Hey Folks.I am new to the board..just wanted to say hello.

I am going to build a Great Planes Pete N' Poke Sport 40. Ihave never built a plane. I do assembly work for a living though.....I have thought about it for ever and just bought the kit.

I did see a pete n poke thread or two....any suggestions,words of advice would be gratefuly appreciated.
.

Thanks

Bernie
from Gloucester,Mass.

Welcome to RCU fishtown boy. Allthough I have the kit, I haven't started it. It's a very cool looking plane and should be powered very well with something like a Magnum .52 fourstroke if your on a budget. Hope you start a build thread.

Welcome to RCU! Looking forward to the build

Welcome to RCU. If I remember correctly there are some build threads on your kit in the kit building forum. Just do a search there, add to the post that you are now building one yourself and you should have a lot of help and a big following. It's really a fun plane to fly and a nice kit to build.

IMO the most important tip is reinforce the cabanes (main struts). I drilled small holes and inserted 1/16" rod with a little epoxy. A little tri-stock in the corners won't hurt. If the struts aren't reinforced, at some point the joints will likely fail, the wing will part from the fuse, and the "Poke" will instantly transform into a lawn dart. It's any easy modification and well worth the effort. The other thing I did was to reinforce the motor mount by adding a piece of aircraft ply to the mount. I used the mounting piece provided in the kit as a pattern. The reason was that over time the blind nuts will start to pull through the softer ply provided in the kit.

Having said all that, the "Poke" is a great flying plane, you will really enjoy it.

DaveB

P.S. mine was a little tail heavy when completed and I had to add a little weight in the nose, so make sure the balance is right before the maiden.

Thanks for the welcome and info.

Dave B. is right on with both of his comments.

You'll see the results when the wing separated from mine as well as my input on the tail-heavy problem on one of those Kit-Building forums.

Mine is now my oldest, still-flying plane and I bring it out every time I go flying.  It must have over 100 hours on it, and it's still great fun.  It's not too pretty anymore, but hey, it flies great!

Good luck!