lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

here's my next victim....lol. this is a 40 scale lanier explorer trainer that i won on ebay. i've got a new futaba flight pack w/battery on the way for it. a tower hobbies 46 will power it and i'll probably start with a 11/6 prop. it's got trike gear which i'm not thrilled about. i could probably fool around and convert it to a tail dragger but.....whatever...we'll try the trike and see what happens. so far the workmanship and parts are good quality and have been going together nicely. still in the early stages but it's coming together. it's always nice to start a new plane project.......and even better to fly it. "chow"

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

I started on that plane and am now flying an evolution of it.

The plane out of the box needs different landing gear, espically the nose gear. Get a dubro nose gear and put it on first thing or else you will be fighting steering issues. The stock gear bends like a paper clip and there isn't enough turns on the spring, so the front wheel is about 1/2" off center with every thing straight. It's install a new gear, or buy the props by the dozen.

Second bash I would do is to make new elevators, about 3/8" to 1/2" wider than the stock, scratch the 3/8", 1/2" minimum. At landing speed, there isn't enough athority with the stock elevators.

Wing incidence is off. Get some popcicle sticks and build a three high platform under the rear wing hold down screws.

Speaking of the hold down screws, deep six the blind nuts and the little screws. Drill and tap the block for 1/4-20 nylon bolts.

Other than the hardware that comes with the kit isn't so great, that's it.

I totaled my fuselage on the top rail of a 2x6 board rail fence. From there, I built a new fuselage, on the stick design and lengthened the wing to rudder length by two inches and then added 1 1/2" between the wing and firewall. I also made the plane a tail dragger. I had fun flying that one, until I lost it to the creek monster. I had a spare wing, so I built a second and was trying to learn inverted flight and, well as they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words.

Now with a good fuselage and no wing, I scaled down the 4*60 wing and I am ready to test flight it Monday. I love the way the 4 * flys, so I'm hoping this latest evolution is as good.

Don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

I bought this plane,and I'm still flying it.
The plane is real tail heavy, I had a 40la ,
moved the battery (nimh 1250) under the fuel tank.
Added ton of lead up front and a steel nose cone.
Still tail heavy...
Took off the 40la and added 46ax,took off some lead weight,
still using steel nose cone.battery still under tank.
now it is balance out and flys pretty good,FAST.
I have no problems with anything else.

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

Ditto on the tail heavy. I had an O.S. 52 four stroke on the dubro viberation mounts which really put it out front, and I still needed 6 oz of lead under the engine to balance it out.

It must be the wood. I have never seen balsa so hard. When I built the 4 * scaled down wings, copied the D tube construction of the Explorer. I used some Bass wood from an old set shutters I tore out of the house for spar and TE material. I was afraid it was going to be to heavy, but the new wing weighed in 8 oz less thant the Explorer wing. I would have bet it was going to be the other way around. One thing about the hard wood, it does take a beating. That fence, the first one, was just to much though. The wing only needed a small repair though.

Don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

thanks for the posts guys......good luck on the test flight , campgems.......i'll let you know how this one goes. great advice for the explorer too. it's nice to see othere pilots share experiences with the plane that you're planning to fly. a little insight goes a long way. radcom....i too am using a 46 engine. hopefully i can use your guidelines for the balance. the review said this plane flies slow because of the thick wing L.E. i fly a 40 scale cap 232....i know what fast is..lol i'll keep you posted. "chow!"

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

making progress on the girl...she's taking shape. need ca hinges to put the ailerons on. gotta make another order from the tower. throttle arm on the engine needs to be replaced too. $1.79 for that....woohooo! it's gonna break me...lol

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

looks like alot of people have had this plane and did not like it. the nose gear stunk...the wing incidence is off base...the control surfaces are too small...the fuel tank splits at the bung hole..i dont know man...there's alot of issues with this thing. i'll have to keep my fingers crossed i guess. i'll have a report soon.

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

I forgot about the fuel tank. It may save you some head aches if you replace it now. The trouble is that you will have to carve the bulkheads as they are cut to fit that tank. It may be over tightening of the bung, but mine did split and dumped a full tank into the radio compartment.

There isn't anything that can't be fixed with the plane, but it is a challenge.

Don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

maybe i'll just hang it on the ceiling and forget about it.

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

bobrev06x,
If you've got it this far you might as well fly it.

