Schummie

Thank you guys,

After a high speed landing, my gear ripped out as planned (more or less). But is damaged the plane severely.I couldn't slow the plane down at landing. But she's repaired.After reading the posts, I put the CG far more aft. I also use flapperons. To my supprise I had to mix in up elevator when deploying the flaps. The total result is amazing. She now lands at walking speeds. Making one three point landing after another.
So these minor ajustments result in an enormous improvement. Putting the CG far aft (6 Inch) didn't have any negative effect on her docile flying. So thanks.

Regards,

Eric Schumacher, Netherlands.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Enjoy...

dkm

The twin giant SS is still flying, it flew right off the drawing board.
The only change was to fit a much stronger nose leg.
Performance on one 90fs is marginal at best.

y2k6vette

A friend of mine brought to my attention yesterday that Tower will raise the price of the GSS $50.00 beginning in September, so any "fence sitters" may want to get the mouse fired up and hit the button!

Got mine ordered yesterday and expect it sometime this week. Looking forward to joining the GSS family...plans now are for a ZDZ40 or DLE55 with all the mods I've read about here....thanks for posting all the valuable information by the way.

Hang in there, fellow addicts!
Steve
Foggy Minded Mountain Man

Joystick TX

Steve - I would not recommend the DLE 55 for the GSS. I'mnot sure the plane would hold together withthat engine.

The DLE 30 would be plenty of power. I'm running the Syssa 30cc and the plane will hover at half-throttle with an 18-6 Vess prop. I fly at about 1/4 to 2/3 throttle most of the time and only use WOT for verticals and take-offs.

It is my favorite airplane, beenputting about 40 flights per month on itsince I got it, can't seem to get my other planes out to the field at all.

I am scratch building another plane, mostly to fly just for windy weather, I'm sure I won't put nearly as much time on it as the GSS.

I'm sure you'll like yours.

bemeson

I agree...I have a DLE 30 on mine and I am at 6000 feet ASL. I run a 19X7 prop and the plane screams. I built the plane with all the upgraded control rods, no flying wires, and stock gear and I have over 150 flight on mine with no problems. If you want to use the DLE 55 buy a bigger plane.
Brian

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

X2 on the Syssa, though in it's first life my Sportster had a Quadra 42 on it. It flew fine on the Quadra at 16.5 lbs, but after going on an almost 2.5 lb weight reduction plan while going to Syssa, it's a much better flying plane. Syssa, with it's rear exhaust, fits really well in the narrow cowl too...

Suit yourself on the power, but thinking that's too much as well.

y2k6vette

Okie Dokie.....DLE30 it is...I've got an extra one lying around here somewhere!

Steve

Charlie P.

We had a club picnic (moved up a day because of Irene) and I got a handful of good flights in with my GP GSS. First chance I had to try a Falcon 19 x 8 prop on my Fuji 32cc and I highly recommend this combination. Still running fairly rich I can do loops at 1/3 throttle and half throttle is a good “groove”. I forgot my tach, so I don’t know the rpm, but it is noticeably less that an 18 x 10 Xoar, and also noticeably torquier on slow verticals. Probably won’t fly away from the tail with this combo – which is a good thing. ;-) (Note: the Falcon needs a bushing for the Fugi shaft).

At the end of the day there was only one other pilot up. I was doing tall, as slow as possible hammerheads and my 9C alarm went off. I figured it was my 12 minute timer so called for a landing, but immediately the engine conked out. So, I was on the downwind leg and 20 ft up over corn/weeds. I still had some speed up, so I yelled “deadstick” and cut across the pattern. Came in a little hotter than I expected, smacked the wing-mounted gear into the grass/dirt harder than I have to date, but the foam tires and wing appear to have absorbed it. I checked her over thoroughly (as possible) and it looks like I got away with it. I’m still a hold-out with the as-issued wing mounted gear.

I was surprised to find I still had 1/4 of a tank of gas, and I am assuming my downward was long enough that I swallowed a bubble?? Doesn’t seem possible, but I was doing 100 ft verticals (I like big, slow maneuvers) and dropping to idle on the downwards.

Still loving the GSS. For a lazy day of sport flying she does not disappoint. Not the Queen of Knife Edge but certainly a fun model to fly.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

>>

Nice to know I'm not the only one flying original design gear (bare-naked/no pants). I've bent mine from less than gracefull landings on quite a few occasions and haven't broken the mounts yet. I used to pull the gear and straighten in a vise. I don't bother any more. Just straighten them while mounted...but I'm not suggesting anyone else try that...

