RCU Forums - 30cc Slipstream Sbach342

I recently took a chance and purchased a 30cc Slipstream Sbach342. I was looking for a 30cc plane to put my Syssa SAP180 in after recently destroying my beautiful Monocoup in a crosswind takeoff (but that’s another story) and stumbled on Slipstream. Money was a factor. I am aware that there are a couple of high-end Sbach’s out there in this size with lots of CF, etc, but the Slipstream came with everything was surprising good deal at $349.00 shipped. It was one of the better decisions I ever made. The Slipstream Sbach342 proved to be of very high quality, extremely easy to assemble, and best of all, everything fit just like it was suppose too. Now if the wind will just stop blowing [:o] I can stop typing and go out for her maiden flight. :D

OK, let’s get down to some particulars.

Hardware: the plane comes with HD Dubro-type hardware that was completely suitable for the plane and worked fine. It included control horns, pushrods, clevis, ball links, etc. I did change out all the Phillips head screws for allen head type screws and used Pro-link turnbuckles in place of all pushrods, including throttle, mainly because I had them and love them. I also changed the tail wheel to a Sullivan. The plane came with one of those funky cheap bent wire tail wheels so common on this size plane.

Covering and Canopy: the covering job was pretty good, but badly wrinkled. It did prove easy to tighten it all up with my air gun. The covering seemed to be of high quality and once she was all tightened up she was gorgeous. The plane came with one of those huge pre-printed stick-on decal sheets that was just OK, but does add nice “bling” to the covering job. The canopy and hatch was pre-assembled and fit perfectly. The canopy is lightly tinted. The removable turtledeck goes all the way to the firewall for easy access to interior. I put a piece of black covering across the bottom to hide the interior. Doesn’t look bad.

Airframe: Everything was straight, fit properly and went together easily. All hinge slots were precut and all blind nuts preinstalled. I did have to sand one side of the horizontal stab just a bit to get a perfectly level fit. The control horn holes were not predrilled. The support blocks felt pretty soft when drilling the holes, but I CA’d them after drilling and everything seems solid and fine. The only thing I was a little disappointed with was the fact that the elevators only used one servo and a wire “U” to control both sides. Access to rear area without messing up covering would have been difficult or I would have installed two mini digital servos and controlled elevator halves separately. But this is a smaller plane and I don’t think the wire U bracket will hurt a bit. The engine box is very small. My Syssa 30cc is a very compact engine and just barely fit, otherwise major modifications would have been needed. This plane’s nose area is fairly small (flat and skinny). I also had to have the engine stick out a little farther than I wanted to keep from having to hack out a bigger carb hole in the firewall. But it all worked out as you can see. The engine box did include a cutout for the throttle servo that was positioned perfectly for my engine, so that was a sweet surprise. The landing gear and wheel pants were a joy to assembly. Everything fit perfectly, holes and blind nuts already drilled, very sturdy. The gear does feel very light and soft so I figure a couple of bad landings will bend it easily; but then it should be easy to straighten too :).

Electronics & Switches: The plane is equipped with A123 batteries for ignition and Rx. Is using a Futaba 2.4ghz system with MPI Rx switch and Duralite digital ignition switch. Servo’s are Hitec 5945’s all round. There are not a lot of solid wood surfaces on this plane for mounting things like switches; but I found that the spacing between some of the fuselage stringers perfectly fit my switches so that dictated were they were located. The fuel dot is located just behind cowl in the only spot I could find big enough to drill a hole and support the dot.

PS: Forgot one one thing, the manual is useless. One of those "Plane Assembly For Idiots" manuals with nothing but pictures. But, the fact is, this plane is so easy to assembly that if you have put together a few ARF's, you don't need it except for CG!

The plane weighs 10.2 lbs RTF.