splais

My Feedback: (25)

While not a true Golden Age aircraft; it is one of the few Golden Age “type” aircraft available. It looks very much like a Stinson Reliant. The real plane is an experimental design by Steve Culp of Shreveport Louisiana ( http://www.culpsspecialties.com/index.html ) . This particular model sold by Valley View RC ( http://valleyviewrc.com/Monoculp.htm ) and built by the Sichuan East Co ( http://eastrcmodel.lavolada.com.mx/airplane.html# ) is a very nice plane, well built, with a few QA issues, but nothing particularly serious. General specs are as follows: Wing Span: 85.4in, Length: 58.3in, Engine:90-120 glow or 30cc Gas, Weight:10 - 11 lbs, 6 channel radio required. This plane is advertized on Valley View site as a 30cc plane, but the manual states 20cc; and after installing my Syssa SAP180 30cc engine it is clear this plane was not designed for that size engine. Preliminary CG tests showed the plane was way nose heavy. It was a good thing I had hoped to put the elevator servos in the tail, because it’s the only thing you can do with that big 30cc on the front. A 20cc would probably be perfect; but a 30cc was what I have and I’m putting smoke on her anyway. So while it will be a tight fit for everything it looks like it will work out; I may have to move the battery back also. Personally I grade all ARF aircraft on a 1-2-3 scale. 1 being best with lots of carbon fiber, A1 accessories all round and great fit/ease of build. This particular plane is a 2 – good quality, nice fit and construction, but lacking some of the better quality items or design features.

The manual that comes with this plane is useless except for providing the CG. It contains about 5 pages of completely obvious pictures to follow. I don’t think I looked at it more than twice. If you do not have a good bit of experience putting together ARF’s I would wait on this one.

Things I Had Issues with:
-Cowl mounting blocks improperly located.
-Horizontal stab front mounting screws misaligned.
-Cheap tailwheel assembly
-Miss-fitting windshield
-Fuel tank support former wrong size
-Wing tube ½” too long
-Wing mounting screws did not fit.

Things I liked:
-Packing for shipping (double boxed & lots of foam wrapping)
-Overall design
-Quality of covering
-Landing gear mounting and wheel axles
-Two piece wing
-Insertion block inside elevator and rudder and that kept you from shoving CA hinge too far into control surface.
-All hinge slots cut straight and true.

Mounting Engine: Generally, the first thing I do to a fuselage is mount the engine. it makes things a lot easier when you don’t have control surfaces to work around. In the case of the Monoculp it was pretty straight forward, albeit a little cramped. The Syssa 30cc engine pretty well filled up the fire wall. Because there is no engine “box” on this plane you had to mount everything on the firewall or inside fuselage behind firewall. Unfortunately, there is very little access to that area. My ignition module and A123 1100mah ignition battery just barely fit the firewall (Note: for CG purposes I later had to move the ignition battery to the rear). Very little of the engine and exhaust stick out the bottom of the cowl. (Note on cowl: The cowl mounting blocks were not located properly for the cowl. I had to put a 1/8” spacer between the mounting block and cowl on every one of the five mounting blocks, This was a totally unnecessary PITA job to fix). I was a bit surprised and disappointed in the firewall mounting also. There was no “through wood” stringers into and through the firewall. The firewall is just glued onto the front of the fuselage. It is a hard area to get into, but I put epoxy on everything I could reach around the inside of the firewall; only time will tell how this works

Fuel Tank & Smoke Pump & Tank: For now I am mounting two 13oz tanks for fuel and smoke just in front of the servo tray. The Sullivan smoke pump, is mounted below the servo tray just over the gear. There is room for larger tanks if I find the right measurements, but for at least the first few flights I’m using this setup. The fuel dots for gas and smoke are another neat dual dot product sold by Fox Mfg (http://www.foxmanufacturing.com/inde...oducts_id=1518) and is going to be mount in top center of fuselage in front of the windshield.

