oldsneakers

At the end of last year I managed to destroy my Escapade. I plugged in one of the aileron servo wires backwards when I put the wing on to fly. So I bought another one and just finished putting it together. This time I'm using T-bolt connectors which won't let you plug the servo wires backwards. I went with an OS .46 and a Dub-Jet muffler. I'm hoping to still get pretty good speed with shorter landings than my last .61 powered Escapade. I bought some vinyl decals to give it a different look.

Tom Nied

Still haven't flown mine. New Years resolution is , "more model flying". I should at least power up mine and run through checks in the backyard.

Yours looks great oldsneakers. Makes sure the hinges are secure.

jeffie8696

It should fly great, I flew mine with just a 36 and it was sufficient. I liked it with a Super Tigre 40 about the best. I tried many different engines on it, even a ST 60.

init4fun

Tom by all means try to get out and fly your Escapade this year , this is such a nice flying plane that it'll make that resolution well worthwhile

I have posted these shots of mine before and thought I'd post them again to give folks a look at an Escapade minus the decals and pilot . The OS 56FSa is a great engine for this , just powerful enough to fly the heck outta it , and not so big & heavy to cause the extended , high speed landing that most overpowered & overweight planes suffer from .

This truly is one of my all time favorite "grab & go" planes ....

tony0707

The best engine for the plane WB a 46 -51 size
A 60 will be to much nose wgt and will kill your final glide to the runway
To much tail wgt required to get a good CG balance
You cannot have a bad landing and call it a great flight
The boys are watching

You can see my Escapade in my galley on the left side of this post
Truly a very very good 40 size airframe as it flys very stable
Really good flying 40 size stable aircraft are not easy to find

My 40 size Midwest Ugly Stik ( a kit ) is one of my keepers in this size
Flying it for 20 plus years
The 40 and 60 size Stiks are planes that you keep and you wear engines out and replace the engine and re freshen as keepers in the fleet
My 40 size has been completely gone over and redone 5 times in 20 years
It now has a silk and dope covered wiing and i polyurataned the fuse as i cound no longer get any film to attach to the balsa any longer


Enjoy

Tom Nied

I haven't even taken a picture of mine. Why? Because it looks like everybody else Escapade with decals, pilot and a Magnum XLS .46. I even went to great pains to get the decals placed exactly as the box describes it.

oldsneakers

I really like the stock look of the Escapade. Those big decals look great. Great color scheme.

oldsneakers

With my superb landing skills I managed to miss the runway with my Escapade by about 3 feet yesterday. Landed in grass about 2 feet tall. In the past that was a sure recipe for ripping out the bottom of the plane when the landing gear went back. My friend showed me a trick where you use a dural type gear and attach it with break off nylon bolts. It worked great. Instead of hours rebuilding, it took me 1/2 hour to replace the bolts.

52larry52

My Feedback: (1)

Often on low wing planes when the landing gear "retract backwards" like that, the wheels poke holes in the bottom of the wing. How did you avoid having that damage?

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

He said:" With my superb landing skills I managed to miss the runway with my Escapade ".....it must have been his skill!

52larry52

My Feedback: (1)

Perhaps it was "superb landing skills", but I am leaning more toward just "dumb luck"!

oldsneakers

Good question. I do not know. The gear was about 6 feet behind the plane. And the wing was undamaged. Luck sounds about right. I've ripped the bottom out of quite a few planes so this was worth trying. We'll see on my next bad landing.

