HI All - I started flying the GP Stearman in August with a Zenoah G26 for power. Previous posts on RCU showed how to install it. It is an excellant choice for this plane. It is not overpowered, it sounds great, and you can adjust the performance by changing prop sizes. I originally used a 16/8 APC prop but the RPM was over 9000. (it fit inside the spinner fine) I went to a 17/6 APC (and did have to file the spinner a bit - no big deal) and the rpm is now down to 8900. I did not try a 18/6 but might when I get the next Stearman built.
Yup - Stearman #1 went down on 1/1/05 when it would not recover from a low motor slow speed spin. Since it never had this problem in the past and based on further inspection, it is possible the stab/tail came loose during the spin which prevented it from recovering. I DID NOT REINFORCE THE STAB/FUSE AREA WHEN I INSTALLED THE GAS ENGINE. BIG MISTAKE !! Gas engines have more vibratrion and need a stronger stab/tail setup. Stearman #2 will have solid wire braces from the stab down to the fuse. Problem solved.
I used Futaba 9202 servos on each aileron (4 total) and will not do this on the next one. The 70 oz. servos are powerfull enough to drive the top wing surfaces and still provide redundacy control should one servo fail. I will add a second elevator servo tho - and have a seperate pushrod to each half. (more redundacy)
The plane balanced fine with teh Zenoah with no lead needed.
I used all of the other parts provided by GP EXCEPT for the nylon clevis' and the 2 bolt surface horns. I prefer the 3 point Robart horns and metal links with lock nuts.
Since this is a gas powered plane I felt the extra security of stronger horns and metal links are worth the expense.
One other issue to solve BEFORE assembly. Spend time shrinking ALL of the covering with a heat gun or iron or you will have a saggy baggy plane. This my only complaint with Great Planes on the Stearman. And every magazine reviewer had the same complaint. I wish they would offer this model in RTC instead of ARF. I plan to retrim my next model to a sport scale version scheme.
OK - that's all I know about the GP Stearman. Hope this answers some of the questions in the posts. HAPPY NEW YEAR !