Receiver Battery, Smoke & Ignition Switch: The receiver battery and ignition battery are mounted about mid fuselage. This was necessary due to CG issues with the 30cc engine. The switches for receiver and smoke system are a neat little dual setup sold by Valley View and others (http://www.valleyviewrc.com/Heavy%20...rge%20jack.htm ) and is mounted in the bottom of the door. the ignition switch is mounted behind cowl and is a digital switch from Duralite (https://duraliteflightsystems.com/in...product_id=100) that regulates the voltage coming from the ignitions 1100mah A123 battery.

Horizontal Stabilizer: The removable horizontal stabilizer is attached with two screws into fuselage on each side with a stab tube and alignment pins. On my plane both the front stab screw tabs had holes that were misaligned with the fuselage and had to be reamed out to get the screws in.

Windshield: The windshield on this plane is one of the reasons I rate this a second tier model. It is a terrible horseshoe shaped design that does not fit properly no matter how you move it around. It is also fairly fragile and care must be taken to not crack it or chip the paint while cutting it out. Fit-wise, it is basically a piece of crap and the mfg should be ashamed. It would have been just as easy to make a nice fitting three piece front windscreen, but oh well, it is what it is – junk.

Tailwheel Assembly: The manual shows a rather neat looking tiller type tailwheel assembly. What came with the kit was one of those totally crappy and cheap bent wire tailwheels that mount into the rudder. I have replaced it with a tiller type tailwheel from Valley View ( http://valleyviewrc.com/TLT%20Aviati...ail%20Gear.htm ).

Wheel Pants and Landing Gear: The wheel pants only had the main axle holes drilled, leaving you to drill the top two positioning holes yourself. The wheels came with a very neat little axle assembly I’ve never seen before that automatically spaced the wheel for you. Very nice touch. The painted aluminum landing gear was a straight forward four screw mount into what appears to be an adequate mounting plate. There was no belly gear cover to clean up the look of the gear. It just bolts into a 2” slot in the bottom of the fuselage, a little cheap if you ask me.

Control Surfaces: The elevator, ailerons and rudder all came with CA hinges. I was going to change them out for hinge points but decided not to. being this was not a 3D plane. The CA hinges were large HD hinges that should work OK. I was disappointed to find that none of the control surfaces were pre-drilled for the control horns. The control horns were the medium duty Dubro type 3mm threaded screw control horns. I did not use the cheap wire and plastic clip pushrods that came with the kit. I substituted titanium Pro-links (http://www.hangar-9.com/Products/Def...ProdID=HAN3550) and Dubro ball links. Installation of all control surfaces, servos, pushrods and rudder pull-pull had no problems.

Wing: The wing is a two piece wing with a fiberglass or CF wing tube, not sure which. I would not try to fly this plane without the wing struts. The wing tube is only a ½” diameter tube and looks like it provides minimal support. On top of that the wing tube was ½” too long and had to be cut. I also had to bend the wing strut ends a little to get them to fit properly.

Elevator Servo/Servos: The plans calls for a single elevator servo with a “Y” pushrod to activate, with the elevator servo located forward next to rudder pull-pull servo. With the 30cc engine and smoke system my CG was way forward which was fine with me. I’m mounting twin elevator servos in a hole they fit perfectly back under the horizontal stab. This conversion was easy and required no major modifications. With the servos in the rear the pull-pull cables for rudder rubs on the bottom of the servos. I will reposition the rudder servo at a later date to lower the wires.

[to be cont'd]

splais

My Feedback: (25)

Post Assembly Comment #1: I don’t know how this plane can be rated as a 30cc airframe. With the SAP180 my CG was so far forward I ended up having to put the receiver and ignition batteries all the way back almost mid airframe and add 3oz to the tail even though the rudder and elevator servos are in the tail. Additionally, the fuel tank and smoke tank are about 3” further back than plans call for. The receiver and smoke system are mounted on the CG beneath rudder servo. .

