Contributed by: Henry Korczak | Published: February 2004 | Views: 72822 |  Email this Article
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Review
by: Henry Korczak
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Painted
fiberglass parts
Excellent paint job
Installed windows
Outstanding flight characteristics
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Difficult
radio installation
Soft nose gear leg
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An
Award Winning Homebuilt
Lance Neibauer's first kitplane design was the
Lancair 200 that he introduced at the 1985 Annual EAA fly-in at
Oshkosh. This sleek, fast and sexy design set the stage for what
was to follow. In 1991, kit deliveries of the Lancair IV started.
It was a retractable gear, four-person hot-rod. Soon after, a
pressurization system was developed for the Lancair IV, making
one of the most advanced kitplanes for the homebuilder.
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Neibauer soon decided to design a fixed-gear four-seat plane that
had more docile handling characteristics and the Lancair ES was
born. The ES is a high performance, fixed gear, kit built, composite
airplane that shares the same large cabin layout as the Lancair
IV. The ES kit is available with two different engines. The first
is a Continental IO-360 (210hp) and the second is a Continental
IO-550 (300hp). The Lancair with the IO-550 is called the Lancair
Super ES. Elegance and simplicity define the ES series. High climb
rates, long endurance and slow landing speeds bring performance
never realized to the homebuilder.
Full-Scale Lancair ES Specifications:
Engine: Continental IO-360-ES
Horsepower: 210hp @ 2800rpm
Propeller: 2-blade, constant speed
Length: 25 ft.
Height: 8 ft.
Wingspan: 35.5 ft.
Wing area: 140 sq. ft.
Wing loading (3000 lbs.): 21.4 lbs./sq. ft.
Empty weight: 1900 lbs.
Gross weight: 3200 lbs.
Fuel capacity: 75 gal.
Useful load: 1300 lbs.
Cruise speed: 192-200mph
Stall speed: 57mph
Rate of climb: 1250fpm
Maximum range: 1450 sm
Now with the
introduction of the Great Planes Lancair ES ARF, you too can have
an award winning homebuilt without the cost and time needed to
build a full-scale aircraft. In just a few short hours, you can
be at your local airfield winging your way to far off destinations.
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Specifications:
Kit Name: Lancair ES .60 ARF
Manufacturer: Great Planes
Price: $279.99
Wingspan: 80 in.
Wing Area: 690 sq. in.
Length: 52 in.
Ready to fly weight: 8.75 lb. (less fuel)
Wing Loading: 29.22 oz./sq. ft.
Engine Used: O.S. FS-91 Surpass II
Fuel Used: Cool Power 15%
Prop Used: APC 13x5
Spinner Used: Tru-Turn 2-3/4 in. diameter
Radio System: Futaba 9C transmitter
(7) Futaba S3004 Standard BB Servos; (2) ailerons, (1) elevator,
(1) rudder, (2) flaps, (1) throttle
Channels Used: 5 total: aileron, elevator, rudder, throttle
and flaps
Required
Items:
- 5-channel
radio with 7, 41 oz.-in. torque servos
- 2-stroke
.61 or 4-stroke .91 engine
- Fuel
tubing
- Thin
and medium CA, 30-minute epoxy
- Assorted
drill bits
- Dremel
Moto-Tool
- Standard
building tools
- 24
hours of building time
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Great
Planes created quite a stir when they introduced the Lancair ES
in late 2002. And after seeing it at the 2003 WRAM show, I could
see why. What a gorgeous, sexy looking model and it was IMAA legal
to boot, so I could fly it at many different venues. Arrangements
were soon made and a Lancair was winging its way to my workshop.
By a stroke of luck, I was able to fly a friend's Lancair a few
months before mine arrived and WOW! I couldn't wait to get mine!
When I received the kit and opened it, I sure wasn't disappointed.
The contents were nicely protected and wrapped in poly bags. I had
read in some RCU forums that some fuselages had suffered damage
during shipment and I was happy to see that mine was unscathed.
