tail strike

My Feedback: (1)

I have built several Great Planes kits and ARF's they have all been of good quality, buuut
This Stuka has been a real night mare. I ordered it from Tower Hobbies and when it came I was excited and began puting it together. As I discovered various discrepencies I just tried to overcome them. But have just snowbaled. First the covering was so lose I could not get it all srunk up. The yellow on the bottom of the wingtips was so lose I had to cut it off and replace it. The wing would not seat in the saddle, I had to cut the crosbrace down, it was hitting the top of the wing. The holes for the wing bolts didn't line up with the blind nuts. Looking in the fusaloge you can see gaps between the formers and the sides. Near the wing tips the screws for the aileron hinges protruded through the top of the wing. The cowl has a seam down the middle of the top, it palinly shows and there are little pit marks in it. The covering job is very poor quality all around.

I contacted Great Planes on their web site and told them of the problems with the plane
They replied thet they were sorry I about the problems. Have a nice day.

scaleMan

My Feedback: (92)

Hey I hear ya... I am in the middle of building this kit as well and its kind of a mixed bag for me... when I pulled all the parts out of the bags I was amazed how wrinkled the covering was. I mean I have build lots of ARFs and never seen one this bad. Its my first ARF with coverite, most kits I have put together were covered in monokote and were not anywhere near as bad as this one. The plus side was that it all smoothed out with a heatgun and about an hour. I had to modify one of the formers to fit the wing like you did, not a biggie, but when it doesn't fit I tend to spend a whole lot of time going over everything in disbelieve that it would come that way out of the box and that I had done something wrong. Aileron hinges didn't protrude thru the top of the wing for me, but the hinging of all those underslung control surfaces(ail. flaps) was not easy to do and you really have to take your time. What kinda sucked I think is that you have to paint the canopy since it comes much like one in a builders kit. Now, to some this may be no big deal, but its a big canopy and if you don't do a REALLY good job it can ruin the whole scale effect of the plane. Of course it would look worse if it wasn't painted at all. The canopy took the better part of a day to do a good job of it. All in all I am not thrilled, but im not completly disappointed and it sure does look good ill give it that. I got mine from tower with a $30 discount, so for $170 I can barely complain too much. Hope your build smooths out for you... What are you going to power yours with? I was thinking either a os91 fs or a supertiger 61.

scaleman

Calflyer

Tail Strike, sorry to hear about your trouble, but on the positive side Tower has one of the best customer service anywhere. They have always been very helpful with the vast majority of customers here. You probably got the wrong guy on the phone, I am assuming you called tower. I would call them again and ask to speak with a supervisor if the problem continues. Either you got a first run airplane or a bad piece, and GP planes are supposed to be better than that with their premium prices. Good luck!

PlaneFlyer

I am also in the process of building this airplane. I not to happy either. The hinge pin flap setup stinks. I am stuck on it and am undecided on how to proceed. I am almost tempted to make the INNER flap stationary. The covering was loose, but used a lot of heat and it shrunk up fine (used heat blower gun). I can see I will need to trim the bulkhead to fit the wing also. I too have the some screw holes showing through the wing, from aileron/flap hinge screws.

I pulled out an old book that showed the stuka with a yellow rudder and cowl. I may copy that. Looked good and will be easier to spot in the sky. The yellow band around the fusalage was not on the photo, so I intend to remove mine. It was applied okay, however some sections show the camo underneath because its transluent a little, which made it look poor.

If anyone has thoughts about a better hinge/flap system, I would love to hear about it. I am sorta thinking of making a popsicle stick wedge and epoxy it into the outer flap and let it ride in the inner flap.

Joe

PlaneFlyer

I forgot to mention. This is my first German WWII plane. The decals that came with the plane are excellent. However, I VERY dissapointed that the swatstika's are not included for the rudder. It is the most distinctive decal for the Germans and the plane seems wrong without it. That decal is on almost every German WWII rudder. Dah.

Anyone know where to get two - 2 5/8" square swastica's, black with white borders.

Joe

sbaugz

My Feedback: (37)

I built a Stuka not too long ago and it went together fine and the quality was very good. As for the Swaztika's, its no surprise that they weren't included. Great Planes sends these plans presumably around the world for selling and since swaztika's are illegal in Germany, I am not surprised. Also, with a huge company like Great Planes, they probably don't want to offend anyone so they keep their planes as politically correct as possible. I don't blame them.
For mine, I took a piece of white and a piece of black adhesive backed monocote trim paper and cut my own with a razor.

