ekir,I drive an Expedition and the wings of my Skybolt have never been off. I can fit it sideways in one piece.

It is a pretty quick setup. I would say less than five minutes.

Am,
the OS 91FS is in the upper case of engines reccomended.
But do you think the OS 120FS whould be a better choice for "aggresive" moves?

am interested in that engine, the 120 as I have one, was hoping to mount it inverted to save cutting up the cowling I'll watch this thread and see. ...builder jim

anyone have pics yet?

ΑH,

I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS ARF

[&:]yea boy it looks so good! I have a new 70 but thats on the low end but I seen that tower has it and the plane as a combo.

I would love to put a smoke system in mine but it just seems a little on the small side in the fuselage. The rest of the plane looks great. Just waiting on my OS 91 FS-II. I have the smoke muffler and everything.

I just received a Super Skybolt ARF from Tower. Yep: 7 1/2 pounds supposedly. The color scheme looks good. I plan to power it with a Saito 1.00. I let you know how it comes out if you like.

The Skybolt ARF has a different cabanes and interplanes setup from the kit. Should take only a couple of minutes more than a monoplane to set up.

mine fits in my ford escape all put together....that is the easiest way to get it to the field.

Dane, I got you beat on this one, I can fit mine in the back of a 88 Mazda 323 hatch-back ! MM

Got all the wrinkles out of the covering, man she sure is a beauty. I'm going to go with an OS 91 Surpass ,should haul it around pretty good. I hope she flys as good as she looks.

My Skybolt kit has never been taken apart since the day it balanced.

About 2 more hours of work and she will be ready to maiden. Has anybody flown theirs yet?
Any flight characteristics would be appreciated.

I have the kit version, but yours should fly similar. It's fast in the air, and doesn't slow down like other bipes for landing. Slow speed is predictable, with stalls causing a mush forward, not a tip stall. It flys like a pattern ship, with snaps happening only at hard surface deflection. I fly mine on high rates all the time now. Snap rolls are quick and violent, and will make you mess your drawers the first time you do it...so be up high and have a clean pair of shorts in the car.

What's your all up weight?

Ok...I don't know the exact weight yet, waiting for friend to bring scales over, but guess is about 8 lbs. Here's a pic or 2.

I will be adding smoke to the one that I am reviewing

I weighed mine on a bathroom scale and it looks like it is between 7.25 and 7.75 lbs, build went great, however I did crack the firewall and had to add extra support during a hard start due to my electric starter, still have not had it up yet, balance was bang on using a RCV 91-cd , have not added weight for lateral balance but the right wing does want to dip, will post more when I have flown it.

Finally got the motor set but ran out o fuel will hopefully maiden voyage it tomorrow, will try and post pic.

Mine tilted to the right also when doing a lateral balance. Took about a 1/2 oz of weight to correct it. I also added some fiberglass tape to the bottom of the firewall to give added strength.

Maiden report: It's a keeper for sure. Lined her up on the runway, takeoff was straight and true with no rudder input. Had to add about 4 clicks of up elevator though. This baby will KE on low rate. It has a lot of pattern characteristics to it. Very smooth and predictable. Landing was spot on...I just brought the throttle back and let her settle in on the mains...beautiful...no tendancy to drop like a brick either. [sm=thumbup.gif]

Saito 100 14x6 APC prop untill fully broken in then I will change to 14x10
Futaba 9001 servos on 6 volt

I received a Super Skybolt from Tower the end of last week and it's almost completed. I've never been a Great Planes fan, especially ARF's, but they got this one right. At $299 it should be nice quality, and it is. Many innovations, including the way the cabanes are anchored, interplanes "thumbscrews", tailwheel brackets, a large fuel tank, and others. Most important, everything goes together like it should, the fit of parts is exceptional. The covering job is also outstanding, and the color scheme is copied from a full-scale Super Skybolt (white, red, blue, and gold). I haven't weighed the finished product yet because I'm waiting for a couple of items that I've ordered, but I don't think it will be over 8 1/2 lbs. That includes a Saito 1.00 and Slimline Pitts-style muffler. Only negative so far: an aluminum spinner is included, but it's 5/16 O.S. thread, of course. Can't be readily adapted to Saito, so a bit of a waste. I can't wait to put it in the air. I'll give you an update after the maiden flight.

as far as weight, on my bathroom scale it was between 7.25 and 7.75 lbs, will way on a digital scale soon, and post, but under 8lbs your saito should be a nice combo.

I did not use the wood dowels in the cabane struts as called for. I replaced them with 1/8" carbon fiber rods. I also soldered the control rods instead of using the collars.

May I ask the guys with Saito 100s if you needed more weight towards the nose to get your planes to balance out? I'm debating between an OS FS91 and the Saito 100 and would probably just go with the OS if your Saito setups needed an extra few ounces towards the nose for balance.

The Saito 100 looks like a great engine for this plane, but my positive experiences (performance, reliability, etc.) with multiple OS engines is just making me lean towards the FS91.

Thanks in advance!