I just bought one of these from ebay and picked up a O.S. LA .15 for it. Got the plane and it really is a good looking plane (I posted the pic from ebay below). Unfortunately it has fought me most of the way. I used HS-81's in it and built it up and the all up weight before fuel came out to 2lbs 3oz. The instructions showed the CG at 30-40mm back from the leading edge. That looked pretty nose heavy so I put it at 50mm. First several flight attempts were horrible. I am a pretty decent flyer and have everything from 1/2a's to quarter scales and this little plane has been tricky. After several nose overs trying to take off from a soccor field (this is intended to allow me to fly without having to travel to the club) I had to move the landing gear 1/2" forward. First flight I had a HOT landing which caused the wheel pants to catch the grass and cartwheel. Broke the engine box but no other damage. Found out they didn't use any tristock in the corners on the firewall / engine box. So I beefed it up a little and removed some of the lead weight I had in the front to balance (went from 1.5oz to 3/4oz). Flight two felt much better and I tried some loops and at the top of the loop it always snaps out. Had a dead stick landing (ran it out of fuel) which was still HOT. It still felt nose heavy so I took the additional lead out which put me at the 60mm cg using a GP balancer when I realized they probably meant 30-40mm at the wing tip and not at the fuse (would have been handy info to add). Flew it a couple of times today with the CG basically on the spar and it had a great glide and landings were nice and slow. The cg feels fine now. It now flies inverted with just a hair of down elevator where before you had to hold in 1/2 to 3/4. However.... It still snaps at the top of the loop if you try to pull it hard. This is on low rates and I have plenty of other .25 to .40 size planes that can pull tighter loops. I am not talking a ridiculously tight loop...just one with about a 50 ft circumference. If I pull it long then its pretty straight but requires right rudder through the loop to keep straight. I have messed around with lateral balance by putting in a quarter oz of lead to the right wingtip thinking it may solve it since I also had to add a little left aileron to fly level. Didn't fix either issue. I noticed that the tail grouping is about 2 degrees off center from the main wing. Its an arf and I didn't even look for that. I am not sure if that is enough to cause it. I hope its something more along the lines of requiring more right thrust on the engine (right now there is probably only 1-2 degrees) or since this plane used a metal rod between the elevator halves with the servo connected to one side I wonder if the other one is flexing too much causing the problem. The .15 is surprisingly marginal for this plane. I thought it would pull much harder since people use these in the ssc planes. Won't hover thats for sure. The other problem with this plane is that the fuel tank mount inside the engine box completely forward of the cg and wing. Love to hear anybodies opinions on this! Thanks!

I am building the exact model, bought it off ebay, i am about 75% complete, i am us the same engine as well, Hi-Tec HS56HB feather servos, mounted the two for the rudder and elevator back by the tail, i'm wondering where you installed your batter and receiver, i would love to see some pics of your construction, i also have more questions if you get this post.

Unfortunately I didn't take pics of the build. I retired this plane after a month. I put so much time into trying to get the plane to fly straight through loops and moves and it never did. Had found a twist in the fuse that caused the elevator not to be perpendicular to the wing. Fixed that. Still could not get it to fly right. It was a pretty plane but just flew like crap. I think there may have also been a problem with the airfoil they used or incedence between it and the horizontal stab. I also had to swap the landing gear for a dubro aluminum equiv because the original was weak. Heck, I even thought maybe the .15 just wasn't enough and put on a trusty .25 FP I had. Nope, still snapped out of loops or went through them crooked. Gave up. I suppose after all that work maybe someone who was new to the hobby might say it was ok but honestly I have cubs that are more fun to fly and more aerobatic than this plane. Maybe I got a bad one but never could make lemonade out of my lemons. No more no name arfs for me!

My battery started out on the side of the engine box. I think it may have eventually made it under the tank. Make sure your use 270ma-350ma battery pack as this plane does not need any more weight. Here is a link to the one I used:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHBB0&P=7

By the way should yours turn out to be the same I did buy a Global AT-6 Texan from Hobbypeople.net for about $80 which will fly on a .15la up to a .25. VERY smooth flyer. Only mod I had to do to it was put in dual aileron servos in the wing. Also Polks Hobby makes a tigermoth and fokker triplane that will take that setup that are also nice wood built up planes.

Hey thanks, thats too bad, i wonder how mine will fly, i will definetly let you know, as far as your plane snapping in the loop, i am at a loss, the only thing i know aerodynamically what causes a snap is a uncoordinated accelerated stall, so something was causing the stall prematurely. maybe i'm wrong, who knows, thats too bad because im excited to finish, it seems like it would be a good flying machine.

