I am going to look at some used planes and radios this week and was looking for some experience with a slow poke with a 25 size 4 stroke.

I was told it is 3 channel. Would you recommend flying it this way or changing it to ailerons.(if posssible)

This is for my 10 year old. He has flew a bit on the trainer and I was thinking of picking this and a 40 size trainer up for him with a 6 channel radio for a really fair price. If this is a second plane that is fine as he would get the trainer anyway.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Del

I have the smallest Slow Poke and flew it for a while with an O.S. .15 two stroke. This was not enough power for me and remember having to tack like a sail boat to get it back against a stiff head wind. My next engine was a .30 O.S. four stroke. This was much better but it still didn't have enough power for my tastes. Now I have a Saito .40 in it and this combo roars right along. It will fly fine with the littler four stroke though. Mine has ailerons.

I have built 2 "Slowpokes", 1 as the 3 channel as designed, and the other with ailerons. Both were powered with the O.S. 26 4 stroke engine. Regarding the aileron version, I changed the wing design considerably by duplicating the root end ribs and maintaining the wing shape from root to tip. Wing tips were carved from a solid piece of balsa. The center section was shortened and the dehydral (or is it polyhedral?) was reduced to 1-1/2" if memory serves. The aileron servos were built into the wing similar to most modern wing designs. In summary, when completed, the wing was built so that it was very similar to the wing design of the "Slowpoke 40". It's a very good flier and will perform basic aerobatics, but keep in mind it is slower than a lot of planes on the market, in other words a slowpoke (LOL). There is considerable extra work in changing the wing, but for me, it was worth the effort.

I prefer it over the 3 channel. The 3 channel did fly well as designed, but IMO the wing was a little fragile at the tips.

DaveB

I would leave it a 3 channel if it's for your 10 year old. The polyhedral wing allows for slower flight with less tip stalls . It's almost like a short powered glider. I'm not quite sure how ailerons would work with a polyhedral wing. It seems to me that they wouldn't have a whole lot of effect. I'd turn 'im loose on the 3 channel for a while till he gets the hang of his own plane, then graduate to a trainer. He gets good with that, make the Slowpoke aerobatic.

I converted one about 4 years ago. I put large barn door style ails on the inside toward the fush. It works fairly well and is not to difficult to do. The engine is an OS 26 fs which is about right for the plane, flys well (and still does).
The plane went to a 10 year old for x-mas, he had some trainer time and fell right in with this little plane, He is now a very accomplished flyer and into IMAC, etc. still enjoys the Slo-poke from time to time.

Attached are pics of the Slowpoke wing after modifying to include ailerons.

DaveB