Ken

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

oh i probably will........just wish it were drawing in better reviews, thats all. it's funny...a guy in our club wanted to buy this thing from me. he's still pretty much in the learning phase .i decided to do it up myself and i havent told him yet. his plane needs to be stripped down and repaired but he doesnt have the room/experience to do such a job so thats why he thought he'd like this one. after reading all the junk on this model, i think we'll both be happier that he didnt. at least at first. maybe i can do the neccesary mods to this thing to make it handle ok. it's a good thing i like a challenge now and then...thats all i can say. maybe , if i can manage to keep this thing in one piece until i get it ironed out, i'll have him try it. "nothing's easy!"

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

If you have a bit of experience flying, it won't take long to get it ironed out. It's kind of like raising a kid. If you work through each problem individualy, they don't seem so bad. However when you get them all dumped at one time, it sounds overwhelming. Take them one at a time. Your kid may be different from mine.

I hadn't flown a plane in 30+ years and I managed to be able to control this one sort of OK. Every time I hurt it, it was my fault, with the exception of the fuel tank. The wing is tough, so if you crack up the fuselage, let me know and I'll send you the napkin plans for my replacement for it.

Don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

it's a deal, don...and thanks alot. it'll be fun flying this beast after all thats been said on here. it's funny because, i read an article on this plane somewhere....some kind of review....and they said the thing was ok. the guys who did the testing probably work for lanier....haha. anyway, i'm still waiting for the flight pack and alittle bit bigger tires for our grass field. after that...."let the games begin!" look for future posts. this thing has got to fly better than that duraplane that i fixed up. we shall see.

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

What doesn't?:D

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

lol...bruce. it's the "dura----brick!" funny flying little thing. challenge city.... i cant imagine a newbie flying one of those things either.

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

ok....i got my items from tower today for the explorer.....that ups guy....he's always right on time. i got a futaba flight pack w/nicd. i did up the wing first and ran some throw tests....she looks pretty good. i got the high and low rates set up and some expo dialed in. the throttle arm on the carb is junk so i had to order another one of those...should be here tomorrow. all the servos are in and the rudder/nose wheel are good to go and the elevator as well. i'll balance her up as soon as i get the throttle linkage hooked up and we'll see where the battery and receiver have to go. hopefully i wont need lead any where but, we'll see. then it's time to fire it up and see how it runs. i'll do that out in the garage....check for fuel leaks and anything else that might pop up....one never knows. so anyway, she's not a bad looking plane.....they always look good right out of the box. the covering job on this model isnt really the best that i've seen. hopefully, i can get the bubbles out of there and pretty her up for the big day...lol....probably be a while with this darn weather we've been having. it's supposed to snow again thursday 3-6 inches...what the heck? did anyone tell ma nature that it's spring????? she's a brat

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

Plan on adding some lead. I needed four oz under the OS52 four stroke. Don't be tempted to use one of the brass spinners, it add to much load on the crank.

I had to spend a couple hours with the heat gun getting the covering presentable. I found that if I used a strip of blue masking tape, I could lift the covering where it was stuck to a rib and that let things work out a lot better. Watch the covering, it doesn't change colors like Monokote so it is kind of hard to tell when you are about to blow a hole through it. I did manage to get it to look OK though.

I've had a marthon week, rebuilding crashes. I'm good now for two more before I get out the glue again. Speaking of balance, I forgot to check the balance on the 4* after splicing the fuselage back together. Got to do that before morning, just in case the weather is OK for flying.

Snow?? This time of the year?? We may get a bit of rain tomorrow, we really need it as we only got about 20% of normal this winter. We've been here going on eight years and we've only had one "normal" rain season, all the rest have been below and this last season was really bad.

