Recently completed build of a Pilatius PC6 Porter, the TopModel 150 scale. Can see pics and specs of it here.

http://www.espritmodel.com/index.asp...D&ProdID=13858

Contrary to their pics.. the plane does NOT include a spinner or fuel tank. It does include the hardware for a tow setup if thats what you're looking to do.

Will be an electric setup, plugged up as follows;
Hacker A60-14L
Hacker Opto-80 ESC
2 Turnigy Zippy 5C 4000 lipos
APC 22x12E prop

Using Fromeco 5200 li-ion to power the servos, passing through Fromeco Badger switch to Fromeco Sahara regulator.

The product is well packaged, includes a few bags of hardware but no main wheels. The covering is okay, had quite a few bubbles though. I did remove the 'eagle head' motif from the fuse and wing, prefer just the white with red accent stripes. Flying surfaces are corrugated and appear to be made from plastic. First interesting thing you'll note is the manual is in french, and its for the sport model, not the scale offering. No biggie. There are photos, but don't expect them to be a huge help. If you've built a few ARF's you shouldn't have any major problems figuring it out. I used the pics for occassional reference, throw numbers and CG. Beyond that the manual is basically useless.

I started with the wings. The wings/flying surfaces are drilled but not hinged so began by adding hinges to the wing. The include hinges are similar to Robart, an OD color with brass hinge and a bit smaller than Robarts' 3/16th product, which is what I ended up using. As have done in past, used Zpoxy 30 min. epoxy. Next day epoxied ailerons to the wings. Following day was checking them, and discovered I could put aile's from the wing without too much effort. Cleaned things up a bit, mixed some more epoxy, this time using some milled fiberglass, and got a more successful result. Then attached the flaps. Dropped in HT 635MG servos, (used these on all flying surfaces). Since its a bit of a run from aile servo to rx, the aile servo extension cables have a signal booster. Next added control horns, which are very similar to Sullivans steel horn, with the plastic bushing. The horns attach to flying surface via 4 wood screws, they do not mate to anything on the other side of the surface, but it is possible to screw them thru the other side if not careful. I have visions of them giving and pulling right out of the wood , but we'll see how it goes. Included linkage is a threaded rod with clevis on each end, with a spring and nut behind each clevis. Myself, using these I had some problems getting correct geometry. In the end I ditched the includes and went with Dubro 4-40 ball links.

That also meant I had to ditch the plastic bushing on the control horn (its an oddball diameter), or remove and redo the horns to accomodate the ball-links. Since this is an electric 2.4 setup, wasn't too worried about metal-to-metal on the horns. Did take some shopping to find the right machine screws to mate the ball links to their odd ball size control horn openings. With that completed the wings were set aside. The wings attach to the fuse via an aluminum bar thats bolted to the upper cabin in the fuse. The wings slide onto this bar and a bolt is then added from the inside of fuse for additional support. Had to cut some ply into shape of the bar and lightly sand the inside slot on the wings to get them to slide onto the bar without having to exert undo pressure.

Next up is the tail feathers. Again started off by using Robart 3/16th hinges and hinging the stabs. Now it starts getting a bit tricky. There is a removeable plate on the bottom which exposes a servo mount for the rudder. There is an included metal bar, which has a 90 degree bend at the top, which is to be epoxied into a slot on the rudder. Then when the rudder is attached, the bar extends to the bottom of the fuse supplying a means of tail wheel steering. But... before you do any of that, included is a small plastic control arm molded around brass, which slips onto the metal rod and tightened with a set screw. This is to be the arm for the pull-pull for the rudder. You will not see any directions or pics for this in the manual. Long story short, its a soup sandwich trying to construct a viable 2" long pull-pull unit in a very confining space. Built it 'dry' 3 times and still no joy. Understand that once its built and installed, there is no getting back to it if something gives, those openings are now covered by rudder and horiz. stab. So... canned that notion, got out the dremel, located a space on the top next to the rudder and mounted the servo there. I absolutely recommend doing that for anyone looking to build this bird. I had to build it up a bit to get the geometry right, but well worth it and what I should have done to start with. Then dropped the 2 ele servos in. The rudder and ele servo extension cables also have signal boosters.

Next up tail wheel. The included unit has a metal tab with 3 holes in it. The tab fits into a slot on the very back of the fuse. You're left to make a guess on exactly where to drill those holes in the fuse, and can only work from the outside. The odds of me drilling a hole thru fuse, hitting one of 3 small holes on a tab, and then continuing out the other side of fuse, x2, is not likely to happen. Did it tho, only to find out that there was way too much slop and movement. Went tailwheel shopping, found a set I liked, cut some ply and reinforced that part of the fuse bottom and bolted it on. Ok, good to go there. Now to setup steering. Remember that rod I mentioned that comes down off the rudder? Well it exits the fuse bottom, and you're supposed to attach another plastic/brass control horn to it via set screw. Problem was that the set screw in the horn was a bit gimped and would not get a bite on the rod. After trial and error with fabricating other horns and attachment methods, gave it up and decided to let the wheel castor. I'll be coming back to the tailwheel later.... The horiz. stab is designed to be attached with 2 bolts. I'm not a fan of removeable tail feathers, so added some ply reinforcement and
fixed the stab permentantly. To attach the rudder, a plug is inserted into the bottom of it and then fit to fuse. Problem is, the plug is 8/32nd balsa, and the slot for the plug only had wood on one side to 'grab' on. Of course I did not realize this until I had epoxied the plug into the rudder, or I would have made one of sprue. It was basically impossible to do anything with the plug slot by virtue of the design, so pressed on with install using epoxy and fiberglass. Then same as wings, screwed on the control horns and attached 4-40 ball linkage.

