The Great Plane Electrifly Turmoil comes packed very nicely and secure. The similar components come packed in their own plastic bags and are taped inside the box so they can't bounce around and get damaged.

The instructions are pretty straight forward and easy to follow. I would recommend that you read over each section before you start and make sure you understand the expert tips. This will make the assembly go faster and smoother for you.

One word of caution if this should be your first attempt at building one of these foam type planes. Go slow and gently while you are building. Some of the parts can easily be snapped while trying to join them together. Also make sure you are using foam safe CA or you'll be watching how quickly CA can eat through foam.

Assembling the horizontal stab with their clip hinges is pretty straight forward. Using a hobby knife with an #11 blade cut out the horizontal stab from the foam sheet. Don't remove the elevator halves from the foam sheet. You'll see why in a minute.

Using the carbon tube that is the same length as the horizontal stab attach six of the clip hinges to the tube and align them with the pre-cut slots in the horizontal stab.

Start from one end of the stab and apply some foam-safe CA to both sides of the hinge that will be making contact with the slot as you rotate the hinge down into it. You want to make sure that the hinge top and bottom is aligned with the top and bottom of the stab. Be careful not to get any glue on the tube or the arms of the clips. This could cause the clips to not rotate freely on the tube.

Once your done gluing in all the clip hinges on the stab slide the carbon tube out carefully.

Now you'll see why you left the elevator halves attached to the foam sheet. It makes it easier to attach the carbon tube to the elevator halves.

Slide two of the hinge retainer rings onto the elevator joiner tube and align the rings with the cutout in the left elevator half. In the instructions they said the cutout is in the right elevator half but it's not. as you can see in the photo above. Once they are lined up use a drop of CA on the outside of the rings to lock them into place. Don't get any CA between the rings as this will hamper the movement of the clip hinge once it's attached to the tube.

The Expert tip on how to glue the tubes to the control surfaces is very straight forward. After the glue has hardened cut the elevator halves free from the foam sheet. Before you attach the horizontal stab to the elevator you need to trim some excess foam off the stab so the elevator can move free once attached to the stab. Be careful as you clip the stab onto the elevator tube. You don't want to break any of the clips or crush any part of the foam.

Before you try to insert the Z-bend clevis into the clip hinge control horn follow the expert tip "How to make installing z-bend clevises easier." Just be aware to be very careful as you insert the z-bend clevis into the clip hinge. I had one of the z-bend clevis snap on me. Luckily the ARF comes with a few extra z-bend clevis.

With the bottom of the stab and elevator facing up attach the control horn right next to the retainer rings that you placed on the joiner tube. It should be aligned with the pre-cut slot in the elevator. Place some glue onto the control horn and rotate it down into the slot.

The instructions left out a step of attaching a control surface brace to the elevator where the control horn was placed. I notice this in one of the photos later in the instructions and had to go back and attach it the elevator. That's it for the horizontal stab for now so put it someplace safe until you need it later.

Wing Assembly

Cut the wing and ailerons from the foam sheet. Using the same steps you used previously to attach a z-bend clevis to a clip hinge control horn do this for two control horn but make the z-bend clevis' are place on opposite sides of the control horns. You want to make a right and left control that will be attached to the bottom sides of the ailerons.

Using the same steps that you used for attaching the clip hinges to the horizontal stab do the same using the 1/8" x 34" carbon tube to glue four clip hinges and one control horn to each of the ailerons. Remember that the control horn should be protruding from the bottom of the aileron and that the z-bend clevis should be on the inboard sides of the control horns. Carefully remove the tube once the glue has hardened.

Glue a control surface brace onto the root of the ailerons.

As you did with the horizontal stab but this time you will slide four hinge retainer rings onto the wing trailing edge tube. Position the rings so that they align with the inner slots in the TE of the wing. Use glue on the outside of the gaps to hold the rings in place. Glue the trailing edge tube to the TE of the wing being care not to get any glue in the retainer rings gaps.

Glue the wing leading edge tube [1/8" x 31"] to the LE of the wing.