Post Assembly Comment #2: The final straw that really pissed me off about this plane was the fact that the wing retention screws DID NOT FIT! I had to go to the hardware store and get some ½” plastic spacers and longer 6mm bolts. What they did was build the fuselage support structure to close to the wing screw mounting holes causing the large thumb bolt heads to bind; and it’s impossible to get in there to fix it.

Post Assembly Comment #3: You might as well just go ahead and trim the doors a bit from the get-go. Because they are completely surrounded by fuselage structure any change in humidity or temperature causes them to swell and bind. I’ve trimmed my twice now and they still don’t fit easily.

Final Comment: It should have taken only a couple of days of actual work to put this model together. With all the little QA issues it was extended to about a week. Overall it came out Ok, is fairly well built and looks really cool. If you can put up with the QA issues highlighted in this review you will probably like this plane. Personally, I was disappointed considering the state of today’s better quality ARF’s. The final assessment of this plane will have to wait until it’s maiden flight hopefully this weekend.

[to be cont'd]

Texastbird

Very good write up. I hope to see some pictures of the completed plane and maybe a flight video?

splais

My Feedback: (25)

Maiden Flight Disaster.

CAUTION: Advertized CG is incorrect – or at least your interpretation of it may be! The manual states the CG should be 128mm (5”) back from leading edge at “Wing rib of wing root”. This could only be interpreted to mean 5” back from the leading edge at the fuselage. If you do this the plane will be unflyable. I had the CG at this point and the maiden flight was a disaster. The plane leaped into the air and was completely uncontrollable. The slightest bit of elevator or throttle caused the plane to pitch violently up and down. After a couple of minutes fighting it, trying to gain some measure of control I got it back on the ground. But it must have hit hard because it ripped the landing gear and entire bottom portion of the fuselage out. The damage was much worse than the picture indicates. After talking to the only other person I could find who actually had one of these, it was clear the CG should have been measured from the farthest forward part of the wing. Because of the goofy shape of this wing, that would move the CG forward 1.25”! In the crash nothing was damaged except the fuselage underside in the gear mount area. The entire lower section of fuselage around the gear mounting area is being rebuilt and will be ready to try her again in a couple of days. I really wish I had video, it was something to behold.

trickpony4

My Feedback: (14)

I have a monoculp also, and after reading your write up, I have a question. First of all, I have built two now. The first one, I CG''d and built according to the manual, if you call it a manual, with a DLE 20 on it. Took 8 ounces of weight to CG it! Took it off, it rolled over to the right, and before I could save it, crashed it. Tore it up much more than you did yours. I bought another one, same everything, except this time I talked to Tom at VVRC and installed the rudder, and two elevator servos in the rear of the plane. It still took an ounce of weight under the stab to CG the thing. THEN, I just now read your write up. Maybe I''m lucky it''s been too windy here in south Texas for me to want to fly it! Tom and Jody and VVRC says their''s flies great, so I asked them to tell me where they CG''d that plane.
Have you had time to repair yours yet and move the CG point as you suggested to see how it flies?
Also, I totally agree with what you said about the windshield on this plane. What a POS!! I didn''t have any problems with screws not fitting, but I also used a different tail wheel, the same one you did, I believe. The one they give you isn''t even like the one in the picture, in the so called "manual".
On the flip side now, if I move my CG point towards the front of the plane an inch and a quarter, it''s gonna end up being tail heavy. Grrrrrrrr
I''ll wait and see what Tom has to say. I know he put elevator servos in the rear, but not the rudder. Time will tell I guess.
Thanks for your input sir, have a great week!!
Chris

splais

My Feedback: (25)