Don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

yeah don, snow...can you believe that? right now, it's wicked nice out and tomorrow, they're saying snow. 6 to 10 inches is the last estimate. it's rediculous. i knew i shouldn't have taken the floats off the duraplane...darn it all. haha.. anyway, i did throw the explorer on the C.G. machine this morning before i left for work. it is a bit tail heavy. probably like you said, 4 ounces or so. i'll stick the battery under the fuel tank and put the rx up there somewhere as close as i can. i might throw a 2 ounce spinner weight on there. i had one on my other plane and it seemed to work ok. you think it might be too much for the engine? it's a cheapo tower 46 2 stroke. i might pass on that anyway, might be able to balance it without it. i know it would be better not to put it on there. oh yeah, that covering is awful. actually, the wing looks pretty good compared to the fuse. bubbles everywhere. i tried to take out a bubble with the heat gun right on one of the black windows and it shriveled right up on me. so now that looks like crap but it's under the wing so it's not too noticeable. i found that while heating the covering, when the bubbles start to grow.....i pop them and press the air out and it goes right down. this method is a little warm on the fingers but it comes out good. i'll have to try wearing a glove or something when i start doing alot of them. so yeah, she's getting there. but tail heavy for sure on this one. sitting here looking at it, i notice the distance between the te of the wing and the le of the stab is very long. maybe why it's tail heavy. dont know. i'll get it though......she'll be fine. the book calls for 1/4 inch deflection on the ailerons. i have way more than that but only in the up direction. actually down is more thaqn 1/4 as well but up is more like 3/4. is this normal? i'm sure it'll be ok. it's just a trainer. i really like the size of the control surfaces...they're big compared to some i've seen....except the rudder looks a bit small. the rudder on my cap is huge and man, it really moves the plane when you give it some.

well, good luck with flying if you go. and hopefully you wont have more repairs. i hate it when that happens. i just fixed the bottom of my warrior 60. our field is very rough from the frost coming out of the ground and when i came in to land last weekend, one of those damn bumps jump up and ripped my main gear completely off...haha. oh man. .but it was a really clean break and an easy fix. seems like there was very little glue in that area. very common for a cheap e-bay arf. i got it all back together with epoxy this time and shouldnt have any more concerns with that area. i used better and thicker material as well.

well don, be safe and happy flying. send some pics when you can. here's a pic of the warrior. this thing is fun to fly. and big...so it's easy to see for these old eyes..lol

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

If you need some encouragement, bobrev06x, you might check out the review by Francis DiNovio at the AMA's Sport Aviator website:

http://www.masportaviator.com/ah.asp?CatID=1&ID=53

He also wrote a second article describing flying the Explorer .40:

http://www.masportaviator.com/ah.asp?CatID=5&ID=55

You didn't let us bother you too much from restoring the Dura-brick, so hopefully that same tenacity will see this project through! Is having a knack for restoring bad airplanes a good thing or a bad thing?

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

The aileron throws are another thing I worked on. I found that the torsion bar link was bottoming out way befor the aileron reached full travel. I used an xacto knife and lengthened the slot that the arms came through. That gave me another 1/4" throw in the down direction. A while later, I was having jerky response on the ailerons and discovered that the torsion links were slopping around in the wing and I would use up 15 degrees or so of servo movement before the aileron would start to respond. At this point, I changed over to two servos, one in each wing. I used a jewelers saw and with a fine hole next to the torsion rod bend where it left the wing, I cut the rod off. I was then able to pull the end out by removing the aileron and then pulling out the rod. I made a servo box in each wing.

I ran each wing off it's own channel to get a bit better tunning on the ailerons. I could have gone flaperons but there isn't really a need. This is the best mod I did. It smoothed out the ailerons and overall the flying of the plane. The first photos are of the mod on the half wing that I have left. The last is what the finished linkage looks like on the replacement wing I built.

I got to fly a bit this morning before the wind came up and blew us away. I about wiped out again. I was trying to do the left roll and the plane got a little out of sorts and when I pulled it out, it came over the pits, but high. I lost sight of it turnning and when I found it, I had made a U turn and lost almost all the elevation I had. I came back over the pits at about 10 ft elevation. I pulled it up and then went dead stick and managed to get it back on the runway with no problems. While I was refueling, and getting my nerves calmed down, the wind came up so I packed it in and called is a day. Lots to think about re-hashing today.

Don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

hopefully, this explorer will be ok....better than the durabrick. lol. i just got an email from our club president...speaking of the durabrick......he wanted to know if i could put the floats back on it so we can fly off this snow that we're going to get. he said saturday's weather is supposed to be decent and wants to fly. here in new hampshire, they're forecasting 5 to 10 inches of the white stuff for thursday (tomorrow). who would think? this is april for cripe sakes. "snow...go away!"

this should be a good flying plane once i get the bugs worked out of it. very good links bigedmustafa...thanks.

