WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS BUILT THE GP SKYBOLT AND WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS KIT.

I just restored my 9 yr old GP Super Skybolt! This plane is terrific! It's not an easy build, and the plane is a little heavy, but I have a YS 91 AC on mine and it goes like crazy. And it does the best inverted flat spins I have EVER seen a plane do!

Skybolt Update

Took the old Skybolt out for it's first flight in 5 years this afternoon. It's been updated with a smoke system. Still flies like a champ, and I still say it does the best inverted flat spin I've ever seen! Woo Hoooo!

I just finished building one...it's quite an extensive kit to build, and I hope you love sawdust Here is a good link to a friend that posted his progress:
http://members.rogers.com/ctatham/skybolt.htm

He just flew his and loved it!.....Mine is almost finished covering, and I threw a Saito .91 in it...

THANKS FOR THE LINK. I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN BY [ LOTS OF SANDING ].
THE PLANE LOOKS GREAT WHEN ITS DONE. BUT GETTING THERE MIGHT TAKE LONGER THEN I WISH. IF I WAS GOING TO BUILD THAT LONG, MIGHT AS WELL BUILD A WAR BIRD.

The plane literally took me about 2 months to build working many hours a night...the wings aren't that bad, but the fuse is quite tedius (but looks like a million bucks when you're finished). If you are used to building kits, than it wont be that hard. Great planes manuals are pretty precise. It sure turns heads at the field....

phillco, Wings easy, fuse a little difficult, especially cabanes...build it!! covered my fuse in charcoal, wings deep red and trimmed with gold trim sheet...O.S. 91 4cycle....this baby will do more tricks than a monkey on 20 ft. of grapevine.. flown four years , and is still a thrill.. build it!!

A note to you guys that have one of these...

First, adjust your rudder travel to the MAX. (So that it almost touches the elevator at full deflection)

Next, get ALTITUDE! Then do a 1/2 loop to inverted and point both sticks to the antenna (Full power, full right rudder, full down elevator, and full left aileron).

If it is balanced right, after about 3 revolutions, this baby will go into a flat spin that will make your flying buddies drool!

Then just release the sticks, and it will nose down and pull out.

BUT!!!

While it's cool to watch, pull out early until you get an idea of how long it takes to recover!

HELP!!!
I have a GP SuperSkybolt. My problem is the top wing keeps coming loose on the struts and the where the wings hooks to the fuselage at the wires. Any help appriciated to fix my problem. The plane flies great. It has about 30 flights on it.
Thanks
Flyer-2

flyer-2,

Is it coming loose at the end struts as well as at the Cabane?

Did you build the struts correctly? With the little locking wires?

I can't imagine how it can come loose at the cabane (center) as the wing slides on from the front, the air moving over the wing HELPS to hold it on.

Can you elaberate a little more on the problem?

Hi, the wing is moving up and down on the wire. It's not sliding back. It's mainly at the fuselage mount. I have put new brass bushings in. It helped for 1-2 flights, then the wing will have abou a 1/16 of an inch movement up and down. Any help appriciated.
Thanks
Flyer-2

Are the brass sleeves moving? They must be, I can't see how the cabane wires could move inside them. Are the brass sleeves epoxied in with something sandwiching them, or are they just epoxied into the groove and coming loose?

If you were able to remove the sleeves in the first place and replace them, they must not be epoxied into the mounts. The ones on my Skybolt are very rigid, and I doubt that they are going to move. The wood that the sleeves go into is a hardwood, I cant imagine it expanding.

By the way...

Here's where you can DL some videos of my Sky Bolt with smoke

http://12.31.143.32

Hi. I did not epoxied them in i will do that.
Thanks
Flyer-2

Holy S**T! You're lucky your wing didn't fly off.

Check the instructions, It's been 10 years since I built mine, but I think there's supposed to be a block of wood epoxied on top of the brass tubes too.

I bought one of these kits untouched off an ex club member six years ago, and it still lives in my magic cupboard (where kits, new but dusty from the years, enjoy protracted hibernation awaiting my patient hand and exacto knife .... )

I bought a fibreglass cowl and spats for it! A Saito 100 sounds ideal too ...

Now, how do you Guys who have built this elegant 'craft access the tank? The instructions show something bizarre here, I recall rubber bands(?), and the tank being inaccessable! :stupid:

Any pointers?

fiery

Fiery....Although this is a beautiful plane, and a fantastic performer, it can be complicated....the cabane connection is too involved and difficult to get"just right"..be sure the wire snaps on the interplane struts are deep enough ,they tend to pop out if not...Yes, the tank area needs some different thinking, sealed tank compartments are ALWAYS the one that leaks... but finished and flying, the results are worth the effort, rivaled only by the Ultimate IMO......

Hmmm. Interesting, I had NO problem with the entire wing attachment, althiugh my dad did with his. But then, (I hope he doesn't see this...) he was never known for following directions (HIS way is better!) LOL

Minnflyer: Building the wing was not really a "problem", just took a lot of building..IE: soldering the cabane wires, attaching the small brass sleeves in the wing to match the probes on the wire, then attaching a wire lock to hold it together... I do enjoy the challenge of building...built my first model in 1938 from a .10 cent kit..., then in WW2 moved on to things with two and four wings....

My wings went together with very little bending of the wires. With all they hype on this and other sites, I was dreading that the most. Thank goodness that it went together rather easy.

That's true... While it's not the most difficult thing I've ever built, It's definately NOT a good "First Build".

WOW ITS AMAZING HOW MANY SKYBOLT OWNERS THERE ARE OUT THERE.

Phill, that's because they are the prettiest aerobatic biplane out there (IMHO)!

Thanks for the reply Eugene. Is your tank accessable?

I'm distracted with building a Balsa US Bristol M.1C kit at the moment (LOTS of cutting, gluing and sanding) but I think my Skybolt kit will be next year's project.

fiery

Fiery; I built the kit as shown on plans and instructions...if possible, on other kits, I always can manage an access panel to the fuel tank..however , on the Skybolt , I sealed the tank in a sandwich bag, checked the front tank connections carefully.....and hope for the best...no problems so far