Fuselage Assembly

Cut the vertical and horizontal fuselage halves free from their foam sheets. Now depending on what kind of motor you plan on using you might have to remove a few sections from the fuselage halves. If you will be using a firewall-mounted, brushless outrunner motor, cut out only the section from the lower vertical fuselage. If you will be using the included gearbox or any other type of "stick-mount" gearbox, cut out all four sections from the fuselage halves.

Find the [1/8" x28-1/2"] fuselage tube and glue it to the [7/32" x 5-3/4"] fuselage tube doubler. The outer end of the doubler tube should be flush with the outer end of the fuselage tube.

Slide a fuselage joiner, two fuselage servo mounts, and another fuselage joiner onto the fuselage tube. The servo mounts should be hanging down and the one that is closes to the tube doubler should have its flat surface on the left, and the rear servo mount should have its flat surface on the right.

Position the servo mounts and fuselage joiners so that they align with the precut slots in the upper vertical fuselage half then glue the fuselage tube to the upper vertical fuselage half.

Glue the left and right horizontal fuselage halves to the fuselage tube. Make sure they are perpendicular to the upper vertical fuselage.

Glue the stabilizer into position with the leading edge of the stab butted against the rear fuselage joiner. Align the notches in the stab with the fuselage tube.

Glue the wing into position with the leading edge of the wing against the rear end of the fuselage doubler tube. Align the notches in the wing with the fuselage tube. I used a couple pieces of scotch tape to hold the wing in position as the glue dried. I let these areas dry normally instead of hitting them with CA kicker since I wanted to make sure the glue made a strong bond between the fuselage and wing.

Now after assembling the horizontal stab and ailerons the rudder will be a piece of cake. Using the rudder post tube [1/8" x 6-1/4"] as a guide, glue four clip hinges and a clip hinge control horn to the rudder. The control horn should protrude from the right side of the rudder.

After removing the rudder post tube slide two hinge retainer rings onto the bottom and align the rings with the slot in the TE of the fuselage. Remember to carefully secure each ring with a drop of glue on the outside. Don't get any glue between the rings.

Before you glue the post into place I would suggest finding the tail wheel bracket and test fix it on the bottom of the post. You want to make sure the bracket can move around the post without any trouble. If the bracket doesn't move around the post freely sand down the end of the post so it does. Look ahead to the note in the "Finish the Landing Gear" to understand why. Glue the rudder post tube to the TE of the vertical fuselage and once the has hardened carefully snap the rudder onto the rudder post.

Glue the 1/8" x 6" strut brace tube into the fuselage.

The next steps you need to be a little careful with. First locate eight of the rod supports and if you take a look at them you'll see that they have holes that have been cut in at an angle. You need to make sure that you line these holes up correctly or you won't be able to attach the support rods and landing gear correctly.

Using either the above diagram or the one in the manual dry test fit the 4 rod supports that go into the wing and the 4 that go into the fuselage.

Use the 5/64" x 8-7/8" landing gear legs and the 5/64" x 3-3/8" wing struts to make sure the holes are facing the correct way. Once you do this remove the rods and glue in the rod supports into the wing and the fuselage.

Slide the landing gear legs back through the rod supports in the fuselage and the rod supports at the LE of the wing. Make sure the wing is parallel with the stab and horizontal fuselage and perpendicular to the vertical fuselage. Once your satisfied with the alignment glue the legs into place.

Do the same for the wing struts but make sure the TE of the wing is aligned with the LE before your glue them into place.

To attach the side-force generators start with the lower ones. They have a small notch in the middle. Glue them onto the bottom of the wing, using the precut slots as a guide. I also use a L-square to make sure the SFGs were perpendicular to the wing. Do the same to attach the upper SFGs.

Slide the 5/64" x 9" middle wing struts through the slot at the center of the strut brace and into the slots in the lower SFGs and glue them into place.

You want to take the diagonal fuselage reinforcements and sand a 45 degree angle toward the inside. Glue them into place being careful not to twist the fuselage as you do so. CA kicker can be a big help here.