The Lancair kit is quite complete, all you need to supply is an
engine and prop, a 5-channel radio with 7 standard servos, two 12
inch extensions, two 24 inch extensions, two "Y" harnesses,
fuel line and foam padding for the receiver and battery and common
tools and glues. The 39-page photo illustrated manual is what we've
come to expect from Great Planes. It's full of useful information
that helps you make decisions on engine choice, radio requirements,
tools and supplies needed to build the kit, lots of building notes,
preflight checklist and flying tips.
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Wing
Assembly
Typical of most ARF's, construction starts with the wing. The Lancair's
wing assembles quickly and easily. The wing is fully sheeted and
covered with White MonoKote. The workmanship was outstanding. To
make the wing operational, you'll need 4 servos, two for the ailerons
and two for the flaps and extensions for the aileron servos. You'll
also need 2 "Y" harnesses to connect the ailerons and
flaps to a single port in your receiver if you don't want to use
mixing. I recommend using "Y" harnesses; it makes setting
up the controls a lot simpler.
The ailerons and flaps are first installed using CA hinges that
you must cut from the supplied CA hinge sheet. I test fit the hinges
in the precut slots and found that the hinge slots weren't deep
enough. I remedied this quickly with a Great Planes Slot Machine.
After the hinges were installed, I opened the cutouts in the wing
panels for the servos and sealed the edges with a trim iron. As
recommended in the manual, I hooked up the servos to the receiver
and laid them out on my workbench as if they were installed in the
wing and check them for proper operation. Remember that the servo
arms on the flap servos must operate in the same direction.
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The
Lancair's airfoil is very thin where the aileron servos are mounted
and Great Planes instructs you to epoxy the servos to the underside
of the top wing skin. There are two other options, first, you could
as shown in the instructions, wrap the servos in heat-shrink tubing
and then glue the servos in place. If you ever need to remove the
servos, you simply cut the heat-shrink tubing and remove the servo.
Another option would be to use low-profile servos. Because it was
very late at night when I built the wing and didn't have access
to heat-shrink tubing, I epoxied the aileron servos in place. I
then cut and fit the plastic aileron servo covers. There are scribe
lines on the inside of the covers outlining the opening for the
control horn and for the overall size of the cover. The covers are
screwed to ply mounts in the wing with the supplied screws. Be sure
to harden the screw holes with a few drops of thin CA.
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The flap servos
are mounted to hardwood blocks that you epoxy to plywood hatches.
Nothing out of the ordinary here. Just make sure that the opening
for the control horn on the right wing is toward the wing tip
and the horn opening for the left wing is toward the wing root.
Remember, both servo arms must work in the same direction. When
I screwed the hatches to the wing, I had to trim the inboard ply
screw mounts to allow clearance for the hardwood servo mount blocks.
Now that the servos are in place, it's time to install the pushrods
and control horns. Great Planes includes all of the parts needed
and does a good job of describing how to install the control horns
and how to line up the pushrods to the horns.
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The instructions
now have you join the wing panels together but I decided to add
the painted fiberglass wing tips first. It's a lot easier handling
a 40-inch panel than an 80-inch long wing. Before gluing the tips
in place, I removed a 1/8th wide strip of covering from the end
of the wing panels. I used automotive pinstriping tape as a guide
to make accurate cuts. Then, with 60-grit sandpaper I removed
all traces of paint from the gluing area on the inside of the
wing tips and the thoroughly wiped the sanded areas with alcohol.
I glued the tips in place with 5-minute epoxy. While the quality
of the fiberglass wing tips is very good, I felt they could have
fit on the wings a little better.
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Now it's time
to join the panels together, but you first need to laminate two
1/8-inch ply joiners together to make a joiner that's 1/4 inch
thick. I used 30-minute epoxy for this and after the glue cured,
I dry fit the joiner in each panel. The fit was very tight and
I needed to sand the joiner to fit properly. One problem that
just about all ARF wings have, is how do you hold the panels together
while the epoxy cures? Here's a neat trick. First, open the holes
in the leading edge of the wing for the hold down dowels and fit
them in place (don't glue them). Next, open the holes in the trailing
edge of the wing for the wing bolts if you haven't already done
so and place the wing bolts in the holes. After you've smeared
epoxy in the joiner slots, on the joiner and root ribs and have
pushed the panels together, tightly wrap a few rubber bands around
the dowels and on both sides of the wing bolts. The tension of
the rubber bands will pull the panels tightly together. Align
the panels, wipe off any excess epoxy and place the wing aside
until dry.
