Well, after all the hassles with building this thing, I finally got to test fly it today.

It flew very well, it was fun, only downside was my engine. Worthless POS.

Had a Supertiger 90 in it. Just not consistent, doesn't like the inverted or the high fuel tank (tank location is a really poor design IMO)

So, only got one flight, then for some stupid reason the engine wouldn't even run past half power, so, I got frustrated, came home, and bought a YS120FZ. It's now in there, I'll try it tomorrow. It's all good though, the 90 just wasn't enough jam at this altitude (about 2500 feet above sea level) but the 120 should be more than enough

Wow, a 120 should rock that plane! Anyway, yeah, it definitely isn't the plane to have an unreliable engine. You'll love it with the YS!

*sigh*

This airplane has been so much trouble, today, I flew it with the YS120. The power was awesome. But, yet another stupid construction problem.

Had a great flight, lots of fun, engine quit on me (I don't think the plug is working well). So I deadstick it, well, right on final I got a little slow, but nothing horrid, the airplane bounced, first bounce, the front of the wing dropped out of the saddle, second, the gear came off.

Now, from what I'd read, I expected the gear to come off eventually, but the wing, well, what happened was, the former that holds the front wing dowells, literally sheared at the narrow part of the former and dropped straight down behind the gear block.

I'm thankful it happened on the ground, not in the air, but man, how many times do I need to rebuild things that fall off?????

I'm not really worried about the airframe, but I don't want to wreck a brand new YS120 and brand new JR Digital servo's.

Great planes, I am NOT impressed.

What has bothered me the most, is they have shown the WORST customer service I have EVER received.

Once you put the 120 in that plane you lose the right to complain about customer service.

No, it was the customer service I received while building it, before I ever flew it. I realize that the 120 is far more than recommended, but it was all the things that happened while building's and great planes attitude that bothered me.

The firewall literally fell out when I was tightening the motor mount bolts. The covering was literally coming off the airframe.

And, I'm sorry, but even with the 120, I wasn't "wringing it out" and I was way low throttle, to have that entire former that holds the front of the wing come loose is unacceptable. That is not engine choice. Just poor build quality.

At any rate, I like how it flies well enough that I've got it nearly all back together now. Hopefully I can fly it again this week

I just got back from a fly in this weekend, two guys had identical UCDs with YS120s on them. They're pretty insane, but the reason I had to post is because one of them also had structural problems. He sent the plane into a sustained snap roll and one whole side of the elevator broke off. You might consider some support wires just in case with this much power on the plane.

When I bought mine I noticed the cowl finish had some cracks in it, so I called Great Planes support and they sent me out a new one. They didn't hassle me at all and they didn't even ask me to send in the original. I thought that was great. The plane does need a little beefing up in areas. Unfortunately, some people are finding this out too late.

When the landing gear block pops out, the piece of ply that has the holes for the two dowels flexes inward, and pops the front of the wing out. I had that happen on mine on a not soo hard landing, with a small four stroke on it (enya 80). When you put the block back in place, add some epoxy, and let it really soak in that area. You dont want to build it tooo strong, so it becomes unrepairable in the event of a nasty hard landing, but it definately could use some reinforcement. I'm now flying mine with a saito 150 on the nose, and it is insane. I braced my tail right from the get go, just because it looked like it needed it. It is fully boxed, and hasn't shown a sign of flex, even on some very high speed blenders and walls.

My only gripe about the plane is that on Saturday, I developed a large crack in the canopy on the right side (repaired with packing tape, because the LHS didnt have one in stock), and then on Sunday, an identical crack on the left side (again, repaired with packing tape now). Other than that, it is a hooooooooot.

Take this chance to double check all your screws, and threadlock all the machine screws. It doesnt take much vibration to begin to work the GP bind nuts loose, especially on the tail.

Steve