PlaneFlyer

Thank you Sbaugz, for the idea about making the swastika. I didn't realize that monokote would adhere to this coverite well. Nor did I realize that laws exists about swastica's.

Joe

Fastsky

I have the Stuka and like it. The wing saddle had to be shaved to get the wing to fit. Re: " hinge/flap system" < its a pain to get the flaps and the ailerons straight and all lined up but it looks great when your done. I spent about 4 hours to do mine. I was running out of flying season last year and just wanted to get the plane flying so I left the canopy as is. The plane is very fun to fly so I recently removed the canopy and had my wife paint the lines in. Took her a long time and about 5 coats of paint. Looks great though. BTW a 60 engine will fly the plane just fine because it is very light for its size. I am using a TH 75 with an APC13-6 prop with impressive results. I did add some neon yellow bands on the wing to help when the plane gets out a ways.[8D]

sbaugz

My Feedback: (37)

planeflyer,
I used the adhesive backed monocote trim sheets, not iron-on monocote. Here is the link at tower
[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHX86&P=0]Monocote black trim sheet[/link]

PlaneFlyer

Thanks Sbaugz. I will check it out.

Joe

DocYates

My Feedback: (102)

Don't cheat yourself, make the flaps functional, they work and are fun to play with on this airplane.
TOmmy

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

2 5/16" close enough? http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXZ826&P=7

Don

PlaneFlyer

Hello Don,

Thank you very much. YES, that size is close enough. I ordered them immediately.

Thanks again,
Joe

HH

I didn't have any of the problems with mine that have been described here, EXCEPT, the 21st century flat covering stinks on ice. I can't keep it tight. it wrinkles terribly every time I take it out in the sun.
other than that, i think it's a good plane.

PlaneFlyer

I fabricated my own design for the flap/hinge. It works very well and is solid. Thanks for the encouragment Doc. [8D]

Joe

GRANT ED

I hope all you guys go on the Great Planes web site and leave a note in the aircraft comment form. If GP hears the problems from a bunch of people then they may do something about it.

Walter D

My Feedback: (16)

Ditto, same problems here, I started building it this morning, wing panels need another rear brace to help keep the panels ligned up while the epoxy sets during assembly, if you develop a twist here , you're done. What problem are you guys having with hinges, I just noticed a few minutes ago that they shipped two sets of ailerons and flaps for the same wing, how sweet! There isn't enough material there to cover them again, wings seem sturdy, it is a strong airframe and very light, as far as quality is concerned it is pretty standard of all ARF's that I've built, they all need a lot of work aside from the 15 hours claimed, the price ($ 210 with the $ 30 discount and free shipping if you become a member, for just $ 7.99) and promptness of Tower Hobbies was first rate, let's see how they do on the new set of ailerons and flaps, the yellos covering used on the bottom of the wings is bad, hard to shrink and the yellow stripe on the fuselage is terrible, has got to go, take a look at this plastic model, the scale looks of the ARF's are pretty good, maybe too flat at the bottom of the fuselage, but it looks very good from 10 feet away.

PlaneFlyer

Walter, if your talking about the gluing up the two halves, perhaps you already know, but on the leading edge side, you use a clamp on the nose points, (as the direction suggest) and on the trailing edge, put the two nylon bolts in the holes and use rubber bands between the nylon bolts, it will hold it nice and firm.

The brass inserts and pins, in my opinion is a poor arrangment. I cut a piece of maple and made my own arrangment. The maple is on about a 6 degree angle, 1/8" thick and about an inch long and roughly 1/4" wide. I glued it into the outer flap and it rides in the inner flap. Works solid and feels much stronger.

I am now fitting the wing into the fuselage. As already mentioned by someone else, this don't fit either. The rear brace which has the nuts for the nylon screws for the wing, is in the way. The only way I saw to make it fit, was to glue on a piece of maple (my preferred wood) under the brace. Then dremel sand off a saddle for the wing to fit in. At this rate, I should have this plane ready to fly by 2007.

Joe

Walter D

My Feedback: (16)

Thanks for the tip Joe, you are right I've only glued the two halves, will be doing the next step today, I'll keep your directions handy in case I run into trouble, happy building!