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Fuselage
Assembly
Fuselage assembly starts with opening the pushrod exits for the
elevator halves and rudder to 3/16ths diameter. The instructions
tell you not to drill a single 3/16ths hole or you'll run the risk
of tearing and chipping the fiberglass. Heed their warning, as the
fiberglass will tear. To minimize the risk, I used a Dremel tool
set on a slow speed and a small, pointed grinding bit to make the
holes. This worked well. The pushrod guide tubes (2 elevator, 1
rudder) are installed next, but I waited until I had the rear ply
pushrod former in place.
The front and rear fuselage formers that are in the wing saddle
area need to be removable to allow future access to the fuel tank
and receiver/battery. Following the instructions, I drilled 3/32-inch
holes in the front and rear pushrod formers. The formers are then
fitted into the fuselage and their position marked with a felt pen.
Hardwood blocks are now epoxied in place in front of the front former
and behind the rear former. The formers are then replaced in the
fuselage and using the previously drilled holes in the formers as
guides, small holes are drilled into the hardwood blocks. The formers
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Work
now proceeds to the tail of the model. The stabilizer is in halves
that slide onto two tubes at the rear of the fuselage. The stab
halves can be glued in place permanently, or made removable and
I chose removable. I first hinged the elevators to the stab halves
using the same process as the ailerons. You can also hinge the rudder
now. On the underside of the halves is a small pinhole. This pinhole
is the locating mark for the screws that secure the stab halves
to the joiner tube.
If your kit has two aluminum joiner tubes, use the one that is 1/4
inch in diameter. The larger 5/16 inch dia. tube is too large to
fit in the holes in the fuselage, it was included by mistake, add
it to your scrap box. Two lengths of wood dowel are epoxied into
each end of the aluminum tube for the stab retaining screws. A 6-1/2
inch carbon fiber rod is now centered in the fuselage and glued
in place. I now centered the aluminum tube and slid on the right
stab half onto both tubes (make sure the aluminum tube remains centered)
and drilled a 1/16th hole into the aluminum tube. Be Remember the
pinhole on the underside of the stab? This is the pilot hole for
drilling the 1/16-inch hole. After the drilling the hole, remove
the stab half and thread a self-tapping #2 screw into the tube and
harden the threads with thin CA after removing the screw. Drilling
the hole in the tube probably left a burr, if so file the burr down
so the stab easily slides on the tube. Now reinsert the tube into
the fuselage, attach the stab and repeat the process for the left
stab half.
Next, slide the pushrods for the elevators and rudder into the fuselage
and attach the control horns on the elevators and rudder, lining
them up with the pushrods and on the hinge lines as indicated in
the manual. Now would be a good time to add the clevises to the
pushrods. I used a Great Planes 4-In-1 installation Tool to screw
on the clevises; it sure does reduce wear and tear on your fingers! |
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Engine
Installation
The Lancair can accommodate most of the popular 2- and 4-stroke
engines in the .60 to .90 range on the market today and I chose
the powerful O.S. FS-91 Surpass II 4-stroke engine. Mounting it
was straightforward, but I did encounter some difficulties placing
the muffler so it would be completely concealed within the cowl,
as I wanted to preserve the model's looks as much as possible.
Molded into the firewall are reference lines for the engine mount
location. I used a felt marker to make the lines more visible. The
firewall pictures in the manual show two holes for the throttle
and steering pushrods and no hole for the fuel tank neck. On my
model, the hole for the fuel tank was is the firewall but the pushrod
holes weren't. This suited me just fine, as I'd rather drill two
small pushrod holes instead of the larger hole for the fuel tank.