Chris, I need to go in and finish my writeup. Now that I have "fixed" everything my plane is flying just great. Forget about trying to determine were the CG is supposed to be by using the manual. The CG needs to be ON THE FRONT EDGE OF THE WING TUBE and maybe even a 1/4" in front of the wing tube. I have my two elevator servos in the rear and used the stock rudder pull-pull. with Syssa 30cc I still had to move the ignition battery up to the firewall and put the receiver battery on the CG. Wth this setup I can roll inverted and take my hands off controls and plane will not drop her nose at all; thats why I say even a little bit forward of the tube would be ok. The plane tracks straight on takeoff and seems to land ok also. I had to totally rebuild the bottom of the fuselage. It actually came out better than I expected. I've only gotten to fly her 3 or 4 times since the repair. But I did test the smoke system out on last flight and the extra weight didn't bother her at all. My fuel and smoke tanks are just in front of rudder/throttle servo tray. I'll update my threat when I get a chance later today. Any questions just ask. Oh, yeah. Once last peeve with VV, they stock no spares for this plane like cowl, wheelpants, windshield, etc, so if you break something your on your own.

PS: Put all the aileron throw you can get in this plane. The roll rate is VERY SLOOOOOW.

trickpony4

My Feedback: (14)

Thank you sir, will do. I can crank some more aileron into it, no problem. :-)

trickpony4

My Feedback: (14)

Well, I haven't flown mine yet, but after taking the lead off the tail, and moving both batteries right up behind the bulk head where the back of the gas tank is, this plane will CG at 3 3/4" behind the leading edge of the wing, one half inch from the fuselage. I also mounted two elevator servos, and the rudder servo under the rear stab. I might add an ounce or so just inside the nose of the cowl before I fly it too, just for good measure. I can always take that back out, after I fly just to see how it acts. Thanks again for your input Steve!!!

Chris

trickpony4

My Feedback: (14)

Well, it flew like a dream. The engine was rich on the low side, so I didn't find out how slow it would fly before dropping a wing, for fear that the engine would die, before I was ready for it to. I like it! Lands beautifully also, and for a rookie like me, that's a good thing. A DLE 20 will fly this plane very well, I cannot imagine a 30 on it, as that would not be necessary at all.

manoo

you have share nice post and i really appriciate your writing skills. keep maintain yur wiriting power. Great.
craigslist toronto

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

I just purchased one of these,any updates?

trickpony4

My Feedback: (14)

Yes sir! Mount the servos in the servo tray, according to the instructions, NOT in the tail of the plane. CG the airplane at 81MM from the leading edge of the wing, AT the fuselage.
Mine still has the DLE 20, with a 17X7 Xoar prop, and it flys and lands great! You'll love this plane. The worst part to me, is the fit on the windshied. I cut mine out carefully, and used clear tape, and taped the bottom of it on. Don't worry about the top of it, as the wind will keep it down. I taped the front of the windshield, and used three button head screws on each side to hold it in place. The plane has small ailerons, to it's going to roll very slowly. Put in less rudder than the instructions call for. This plane has a whole lot of rudder authority,and you can get in trouble real fast with too much rudder. Oh, one more thing. The tabs for mounting the cowl are not at the correct angle. With the plane sitting upwards, on the tail end of the fuse, I set the cowl on straight, and then took some short pieces of paint stir sticks, and ground them at an angle with my bench grinder, wedge shaped pieces, til they fit the gap between the cowl and the mounting tabs. I glued them onto the tabs, then drilled through them to match the existing holes, mounted my blind nuts, and then the cowl fits nicely. You'll understand this better, after you have the plane and slide the cowl on.
I hope this helps in some way,,,,,,,,good luck and have fun!!

Chris

The third pic, that still has the servos in the tail, don't mount them back there, it'll require a bunch of unneeded nose weight!

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

Thanks so much for the info. I'm quite surprised by how little chatter there is about this plane. I kinda just stumbled across it myself. It looks awesome to me, something a bit different.

On another note, hobby king looks to have something very similar to this as well. Same exact wingspan. Just do a search for Stinson on their site.

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

Just recieved mine today and it looks great. Really looking forward to getting started on it. Going with an xyz 20cc for power with power hd 1501's all the way around. My cowl came with a fair bit of damage, and one quick call to vvrc and Tammy had another on the way, no questions asked or hoops to jump through. Two thumbs up vvrc