Does anyone like this plane? I have one ordered , but since then I have been reading alot of bad reviews. I want to put snow skis on for winter time. I picked this plane because of the thick leading edge. Thought it might have more drag and slow quicker on landing.

If you havent started building yet, send it back. It is an awful plane. I had one that I had to replace all of the hardware including the landing gear and motor mount. I had to cut the aileron arms off and install servos in the wings as there were no busing on the horns and the balsa quicly gave way, letting the horns flay around. The incidents were way wrong. It flew best with four popsicle sticks under the trailing edge of the wing, four washers under the top left motor mount, none on the bottom right with some under the other two corners, to give it a slight bit of right and down thrust. I had to use four oz of lead screwed on the bottom of the motor mount and this is with an O.@ 52 four stroke mounted on the long Dubro aluminum mounts. It flew with about 1/4" down elevator to fly level at mid range, but on flare out on landing, there wasn't enough up elevator to get it to settle in right. I bought a spare wing and found that it, not the orginal wing, had a different airfoil on the tip of one wing than the root of that half had. I could see a couple ribs where the rib was 1/4" away from the bottom sheating. The covering was awful. The fuel tank split open. After fighting it for a few months, my instructor tried to save me from running into a power line when I lost it on approach for landing, and he hit a wood rail fence. He felt bad and I was happy to be rid of that one. Send it back.

Don

Don, Ihave already started building it. Ihave noticed that the engine doesn't look to have enough right or down angle when mounted.I have to say I'm not impressed with the hardware. I'm going to try to make the best of it for now.Don't think I'll buy another Lanier though.I'll let you the results in a few weeks. Thanks for the tips, looks like they might come in handy!

Good luck, Deathtrap. Hopefully this build article at the AMA Sport Aviator website might have some hints or ideas for you:

http://www.masportaviator.com/ah.asp?ID=53&Index=0

A few other things you may want to do.

I made a nylon bar that I used as a coupler to couple two rods for the elevator. Basicly a squae stick about 3x the square size. I drilled and tapped three 2-56 holes. The center one went to the servo and the two outter went to flex pushrods for each side of the elevator.

After a trunk crash, my flight box fell over on the tail and broke it- long story, I added 1/2" cord to the elevators. It helped the poor response at landing speed.

I replaced all the CA hinges with dubro pined hinges

After one hard landing, the main landing gear mount broke loose, It would be a good idea to add some re-enforcements around it. I used 3/8" square balsa epoxied in place in front and back, and over the sides.

I added a second layer to the wing hold down screw piece and then drilled and tapped to 1/4-20 and used nylon bolts vs the little steel bolts supplied

I also put a servo on each aileron, replacing the center servo and torsion links. I greatly improved setup.

The three photos are the Explorer after a take-off stall, it's battle with the fence, and after making the new fuselage. The new design flew well. Sure sad I lost it.

Thanks, Bigedmustafa.The building pictures helped alot, because the manual with the plane is useless.The author seemed to like this plane.Maybe he works for lanier.We'll see! THANKS

Campgems, Good suggestions! I have a feeling I'll be needing them.I put the servo's and push rods in a few minutes ago.I've ,never had a model that used this twin elevator set-up , looks like they would have just joined the elevator halves together physically and used a single contol horn?.I have an eagle 2 that I fly from my backyard & I love it. When you look at the two there's no comparison in quality.I also just read that lanier bought out carl goldberg. Looked like the fence won, THANKS

The elevator push rod on mine had one side about 3/4" longer than the other. The rudder push rod didn't have any threads on either end so both went into the trash. The rudder push rod also hung on the rear bulkhead. You might want to check out yours before you get to far, just in case you have the same problem. I used golden rods in place of them and I Y'ed the elevator rods at the servo end. That worked out well.

Don

My .02 take it to your closest swap meet, get what you can and but the Tower Hobbies ARF. I love mine. I have sold most of my first planes, but i will always have that one with me.