One concern was enough movement of the flying surfaces. The model uses overlapping surfaces, so the aile's and so forth 'tuck' into it so you don't see the hinges. No matter how I positioned the flying surface prior to gluing, it seemed like they would just barely make the nut on required throw and no more. Then the exit in the firewall was enlarged a bit and the motor mount mounted. The Porter has a chubby hole built in right behind the firewall on the bottom of the fuse, it was a great place to mount the ESC, a small amount of wood has to be removed to pass the cables. Extension cables were made for the ESC to the battery area and servo extension on the throttle line. The motor was mounted, extended as far out on the mount as it would allow and plugged into the ESC. Main gear was installed, for this part you will need to ref. the pics in manual and website to figure out what screw goes where. Gear attaches to the fuse on bottom and to a mounting block just in front of the hinged cabin doors. For tires, I started off with some Dubro 5 1/2 (or 1/4.. whichever).. looked really good, but what weight! Swapped them out for same size Kavan tire. Much lighter but don't seem as 'bouncy'. Switch was installed in the cabin area and it was time to start programming. Initially, I started off with a DX7 using a mix of y-cables and Smart-Fly Equalizers to cram the necessary 8 channels into 7. It kinda worked ok, but I was not happy with some of the servo action I was seeing, so pulled that stuff out, dropped in a JR 9 ch. rx and set it up with an 11x tx. Much better and was able to obtain a more efficient set up. Additionally, I like the delay on the flap channel rather than just dumping them. Last items were to drop the windows in, add a larger battery tray, clean up the wiring, weigh and balance. Weight came out to 23lbs. Had to add 2 lbs. upfront to achieve balance.

Finally put it in the air last weekend. It was a bit squirrely starting out because the tailwheel had no steering, just keep the right amount of wind on the rudder. Eased on the power, tailwheel came up in about 25 ft, tracked on the mains very nice then airborne. The controls have plenty of throw. Only trim was a couple down clicks. The rudder holds very well in the turns, and experienced no adverse yaw, snaps or such in steep turns. With flaps at 45 degrees it slows down very nice. This one and subsequent flight only required 1/3rd to 1/2 throttle. Was worried about the weight, but this system was more than enough power for an easy 10 minutes of flying. The two flights were 6 min. long, and the batteries showed as having used only 1600m.

A very scale flying plane. Stable landings are going to take some practice, it wants to stay in the air. Our field is a bit rough, so for the 1st 15-20 yards on touchdown, if it hits a bump or depression it wants to go back in the air. I'll find the sweet spot of throttle and surface control to take care of that. Had a bit of problem on last flight, tailwheel seperated on landing. Turns out that ALL the wood in the rear is balsa, even the stringers. Granted, my wheel bracket is 7 3/4", so it sits a bit far back which increases the fulcrum effect on the hardmount point when the weight comes down on it. Am going to build it up with some spure supports topped with ply which should spread the shock in that area. On the plus side, it gives me access to the metal rod from the rudder, so maybe now I can get a metal control arm tig welded on it and finally have some tailwheel steering. Very last resort is to drop in another servo for tailwheel mixed to rudder. Don't want the additional weight back there. (The ass of this bird is HEAVY!). Also noticed a couple hairline cracks on one of the main gear mounts. Am building some supports to beef up that area, and will likely add a bit of 'glass as well. Only other thing, added too much velcro to the battery tray and liked to never got them out! And don't expect much in way of decals. Couple N numbers is about it. Geez, you'd think they could at least toss in SOMETHING saying Pilatius or Porter. Anyway, once these 2 weak points of the tail and main wheels are addressed, this should be a really fun bird. Very much looking forward to getting it back into the air! Almost forgot... motor/prop sound is really nice, got a number of comments regarding it.

Esprit Models - Plane, Hacker motor and mount
Hacker - ESC
Fromeco - 5200 Li-Ion battery, regulator and switch
JR - 9 channel rx
Servo City - All servo extension cables
DuBro - 4-40 Ball Linkage
Kavan - Tires
J&J - Tailwheel setup
Hobby King - 2 5c 4000 lipos
Anderson Powerpoles - All electrical connections
Maxx Products - Extra Wire for connections
Advantage Hobby - Servos
APC - Prop
Wal-Mart - Velcro & misc.
Xtreme Hobbies - Ply, Epoxy, etc..