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

and thank you too campgems for those awesome pictures of your mods. very nice work on the servo box. i may try this same thing if i decide to keep this plane but probably not until next winter. i've got too many other planes to fool around with. i'll fly this thing the way it comes out of the box and we'll see what happens. right now, i've got it sitting on the C.G. machine and it's telling me it needs weight on the nose. about three ounces should do it. i'll mount some lead in such a way that i will be able to easily add or remove as the plane becomes more comfortable to me. after i've found the balance that suits my flying style, i'll burry it inside and out of sight. my aileron throws are a bit of a concern as well. they dont want to travel down as much as i'd like them to. as you said, the material needs to be trimmed back some but i'll try it like this first. i have a feeling i'm going to be asked if i would sell this plane anyhow as soon as the newbies at our field see it go. it would actually make a good plane for one of them if i can get it to fly decent.

sounds like you had an interesting flight at your field campgems...i'm glad you got the plane back home. we're probably going to try flying off the snow saturday. man, the last time we did, our take offs were very hair raising indeed. hopefully we wont have a repeat performance. wish us luck....and thanks for the posts

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

Even though I would never go back to snowy weather (grew up in Michigan and lived upstate NY), I somewhat envy you having a building season and a flying season. We end up doing both all year long. Especially this last winter. We only had a dozen days or so where the weather wasn't fit for flying. Today, there was only two of us at the field and I had the only fixed wing. Wind calm to 5 and more contrails than clouds. We finally packed it in at 11:30 and the wind was comming up to about 10 to 15 right across the runway. I had a good day. A dozen take-offs and landings with no major DTA's (dumb thumb attacks). Next trip out, I hope to get my solo signoff complete. Every time I read that "Joe" soloed after three or four flights, I feel really dumb. I've gone through three planes, and eight months of flying, crash, build/rebild, fly, crash, etc.

Flying off the snow must be hard. I remember from trying to ride trail bikes in it, that you loose prespective of the ground really easy. The white seems to smooth out the lumps that are really still there.

Good luck

Don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

wow...i'm glad you had a good day and you had the place to yourselves....those are perfect conditions for sure. so thats pretty cool, you have to sign off on the solo deal. when i was training last fall, it was myself and one other guy plus our instructor. he was training both at the same time...it was a really fun time. ..but he had his hands full, thats for sure. the por guy, he couldnt even fly his own planes very much because we were always there nagging him to take us up. i think i was on the trainer box for like a month or so and finally bought and assembled my own trainer and brought it to the field. after fixing the c.g. to make it flyable, my instructor took it up. the thing went really good. i had my own trainer box and chord so we used my stuff and it was so much better than the club equipment. we did the buddy thing twice and on the third try, he let me do the take off. he said "here we go, now what are you going to do?"...i replied.."i'm going to throttle up slowly until i get the plane where it's straight and steady and then to full throttle and ease back on the elevator and climb out at 25 degrees, bank left and throttle back when i get to a safe altitude. so i took over as he watched. it was picture perfect and every take off has been the same...so scale looking... he's like..."well, i guess you got that down pretty good"..."you nailed it". look at me ramble on here. enough of that business...haha.

so anyway, we're going tomorrow and fly off the snow with the float planes. i put the floats back on the duraplane 20 today and balanced it up. the battery is cycling now and she'll be ready to go. i have a 40 engine on the thing..it's got plenty of zip with the 10/6 prop. i could probably put an 11/5 on there but i'm too lazy to change it. besides that, i've flown this thing already off the snow the way it is and it goes awesome. the best thing about the snow covered field is, your runway is "everywhere"...it's a riot...land way over there somewhere...taxi around a bit and take off again...land it over here..holy crap....it's endless fun. i cant wait.

well, i'm going to put my radio on the charger now i guess...(futaba 7cap)....i should probably cycle that battery a couple of times too. i think i will. i'll fill you in on our fun tomorrow or sometime don...hopefully have some pictures too. have a good night and a fun day tomorrow. "lets fly!" you guys have super weather out there...it's not fair. i'm coming out to see you. here's a pic from our last snow adventure. there was barely enough snow to take off and land on. we've got plenty of it out there now. they say there's another storm coming for sunday into monday.....what the heck? see ya i hope we stay away from those DTA"s. hahha. i'll have to remeber that one see ya don

RE: lanier explorer.....here we go again
 

well, we flew off the snow today. it was terrible for us guys with floats. the snow was very sticky and wouldnt let the plane get up to speed. for a smooth take off. our club pres. was there with his and he was smart enough to wax the bottoms of his....but mine went like crap. it dragged and dragged and finally when it cut loose, it shot almost straight up....what a handful. one of our female members had a kadet with skis. that was definately the way to go. i'm ordering a set of skis for my next adventure off snow. still fun to get out there and fly. here's some pics.