I wanted to get some feedback on a new combination I just built, which is the Great Planes SpaceWalker ARF. This airplane seems to be a very well built, and a solid pre-manufactured kit which is very reasonably priced. I have added a YS.91 pumped four stroke engine with an expert glow system, and pull-pull rudder. Now that it is all together, I want to head for the field, but I would like some input from other modelers as to what to expect. I also wondered if I should add wire supports to the tail surfaces for additional strength?

I have this 'kit', and have flown it WELL over 100 times, with a Saito .91 and on-board glow. I did NOTHING AT ALL to bash the kit, even used the stock pushrods all the way. In a nutshell, YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE THIS A/C!! With the Saito, it won't climb vertically, but is certainly overpowered from a scale standpoint. You won't need to practice 'energy management' to do great loops, rolls, etc. With the surfaces set up at MAX DEFLECTION for AILERON AND RUDDER, and just enough LESS THAN MAX on the ELEVATOR to allow full pulls without a snap, the plane will snap and spin on command, and requires no adverse inputs to recover. In short, it's a joy to fly. I spend the evenings doing tight-circle-the-field touch and goes, until it gets too dark to see the thing. I've got the CG WELL AFT, almost 1/2" back from the rearmost CG mentioned in the manual and it still flies like a kitten. LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKE IT!!

- Mike

I have one also, mine is a year old. Has a YS91AC. No onboard glow. Have no need for it. Never have had a flame out. The YS has more power than the plane needs but it is a blast!

It will even fly knife edge but it needs a lot of elevator and aileron to do it. It is not pretty while in knife edge but it sure gets a lot of stares when you crank it into knife edge and hold it there.

Have not had a single problem with the plane. Not even the landing gear.

All in all an outstanding plane as are both of my Great Planes arf's.

Ditto the preceeding two posts! I also have the YS .91 and it has almost unlimited vertical with this engine. This is probably the most fun and relaxing to fly plane I own and the inverted mounted YS engine rounds out just about the perfect combination of airplane and powerplant. You will certainly enjoy this one. By the way--seal the gaps on the ailerons. Much better roll rate by doing this.

Sam

Hi, I also have the spacewalker with the YS 91 and love it but I developed a problem lately. The engine will stall after about 3 minutes on every flight. Could you give me some ideas about what I should check?

Thanks
Pat

What symptoms do you get when it quits? Does it sound like it's going lean?

A member at our field has one but he placed a Saito 120 on it due to the tail being so heavy. He used the weight of the engine to make up for some of the difference. It flies very well as he let me take it for a spin. He replaced all of the ffactory harware with 4/40 (IMA legal) and made several upgrads to the controls. such as heavy duty control arms, remote bell cranks etc....


Blackie

Pat,
The YS .91 I have is the first and only YS engine in my stable--however, I have 3 more on order-- a .63, another .91, and a 1.20. Have been so impressed with the present .91--the sound, the power, the throttle response, etc., that I thought I should try some of the other sizes. Anyway, I have about 2 hours running time on my .91 both on the bench and in the SpaceWalker and have had absolutely no problems with the engine. I own 8 Saito 4 strokes of various sizes and have had some symptoms similar to yours with them over the past year or two. The quitting in mid- run, if not due to fuel starvation (running out of gas), has almost always been due to overheating of the engine for some reason or leaning out due to me not setting the needles rich enough on the ground prior to flight. If I had held the plane vertical for a few moments before launch, I would have discovered this problem with the leaning out in the air. I fly by myself much of the time and it is hard to do this holding the plane up and operating the throttle routine with one person. Anyhow, I hope some YS expert will step forward and give us an answer as it may happen to me sometime. Did you change anything on your setup such as prop, needle adjustment, cowling change, etc. since it ran well?

Sam

I just noticed I have air bubbles in my fuel line that goes from the front of the engine to the back. I have to change all my fuel lines to see what happens.

Sorry I can't answer your question ChinookPilot, but maybe this bump will snag a knowledgeable guy for you...

....I'm also considering the Spacewalker with a YS 91 for my next plane....My wife said she liked it, which is a license-to-buy where I come from......but.....

....Read a few posts somewhere re: wing incidence (sp?) and how it should be 0 degrees but is actually 3 degrees.

In realFlight sim it is zero but the actual ARF is set to 3 degrees. It flys great in the sim at zero until you make the incidence 3 degrees and it climbs woefully (as I remember the thread).

Also, the guys at my field say it is a wonderful plane but is so lightly wing-loaded that it floats forever upon landing. One of the fellows got it in a flat spin and couldn't recover (a level IV flyer).

I am coming back to the hobby after 10 years, so I consider myself a newbie.

I want this plane badly but if there is any stock in these reports, I am not advanced enough to handle it.

Can someone shed some light on these issues for me?

My wallet is open with the wife's blessings...what more could a man ask for....?

-dave-

You will love this plane. Very forgiving. Very easy to fly. Lands very well.

Mine has a YS91 on it and it is an outstanding combination. I usually fly fast aerobatic planes but I am in love with this one. Very relaxing yet is fully aerobatic.

It would be no problem for someone who has worn out a trainer.

I find it flies very much like the Realflight simulator version.

Thanks, Rex!

Those are the words I was hoping to hear!

I'd better start clearing off 79" of horizontal bench space!

-dave-

If you do not have the plane yet you will be impressed with the construction when you open it up. It's sad for me to say but they built and covered it much better than I could have.

I also have the spacewalker with a saito 90 twin cyl in it and it fly's real well.

Thanks, Guys! Well, it looks like the Spacewalker is sure getting good press!

