Hi all-
Please help. I am helping a freind with a GP Slow Poke and it is extremely tail heavy, to the tune of almost 1lb of lead on the nose. I know the SlowPoke is usually slightly tailheavy but is this normal?
Please Comment!
Thanks all-

unfortunatly yes it is normal, My brother has one too, I asked the same question when he got his and what I found out is people have contacted GP and they said that if they made it so it so the CG was better the longer nose would take away from the looks so they don't plan to change it, My brother started with a 32 on his a switched to a 46 so he could take some lead out and that 46 put a NOTSO on the SlowPoke.

Dauntae

As long as the all-up weight is within reason, adding a lot of weight to balance the model is not out of line. Some of the WWI and WWII models take horrendous amounts of weight to get them to balance because of their very short noses.

bax

I found the same problem and I hated the thought of all that lead in the nose. I considered using a larger engine as mentioned but I'm glad I didn't because even at 4500 feet and with an OS25fp the plane will fly fast enough to be out of it's character. The best trade off I found was laying the battery flat and vertical against the back of the firewall then adding the lead under the engine to get the max. leverage and reduce the overall weight. Did you add ailerons? I found mine to be fairly limited as a flyer, got it inverted a couple of times and almost didn't have room to get it rolled back over. The ground handling is a blast and the slow landing approaches are cute though. I still found myself becoming bored with it. I considered putting ailerons on as an after thought but heard a lot of concern about using ailerons on a short polyhedral plane. Then I built a set of skis for it, just for the mains and left the tail wheel like a tiller. It found it's calling! A little more wing loading and a little pendulum effect of the skis and it's a blast. It will fly off of 4 feet of powder snow no problem. I go out on fresh snow and it handles so well on the ground that I'll write my name in 30ft letters in the middle of our flying field. So now it's my Winter plane. Take care, Cliff

Thanks All!
We've got the battery moved all the way up to the firewall, and will just keep shoving lead in that area underneath the engine.
Thanks for all the advice!

I forgot to ask what size it was, The one my brother has is the SlowPoke 40 The one CLBetten has is the smaller one with no ailerons, A 46 in that one would be insanely overpowered, A 32 would be a better match for the smaller one. Never the less lead will be needed because slowpokes are all tail heavy.

Dauntae

I had been warned of that so I put a real firewall with an ajustable engine mount so all I needed was a brass hub nut to achive balance. I also put a real landing gear on it because everyone was bending the wire ones.

The kit is the small one - he has an OS 25 on it.... I agree, I have heard of some with a .46 on it, and that seems just crazy for a so called lazy flier.
Kitbasher - I thought about putting "real" landing gear on, but as it is so close to the CG, I figured the added weight would cancel out the benefit of the ever so slightly forward CG gained by the added weight. IE- less weight total weight is required if it is placed more forward. I do see what ya mean about the landing gear though.....
Thanks again all!

Mine is a 40 sport size. It has an Enya 45 on it which is a light engine at 15oz. but it is not too much power. GP airplanes are way too heavy . Most of my planes are Sig or something I cut my self so they are usually lighter. I have seen one with an OS 70 on it . The 40 size my say slow poke but it flies about like most 40 size sport planes. Most fun fly planes will fly much slower. It is cute like some of those Lazy type airplanes. Even if you add a bunch of weight be sure to get it balanced far enough forward so it wont be crazy to fly. I thought I might build one of those Slow Poke park fliers. Now that looks like a bunch of tooth picks. Good luck with yours mine now has about 50 flights on it . It is a Little hard to fly in much wind especially landing in a cross wind.

See this is a big plane

Afarid of weight? well.....i added a 2.5 oz heavyhub on the front of a O.S. .61 FX and had the battery stuffed in the nose, now thats a lot of weight, once it was ballenced rite, it flew great, good luck with yours.