Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

All,
I am building a 40-size Great Planes Cap 232 from the kit. It will have an OS 70 Surpass with a 12/5 Zinger. I was wondering how it will 3D. I have a JR 8103 with a PCM reciever and 537 BB servos. Has anyone tried this motor/ airframe combination? Is it too heavy? Bad airplane? This is my first all-out aerobat, and I don't know if it is even worth trying to 3D it. I have read lots of articles on flying them and practice on a simulator, but.....

Jake

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

SunDevilPilot has a Cap 232 w/ OS70. He says it flys great but I'm not sure how well it 3D's.

Send him a PM or maybe he'll find this thread.

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Several years ago I saw a video of Michael Cross(I think) doing 3d with this plane. He was doing a harrier flyby and torque rolling. simply awesome-

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

12/5 on a OS70? You are going to need to prop up to load that engine. Mine is running a 14/4W at 10,400 or more. You might want to rethink .

JESTER

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

if you get the cg right and control throws high it can 3d ok,ive seen one fitted with an os 91 fx prop hanging and rudder scraping,you will need some up aileron to stable the tip stall,
good luck.

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

I kinda figured I'd have to get a prop with a bigger diameter and lower pitch......

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

I have this plane and i can do torque rolls really well. I have a saito 100 on it. It has plenty of power but it is a little too heavy. With the bigger engine it has a high wing loading so it has a bad snap. Besides that it will do torque rolls and flat spins (verted or inverted)

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Weight is the biggest problem with these things... 6 lbs is common, when they need to be around 5 or less for good 3D. Seems like each year these Cap kits get heavier...

It might do a few 3D manuevers, but will not be a good trainer...Don't count on doing any harriers or elevators with it. It will do some incredible snaps and spins though!

I had a Kyosho Cap 232 .40 size with a Pro .46 and there was no chance of any 3D-was 5.3 lbs. Just too snappy...After all, these are .40 size Caps...

It did fly great though! You will enjoy the airplane either way. You might want to consider a little profile if you really want to get into this 3D stuff.

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

I'm almost done with mine, I did a few mod's to it 1) slightly bigger ailerons and longer almost to the wing root. 2) Replaced a lot of ply with contest grade balsa (the whole fuse is balsa). 3)Took out about a 1/2 inch of the dihedral on either side of the wing. 3) I'm using 2 mini hitec 225MG's for the aileron's, instead of using a single servo. I'm shaving 5oz just by using mini servo's and a micro HS-81 for the throttle with a AAA 720 Nimh battery pack. I'm going to run a OS 50 Sx with a 12.25X3.75 APC. I hope it's going to be a 3D/IMAC monster. I hope it is going to come in just under 5 Lbs. Ricky

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Get a good 2 stroke engine...
Why fight weight putting a 4 stroker on it when u can have a much lighter 2 stroke with plenty of power...?
I think a good YS .80 heli or OS.91 FX will do fine.
Whenever u stay under 6lbs.
Mine was 6.1 and did great Walls, harriers, elevators, killer flat inverted spins, but I still agree that may not be a very forgiver 3D trainer.

Remeber that slightly tail heavy planes are easier to 3d than nose heavy ones, but take easy the CG relocation on this Cap.
Greetings

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

We are talking about the same airplane here aren't we? A (.40) size GP cap?Why not keep the airplane light and put the recommended engine on it! If you keep it LIGHT you can put a OS.50SX on it and have more than enough power to pull out of an un-friendly situation. The lighter the wing loading the better it will fly. Light bird=excellent 3D. Ricky

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

I too had one of these. Awesome plane for standard aerobatics, lomcevaks all day long. Too heavy and snappy for 3D flight though. Mike Cross could probably make any one of his GP planes 3D, but Im not Mike. I concur that a little profile fun fly type is the way to learn 3d. I also dont think that a .50 will ever make this plane perform with the supplied materials in the kit. I think this kit is an older design and a bit of reengineering and a bit of carbon fiber could get it at or under 5lbs. At that point I would just get the Kyosho cap and put a .60fx on it. This was certainly one of my favorite planes to fly and was sad when the motor failed too low.

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

That could do... I'm not used to stay in the manufacturer's engine recomendations because of the heights I fly at (over 8000 ft over sea level), but at sea level u should get a great vertical performance staying within the recommended engine specifications.

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Finally finished my GP Cap 232 with a OS 50 Sx and it is a 3D monster, it fly's just like a 40%er. just a little more sensitive and has tons of power. More pic's to follow. Ricky

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

citation X, what was your final weight? Nearly finished mine, but didn't try to take out any excess weight, so may regret that.

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Sprink-My cap came out at 5 1/2 Lbs with 5 mini servo's and a AAA 720Mah battery pack, I also ditched that 3 piece junk cowl with a fiberglass cowl from Stan's fiber tech. Ricky

Belly Shot
 

Here is a pick of the bottom! Ricky

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

shame its a kit. I have been looking for a 40-60 size CAp that could hover and do some basic 3d.. :(

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Got this pic of the Carbon coppy website. GP Cap 232 .40 powered by an OS 91fx

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Got this pic of the Carbon copy website. GP Cap 232 .40 powered by an OS 91fx :D

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

the 3stila page on the carbon copy website has a pic of a GP cap 232 .40 powered by an OS 91fx :D

http://www.carboncopyuk.com/

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

Hate it when RCU sends the ones you didnt want to send

My Thoughts
 

I have the GP Cap with an OS 70 in it. I would reccomend the APC 13X6 Prop for that plane. You will end up with tons of power and great vertical. The best motor for the plane is the OS .91 Surpass II. It has the same weight as the .70 +- a tiny bit and fits perfectly. A friend of mine went with the .91 combo and it is great. I did all the maiden flight stuff for him and found it much more enjoyable to fly than with the .70. His goes straight up with power to spare. His has an APC 15X6 prop and it turns that great. Dont under prop a 4 stroke! Very bad! Go with the 13X6 if you already have the .70. Should turn it at about 10K on 15% fuel.

Good Luck, Phil (Mesa, AZ)

By the way, mine came in at 5.5 LBS with the OS .70 Surpass II and NO modifications.

Here is another pic
 

Here is my friends getting ready for the maiden. OS .91 Surpass II. Perfect powerplant for this plane! DO NOT put a little 2 stoke in this plane. It really deserves a .70 -.91 4 stroke. JMHO

Phil (Mesa, AZ)

Great Planes 40 Cap 232. Will it 3D?
 

I have the Kyosho 40 size Cap, and with an ASP .914s it will waterfall absolutely amazingly! It also is extremely easy to do a blender, and will almost do a climbing flat spin. I am in love with Caps now!! :)

Regards,
Philip

P.S. Those are some great looking Caps!