I taped the mount template in the back of the manual to the firewall
and drilled pilot holes for the blind nuts. Before going any further,
I decided to make the cooling outlet; this would allow greater access
to the backside of the firewall. The manual states the outlet isn't
required for a 4-stroke engine but I figured you can't have enough
air passing through the cowl. The instructions go into a lot of
detail on how to make the outlet. I did however make one small change.
Instead of gluing the outlet cover in place, I instead epoxied a
strip of plywood on each side of the opening (inside the fuselage)
so I could screw the cover in place. This would allow future access
to the backside of the firewall if needed. |
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I
next installed the nose gear and the instructions have you shim
the nose gear-bearing block away from the firewall. I found that
the shim was on the thin side; I had to add a 1/16 piece of ply
under the block to allow the gear leg to align with the hole in
the engine mount. Now that I had the nose gear in place I could
mount the engine and setup the muffler. I installed the engine mount
with the supplied hardware and placed the engine on it the required
distance from the firewall.
To keep the muffler totally enclosed, I used an O.S. 90 degree header
that I installed in between the stock header and the muffler. I
arranged the parts so the muffler faced the left side of the cowl.
As you can see in the photo, the nose gear steering arm and the
throttle pushrod neatly avoid the muffler and header. I used a short
length of AeroTrend tubing to route the exhaust out the cowl. When
the engine is running, the exhaust coming out the side of the cowl
looks pretty cool! I jumped ahead in the instructions and plumbed
the fuel tank and installed it now. |
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Landing
Gear And Wheel Pant Installation
One of the distinguishing features of the full-scale Lancair ES
is the landing gear that Great Planes has faithfully reproduced.
The sleek wheel pants and nose gear fairing add a lot of style to
the model and are easy to install. Early production kits had a problem
with the nose gear leg; they were bent to shape incorrectly. The
incorrect nose gear has the bend for the wheel pant on the wrong
side. If your kit has the wrong gear leg, contact Great Planes for
a free replacement. It would also be a good idea to check Great
Planes website for a picture of the correct gear leg if your kit
doesn't contain the addendum. One thing that I did notice was that
the nose gear leg has only one coil to absorb shocks from less than
perfect landings on grass fields. On the bench I was able to easily
bend the gear leg back until the fairing hit the bottom of the fuselage.
More on this later.
As mentioned, the nose gear leg has a fairing that you need to attach.
The fairing is painted ABS plastic and is molded in halves. Because
the plastic is rather thin, Great Planes uses a unique technique
to glue the fairing to the wire gear leg. The instructions first
tell you to trim the fairing halves, mine were already trimmed and
I suspect that all of the kits are the same. To give the glue in
the next step a better surface to grip, I roughed up the inside
surfaces. To build up the thickness of the plastic for more gluing
area, the instructions show how to use epoxy and microballon filler
to increase the size of the gluing surface.
First you need to mix a batch of epoxy and microballons to make
a thick paste and I used Top Flite microballons. The instructions
tell you to use 6-minute epoxy. I felt this wouldn't give me enough
working time, so I used 30-minute epoxy instead. After I had a thick,
gooey mixture, I spread the mixture along the inside edge of the
fairings and then placed then face down on a flat surface protected
by wax paper. I also placed some weight on the fairings to keep
them from moving while the glue set. After the glue had cured, I
removed the fairings and cleaned out the glue from the grooves for
the gear leg and also sanded the mating surfaces of the fairings
flat. As you can see in the pictures, this technique makes a nice
wide gluing surface. I next roughed up the gear leg where the fairing
fit to it and glued one of the fairings to the leg with 5-minute
epoxy. After the epoxy cured, I glued the other half in place. To
date, the fairing has not come loose.
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Moving
on to the nose wheel pant is next and following the instructions,
I drilled a hole where indicated for the axle. I then roughed up
the inside surface of the pant and glued in the plywood supports
holding them in place with a clamp until the glue set. It's now
a simple matter of placing the pant on the gear leg and drilling
the pilot holes for the retaining strap. Once the pant and wheel
are in place, the nose gear is complete.
