gremlins2g-RCU

My Feedback: (3)

Looking for any info, personal experiences with this plane. I am considering one with a Saito 56 in it.

dan4466

My Feedback: (68)

I was out the other day checking out a club and the I was chatting with a guy there that had one. He had a OS .70 in his and loved the plane. Saw him fly it and was quite impressed. Thats my only time around one. Think you'd be happy with one. Wish I had more info for you.

cmassa

I'm not flying the ARF but have a 12 year old kit version which is a lot of fun. Has a Royal 45 turning a 10x8 APC. Sporty, fast, aerobatic, stable, and relatively slow landings. Fun for punching holes in the sky. Good all around plane and great low wing trainer. Watch out for the landing gear though. I don't know if they fixed it in the ARF, but the blocks in the wings split easily. Epoxied mine back together with a pice of ply strengthening them. Works fine now. I'm not using the wheel pants though as I was on a grass field and just never put them on.

iflyrc24

My Feedback: (5)

Gremlin
I have the older version of the Super Sporster ARF with a Magnum 52 in it. The Magnum flies it well so the Saito should do great.

DEG

cuban8

I've built 3 or 4 of them and loved every one of them. Great all around good flying plane. Like Chris said though, beef up the LG blocks a bit because they tend to split on the kit version too.

Cuban8

gremlins2g-RCU

My Feedback: (3)

Sounds great , thanks everyone. I will certainly beef up those support blocks. Oh ! And!
Its on the way !!

FilipM

Im putting a Saito72 in mine. Will be fun I think.

DougX

Make sure you clean the oil off your sportster after every trip out. The ARF is unfortunately covered with the dreaded sticky paper. The seams are on the leading edge of the rudder and elevator where fuel can seap in easily. Otherwise it's a really good plane. Stay away from the wheel pants if you fly grass (they'll poke a hole in the bottom of the wing. Good Luck

FilipM

The new ARF is done in Monokote. Its not old one with shelf paper.

Here's a link to a picture of it:

http://greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma1042d2.jpg

I like it, how about you guys?

Filip

Blueyonder

My Feedback: (3)

I have the new Sportster ARF. Nice plane; great covering job and a great first low wing as mentioned in the other post. I also owned the older ARF version, and I like the way they extended the fuselage and eliminated the plastic cowl on the new ARF.
I had the same problem others have mentioned regarding the landing gear blocks in the wings. Hopefully GP took care of the problem with the latest ARF. An OS 46 FX is a great engine for this bird too.

cuban8

I didn't know GP made a SuperSportster with a plastic cowl. Here's a pic of my first one, vintage about 1985. That's a Como 40 engine... used to be made by SuperTigre, I think?

Cuban8

Blueyonder

My Feedback: (3)

Cuban,
The first version of the GP Sportster ARF did have a plastic cowl. I've never owned the kit, but looking at your photo it appears the new ARF is now structurally the same as the kit, ie, no cowl is used. The cowl on the old ARF version had a lot to be desired, so it's definitely a change for the better.

cuban8

Blueyonder,

I'm glad GP change it back to the original cowling then. I'm not a big fan of plastic cowls. Glad to see GP recognize their mistake and correct it. I agree 100% that it's a great first low wing plane! Love the looks of it too. In fact... hmmm.. I wonder how a Magnum 91 4-stroke would do on the 60 size version?

Cuban8

FilipM

The new ARF has a different structure than the Super Sportster 40 MkII kit. The instructions say it is built lighter compared to the kit. In fact they specifically mention the ARF shouldn't use a .70 size four stroke while the kit built version can.

That said I still plan on using my beautiful Saito 72!

Filip

TRP

My Feedback: (1)

I ordered the kit today. It should be here by the weekend. I can't wait to crack it open and dive into it.

Filip - Shoot me an e-mail regarding that O.S. engine.

Thanks,
Ted

TRP

My Feedback: (1)

Whahoo!

The box-o-sticks arrived last night.

I opened it up and everything looks good. Only one warped piece of wood. Maybe I will shoot over to Sheldons and pick up a better one.

Kind of intimidating.... but I should be able to pull it off.

Looks like rain this weekend so it will be a good one to start working on the plane.

Ted

TRP

My Feedback: (1)

I have the wings built up. I will be mounting the gear blocks and sheeting them tonight. So far they are straight and true.

Ted

cmassa

If they are using the same hardwood gear blocks as on the older kits, make sure you strengthen them with some ply or they split when landing. You'll then have to reopen the wing to fix them. I'm talking about the vertical portion of the blocks.

Robotech

My Feedback: (9)

Got my Super Sportster Kit and started on it about 2 weeks ago. Wing is all framed and ready to cover. Fuse is covered, glueing on the V and H stabs tonight.

This is only my third kit built plane so I don't have alot of knowledge about the quality of other kits but this one has been a joy to build. Excellent wood, excellent fit and fairly easy to follow instructions.

I was going to put a OS 61FX on it but since the 91 FX is the same dimensions and weight I went with it instead. Should be enough I think.

Got a stick of hardwood today to beef up the landing gear. May have it ready by this weekend. I can't wait to fly it!

TRP

My Feedback: (1)

Chris,

You are from Chico?! I am originally from Chico. I lived there for 26 years. I can't wait to move back. I really miss that place. Spring time is THE best... provided you don't have alergies to the almond blossoms.

When you say to beef up the landing gear blocks with some ply - how should I do that? Epoxy some ply to the back and sides of the vertical block - to box it in? This is my first kit so I could use some clarification on this step. I built a few gliders when I was about 15 - but that was 16 years ago!

Thanks,
Ted

Sawyer692-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

I'm from Redding, just up the street from Chico. Where do you fly?

Mike

bvmjethead

My Feedback: (10)

Dont ever do a full throttle dive in one. That's how I lost mine and learned that if the nose is down so is the throttle. It was my 2nd plane. I loved it and literally shed a tear or two the day I planted it. Had a YS .45 on a pipe!!!\

Scott

TRP

My Feedback: (1)

Sawyer,

I currently fly in San Jose at the SCCMAS Tomcats field.

I too am interested to see where Chris and his crew fly up in Chico.

Check out our club at http://www.sccmas.org
(The club just launched a new version of the web site and the web guys are currently in the process of updating & populating the pages. The images of the field are pretty accurate and up to date)

cmassa

The Butte R/C flyers fly at an old runway next to Chico Municipal Airport. We have 4-5000 ft of asphalt (although somewhat bumpy away from our main runway) No grass or improvements and we chase the cows away in the winter. The field away from the asphalt is full of rocks so you don't want to land out there. We've been looking for a new field (not having much luck, though) which we could improve and also have a grass strip in addition to paved runway.

As far as the landing gear blocks on the sportster - they split along the groove in the vertical portion. Laminating a piece of ply to one or both sides should be sufficient. Again - I don't know if it is different in the newer kits. Mine was built around 1990.

I've done plenty of full power dives and never had any failure. I've even crushed the entire front end by hitting a stationary object (telephone pole) and the wing came out undamaged. Glued all the pieces back together and put in a new engine and its been flying for another 8 or 9 years.

TRP

My Feedback: (1)

Humm.... old runway? is that the same old runway that the big old white and grey dc3 was parked on for many many years?

Thanks for the info on the blocks. They are now made of a hardwood of some sort. They are stout.. but I am not sure how stout. You actually epoxy one long one across horizontal and another much shorter one up vertical - they kind of form a lying down 'L'. Does that sound the same as your older kit?

Ted