aerobatixkid

Guys I am wondering if anyone else has had structural problems with the escapade 40 by great planes.

I was flying a club members and trimming it out for him, second flight on the airplane... and the tail section departed and the plane went crashing into the ground. Total loss! It was powered by an OS-62V 4-Stroke. It is a bolt on tail design and there is no structural support other than a think piece of ply and two metal rods!!

Hawk131

I epoxyed the crap out of mine, it was way too much movement for my taste. I also have a Great Planes p-51 sport scale .40 that I did the same thing, I'm not sure why they design them like that, other than its easier to assemble.

aerobatixkid

Yeah I was surprised there was no glue, and when I checked his manual, they did not mention to glue it either. I have been flying gassers for some time but all the glow stuff I used to fly we glued the tails on.

Hawk131

Ya, like I said I've had 2 Great Planes ARF's that are like that, but in my opinion they need epoxy.

landeck

My Feedback: (1)

I have had the Escapade 40 since it first came out 5 years ago. I just bolted on the tail and have had no problems. I do check the tail every so often and have never had to tighten it. Same is true for my Escapade 60 which has been flying for two years.

Bruce

aerobatixkid

Here it is.

aerobatixkid

The nuts came right up through the bottom of the fuselage.

Hawk131

It looks like both stabs floated to the ground, that sucks. That is why I epoxyed mine on. Yesterday I messed up and took off with my mustang with with no ailerons and rolled hard right, the tail was so well epoxed that it sheared the vertical stab off and where it was epoxyed at was undamaged.

spd101

Always hate to see that i would be emailing some pics to customer service

thepamster

I find it a little hard to believe that the bolts just pulled through. I wonder if maybe they were tightened too tight and broke the wood behind. If you don't glue the assembly in place you do need to tighten them periodically.
I have epoxied mine in place trying to solve a tail wag problem this plane seems to have. The tail is now tight but still wags the tail.
I am now thinking it is caused by the wing not being able to bolt down tight enough. This plane has some thin wood in places it should be thicker. That's Arfs for ya.
There is a Escapade thread here on RCU. You should search for it.

ululi1970

I have 2. Currently one flies with a OS 70 surpass, and one is electric (6S 3000mAh, Turnigy SK3 500kV motor, 70A ESC). I too noticed structural problem with the tail. One day I noticed the tail on the electric was a little loose (at that time, the frame was fitted with a .46 glow). When I went to tight the nuts, I discovered that one bolt has sheared right at the nut. Needless to say, I liberally epoxied the thing... Also on the same airframe, after a small landing mishap, I discovered that there was not much glue applied to the firewall. Again, the thing was fixed with epoxy. Then, if one consider that the ARF can be bought with as little as $90 with coupons from Tower, not a bad deal... Flies well, except that landings are a little fast. Working right now on modding the electric to have flaps (not flaperons). My take home message is that these cheap ARF must be examined with the eye of a builder and fixed accordingly...

aerobatixkid

I did check the plane over before I flew it. There was no covering wrinkled (indication of problem underneath or over tightening) or wood crushed around the bolt, I was leery of this attachment method and guess I should of been. I did e-mail customer service and am awaiting a response.

hookedonrc

I epoxied mine in place after reading some of the threads on RCU. I can say I really love this plane. I am using an OS46 AX and it pulls it just fine. I can say that epoxying the tail in place was the right thing to do. It was still intact even after I turned it into a kit on the third flight. I was doing an entire circuit inverted and let it wander too far out. I got disoriented and in she went. My fault totally, but my next one is already in the garage waiting to be assembled.

Giant

I flew over 100 flites with many high speed snap rolls. Possibly over 300. The aircraft was assembled as per instructions with no glue. My wife was flying when the left wing separated outboard of the joiner tube. All put togather with hot glue. If flown in a more sedate maner would probably have worn out the airframe before it failed. All in all it was a good plane for the money. The repaIr is complete and ready to fly again.

bikerbc

I believe a little glue on the tail is very wise.. Unless you are planning on removing your tail for some reason why not glue it ? I also often add flying wires to the tail as well..If you use Kevlar string or light steel fishing line you add very little weight and much strength..

aerobatixkid

I agree it should be glued. If it had been mine, it would of never left the bench with just bolt on. But I have been at this for 15+ years. A newer flyer that has not had the experiences of course would not know this.

bikerbc

You are rite Aerobatixkid but then that's what these forms are for . So we can try to help each other with our experience and ideas .. I am with you and the glue but then the same thing I have been at this for a long time..We can quite often improve on the instructions .. There are areas that almost always need a bit of attention like the landing gear and the firewall..

hsukaria

Like Landeck, I have been flying my Escapade 40 for 5 years with the tail only bolted on. Never had a problem. I used Locktite and check it every season.

I did have a problem with the cowl cheeks vibrating a lot. That vibration caused the fuse sides glue joint to the firewall to crack. Luckily, I caught it before it separated. I reglued the firewall, and added a plywood stiffener under the engine to stop the vibration. It is still rock-solid after 5 years of heavy use.

jeffie8696

After reading through the Epade thread here I epoxied my tail on and it has been excellent. I also feel the epoxy can block some of the oil from seeping into the joints. The Epade 60 is a whole different animal, the tail is made differently but I still glued it on liberally.

hsukaria

Check out the new Escapade MX in Tower Hobbies. Basically a new fuselage, but using the tail and wing halves as a 2-piece with a tube setup. Mid-wing. Looks very slick.

bikerbc

Good point on the oil seeping into the joints jeffie8696 .. I just went and had a look at the new mid wing Escapade MX . I like it . It looks like a winner , if it flys anything like its ancestors its going to sell well . I am not sure about the purple.. I colored one of my built planes almost like that and I have never been real happy with it . But this one looks pretty good .

hsukaria

Yeah, you can tell that they are re-using the wings (with modification for the wing tube), landing gear, and tail feathers from the original Escapade. That's smart. Also, they got that really slick idea for electrics using that simple cowl idea. That cuts on cost but still works well.