Snap the ailerons onto the TE of the wing.

Finish the Landing Gear

Install a 5/64" x 21/32" axle and axle support onto each landing gear leg. Make sure that the axles are perpendicular to the centerline.

Slide the wheels onto the axles, and secure them with a wheel collar. The flat side of the wheel collar should be toward the wheel. Secure the wheel collar with a drop of glue in the teeth opposite the wheels. Align the wheels with the centerline and secure the axles and supports with a drop of glue through the holes in both sides of the axle supports.

Make two wheel pants by gluing the inner and outer wheel pant parts together. Be sure to make a right and left one. Glue the inside of both wheel pants to the wheel collars.

Snap the tail wheel into the tail wheel bracket. Slide the tail wheel bracket over the rudder and rudder post. Glue the bracket to the rudder only. Do not glue the bracket to the rudder post.

Note: You might want to hold off gluing the tail wheel bracket to the rudder until after you hook up all the electrics. The problem that I ran into with the tail wheel bracket was that the part of the bracket that goes over the rudder post was fitting to tightly around the post. This caused the rudder servo to bind up. This is why I suggested to sand this part of the post down before gluing it into place.

Radio Setup

Remove the stock servo arms from all three of the servos and temporarily connect the servos and ESC to your receiver. Power up the system and center all three servos.

Select the correct offset double-sided servo arm for the type of aileron servo that you'll be installing. Install two Z-bend clevises into the underside of the offset double-sided servo arm. Install the servo arm on the aileron servo where both arms should be offset forward by the same angle. With the servo arm on the aileron servo I would connect the servo again to the receiver and make sure that the servo is centered. You don't want to find out that the servo isn't center after you've glue it into the fuselage.

With the output shaft forward, glue the aileron servo into the cutout under the wing.

These photos were taken with the plane upside-down so they will look different from what's shown in the manual. Also in the manual they have the fuselage sides wrong. In their pictures where they refer to the right side of the fuselage it's actual the left side and the same thing when they refer to the left side of the fuselage.

You want to glue in the elevator servo into the front servo mount and make sure that the output shaft is on the same side as the control horn for the elevator and that it should be forward. Glue the rudder servo into the rear servo mount and the output shaft is on the same side as the control horn for the rudder and that it is forward.

Select two single-sided servo arms to fit the elevator and rudder servos you are using. Insert a Z-bend clevis into the outer hole of each arm. Mount the servo arms so that they point straight down with the servos centered.

Before moving on to connecting the pushrods to the Z-bend clevises I want to point out a little problem that I had when connecting the pushrods. The instructions tell you to use a sanding block with 220-grit sandpaper to sharpen the ends of the rods and this will make it easier to install them through the Z-bend clevises. Well this almost works.

All the rods are cut a bit larger than you might need but this is what you want. You want to have part of the rod's ends protruding out of the Z-bend clevises. This will allow you to properly align the control surfaces and the servos arms before you glue the rods to the Z-bend. The problem that I ran into when trying to connect up one of the aileron push rods was not sanding down enough of the rod so that both ends could easily slide through the Z-bends. I first slide the rod into the Z-bend on the servo arm and pushed it in as far as it would go. I then proceeded to slide the rod into the Z-bend on the control horn and while trying to attempt to get the aileron and servo centered I managed to get the rod stuck in the Z-bends. Trying to remove the rod I managed to shatter it. The rods need to be sanded a lot more than they show in the manual to give you enough room to make adjustments with. What I found to work after getting a new rod was first to center the control surface and the servo arm. I than took the rod and held in place but not attaching it to the Z-bends. I was than able to mark on the rod how far from the ends that I was going to need to sand so I'd have enough play on the rod. After sharpening the ends I used one of the extra Z-bends to test fit the rod to make sure it was able to slide up to the marks that I made on the rod. I then attached the rod to the Z-bends for the control surface that I was working on. This worked out very nicely.

