I HAVE THE GP TIGER MOTH READY TO FLY WITH AN OS 91
4 CYCLE, AT 9.5 POUNDS. IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND I CAN'T WAIT
TO FLY IT. HOWEVER, I NEED TO TAKE THE WINGS OFF FOR TRANSPORT TO THE FIELD AND CAN NOT FIGURE OUT A SLICK
WAY TO DO THIS. PRESENTLY MY PLAN WOULD TAKE ABOUT
20 MINUTES TO ASSEMBLE THE PLANE AT THE FIELD. THIS SEEMS
EXCESSIVE IN COLD WEATHER.

HAS ANYONE COME UP WITH A QUICKER WAY OF DOING THIS ?

THANKS

LEN K.

I leave mine together, but it fits in the bed of my truck assembled. It is a pain getting it in and out of the house and it takes up one end of a room to store. I leave mine together because I have the flying wires on it also, it takes me about 30 to 45 mins to put together, you must be real quick. I tried leaving the wing struts attached to the bottom wing to take less time to put together, but I almost broke one hitting it on something, so if I dis-assemble, I take it completely apart which makes for a long assembly time. I even tried taking the center struts loose at the fuselage, removing the wing bolts, remove the landing gear, and then slide the two wings still assembled off, that was a pain also. So in other words I don't think there is an easy or quick way to do it.
fossil

THANKS FOR THE REPLY.

I THOUGHT ABOUT LEAVING THE WINGS TOGETHER AND
THOUGHT I WOULD NOT LIKE TO TAKE THE LANDING GEAR
OFF EVERY OUTING. BUT IT MAY BE EASIER THAN WING
ASSEMBLY/ DIS ASSEMBLY.

HOW DOES YOURS FLY ? WHAT ENGINE ?

THANKS AGAIN.

LEN K.

It flies great, but it is not very aerobatic it rolls like a cow, but the real one wasn't either. There is another guy at my club with one also and his is powered with a OS91 Four Stroke, but he had to put a lot of lead in the nose and it still flew good, I put a OS 120 Four stroke in mine and did not have to put any extra weight to balance, I don't like putting lead in a plane to balance I had rather put a bigger motor and throttle back. It flies great at about 1/4 to 1/3 throttle and I get about 10 mins on the stock 14oz tank.
fossil

I took mine down once for transport using my wife's Toyota p/u when my Chevy was in the shop. I left the wings together.

1. Remove landing gear. (4 screws)
2. Remove prop.
3. Unbolt cabane struts from fuselage. (4 screws)
4. Remove wing bolts from lower wing.
5. Slide wings off of front of fuselage.

All flying wires are left attached. Took about 15 minutes total to take down and set up. It may or may not be a pain as fossil says. It helps if you have a helper.

I hope your's flies well. Mine has a Saito 150 in it, and it flies great. Does scale like rolls and loops, pretty stall turns and hammerheads, and graceful chandelles. Of course, there is no real need for a 150 in this plane and it seldom sees full throttle, except when I just feel like going up, up, up. I just wanted a deeper sounding "thumper" that would easily swing the 1/5th scale size 15-16 inch prop.

Just remember to hold *some* up elevator when throttling up for take off or it will nose over. After a while you'll find your plane lifting off in a very pretty manner with very little throttle, and it's ground handling characteristics are outstanding for a taildragger.

Good luck,

Dave

with Fossils. We turned the gear around to get better ground handling....now it is a real sweetheart.....

Nice plane....

Pug

The 120 I have in mine is the pre surpass II so it has that deep sound also. I know it takes away from the scale look a little, but I did put the landing gear on backwards and have no problem with nose overs.
fossil

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problems with noseovers either. Just the very first flight, taking off from a dirt field, and throttling too quickly I nosed it over. It happens.

I probably have at least 40 flights on it now with only one other mishap... A dead stick in the rough put it on it's back. Some mishap huh?

I built new gear for mine to get a little more scale look using aluminum airfoil shaped tubing over the LG wires, but the wheels are still in the same position fore/aft, just about 1 1/2" narrower track. Also installed 4" DuBro Big Wheels. It's a real *****cat to land and take off.

Hmm... Can't say "*****cat"? How about "*****willow"?

Hehe.

Would you mind posting Pics of your gear you built. Or you can email them.
fossil

I'll take a few pics this afternoon.

Hi guys
I'm new to RC Universe and am really enjoying your comments in these threads... I've been flying old "Practical Scale" Tigermoths (same Size) for many years. It's interesting that your GP Moths are in the 9 to 10 lb range (mine are 11 lbs), they must really have great slow flight characteristics! My first one flew with OS open rocker .75 4 cycle and the current with old OS .90 (pre surpass with cam in back). Great flying airplanes! I might have to try one of your lighter GP moths!

Hi George,

Actually, mine weighs in at 10.5 lbs, but you wouldn't know it in the air. The extra weight must be the new gear, the 150, the wheels, and Barbie.

Here's the pics:

Full plane:

Frontal of gear:

Side of gear:

Main axel is 5/32nd inch piano wire. The "vee" in the center is 3/32nd inch, the rest is 1/8th. Rear fairings are 3/4 inch aluminum airfoil, the front are 1/2 inch aluminum airfoil. All joints are brazed, and fairings are filled with hardwood stock and CA'ed in place.

I have just finished the Pacific models Tiger Moth. This ARF is the most detailed ARF I have ever seen. Just about everything is included and all the control surfaces come hinged with proper hinges not the plastic inserts. I put a Saito 120 up front and am waiting for a warm day to fly it. I also was trying to figure out how to transport the plane without breaking it down and I am wondering if this idea would work. I have a friend who has a WW1 Sopwith Camel with rigging wires all over the place. His solution was to build the fuselage with a joint just behind the cockpit. The two fuselage halves are joined by four screws into hardwood blocks. The tail servos are mounted behind the joint so the only connections at the field are four screws and two servo leads. The beauty of this rig is that the tension on the rigging wires is never disturbed. As Pacific also sells an ARC ( almost ready to cover) TM ( I hate shiny covering on old planes) I am seriously considering this split fuse method. It works for him.
For anyone interested www.pacaeromodel.com

Enough hints to the better half and you may get it for Xmas.

Damnathius that gear is awesome. Did you modify the original gear or build a total new set? and where did you get the airfoil shape aluminum?
fossil

HR, I've also considered the Pac Aero Tiger, but finances aren't going to permit that any time soon, so I've decided either to build a kit this winter, or de-cover the GP Moth, install DuBro 4-40 pull-pull in the scale locations and recover in Coverite fabric. It will cost me about $130 as opposed to $400.

Thanks fossil. The two pieces of the gear that attach to the fuselage and join to the main axel are the original gear, just cut to fit the new locations. The aluminum I purchased at my local hobby shop in 3 foot sections. I think it was 3 or 4 bucks each. I'm not sure of the manufacturer.

Dave