
a new tube from aluminum tubing.
Pre-applied insignia.
Ultimately I think the solution here would be for
the insignia to be shipped on a seperate sheet and
applied by the modeler after the covering has been
shrunk. But until then the modeler needs to pay
caution when shrinking the covering. The best option
I found was to remove the insignia from the plane
and then replace it once the covering was tight.
I would like to
have seen all of the smaller parts listed in the
Kit Contents section of the manual to help identify
all parts in the plane.
A couple of small
steps missing from the manual. While this is only
a minor issue it is a bit out of character for Great
Planes (Electrifly) as their manuals are some of
the best in the business.
The Sopwith Camel overall
construction was high quality. The advertised assembly
time is 6-8 hours. It took me a bit longer than this because
of the extra time needed to remove the wrinkles from the
covering. However, a modeler with average skills should
have no problems getting the Sopwith together in 2-3 evenings
of work. The high level of construction means that no
special tools or skills are needed to get this plane together.
With a well documented manual and a well engineered plane
the "Frustration Level" of putting this plane
together will stay at a low level as this plane is a joy
to put together.
Electrifly has done a great job in putting
together such a high quality plane and keeping the price
very affordable. The Sopwith Camel looks good in the
air and flies more like a sport plane than a WWI fighter.
It's just plain fun to fly. For those who are looking
for a smaller electric park flyer that is something
just a bit different, I highly recommend that they take
a look at the Sopwith Camel.
Overall I would say that Electifly has
a hit with this plane.
Distributed Exclusively in the U.S.A., Canada
and Mexico by: Great Planes Model Distributors P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021
www.electrifly.com
www.greatplanes.com
Distributed Exclusively in the U.S.A., Canada
and Mexico by: Great Planes Model Distributors P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021
http://2.4gigahertz.com
www.greatplanes.com
Products used: 9TCAP Radio, R148DF 8-Channel
receiver,
S3114 Micro Servos
Zap Adhesives Frank Tiano Enterprises 3607 Ventura Drive E.
Lakeland, Florida 33811 Phone: (863)607-6611 Website:
http://www.franktiano.com Products Used: Thin & Medium CA,
Z-42 Thread Locker
Comments on RCU Review: Electrifly Sopwith Camel Electric ARF
I really enjoyed this review!
I would like to add that I had very good results on the landing gear spacer by using medium ca in a line across the
top of the threads of the screw (not alot).
It still was easy to get apart later for a wheel replacement and stayed in place through many,many not so
nice landings with my Great Planes SE-5 !
The comments, observations and conclusions made in this review are solely with respect to the particular item the editor reviewed and may not apply generally to similar products by the manufacturer. We cannot be responsible for any manufacturer defects in workmanship or other deficiencies in products like the one featured in the review.
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When
I was growing up I absolutely loved the Peanuts comic
strip. I think I had almost every book of these comics.
And one of my favorite parts of the Peanuts was Snoopy
when he was playing the World War I Flying Ace. I loved
how he sat up on his doghouse with his leather cap and
goggles "flying" over the battlefields of
Europe looking for the Red Baron. And of course his
"plane" was the Sopwith Camel! Now when I
was a young kid I probably wouldn't have recognized
a Sopwith Camel if it fell on me, but I did know that
was the plane that Snoopy flew! As far as I was concerned
back then the only plane used to shoot down the Red
Baron was a Sopwith Camel. Ahhh, to be young again!
Fast forward a few decades and now I have the chance
to fly a Sopwith Camel, so of course I jumped on it.
Wouldn't Snoopy be proud of me?