52larry52

My Feedback: (1)

sneakers, I was just messing with you with the "dumb luck" remark, but maybe the fact that the off runway grass was about 2 feet tall tore off the gear while the plane was not on the ground yet and gave you a pass on bottom wing damage. Don't know but maybe. BYT, I also fly a 40 size Escapade and love it, great little plane! Mine is Super Tiger 40 powered and for me it's just right. I do have a question for you other Escapade 40 flyers....the cowl cheeks on mine vibrated (prop is balanced) so I put a connecting rod between the two sides just below the engine near the front. That fixed the problem. The cheeks are very thin and I felt they would not last without tying them together. I used a scrap piece of control rod tubing with a small screw thru the cheek on each end of the plastic tubing. I've done this on another open cowl plane, also with thin cheeks. Any one else with vibrating cheeks (on the plane)? Other than the cheek brace mine is pretty stock with the decals not used as I like the plane Jane look. They are a fun knock around plane.

oldsneakers

Hey Larry. I put a small wood dowel between those two front panels. They vibrated and made an odd sound in the air before I did that. It is a fun plane to fly. I bet you're right about the landing gear coming off before it hit the ground. I was surprised how far away the gear was from the plane.

52larry52

My Feedback: (1)

Tower offers an optional fiberglass cowl for this plane. Maybe you're supposed to buy the fiberglass cowl after the cheeks vibrate themselves off the plane while in the air!

oldsneakers

I converted my last years Escapade to electric(just before I crashed it) and I used that cowling. You had to cut the cheeks off when using it. I don't know if it was meant for glow planes. It did look really nice. But I like the Escapade as a glow better. There's something about the noise of the engine that is part of the fun.

Tom Nied

Hey, I got out today with my Escapade 40 for her maiden, and it flies pretty good. 6 flights today. Needed a few tweaks to the elevator and aileron to get it flying level, but pretty stable. My Magnum XLS .46 also needed some adjustment. But it's pretty sound now. I'm flying with a APC 11/6, I might drop down to a 11/3 for better acceleration.

So my CG is at 73mm (2.87") and I am thinking of pushing it back another 12.7 mm (1/2"). She kind of comes in hot on the landing.

tony0707

Tom
i run an 11/5 apc on my 46-51 engines
should help your control on final to ground
always touch down in front of your nose and bring it to your feet
best look at what the plane is doing with that view
11/3 is to radical
you need to make your ajustment a bit less radical -small changes
bring some lead to the field and put 1/8 to1/4 oz on the tail and fly it until you like the way it flys
when you static balance on the CG you should be slightly nose heavy or you will come in to hot
if you balance level at the CG the plane does not want to come down
i like all my planes to be balanced so that when i hold a bit of elevator going around the corners the plane flys level

A perfectly balanced airframe will fly inverted with just a touch of down elevator
That last info came from one of the very best 3D pilots i ever knew
building and flying two cycle glo for 23 years more than most

happy landingd

tony0707

I have a 40 size Escapade for sale in central Florida that flies great
it has an Os 40 sf in it
a super user friendly engine
a great second plane
only needs a rec and batteries to fly
i will let it go for $180 as i am down sizing
local pick up only

you can see it in my Galley on the left of this post


Tony 1-352-560-7359

beachsideflyer

Tony, I wish I had read your post before ordering my Escapade today! I have a Saito SA 50 taken out of my reciently crashed Sweat and Low Stik that needed something to do. Hope the engine doesn't make the Escapade nose heavy and prone to nosing over on my clubs grass field. Anyone considered converting it to a tricycle gear? Do you have to fuel proof the engine bay on this ship?

jeffie8696

I flew my Escapade with at least five different engines including a 52 four stroke and I never experienced any nose over tendency. Its a very forgiving plane.

Tom Nied

Where's your CG set?

jeffie8696

It has been a while but I am sure it was set to factory spec. That plane died in a tragic air combat event during the air show.

airdrum

Hi All,

I am just about finished putting together my Escapade. Yes, this bird seems to stand the test of time. I am now going to go back and strenghten up some areas, hinges, expoxying wing halves together and strenghtening the forward wing notch area based on some recomendations on this forum. But the following has me stumped. The kit I have contains a firewall that has a left thrust and slightly tilted down. Slightly tilted down I get. What happened to the customary right thrust, like all my other planes. Am I missing something?

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Are you holding the firewall upside-down? i don't know if that is even possible, but I agree "Left Thrust"?????