Use the 3/64" x 4-3/4" pushrods for the ailerons, the 3/64" x 14-1/2" for the elevator and the 3/64" x 13-1/2" for the rudder. Again make sure all your servos are centered and the control surfaces are centered add a drop of CA to the opening where the rods entered the Z-bends. Be care not to get any glue at the end of the clevis where it pivots in the arm or horn.

After you hook up the elevator and rudder pushrods use two pushrod guides each for the elevator and rudder. Drill two evenly spaced holes through the fuselage and glue the base of each pushrod guide into the holes.

Using double-sided foam tape mount the receiver to the bottom of the left horizontal fuselage and connect all three servos to the receiver. Make sure the receiver doesn't interfere with the aileron motion.

The instructions doesn't mention to tack down the servo wires but you can see that this was done in their photos. On the parts tree there looked to be wire clips but I couldn't use them. I used a wire twist tire that I poked through on the side of the fuselage and then wrapped it over the servo wires and poked it back through the fuselage and twisted tired it to hold the wires in place. I clipped down the twisted part just enough to hold the wires and bend it back against the fuselage so it is out of the way.

I used a pin to make a hole not too far from the receiver and just big enough to thread the receiver antenna through the fuselage and another hole by the tail to thread the antenna back to the other side of the fuselage. This was good enough to hold the antenna in place along the fuselage.

The Turmoil can either be built with a stick-mounted motor and gearbox or an outrunner brushless motor. It comes with a stick-mounted brushed motor and gearbox. I will go through the stick-mounted set up first and then the outrunner set up since I tested the Turmoil with both motor set ups.

Motor & Gearbox

You want to take a look at the hardwood motor mount and identify the top and back of the block by comparing it to the diagram in the instructions. Slide the motor mount block over the fuselage tube without using any glue and make sure the position of the block is correct so you will get down and right thrust.

If you are going to use the included propeller, install the prop saver onto the gearbox shaft with the large diameter cone forward. If using a GWS prop, install the prop saver with the small diameter cone forward. Tighten the screws, making sure they engage the flat spots on the shaft.

Drill a 1/16" pilot hole at an angle from the top of the gearbox through the balsa block and carbon tubes. Make sure the motor mount block does not rotate while you are drilling. Secure the gearbox and block with a 5/64" x 5/16" wood screw.

Connect the speed control to the motor and receiver. Mount the speed control to the bottom of the left horizontal fuselage with double-sided foam tape. The instructions said that you should be putting the speed control on the right side of the fuselage but if you look at their photos you will see that they were mounting it to the left side. You also want to cut a small hole for the ESC's battery wire to cross over to the other side.

Install the "hook" side of the include hook and loop material to the right side of the fuselage where shown in the photo with the battery.

Firewall-Mounted Motor System

Find the fuselage doublers and the plywood firewall. First glue the vertical fuselage doublers into position and then glue the horizontal fuselage doublers into position. Once the doublers have dried use a 220-grit sanding bar to lightly sand the front of the fuselage even. Watch not to sand out the built-in thrust angles.

Great for radical 3D maneuvers with flat foam airplanes! "Outrunner" design eliminates the need for an external gear drive, for easier installation and less all-up weight. Simply attach the prop to the motor with a rubber band (no prop adapter required); prop will simply "pop" off in the event of a crash. Very reliable and virtually maintenance-free. An exceptionally high power-to-weight ratio, and an efficiency rating of up to 77%. Comes with rubber bands and all necessary hardware. Stock Number: GPMG4500 Each motor includes: M 3 x 5 mm, round head mounting bolts - 3 each M 2.6 x 10 mm, flat head hex key bolts - 2 each Small #10 rubber bands - 6 each Motor diameter and length: 28 x 29 mm (1.10 x 1.14") Stainless steel output shaft diameter and length: 3.0 x 12 mm Weight: 42 g (1.48 oz.) Recommended brushless speed control for use with flat foam airplanes: GPMM2070 ElectriFly BL-8 Brushless ESC 8 Amps