Thanks to you all for the help. This is a great website. I'll let you know the results of the first flight, hopefully soon!

Before you head to the field, go back over everything with a critical eye. Make sure your throws are set correctly. Set up your elevators for more throw than the manual calls for. Make sure all the screws are tight. Put a drop of CA on the screw holding the horns in place. Make sure your motor is tight to the mount, and the mount is tight to the firewall. DON"T overtighten the bung on the tank. That tank splits really easy, and what a mess to repair. After bench running a tank of fuel, checking the servo action under power, go back and check things again. Make sure you have the CG correct. Get an instructor to take it up the first time and trim it out. Fly it till it breaks and the fix it and fly it again.

It is easy to overlook getting something secured down correctly in the rush to see your plane in the air. It almost cost me a new plane today. I forgot to put thread lock on the ball joint stud on the throttle arm, and it came loose soon after takeoff, sticking full open. Not the best way to wring out a new plane, but it came through OK. We just waited for it to run out of fuel and then came in for a dead stick. It ate up about 7/8 of the runway before touching down , but no harm done. Tomorrow.

Don

Campgems, The angle on the main landing gear looks to be about 60 degree's. The plane sets up to high and the wheels are close together.I'm thinking about taking them off and trying to reduce the angles and lower the nose gear.If not ,I think I'll order some new ones. Didn't get to work on it tonight.The wife wanted me to put my 5 year olds terrordactyl race car set together. I messed with it for 3 hours and gave up. He yelled for me to come look at it about a half hour later, when he fixed it. Think I'll ask for his input tomorrow. THANKS

Deathtrap, don't mess with the main gear, one or two firm landings and they will be spread out. Forgot to tell you, keep a supply of props on hand. I had an O. S. 52 four stroke in mine and I used the APC 12.25x 3.75 props. They pulled like a tractor and you could slow the plane down nicely. After two landings, they were usually down to 11.5 x 3.75 and some smaller. I think four is the most I broke in one day. The landing gear is mushy to say the least. Anything other than greasing it in and the prop would kiss the runway. OH yes, the plane is somewhat top heavy and it wants to tip over on a sharp turn and it also doesn't like a side wind when taxing. More than once, it ended up on its back when a gust (less than 10mph) got under the wing and flipped it. Limit the nose wheel movement to about 10 degrees. It doesn't look like much, but it is really all you need. Our runway is about 50 ft wide, and you can do figure eights in the width of the runway with that little travel.

Another thing is to make sure the rudder and nose wheel are pointed in the same direction. Engine not running, radio on and neutral sticks, push the plane on the tarmac. It should roll straight. Watch for a bit of cross wind when doing this so it skew the taxi a bit. If you havent done it yet, I would put a Dubro nose gear on before you fly the first time. With the stock gear, the wheel set to one side, and almost every landing twisted the nose wheel in relation to the rudder. Once I went to the Dubro nose gear, I never had to play with it again. Once you find the right location for the stearing horn, grind a small flat under the set screw. It helps keep things from moving.

My grandson is four. Last year his dad came in and found him on the PC. His dad had put a password on it to keep him from playing with it and he hacked his way in. Mike asked him if it didn't ask for a password and he said yes, but he didn't know what it was so he said no. Windows 98 network really doesn't want a password, to bring up the system even though it ask for one. It didn't take the kid long to figure that out. My instructor was telling me today that he managed to get one of his grandkids to solo in just a couple hours of training. I've been at it for over six months now and I'm "almost" there. These kids today!

Don

hello campgems,it only took me 2 years to get back to you ,sorry . I put the ski's on the explorer and said i wasnt going to take them off untill it snowed. so i hung it up in the garage untill it snowed and the wind wasnt blowing 100mph.2 years later i finally got my chance. so my only flights were with the skis on and that was probably the funnest flying ive done yet. actually i thought it flew pretty well, i guess i was expecting the worst.you were right about the gas tank splitting also .now ive putting a lanier husky 106 together almost done with it . remember i said i wasnt going to buy another lanier? I ate those words, hopefully i wont be sorry.just wanted to let you know the outcome like i said i would thanks for your help. talk to you later thanks .... deathtrap

Glad you got her in the air.