Installing the main gear is simple as it's screwed directly to plywood
pads in the center section on the underside of the wing. The main
gear is made of aluminum that's painted to match the overall blue
paint scheme of the model. The wheel pants are easy to install and
consists of 5 steps. The tasks are: marking/making the hole for
the axle, making the plywood mount, gluing the mount to the inside
of the pant and installing the pants to the gear legs. Make sure
you make a left and right pant assembly, as both pants are the same;
it would be easy to make two left or rights.
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Radio
Installation
So far, building the Lancair has been pretty straightforward and
easy. The radio installation makes up for that though. Because the
Lancair has a long nose moment, the rudder, elevator and throttle
servos are installed in the aft area of the of the wing compartment,
while the receiver and its battery are installed behind the aft
former that was installed earlier. The first task is to laminate
the receiver/battery tray from two pieces of 1/8-inch ply. I then
drew a centerline on the tray. Next I taped over the rear of the
wing saddle and drew reference lines on the tape as indicated. I
then drilled two pilot holes where marked keeping the drill perpendicular
to the surface. I now clamped the receiver tray in place, 1/4 inch
behind the rear of the wing saddle opening aligning its centerline
to the centerline drawn on the tape. The tray should be between
the wing bolt mounting blocks. Using the previously drilled holes
has a guide; I drilled holes for the blind nuts in the tray. Removing
the tray, I enlarged the holes in it and installed the blind nuts.
The holes in the fuselage are now opened up to accommodate 4-40
bolts, the holes must be countersunk so their heads don't interfere
with the wing when it's installed. I used a Dremel tool and a round
cutting ball to countersink the holes.
Next the servo tray is laminated from ply to make a 1/4 thick tray.
Installing the servo tray in the fuselage can be challenging, as
you need to remove the forward former, slide the tray up to the
fuel tank and then slide it back onto the hardwood rails. The inside
curvature of the fuselage makes this step very difficult and I made
a small modification to the fuselage to make installing the servo
tray real easy. I whipped out my Dremel tool and using a sanding
drum, I ground away the fiberglass and made cutouts on each side
of the wing saddle where the tray would reside on the hardwood rails.
I can now easily install and remove the servo tray with very little
effort.
I now screwed the servo tray in place and reinstalled the front
and rear formers. I installed the servos in the tray and lined them
up with the pushrod guide tubes. In the front former, I needed to
relocate the hole for the steering pushrod to accommodate my installation.
Hooking up the pushrods to the servos with the included hardware
took only a few minutes. The elevator is controlled by two pushrods
that are joined together at the servo. Two wheel collars secure
the pushrods together. For added piece of mind, I soldered the pushrods
together along with the wheel collars to form a single unit.
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Now
comes the tricky part, installing the receiver/battery tray behind
the aft former. While it's not really difficult to do, you need
to disconnect the pushrods from the servos and remove the aft former.
If you have large hands, getting the tray into place will be more
difficult to do. After I had everything unhooked, I removed the
servo tray to make a little more room to work with. I worked the
tray into place and then plugged the servos into the receiver. Before
securing the receiver tray in place, I turned on the radio and made
sure the appropriate servos moved with the appropriate stick movement.
I then secured the receiver tray with two 4-40 screws. I then reinstalled
the aft former, servo tray and connected the pushrods. I drilled
a hole in the underside of the fuselage for the antenna and used
a short length of fuel line in the hole to protect the antenna.
To somewhat hide the receiver switch, I mounted it in the door handle
recess.
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Cowl
Assembly
The Lancair's cowl is a work of art. It's beautifully sculpted and
is the finishing touch of the sleek fuselage. For 2-stroke engine
installations, a plywood baffle is provided and should be used if
you used the Top Flite in cowl muffler. For 4-stroke installations,
like mine, the baffle is discarded. A cut out needs to be made on
the bottom of the cowl to accommodate the nose gear and I decided
to enlarge it so more cooling air could pass through the cowl. You
never can have enough air flowing over the engine. I made the other
cut outs necessary to clear the engine head, needle valve and glow
plug access and an exhaust outlet. A Dremel tool and careful measuring
made quick work of this. I usually use a three-line fuel system,
so no access other than the exit hole on the bottom of the cowl
is needed for fueling the model.
