GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Well here we are.

The first post of hopefully a helpful thread about building, setting up and flying the Great Planes 1/4 scale Patty Wagstaff Extra.

The Patty Wagstaff Extra is an awesome value and will open up the door for ALOT of people to step up to gas. That means there will be lots of questions about the installation and setup.

There is another thread that is well over 5000 posts long and tho it has alot of good info in it... has become a rat's nest of off-topic mush and made the thread all but useless. If you want to join a "club" then that thread is for you. But I'm willing to bet that MOST people don't have time or interest to sift thru the sensless drivel to find the occasional precious bit of info.

If you want to request information or share your ideas on building, setting up and flying this sweetheart of a plane, then you've found the right thread.

I'm not a moderator, but I can tell you that if this even STARTS to get off-topic, I'll report it to a real moderator until it's cleared. I would like to see a thread that shows installs of different engines, routing of pushrods, balance settings, smoke installs, etc.

With that said... welcome.


<RCadmin: edit to add resource panel>

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

I got my Patty a week ago... some overall remarks on the plane are:

Well built, tho light and not overly sturdy. Having went thru the hardware contents, I can say the only thing I didn't like was the CA hinges. Now GP certainly knows what they are doing, but I have my own reservations about CA hinges on a plane this size.

I opted to use Robart Hingepoints. I placed them in the same locations as were slotted for the CA hinges because there was some hinge blocks installed at this location. however, I did double up on the two ends of each aileron by putting 2 hinges about 1" apart in the slot.

Here's a diagram of setup:

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

I chsoe a ZDZ 50 because of my good experience with my first gas engine... a ZDZ 80.


Some people ask about the rear carb design (which also is used on the DA 50... It;s not much more difficult to setup, once you now how.

here a re a couple pics showing the firewall cutout and the pushrod routing.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Pic #2

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Mordib - Thank You ThankYou Thanks... I am in on this thread, I completely agree with you on the "big one" - I commented on your Robart install on the "other " thread however I used the 3/16ths hinges and used 5 - in the slotted locations - I am assuming that will be enough? That ProBond is great stuff - even filled the slots where the CA hinges would have gone, I also sealed the top and bottom of the hinge line with some Monokote. I plan on using the 1/8th in. hinges for the stab and rudder how many would you reccomend on those surfaces?

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

The Patty is a very light built plane... because of that, do NOT skip the hardening of the screw holes that GP reocmmends... the wood (even where you screw into liteply is lite grade and just won't provide adequate holding power.

So while it's a pain to remove the servo and 4 screws you JUST put in... DO IT... it needs it and there's no room for shortcuts on this plane.

Why settle for "probably good enough" when you can kick back when it's done and think... "I nailed it.. this thing is the best work I've done yet."

It will go a LONG way in giving you confidence in the air too. If anything DOES happen, you know it won't be because you rushed thru the assembly.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

ASAT,

Since I was using the 1/8" I opted to double the ends... I think that will help, but as you said the ProBond is awesome and will fill in the gaps.

I did the same on the rudder and elevators too... Tho again with the bigger ones, you shuld be just fine with one each for the slots.

I plan on sealing the surfaces too...

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Arent the 3/16 too big for the elevator? I was planning to use the 1/8 in. cause they wont need that big ol' hole - are the stabs/rudder big enough for the 3/16ths??

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

I have to agree and enjoy sharing experiences with others hopefully to be of some help and get Ideas myself so, I am reposting over here about the hatch work that I had to do because I snapped her nose off. Had to glass it back on from the inside so here's what i did. Hatch on the bottom.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Hatch is hinged in the front and screwed shut. While I was at it , I moved the ignition and it's batt. into this newly available compartment to redistribute some weight and move the ign. box into a safer environment.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Another shot with hatch partially open.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

While I was at it, I added a hatch in the back for my rec. batt.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

The batt. is attatched to the back of the hatch.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Ram - great job on those hatches but .... why did you need that battery so far back? Thats a BME 50 isn't it? I was planning to use a single rudder servo on pull pull with my DA 50 - am I gonna need tail weight?

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

The engine is a F.P.E. 3.2. Bumped my head on the way to buy my tank and got a 32 oz. I fly twice between fillups and still have a reserve ( 15 min. flights) but needed to move the batt. back about 4 in. from where it was. Couldn't get the tank on the CG.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Aha - That esplains it!!

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

I have 4 servos in the back and still had to move the batt. to the aft fuse.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

you're right... I used the 1/8" and didn't think anything of it...

I would then use double at the root and tips of each elevator halve, same for the rudder...

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Ram3500


AWESOME work on your hatch... they look designed for the plane.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

I see that I am not the only one who thinks that this plane is nose heavy. I have done everything that I can to move the weight aft.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

I just bought a Patty from my LHS

The plane didn't come with a manual...is there somewhere where I can download one?

The plane also has 4-40 rods and metal clevices in the pushrods...is that what came with the ARF? Are they enough to withstand the flying stresses?

I have also done a little aerial video from some planes and the way that this canopy is made makes me want to put my little camera in there and take some video! Its shielded from the wind and under the canopy is easily accessible. I'll have to see how she flys first, but it sure looks like a good canidate for a camera.

I must have gotten the early models because I have the cardboard wing slot and mismatched canopy paint. The paint doesn't really bother me and I was lucky enough to get the cardboard already sanded by the previous owner. They said that it was almost impossible to get the wing tube into the wings.

Heres a pic of it just after being waxed.

The plane overall looks beautiful, and it is quite large. Its near the size of my 29% Edge.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

You can downlaod the PDF manual here:

http://www.greatplanes.com/manuals/gpma1305-manual.pdf

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

I've been flyin' my patti for awhile and I've notice it's developing slop in the stab tubes. Now the stab assembly is loose and I'm worried about flutter. Has anyone had this problem? I'm probably going to glue the hole thing together.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Geistware, I've been flying it a little nose heavy and it did fine on most things but the damage gave me an excuse to try and move some weight aft. I hope to improve things like blenders and their flat spins, harriers, and knife edge loops. I'll post exactly where the CG winds up with these mods as soon as I can. Rolling circles, and all other knife edge stuff has been fine with 7% mix to the wings.

RE: GP Patty Wagstaff - Building & Flying
 

Some guys are using a thin rubber spacer between the root of the stabs and the fuse... like wing saddle tape or some such thing...

A fella might try a couple layers of electrical tape trimmed to fit.. This will help draw them tight against the fuse