I said I'd never buy another ARF or Lanier, but I've now done both. When Tower was having a close out on Lanier, I picked up a Laser 200 1/4 scale kit. It's still in the box. After crashing my second 4*60, I was hurting for something to fly other than the trainer, and the other planes needed a few days repairs on them, so I bought a Phoenix Fun Star. I hated it. Three flights on three different days and all ended in near disaster. The covering was clear yellow and if I got anywhere near the sunny side of the field, it turned into a yellow glow and I couldn't tell the orentation on it. After the third flight, I completely skinned the covering off and recovered it with some colors I could see, White, Teal, Red, Purple. It has become my main plane now. It is really easy to land. If it wasn't for the prop, you could catch it like a glider it flys so slow. Nice little plane once you can see it.

I've got a couple more about ready to fly now. I built a Great Planes Super Aeromaster bipe. I finished it a year and a half back and haven't got up the nerve to fly it yet. Getting close though. I've also rebuilt my Ruperts dad after a battery going open on me and left the plane doing big lazy circles for it seemed like for ever until it finally lost enough altitued and hit a bush and broke the wing. I ended up with a warped aileron that I have to straighten out prior to it new maiden.

I killed my explorer prior to soloing. My instructor and I managed to hit a fence made from rough cut 2x8s and really messed up the fuselage. I built a stick fuselage and used the Explorer wing and tail. It was a tail dragger. Man what an improvement. I really liked that plane, but one of the guys shot me down and it went into the creek bed behind our field and it was about four months before one of the guys found most of it. In the mean time, I built a clone of it. I had a spare Explorer wing and I built a second fuse to go with it. by now, I was flying with a O.S 52 four stroke. Just after getting this one flying I built a 4*60 and I ended up soloing with it. It only lasted me a couple months and I totaled it out. Shortly after that, I totaled out my clone. That holds the club record for most enging pieces after a crash. I destroyed the O.S 52. The only thing salvagable was the prop nuts and parts of the carb. One of the guys at the field had a 4*60 that someone had started but screwed up the wing on and we did some horse trading and I had it in the air for several months. I screwed up in a good wind oneday and miss judged air speed on a down wind leg and stalled it out and lost it. Then came the phoenix fun star.

This hobby has become an addiction I think.

Don

Me too! Every time my wife see's me on the computer she ask me what I'm buying now.I bought the husky on sale for 400.00 and put a fuji ei2 43cc on it and bought the futaba 2.4ghz for it.waiting on servos now. I put some 6" rubber wheels on it to make it look more like a bush plane. now i,m going to have to find a bigger place to fly .guess it never ends.My uncle had me to order him one last week. I got him the tower trainer 40,super tiger 40, and hitec 4 channel laser for 200.00 from tower.he works on the river barge and he called me a few minutes ago and said he was on his way home. he wanted to know if i had it ready, maybe well get to try it tomorrow.i think ive got 9 planes hanging in the garage as of now. sure is alot of fun though!

don, that reminded me of something when you said phoenix. My dad flew planes as long as i can remember, he always liked mustangs and chipmunks. he liked building planes and built alot of planes for others guys he flew with.I always liked sitting in the kitchen at the table watching him build them at night.anyway, one of his buddies had bought what i would call an arf and i think it was called the Dolphin. it was made of plastic or pvc and had edges or seams all the way around it that you glued together with epoxy. two halves for the fuse.I thought that was the ugliest thing i ever seen. the fuse was also curved like a dolphin i guess.dont think it flew very good either. I was only about 9 or ten but i never forget that thing.anyway i thought phoenix was the name of the company that
made it.This was probably around 1981 , Im guessing ,just wandered if you ever saw one?