The fuselage has a recessed lip that the cowl fits onto. The instructions
have you insert the mounting screws through the cowl and into this
lip. Because of the built-in right thrust, the lip gets very thin
and it's difficult to get the placement of the mounting screws just
right. A better way is to epoxy some hardwood blocks on the firewall
for the mounting screws. This also moves the screws away from the
back edge of the cowl.
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Final Setup and Balance
Now that the Lancair was built and on its gear, it was time for
the all important setup and balance check. The manual gives throws
for both high and low rates and after flying model, they are a good
place to start. For all new models, I also add a fair amount of
expo to the elevator and ailerons just in case the model turns out
to be very sensitive. After a few flights, I usually tone down the
expo for crisp control authority. For accurate control throws, I
used my Great Planes Accuthrow Control Surface Deflection Meter.
It simply slides onto the surface being measured and the curved
ruler is easy to read.
Next I balanced the Lancair on my C.G. Machine and found the model
to be a little nose heavy. To bring the CG to the recommended 3-1/4
inches from the leading edge, I had to add 2-1/2 oz. to the tail.
I used stick weights on bottom on each side the stab distributed
evenly. A better way would be to add lead weight to the stab's aluminum
joiner tube. Less weight would be needed as it's farther back and
it would be out of sight and not spoil the model's looks. I double-checked
the model over and it was ready for its maiden flight! |
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Flight
Performance
This is where all of the work pays off! Flying this beauty! I
first needed to break-in the O.S. engine and I ran several tanks
of Morgan Cool Power 15% nitro through the engine. From the very
beginning, the O.S. 4-stroker ran without a hiccup. When I brought
the Lancair out to the field for the first time, it was an
immediate attention getter. Everyone was very intrigued with the
model and they had what seemed to be a million questions.
Takeoff
and Landing
I normally fly from a thick grass runway that is somewhat rough.
I was concerned about the flexibility of the nose gear and the
small diameter of the nose wheel in the wheel pant. From past
experiences, I knew this combination would create a lot of drag
and would reduce the model's takeoff speed.
I first conduced low and high-speed taxi tests. The Lancair, as
you would expect from a tri-geared model, steered very well.
High-speed ground runs revealed that the nose gear did indeed flex
quite a bit, but the ground handling was still very good. For the
first few takeoffs and landings I opted not to use the flaps until
I knew how the Lancair would react during slow flight.
The first takeoff was very non-eventful. As I advanced to full
throttle, the model quickly accelerated. I let the Lancair gain as
much speed as possible and eased in a small amount of up elevator.
The Lancair gracefully raised its nose as it rotated on its main
gear and flew off the runway. NICE! I throttled back to about half
and flew a few laps around the field to settle the nerves and make
some trim adjustments. The first thing you'll notice about the
Lancair is how fast it is. That sleek fuselage is real slippery!
The other thing you quickly notice is how smooth the model flies,
the control response is solid without being twitchy.
Slow
Speed Flight
Before attempting any landings, I tested the model's slow speed
and stall characteristics. After throttling down to about 1/4
throttle, the Lancair slowed down to a moderate speed. Here's
where its clean lines work against you, as the model does take a
while to slow down. When it does, it remains remarkably solid and
responsive. It's very deceiving how well the Lancair flies at slow
speeds. Stalls are a nonevent, as the model slows and you add more
and more elevator, the Lancair when it breaks into a stall, just
mushes forward with no snapping tendencies.
Landing
the Lancair
As mentioned the first couple of landings were made without the
use of the flaps. After getting a feel for its slow flight, I knew
the Lancair could be slowed down without fear of it falling off
the wing. I made a few landing approaches to familiarize myself
with how the model looks during approaches. While the Lancair
isn't difficult to land, it does take a little finesse to slow it
down. My first landing was a little fast, the Lancair goes faster
than it looks and it took a few flights to get used to it. After
that, landing the Lancair is nothing short of fun. It handles very
well, especially in the wind. The wing seems to have a tendency to
self-right and it's uncanny to fly the model down to the deck with
very little input on the ailerons. I found it easy to make
graceful scale-like landings.