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

I hav built many Arfs over the last 8 years. If I assemble them all as is, out of the box, I doubt they'd last long. I have about 8 of them now, DC F20, Ultra Sport, WM Midget, WM P-51, WM GS P51, Modeltech P 47, Shoestring etc. All of them had problems and there is no way I would have invested in good engines and equipment without first, making improvements.

I always add strength to the fire wall, and retract areas or mounting blocks. Improvements don't take long and will save you many headaches down the road.




[quote]ORIGINAL: tail strike

I have built several Great Planes kits and ARF's they have all been of good quality, buuut
This Stuka has been a real night mare.

tail strike

My Feedback: (1)

I am going to power it with an OS 91 surpas II. Don't mount it inverted it puts the carb below the center line of the fuel tank. The engin will flud and fuel will sipnon out when it is sitting on the graund. You have to mount it sideways and cut a hole in the cowl. (I hate that[&o])

Walter D

My Feedback: (16)

I installed the flaps and ailerons' servos today (I did this before glueing the wing's center sections, will make it much easier to run the servo wires should the strings get glued to or caught up in the ribs) together, I did differently on the installation of the ailerons and instead of using the double sided stick tape, went ahead with my usual home made servo trays and after running thin ca glue on the wing sheeting to harden the wood in that cavity, after the glue cured, I installed the tray, which has a 1/8 lite ply base and drilled 4 holes through the wing sheeting and affixed the tray with button head screws through the top of the wing, I do not trust stick tape to hold servos and I like to have the ease of removability, also did initial fitting of landing gear, problems here, gear position is too far back of the leading edge, need to be raked forward a good 3/4 inch (it may need even more), this must be done from just below where the first weld spot on the upright gear leg is, one of the gears was welded in a misalgned position and would not fit on the wing grooves, some butchering had to be done there, but it will be OK, both gears had to hammered and worked on quite a bit in order to fit, holes in mounting blocks had to be enlarged a tad and some deburring has to be done to make room where the wire makes the bend, it fits easier this way and the gear sits further into the groove. The landing gears at least in my kit will need to be sanded thoroughly and re painted, as there is a lot of rust under the paint that comes from factory. I will have to check again the position of the landing gear after the airplane is finished, just as a tip, a tail dragger's gear axle should be positioned in the same vertical line of the leading edge of the wing, when viewing the airplane from the top and having it in an horizontal position (place something under the tail wheel to level it). One other thing that I believe will need to be addressed is the way of affixing the wheel fairings to the wing, small screws going through it seem not to be the best choice, these fiberglass parts by the most part are extremely brittle and the least resistance will crack the part. One item that I will for sure be changin is the way the tail gear attaches, I will follow scale position, and of course, cutting the rear of the fuselage will be in order and reinforcing that new mounting area for the gear with birch ply (1/8" should do it), as I say, I like to be able to remove things easily, besides, the way it comes doesn't look good at all, but it is an easy way out.

PlaneFlyer

Walther etal,

Thank you for your detailed message about the various changes/enhancements you are doing to the plane. I too am in the process of building it. I work slowly and think things over a lot. Right now, I am in the process of installing the aileron servos and am aiming to do the same thing as you mentioned. I figure to glue/screw blocks and slide the servo in and then put a cap sheet over the servo onto the blocks. I hope that works.

Thanks for the warning about the future problems I will face. I haven't started the landing gear and pants and tail wheel yet. Yikes, this kit is the toughest yet for me. I built the 150 Hangar 9 P-51 mustang and didn't have this many problems and I am only 15% done on this Stuka. But, I must say that this kit is only half the price from the Mustang and is a lot of plane.

I enjoy reading what you and others are doing with building this plane, keep the posts coming, if you would.

Joe

norcal tom

My Feedback: (1)

i had the same problems with the covering and landing gear being twisted. i just iron out the wrinkles and it seems to be pretty good. you have to use high heat though. Paladin had a really good build on his that disscussed almost all of these problems. i've been following his advice for my build and it's going ok.

i was wondering, you guys that mounted a thunder tiger f91s in yours. what was the measurment from the firewall to the thrust washer?? the instructions say like 4 3/4, but the carb hits the mount.

this is my first major arf build and it's been interesting

PlaneFlyer

Would like to help if I could Tom, but I am installing an OS61FX. Won't be doing that anytime soon either. Good luck with your engine install. You mentioned someone had some build help and ideas... where is it at?

Joe