It sounds like you fellas just assembled it and flew with no mods. I guess I should forget about the wing incidence “problem” as it sounds like it isn’t reality, or, at least insignificant.

Did any of you feel it necessary to beef-up the firewall or ‘glass the wing root? How about the supplied hardware! Acceptable quality?

How about the hinges? CA? I sure have a rough time with those. The GP website FAQS say to hinge both the control and fixed surfaces at the same time, i.e., install the aileron/rudder/elevator as it will be and CA with them together BUT….

…..The Spacewalker manual which I downloaded and printed says to do one side at a time ---- install the hinges in just the aileron, CA them and then install in the wing and CA that half (???).

I’ve only built five planes (four from kits, one ARF) and I’m not very good at it so any suggestions to get me on the right track would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! -dave-

Dave,
Be sure to CA the control surfaces with hinges installed in both surfaces at the same time. That is for example, the ailerons should have the hinges installed dry into both surfaces at the same time and the CA applied while holding them in close proximity. Put about 3-4 drops of glue on the topside of all hinges; turn the wing over and put about 3-4 drops on the bottom sides of all hinges. Watch how well the CA soaks into the hinge slots and that will give you an indication of just how many drops to use. When the wicking action slows down, they are about saturated and you should stop. I deflect the control surface to its usable maximum while keeping it tight against the fixed surface and hold it there while applying the CA. This will give the minimum usable gap spacing for the particular control surface. Most of the time I also seal the gaps on the ailerons to insure maximum effectiveness in the air. I generally to not seal the tail feathers unless it is a really aerobatic model--seems to be no need to. Another way to set the gap while hinging is to push a t-pin through the middle of the hinge so that when snugging the control surface up to the fixed surface you will end up with a pin's diameter of gap which most of the time is about right. This way you don't have to flex the surface to it's maximum thus making it a little easier to hold in place while CA'ing the indivudual hinges.
I also re-drilled the main wing hold down dowel holes in the forward fuse to correct for the overly positive wing incidence. If you will drill the same diameter hole exactly below (towards the belly) the existing ones about 1/4- 3/8 inch and fill the old ones with pieces of wooden dowels and epoxy, you will very much improve the climbing tendency at various speeds. I fill little wing-fuse gap that this creates with self-sticking wing mount tape. This cushions the wing where it meets the fuse and fills the gap.
Hope this helps.

Sam

SAM! You've come through for me again!

THANKS! What a guy!

So, in effect, one lowers the wing incidence by lowering the wing-mounting-dowell holes in the fuse. Makes sense to me even after a Mt. Gay rum after dinner!

Thank you, thank you!

I keep doing the SIM and changing back and forth between one degree and three degrees wing incidence and it it frustrating as the one degree incidence flys so well.

Thanks for setting my mind at ease.

You know, the older I get (55), the harder it is to click the buy button......I want it, I can afford it and I'm not going to be vertical too much longer with my lifestyle, so why not? My mind thinks it should be buying food instead of airplanes, I guess..... :stupid:

That's the plane...no doubt....

I want it.

The heck with the food....I'd rather be happy than full....

Thanks again, Sam!



-dave-

What ChinookPilot had to say is perfect and I didn't learn it at first. A lot of the arfs don't tell you to put the CA hinges on like that. It makes it so simple and I have never had a problem. I try to tell everyone I can about it. I have the spacewalker with an OS .91. I haven't flown it yet, but after reading all the post I can't wait. My only concern was the landing gear. I was concerned that a hard landing might cause the wheels to bang into the wings. Sounds like no one has had a problem with that.

I had one with an OS 91 Surpass. I could kick my own butt for selling it. The only thing I changed was to put 440 rods on the control surfaces and had to extend the muff to get outside of the cowl. This is a fine airplane. On calm days all I had to do to land was point it at the runway and chop the power. A little flair just before touchdown was all it took. I recently got a third scale and I hope it flies as well as this one.

I have one that I bought used. The previous owner said it is assembled stock. I'm using a OS91 now but I have an old YS91 that I may try on it. I replaced the stock landing gear with aluminum gear mounted just in front of the wing to make it more stable on the ground. It flies great and I love it. It flies slow, making it easy to stay ahead of, but it is capable of some nice aerobatics (although with considerable "coupling" which is probably mostly due to the wing dihedral). I have flown knife edge laps around our field with it. It flies upside down with zero down elevator to hold the nose up.

I wonder how it would fly with no dihedral? Could be a real blast.

:idea:

You guys are killing me! LOL

Have found but one guy that didn't give this plane a five star rating as he said "it floats too much" on landing.

I'm at the point of decision......have been considering putting a new Sport Jett .76 on a Chipmunk or a new OS61 on a US60 and then the Spacewalker is in there, too.

Just worked-up the damages for the Spacewalker + the YS91 + servos + harness/spinner/batts....... Thank goodness I have a new JR 53MHz receiver and lotsa CA!

I'm going to mull it over for a day or two, go flying Friday and see just how bad I am.......

....From all your kind posts, I'm fairly confident that the SW will be in my hanger.

Thanks again to all.

I want to give a big "thumbs up" to the Space Walker. The only thing I never liked was that it felt under powered with my OS FS 91 4 stroke. I just installed a TT 120 and I'm very happy. I didn't change anything, just reinforced the fire wall
Jeff
No plane, no gain

Did any of you change out the wing tips? The stock ones look rather flimsy.

Don't worry about the wing tips they are fine the way they are. I did string a piece of .032 wire between the gear, to keep it from spreading.This worked out fine This is a great airplane!!!

I got the SIG decals for their 1/4 scale Spacewalker II and got the N number as well as the Spacewalker Logo and a few other things. Also added the red on the verticle. Cap'n Eddy is in the cockpit.