I heard about problems with the GWS E-Starter's tail, and that it breaks easily. How would I fix that? Also, what kind of battery/prop would you reccomend for the plane. I'm thinking of buying one, and would like to know of any mods/ideas. Also, what kind of area would you reccomend for this plane, and how does it handle wind. Some people say it can handle wind pretty well, while others say you need a better battery. Thanks for your info.

Al

I have an E-Starter and I did break the tail after I had a rough landing (a very rough landing where a tree walked into the middle of my runway). I just epoxied the tail back together and it has been fine ever since. I have landed this plane roughly a couple of times and have broken some foam here or there but it always epoxies back together. I got tired of the tail wheel breaking so I got rid of it and made mine have nose gear instead. I have had no trouble since then.

As for its performance in the wind, I would say it is just okay. It can handle up to about 10 mph for a pilot that has had a couple of flight on it. If you take off and land into the wind, as you should, it will fly correctly. Once it is in the air, it will zoom across the sky with a tail wind but it porpoises a bit heading into the wind. The E-starter will almost float to a landing in a nice steady headwind but can become a little unstable in cross winds coming in for a landing. I never really had that problem with my GWS cub for some reason.

I use a GWS 1080 prop and 7.4 volt 1200 mah li-po battery. It flys nicely and climbs well with this setup. I can fly for about 20 to 25 minutes with some throttle discipline. Its a great trainer and taught me alot about landings and ailerons. Hope you have good luck with yours.

Oh yeah, as far as an area, I fly mine in a field in a park. About 600' by 400'.

I learned my lesson with foam planes on my second plane's (GWS Funny Park) destruction. I now have a GWS E-Starter that I fully covered with clear packing tape and glued the entire plane together with a hot glue gun before the first flight. It flies very well, even in minimal wind. And to my astonishment, will sometimes bounce like a rubber ball when crashed. Have never had any problems with the tail breaking. I also use a 1080 prop, but have found that a 9070 works well too.

Tip: If you try this: go easy on the hot glue so the plane doesn't get weighed down.

Note: The difference is when epoxy hardens, it is very brittle and breaks easily, while hot glue hardens to a flexible state and can leave surprising results.

How did you make the nose gear? Have any pics?

The kit comes with two black plastic brackets for the landing gear wires. With the tail dragger, only one is used. All I did to add nose gear was to install both brackets in the two slots that are in fron of and in back of the battery hatch. Both are there for the addition of floats. Then I bought some music wire of the same guage as the wire that the kit came with for the main landing gear. I bent it so it fit into the brackets just like the main gear but I modified a couple of the bends so it allowed me to have a single wire come down from the bracket.

I used a gws 51 mm wheel from a P-51 that I destroyed. I painted it black but some of that is rubbing off now.