Joystick TX

You guys have different gear than I had. Mine was brittle as glass, it would not bend. It broke just below the wire wrap. I saw that happen to another guy on a smooth landing, his broke in the same place. I suspect it is a matter of quality control with the temp used to solder the gear together. Some will be okay and some won't. The easy way to tell is to bend it and see what happens.

kerwin50

I use a felt fuel clunk and a long fuel line that has a loop in it, that way I can do those 150 ft hammer heads and not run out of gas on the down line

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

Just keep in mind there's a bunch of fuel available even if your clunk does come out of the fuel. Unlike the nitro engine setup, these carbs carry quite a bit of fuel internally. Several seconds worth pretty easily. I once watched my fuel tank fall off a DLE 20 powered profile I spend a lot of time with. Not knowing what it was that I had seen depart the airframe, I was in the process of checking flight controls at a fairly low throttle setting. After 2 passes the engine quit - which is when I figured out what had happened....

Point being, it'll fly quite a while with NO fuel available to the clunk.

Charlie P.

That had been my belief.  The fuel just in the carb lines and diaphragm pump usually is good for five or six seconds and double that for the tubing to the klunk.  I was also using up some 32:1 break-in fuel and might have just burbled out.

After reading Joystik's post I went down and carefully inspected the soldered wire "straps" on the gear.  All OK.  

Been a while since this thread has had an image.

wesrcfreak

@charlie p.
What pilot are you using in the plane?
Is it the 1/5 or the 1/4 size of the greatplanes sport pilot?
Is it this pilot? http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...P?I=LXPRP4&P=8
I ordered this one. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXPRR5&P=V
Hopefully is the size ok and is he not too little for the plane.
Thanks.
Regards Wes.

Charlie P.

That's the guy. 1/4 was too large and 1/5 fit easily; Ithought too roomy, even. I made a seat back to bring him forward and pilot and seat down with cable ties and vinyl-basedgule.

Iangled a dash piecefor him to use up a littlemore roomand gave him a VoltWatch2 to keep an eye on.

wesrcfreak

Ok thanks.

Regards Wes.

JoeMamma

Did two flights on my Super Sportster today including the maiden. What a nice flyer.......no bad habits !!!

I went a little more tail heavy at 5 5/8�. That seems to be the sweet spot.

Went with a semi-inverted OS 1.60FX. I started off with one of the O.S. recommended prop sizes (APC 17x12) but I’ll need to go wayyyyy down on prop size; probably down to 16x10. With my idle speed set at its lowest setting, the landing speed was much too fast, even with a 12+mph headwind. She also won’t climb very good with this prop. I currently have an 82� SIG Four Star running an OS 1.60FX with an APC 16x10 prop. This power combo seems great on the Four Star so I’ll give it a try on the Sportster. Don’t know why I didn’t use the 16x10 in the first place on the Sportster.[]

Made up flying wires from some scrap hardware...........thanks for the advice !

I didn’t use the supplied wire landing gear. Instead, I used the Great Planes Stearman bi-plane landing gear (only $19.95 at Tower Hobbies...........again, thanks for the advice on this gear !). This landing gear modification was the toughest part of all of the Sportster assembly, and it also added quite a bit of weight. My all-up-weight (no fuel) came out at 15 pounds 2 ounces. Yeah, she’s a little overweight, but I certainly won’t tell her if you don’t !![X(][X(]

Joe M.

redbiscuits

My Feedback: (6)

Congrats on the maiden Joe, I love that gear on mine as well. It's worth the sacrifice of the extra weight IMO.
Gary.

JoeMamma

From what I remember the combined weight of both of the original landing gear wire sets were 7 ounces.

The combined weight of both of the Stearman struts was 21 ounces including a set of Carl Goldberg 3/16" axles............a big difference.

Plus, the fabrication (lumber/epoxy) of landing gear mounting for the new Stearman struts probably added a few extra ounces. Also, I left the old landing gear mounting in the wings (dead weight).

But from what I witnessed today she doesn't seem to mind the little bit of extra weight.

Come to think of it, every one of my planes seems to always come out 10-20% overweight ![X(][X(]

Joe M.

Brian Smith

My Feedback: (117)

Is Tower charging $80 shipping like they want to do with me on the 80 inch big stick? Brian

Charlie P.

No. Free if you are a "super saver" member. $9.99 to join, so that's the most shipping should cost - $9.99 ;-)

Brian Smith

My Feedback: (117)

I am a SS member. But they tried to charge me $80 shipping on a Big Stick yesterday and the Super Sportster is the same size box??? You Got me?? Brian

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

I flew mine with a Quadra 42 in it the first season. It was my first gasser and I thought it flew fine. Learned a ton with it! That winter I decided to put the plane on a diet, replacing the Quadra with a Syssa 30 and converting to a single receiver/ignition battery system. Plane lost 2 lbs. and to say the difference is noticeable is an understatement! At something just over 14lbs and the CG shifted to the rear the plane will land at a walking speed. Tail wheel first touch downs not unusual at all. FWIW

azalner

My Feedback: (8)

Brian

Do you receive regular e-mails from Tower with their SS specials & discounts. If not you are not a SS member OR they don't have your correct e-mail address on file. This is what happened to me.

Good Luck

Bert