I have noticed some very small cracks starting to form in the front corners of the center section on my Great Planes 1/4 scale G-202. This is the area where the forward wing dowel plate is. The aircraft has approximately 50 flights thus far. Has anybody else noticed any centersection cracks?

jmw

it is a known issue. This thread has some info on it. Do a search using the Search tool and you will find lots of info.

Easiest way is to peel away the covering and reinforce it by glassing it.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...2&pagenumber=3]

Mine did the same thing and then the fuselage broke in half in flight.
George

Go to these threads and you will get pictures and details on how to solve the problems . Both the wing and fuselage Mods.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...154&forumid=57

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...8&pagenumber=1

Hope this helps. It worked for me............... One other thing. You will notice the tri-stock in the pictures on all four corners of the wing saddle formers. I placed tri-stock both on the inside and the outside. I probably should have made the tri-stock strips longer to really solve the flexing in the fuselage.

Just follow the threads and you will also find the wing resolution submitted by Geistware http://rcuniverse.com/showthread.php...493&forumid=38]

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Mine did the same thing and then the fuselage broke in half in flight.
George
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Broke in half in midair??? For real???? What does GreatPlanes say about all this? We are talking major structural failure here and apparently it is happening to more than a few aircraft. Has anyone tried to get an adjustmnet from GP over this? I mean I have had minor problems with every ARF I have ever built but this is pure B.S.

jmw

I have have had four of these airplane. One the wing sheared and G.P. replaced everything including the engine, servos, Rx, Dave Brown Spinner and an APC prop. For real, they replaced everything. Of course I sent them the crashed airplane to inspect. Determined a bad piece of balsa caused the failure. The second one went in due to a Rx failure. No replacement for obvious reasons. The other two are fine with the mods. explained. My son and I both have one and really like the airplanes.

Personally, I think that any ARF requires a close inspection for potential failure points. I am now assembling a G.P. Pitts Special. The fuse firewall had such gaps between the firewall and the fuse that you could see daylight between the two. I simply added tri-stock and epoxy to ensure a secure fit. In short, this kind of thing does come with ARF construction.

Everyone I have talked with states that ARF's have come a long way in the quality department. I doubt they will ever be perfect. Likewise, I have heard builders, with many years experience, say that they couldn't build a kit as straight or as good as they have seen in some of the quality ARF's out today. Of course there are those who would debate this point for sure.

The G.P. 1/4 scale Giles is a low cost ARf that for the dollars is an excellent airplane. You can pay more and get more, but when you consider the value it's a pretty good airplane. IMHO.

Amen to what Roger said..

Damn right..

Serge

rfw1953, that is a sharp looking Giles you have there! Is the G-202 structural problems a design flaw, problem with execution i.e. bad glueing techniques, or substandard material (balsa)? I am still trying to figure out if the fuselage starts to develop cracks slowly then lets go or is their just a sudden catastrophic failure? Also I am wondering if hard landings or violent 3D manuevers have anything to do with the failures? I've seen people tear the wings off some really stout birds doing blenders and such while others have no problems flying less stressful manuevers. Has Great Planes put out a service bulletin on the failures?

jmw

John what you just listed is about it as far as the cause of the fail;ures and cracks. I dont see it as a big deal as lng as you take the precautions to rectify the issues. I agree its not what we paid for and we should nt have to do it so early in the planes life but nevertheless it will happen.

just my $0.02

Just an update on the Giles fuselage and wing cracking issue. I contacted Great Planes and an E-mail reply basically said that Great Planes doesn't know of any problems with the design and that any cracks or failures are probably caused by overpowering the aircraft or by overstressing the airframe with violent manuevers. There is no service bulletin or factory authorized repair since in their opinion there is no problem. They did say that I could crate up my airplane and ship it back to them for inspection. My airplane is using a Saito 180 (within recommended engine range) and I fly only IMAC sequence (no 3D) so these cracks I am seeing must be a figment of my imagination since no problem actually exists. I am going to fly this thing until it breaks up in midair then ship everything back to Great Planes for replacement. engine, airframe, radio etc.
I refuse to take this thing apart and redesign it the way it should have been in the first place, that is what I paid Great Planes to do.

Not pissed, just disappointed

jmw

Well, it really isn't realistic to expect GP to announce publicly: "Yap! We done screwed up on the design." To do so is to invite every Giles 202 owner to send in their plane demanding a replacement. They do say to send in your plane if you suspect trouble.

I notice on several GP ARF instructions where they recommend the owner to reinforce the aircraft if intending to do extensive aerobatics, or some such wording. Problem is, they don't specify where and how to reinforce, leaving it to the individual owner to figure out.

My manual for the Giles not only gives set up tips for 3D style flying, it even tells how to do the manuevers. This aircraft is marketed as 3D capable and should have been engineered to stand up to the rigors of this type of flying. One fellow I talked to said he has hundreds of flights with his and the cracks spread to a certain point and stopped growing, others have told me their wings or fuselage broke up in midair.Please understand I am not angry so much as disappointed in GP for continuing to market an aircraft with what appears to be a known design flaw. They are still marketing and selling these things by the hundreds and as far as I know there have been no changes. I like GP's designs and have owned 6 of their ARFs to date and will probably buy more in the future, just not another Giles. I am monitoring the cracks and if they continue to grow I will probably breakdown and strip the covering and glass the cracks. I just wish GP would quietly redesign the 202 and fix the problems rather than act like nothing is wrong ala Ford and their exploding Pintos of the 1970s. Just my two cents.

JMW