I'm sure this has been covered before but I can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Pardon me for asking again.

I've put a couple ARF's together, WM SkyRaider II and a Seagull 300 Extra. The SkyRaider is on its 3rd rebuild and I've had a great time repairing it.

I'm looking at building the Great Planes Ultimate 40 Bi-Plane. Although my flying skills need more practice being in the sport a little over a year, I feel confident I can fly it with
the help of my local club.

My question is, Is this the right plane for me to start with on my first kit build? I enjoy the aerobatics and would prefer something along those lines. I welcome all recommendations you might have.

Happy Flying,

Mark

Hi havac,

I'm sure you would be well able to fly this model with assistance, although small bipes do get small/hard to see quickly and always make sure you have power on until certain you have the strip. That said there isn't anything overly difficult with this build but there are two wings to build warp free and set the incidence. If you have a builder in your club willing to help you I would say go for it. If you are on your own with the build even with all the help you may find here and other sites I would suggest something like a SIG 4 Star.

You may find Paul's site of help.

http://airfieldmodels.com/


Good Luck,

Colin

Crash,

Starting up in the hobby again after a long break since the 80's, the GP Ultimate was the second kit I built. The first one was the Sig SE.
The SE definetly is an easier build, however, the Ultmate is not hard either. The parts don't fit as nicely as the laser cut Sig kit, and as havac21 pointed out, you have two wings to build and the incidence to set up. Neither of which is hard, just takes a little more time to get right and you need the right tools.

To me, the hardest part was getting used to the orientation of the Ultimate when flying. Since the wings are rather short, it appears more like a box in the sky and in the beginning I often found myself unsure of the orientation.

The Ultimate is a great flying plane and I don't think you'll have much problems with it.

Good luck,

tychoc

Here;s my 2 cents worth. The Goldberg Cub. Easy to build, easy to fly, and you cand build an extra clipped wing for aerobatics.

I must admit to having not built that particular kit...I am, however, working on my 3rd biplane of some sort, and was, not so long ago, a new kit builder myself. So, this post is more "general building tips" than it is specific to that kit. These are, essentially, a few things I've learned along the way, and while they by no means represent a large pile of knowledge, they might help ya with your first build.

1) Glue has weight. It is, in almost every case, nothing short of surprising how LITTLE glue of various types is needed to effectively bond two surfaces. Obviously, how much is needed, and how long it should be clamped/pressed/held together depends a great deal on the type of glue and surfaces being bonded. However, it is WELL worth your time, imo, to spend a couple of days experiementing with various types of glues, joints, and materials to find out just how little you can get away with. It may SEEM like a trivial detail, but just a couple extra ounces of glue per wing panel makes for HALF A POUND of extra weight on a bipe. That's significant on ANY plane, and HUGELY so on a small 40-90 sized aircraft.

2) The secret to a bipe build is to take the time to be EXTREMELY precise in everything you do, particularly the wings. Obviously, this is true of any aircraft, but I've found it to be doubly so for bipes. Given their very nature (bipes are DRAGGY airplanes) their slow speed performance is frequently "touchier" than most planes to begin with, and ANY flaw (improper lateral balance, warped wings, incorrect incidence angles, etc) tends to be exposed during that phase of flight.

3) Sand everything, sand it again, sand it one more time, and then sand it. Smooth, clean, precise fits and surfaces not only increase the strength of your model, but present a much cleaner appearance when covering begins. That little "lip" where those two pieces meet may appear insignificant now, but shrink some covering over it, and watch it collect dirt and grime, and suddenly become a glaring "flaw" in the finish. Remember also that when two pieces join, a perfect flush fit between the two pieces will form a much stronger joint.

As a side tidbit, I'm presuming from your original post that you've not flown a bipe before. No worries, the GP Ultimate is a nice flying airplane, and shouldn't throw many surprises at you...I agree with others above, with a little care and caution, you should be able to fly it just fine. There are, however, a couple of bits of "bipe advice" I'll pass along:

As I said above...draggy critters, bipes. Yes, they DO get "more lift" (a misnomer if ever there was one, but we'll leave that go for now) than a single wing, but that extra wing, along with the struts, cables, etc that attach it, all add up to DRAG...and lots of it. As a result, you'll likely notice a bipe doing a few things your Extra and SkyRaider don't do.

First, as Colin said, when landing, KEEP THE POWER ON until you're dead certain you have the strip...IMO, it is NOT true that bipes "fly worse" at slow speeds than monoplanes, but their "line" between flying and falling like a rock is MUCH thinner, and happens MUCH more quickly. Your extra will start wallowing around a bit, getting mushy controls, that sort of thing, for quite a while before it stalls. Most bipes, on the other hand, will go from "flying" to "rock" in a nanosecond, and the warning signs, while they ARE present, are notably different, and difficult to pick up on at first. So, absolutely, when landing keep the speed up where you KNOW it's flying...you can always go around.

Also, be prepared for the idea that, because of the extra mass in the "same space" as an equivalent sized monoplane, a bipe tends to "overdo" everything. Aileron and snap rolls, for example, tend to KEEP ROTATING for a while after you center the sticks....in fact, I have one bipe (a giant aeromaster) that will snap at LEAST 90 degrees past the point where I command the snap to stop. Again, not a problem, but it might catch you by surprise the first time or two.

Finally, I really just have to say this...

Get the Ultimate, have a blast building it, and then go fly it...you'll learn why "real planes have more than one wing".

Enjoy, and good luck. Hope I haven't rambled too much.

As always Great info and Great advice.

I've purchased a Sig four star 60 to build during the summer months when free time is short and the GP Ultimate to have on hand for winter.

thank you all for your advice and insight

Mark

Good choice on the 4*60. Fun builder and everyday flyer.

I've found that the 4-star series are really easy build kits. For aerobatics, the Great Planes .60 size Extra did not present any difficulties. One of the simplest kit built planes that I've ever owned is the Tiger II. Even though I've been building and flying for 25 years, I just bought a Tiger II kit mainly for the building (something to do in the shop) and for its great flying characteristics.