garywi

My Feedback: (3)

Done training, and have a second plane, Big Stik 60. Now I want to gut my trainer, and put into a 3rd plane. I don't have the best vision, so need larger planes, say 60 inch wingspan or greater. Looking for a plane that can take my OS MAX-46AX, and has 60 inch or greater wingspan.

I have narrowed down the Seagull Spacewalker or J3 Cub from Great Planes. Who likes these planes? Is there any other planes I should consider?

Thanks!!

Gary

aussiesteve

They're both excellent models, We have both in our hangar.
If you can handle the Big Stick you can handle either of these

Go with your heart - do you want high or low wing?

I personally prefer the Spacewalker out of the two - It's very predictable and I think it will let you recover from a lot deeper trouble than the cub and it's an absolute breeze to handle close to and on the ground. I use mine with a Saito 82 in it as my "Lazy days" plane.

For your poorer vision, I've found that the color scheme on the Spacewalker is also very easy to read.

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

I don't have any experience with the Spacewalker, but the GP 40 size Cub is great for tootling around, flies great,and the .46 is enough power to even fly it with floats. There's three or four of these in our club, and the guy who has our lake site flies his with that exact engine. I have an 80" H-9 Cub on floats, we "formation fly" a lot, looks great. His is Navy Blue, mine is yellow.

garywi

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks! Since I had a high wing trainer and Big Stick is high wing, it may be time for me to fly a low wing tail dragger. I have read that some think the MAX 46 is too small for the Spacewalker. I most likely will never buy a 46 again, so want to make sure I use this one on the right plane (with a large wingspan).

Thanks!

aussiesteve

The 46AX should power it just fine - use an 11x5 prop and it will work quite well.

My Saito 82 rarely gets above 1/2 throttle when I fly mine - it's airborne in less time than it takes me to push the throttle to full - I only use that size motor because I had it spare and wanted to annoy the teenagers by outflying their "sports models" with an "Old peoples" plane. Whilst it's nowhere near to being either a pylon racer or combat plane, Its excellent to outmanuever them when we are "playing". Because it's so stable, I can pull all sorts of crazy stuff on high rates (where I have as much throw as I can possibly get) and when I take my thumbs off it sorts itself out.

garywi

My Feedback: (3)

Ok, I am sold. I will get the spacewalker. What else do I need to complete, that does not come with it? I have radio, servos, engine,etc. I know I need a pilot figure, but not sure what size! I want to get the blonde with the big boobs....

Gary

dischu

I own a Spacewalker from Seaegull and fly it since 3 years. I use a OS 70 Surpass in mine. This is more than enough power.
I never had a problem with this plane.


Dieter

aussiesteve

For the pilot figure the choice is really easy
the one with the BIGGEST Boobs of course.
Actually I think they come with the pilot figures nowadays - one male and one female.

I rarely use the clevises that come with the kits and am fussy about what control rods I use. The largeish surfaces on the tail could possibly overcome the control rods if you are going fast - I make up my own rods by using some normal wire rod and putting a length of small carbon fibre tube on it then filling it with CA - you end up with a rigid yet light rod.

Having said that Seagull tends to have reasonably good hardware with their kits and i know a lot of people that have built many of them and just used the standard hardware and settings.

All the usual stuff like servos, battery pack (I replace mine every year or so just for insurance) and switch (I rarely use switches from one model to the next - especially as the old model has usually been crashed) I prefer to use a switch with a charging jack built in for simplicity. You will also need a couple of servo extension leads to allow you to remove the wing without having to access the receiver each time. - Depending on which version of Spacey you get, (Some had a single wing servo - the later ones use 2 wing servos) and whether or not yoou are using flaperons you may also need a "Y" lead and a couple of 6" or 12" servo extensions.

Like most ARFs these days the kits come complete with pretty well everything you need.

garywi

My Feedback: (3)

OK thanks. This has a cowl right? Do I need any fueling accessories or fittings to get through the cowl, or does this come with the arf? What about a muffler? Will my OS MAX 46 look bad or do I need to get a pitts?

Thanks!

aussiesteve

Yep - I use Fuel dots because they are a neat and simple way to do the fuelling. Another flier at my home field just has a joiner in his fuel line on the outside of the cowl - it works for him.

I have a Saito in mine so I just use the standard muffler. I don't worry much about how the muffler looks - Try the motor on its mount and see how it all looks - if you prefer to go with a Pitts muffler - go with it - I think that the newer versions of the Spacey have the motor mounted at an angle instead of completely inverted in which case there may be some difficulty getting a Pitts style to fit in.

I am also of the school that doesn't install wheel pants - Saves punching holes in wings if you ever managed to tear off the landing gear (Which I haven't managed to do on this model).

Oh yes - and follow the recommendations on control surface throws - they look like small amounts of travel once set up but they do work pretty well

GWILLIE

My Seagull Spacewalker flies great with a Fox 45. It comes with 1 male and 1 female pilot figure, one for each cockpit. It is a dream to land; just floats in very nice and predictable. I also use all the provided hardware except for the clevises and engine mount. I use Dubro clevises with the metal pin and keeper and a Dave Brown mount. The surfaces on the supplied mount are not true and I don't like the clamping idea; I bolt the engine to the mount.

Spend extra time around the cowl and make sure you have lots of cooling air going in and COMING OUT! Make sure you can fill the tank without flooding the engine. Make sure you can adjust the high and low speed needle valves with the engine running. Any time you save around the cowl in the workshop, you will quadruple at the field!

flashingred

My Feedback: (2)

Garywi,

If you want a nice flying third plane, try a Sig Something Extra. The ARF is easy to assemble, is top quality material, and it flys great. Your OS 46FX will do a good job pulling it thru the air. I have built several from kits and three from ARFS. I have not seen a bad one yet. If you fly off grass leave the wheel pants off and use a biggger wheel.

Another nice aeroplane is the Sig 4 Star 40. It too is a tail dragger and aerobatic. Not 3D but standard pattern aerobatics.

Just my $.02 worth.
What ever you get, just fly it and enjoy it.

Flashingred

Fastsky

If you don't mind the "different look" the Sig Midstar is a great flying plane. Can be very fast with a 46 at throttle but slows down and lands easy. Flys better than the 4* and is more aerobatic. [8D]

mikekosatka

My Feedback: (7)

You'll enjoy a low wing plane more. I have the Cub with a Saito .65. I never fly it... it's a boring plane, and you'll see 6 just like it every where you go.
Just my opinion.
Happy Flying!
Mike

PLANETIME II

My Feedback: (21)

been reading these forums in antisapation of the seagull spacewalker getting off of backorder, and the comment from aussiesteve about the teenagers made me laugh. I will be 50 this year and one of my favorite planes to fly is my kadet with a 70 surpass, not a fire ball but so sweet to lazy around with. A new flyer all of 13 years old waits for me to land then breaks out his 3d plane and puts it through the paces, he was an excelant pilot !!! After a show of hovering inches off the ground, he asked how I thought the plane flew...... I told him, well I think if you moved the CG back a bit it might fly level !!

road_hog

You know I had a space walker one time and i loved it. Got me to thinking i would like to have one more. LOL i mite have to see they are cheap at the LHS and i have the radio set up for it and engine.

Delta3

I have a Seagull Spacewalker on the bench, just needs some holes drilled in the engine cowling and its finished, the plane came with 2 pilots so unless things are different in the uSA no need to buy extra pilots. If you want to get a new pilot and you have daughters, swipe one of their Barbie dolls and cut her in half, does the job just fine. Make sure you ask permission though or you will never hear the end of it. Lucky I only have sons or I would be in no end of trouble