The BL-8 Brushless ESC is ideal for flat-foams to built-up 3Ds which are powered with brushless motors. Good for all types of brushless motors including outrunner style motors which are capable of handling 8 amps of continuous current. A custom BEC circuit can handle up to 4 or 5 servos. Fully proportional forward with brake. Very smooth throttle response. Custom BEC circuit handles up to 1.5A great for models requiring up to three high powered servos. Li-Po compatible, as well as NiCd and NiMH batteries. Includes over-temperature protection Includes pre-installed universal radio connector, micro battery connector, and 2 mm female bullet connectors for the motor. Other programmable features include brake control, safe-start, switching frequency, low-voltage control, timing and reversible rotation option. SPECIFICATIONS Stock Number: GPMM2070 Input voltage: 5-10 NiCd/MH cells, 2-3 LiPo cells (20V input w/o BEC) Output current: 8A continuous max., 9A surge max. BEC: 5V / 1.5A Operating frequency: 8 or 16kHz programmable On resistance: 0.013 ohms Brake: on / off Acceleration: soft, hard or automatic Low voltage cutoff: programmable Max. temp. cutoff: 230°F (110°C) Dimensions: 0.87 x 0.16 x 0.83" (22 x 4 x 21 mm) Weight: 0.42oz. with wires (12 g)

To install the ElectriFly RimFire motor, glue the included 1/8" plywood firewall to the nose so that the two pilot holes are centered on the horizontal fuselage, and the top hole is centered on the fuselage tube.

Mount the motor and propeller using the hardware and instructions that comes with the RimFire motor. Follow the instructions in the Motor and Gearbox section to install the ESC.

Control Throws

Great Planes provide templates to help setup the control throws for high and low rates and you can use the chart for setting exponential.

Balance (C.G.)

The C.G. for the Turmoil is 3" back from the leading edge of the wing at the fuselage. This is Great Planes recommendation for the first flight. They recommend shifting the C.G. either 1/2" forward or 1/2" back to adjust the flight characteristics of the plane. Forwarding may improve the smoothness and stability and back to improve the maneuverable and 3D of the plane.

Maiden Flight

Brushed Flight Setup (Pilot: Marc Vigod)
My favorite part of any review is the maiden flight and follow up test flights. I really enjoy seeing how different airplanes perform and what they are capable of doing (or what they cannot do). I was lucky enough to get a call from Len after he completed the build of the Turmoil to meet him down at one of our local fields on a beautiful calm evening in order to give the Turmoil a spin. We made it down to the field which was a bit soggy but hey, that wasn't going to stop us! We are professionals!!! Ok...let's not get THAT carried away. So, with our Turmoil fully charged and cameras rolling & ready to capture the moment we headed for the skies.

I gave the Turmoil about 2/3 throttle and released it into the air. The climb out was predictable and effortless as one would expect. After a couple clicks of trim I started to test the flight range of the aircraft. Starting with low throttle harriers the Turmoil is very stable with little to just about zero wing rock. It was an absolute pleasure to perform this maneuver on such a calm evening. The plane just locks on and makes the pilot look like he knows what he is doing.

Next I tried a few hovers and torque rolls. The Turmoil hangs in there and required minimal input to hold it in the hover compared to many of the other planes in this class I have flown. With the stock motor setup I felt there was more than sufficient power to hover and pull out in any emergency. I would even go as far as saying you don't even need to upgrade from the brushed version unless you really desire to further overpower the plane or simply want to gain more flight time from the brushless efficiency. I could fly it in this setup all day long and never feel the need for additional power although it is a lot of fun so increasing flying time is a strong argument. That said, we got about 6-7 minutes or so off the stock setup and that was with quite a bit of hovering which tends to tax a power system more than regular flying.

I did some rolls which were fast or slow depending on the rate setup. No unusual tendencies to note there. Also simple maneuvers like loops are ever so easy. Knife edge is one thing I was really looking forward to doing on this plane because after all, this plane has side force generators which create additional lift when in a knife edge attitude. The plane does knife edge with ease. So much that the rudder we had setup was way too sensitive and could have really used a lower rate or lots of expo. It was hard to keep it from flipping over and doing a knife edge loop. I made a note to add lots of expo on the rudder which is extremely effective on this plane. Follow up flights with more expo proved to do the trick and make knife edge flight very easy. The Turmoil does have some pitch coupling in knife edge but that is simple to fly out by using elevator or you could just mix it out if you have a computer radio and the urge.