High
Speed Flight and Aerobatics
The Lancair with the O.S. .91 4-stroke really scoots along!
Putting an engine larger than a .91 in the nose would be overkill,
the model just doesn't need anything larger. The sleek fuselage
contributes greatly to its overall speed and I can see why
full-scale Lancair's are used for racing at Reno. Again, handling
at high-speed is very, very good. The model is very groovy and
tracks like it's on rails (sorry for being cliché).
A big surprise is how well the Lancair does aerobatics. Don't
let its high-aspect ratio, glider-like wing fool you, this baby
performs! Its aerobatic prowess can be best described as
pattern-like. In fact it flies better than some pattern ships I've
flown in the past. All basic maneuvers such as loops, rolls and
combinations of the two are very graceful. Slow axial rolls can be
stretched for what seems to be forever. Needless to say point
rolls are very crisp. Knife-edge flight is spectacular, again it's
very deceiving how well the Lancair knifes, there's hardly any
coupling and what little there is, is easily corrected during the
maneuver. Overall, the Lancair makes you look good doing what it
does best!
Playing
With the Flaps
After I had a number of flights under my belt, it was time to
check out the flaps. I set them up on my Futaba 9C on the right
side slider. I didn't want them on a switch so I could adjust
their deflection for different wind conditions. I first deployed
the flaps during slow flight at a safe altitude. The first thing
that was apparent was the lack of pitching up that's common with a
lot of models. The Lancair doesn't really pitch, it slightly gains
a little altitude. Control response remains very good while using
flaps and inspires a lot of confidence. Slow flight with full
flaps (about 60 degrees) is amazing, as the model just seems to
hang in the air as if a string suspends it. For landings, I'll
drop the flaps to about half during the downwind leg and full flap
on final, the Lancair slows to a crawl and can be greased in every
time. It's a lot of fun to do steep final approaches with full
flaps and aim for a spot on the runway. Using flaps during
takeoffs reduces the takeoff roll to about 45 to 50 feet. No more
than half flap should be used to prevent premature liftoff.
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FLIGHT SHOTS
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Final Thoughts
The Great Planes Lancair is a refreshing model in the sea of ARF's.
It seems that most of the models coming out these days are Extras,
Caps, Edges and other extreme aerobatic models. So it's nice to
see something really different. While it's not 3D capable, nor
is it claimed to be, the Lancair is a very aerobatic model. Its
construction is top notch and despite the inconvenient radio installation,
it goes together quickly. It took me about 24 hours from opening
the box to make the Lancair flight ready. The fiberglass and paint
work on my example was flawless as was the MonoKote covering.
Some of my flying buddies thought the wing was also painted fiberglass,
the covering job was that good! The highlight of the Lancair though
is the way it flies. It's smooth, graceful, fast and aerobatic.
The Lancair's slow flight manners are very refined and solid.
All great attributes of a great plane. If you're looking for a
scale model that stands out in a crowd, the Great Planes Lancair
is just the ticket!
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Great Planes
P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021 USA
Phone: 217-398-3630
Fax: 217-398-0008
Website: www.greatplanes.com
email: productsupport@greatplanes.com
OS Engines
Distributed Exclusively in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico by:
Great Planes Model Distributors
P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021
Website: www.osengines.com
APC Props
122 Harter
Woodland, CA 95776
Phone: 530-661-0399
Fax: 530-666-6661
Website: www.apcprop.com
email: apcprop@aol.com
Tru-Turn
(Romco Mfg., Inc.)
100 West 1st Street
Deer Park, Texas, 77536
Phone: 281-479-9600
Website: www.tru-turn.com
email: questions@tru-turn.com
Futaba Corporation of America
Distributed Exclusively in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico by:
Great Planes Model Distributors
P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021
Website: www.futaba-rc.com
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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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EMAIL THIS ARTICLE OR CHECK OUT THESE OTHER GREAT REVIEWS! |
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