Hey i just completed attaching the servo to the elevator and noticed the 1-2 degrees difference between elevator halves, especially when you throw up elevator it is worse, that stupid metal piece connecting the halves is a poor design and this difference bothers me. I know it is going to have an effect on flight. I'm considering putting another servo on the other half, is it worth it???? who knows. Did you do anything about that issue?

Yes, that was another issue. Its a common design for small planes and most of the time it works ok if done properly. The wire they give you is too weak. I got some piano wire (hobby shop or some hardware stores) the next gauge larger and used the original as a template. The piano wire is much stiffer wire. Make sure you predrill the elevator before sticking the prongs in and once everything is test fitted (make sure you test fit) I use a drop of medium ca to strengthen the hole and then slide the wire in. I always use an exacto and cut away a guide shaft on the elevator halves so that the wire can recess in and not cause a gap when you hinge them. You will always get a little offset at full deflection since the servo horn will be pushing up on one side but remember you are dealing with a small plane and this won't 3D anyway so you'll want to keep your throws modest. Best prop for this plane on my 15 LA was the master airscrew combat props which are 8x3 and blue in color.

Thank you, interesting reply, my only problem is that I already glued the hinges to the elevator with CA prior to noticing this, i dont want to rip up the elevator trying to undo it, but i really would like to use your method. Also about your CG issue did you in the end up using the manuals recommended 30mm-40mm from the leading edge? Also what throws do you recommend for the first flight, i hear everyone saying set them low, but how low? especially the elevator, i dont want to go too low because if the plane is nose heavy i dont want to run out of elevaator authority mainly on landing and nose it over. Also, I am going to the hobby shop today i will look for that prop. Thanks in advance.

The recommended range as I recall was way nose heavy. Like most planes if you balance on the wing spar or a tad forward usually you will be fine. Use your best judgement and bring some stick on lead to add to the tail on your first flights. It won't take much. Once you find the sweat spot then check where you cg is, pull the lead off and move the battery around until it balances without the lead. You will not want a lot of elevator as I found with this plane it will drop out without notice. Meaning you will start pulling back on the elevator to slow it down to fight the nose heavy and it will start slowing and then just loose all lift and pancake the landing. You will need to bring it in with about 1/5 throttle. Don't drop it to idle and flare or you will be in trouble. Its ok to drop to idle to slow it down on approach but as you are lining up and about 10ft up bring up the throttle a little and slowly pull back but not to a full flare. Let it sink in. If your flying off of grass make sure its short grass or go to bigger wheels or you'll flip over regaurdless. On pavement just be prepared for a 50-100ft roll out and easy on the rudder or it will whip around and dig a wing tip in. Also make sure the wheels roll well on both sides otherwise it will pull you to that side and be a pain. Balance the plane laterally too as mine did have a heavier side and I had to bury a little lead in one wing tip. You can just have someone hold the spinner and put a finger under the tail in the center and lift. Its crude but will give you a rough idea. As far as the far as the throws I would look online at similiar planes by Wattage or Herr and see what their throws are. This plane is just a tad larger than speed 400 size planes. The elevator is pretty sensitive on this plane and will not need much throw. I never liked how the inside of the elevator had more control surface area than the outside. I almost wonder if it would have been more stable if the elevator was the straight across type. I am guessing the throw will probably be ok at about 7-10mm. I don't remember what the stock throw was.

Thanks again for all the good info, there is not much info on this plane as you already know. I really appreciate it. Good flying and talk to you later!

hey, am a new rcuniverse member, and just bought an extra 300s .15 from raidentech.com and bought an o.s .15FP engine for it and just wondering since it came with a cap 232 manual and the cowl is different. Can you give me an opinion on positining the engine?Also can you help me on finding a chrome spinner for the size of my engine?Iv'e been trying for a week

Mount it sideways, as far as a spinner, good luck, i put a small plastic one on, the engine shaft is so small its hard to find a spinner. Also i hope this is not your first plane, if so put it together and set it aside, these small planes are fast and tricky to fly. I've had many controlled crashes, if there is such a thing.

thanks for the edvice and actually this is my second, I have a tower trainner 40 mkll whitch I bought it (RTF). My plan is to finish it and put it aside and get a good software with sport planes and train until I feel am readt to fly it, just by the looks of it I know its going to be some challange to fly it since its mutch smaller and more sencetive. What kind of engine does you cap. have ?do you have some videos or pictures of your plane?

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