The Turmoil will do really nice flat turns either upright or inverted. You can do really large ones or tight ones. Rolling harriers and rolling circles are also easy. Just be sure you have the rudder rates set accordingly so you don't over control the plane. I was not able to get the Turmoil to do a really tight waterfall but they were tighter inverted than upright. Flat spins I had a hard time doing. The plane will spin but perhaps due to the side force generators or my flying skill I could not get a long consistent flat spin during my test flights.

Landings are also predictable. I just powered down to a bit above idle and let her settle right in to the ground. The profile wheel pants don't hold up well on the grass but we typically don't use them on grass anyway.

Overall I was extremely pleased with the Turmoil's flight performance. It was capable of a wide range of aerobatics and 3D maneuvers. It did exhibit some coupling in knife edge but nothing to worry about. The fun factor is extremely high on this plane and even at a 6 or 7 minute flight you will find yourself having enough fun with this that you don't want it to stop so bring some extra batteries to the field! Next stop...brushless power upgrade!!!

Brushless Flight Setup (Pilot: Marc Vigod)
The conditions for my brushless test flights were not as good as my brushed flights. I was unlucky enough to be subjected to winds in the 10-15 mph range with some gusts for these flights (see video). However it does allow at least to evaluate how the plane performs in the wind even though this plane is not designed for winds in this range. What typically happens is the plane floats downwind in any maneuver due to the relative ground to airspeed.

Some quick differences one notices with the brushless setup is a bit more juice on the throttle. However as mentioned in my brushed portion of this flight review the extra juice here truly not necessary to perform any and all of the 3D or aerobatic maneuvers that you could not also do with the standard setup. However as expected we did get an extra 1-2 minutes out of the flight. I think we would have got a bit more but I used a lot of throttle to continually bring the plane back within sight.

I was able to test the same maneuvers which all fairly closely mirrored the stock setup in terms of performance. One thing that I was able to perform better though with the brushless on this windy day was a tighter inverted waterfall. Len mentioned that the CG was back a bit further when he setup the brushless which would account for this.

Overall the brushless setup adds a little extra bounce in the Turmoil's step and some extra flight time for a bit more fun. Also you gain the durability advantages of using an outrunner instead of a geared system.

Final Overview of Turmoil (Pilot: Marc Vigod)
The Turmoil was an absolute blast to fly. I have flown quite a few foamies and flat wing aircraft over the past couple years and this I would consider one of the better ones out there. The side force generators on the wing are truly noticeable in the flight performance of this plane. It allows you to do things and hold attitudes with ease where another plane has to work a little harder to generate that lift in knife edge attitudes.

The plane had no bad tendencies to make note of in the air but I would recommend flying it on calmer days for maximum fun. The Turmoil did handle the wind but you simply can't get away from the need to constantly fight to bring the plane back upwind for most of your flight on those windy days.

As noted earlier the power systems (both stock brushed and the brushless upgrade) provide plenty of power to run the gamut of aerobatics and 3D leaving nothing more to be desired in terms of power. With either system you can't go wrong but for maximum flight time the brushless efficiency will win out. I do like the durability too of a brushless outrunner as I have stripped gears on some other foamy planes in the past although all our test flights on the Turmoil this did not occur.

We did not fly it indoors as no facilities were available but considering there is zero wind indoors typically I am sure the Turmoil would perform as well indoors as it does outside on a calm day if not better.

Overall I really enjoyed flying the Turmoil and putting it through its paces. Now I just have to convince Len to bring it to the field and let me have at those sticks again!!! (hint hint Len...)

Watch the Turmoil in action! Brushed Setup 12.7 MB Brushless Setup 11.7 MB Jason Shulman 13.1 MB