SCOTT42

My Feedback: (1)

Hey guys im new to this hobbie, ive only been it it for two months now. Ive just orderd a Great planes slowpoke .40, this will be my first build. Is there any one thing to watch for on this project? Im really looking forward to building it, and hopeing to fly it by this summer. Hey if you have pics please post them as im looking for color schems.

Thanks Scott

Danh4

My Feedback: (5)

Not a bad kit to pick for your first, I just finished one last month and there's nothing really difficult about it. Just follow the instructions exactly and you won't go wrong. The tail builds heavy but there's not a lot you can do about it without replacing a lot of the wood or redesigning the parts. I used a relatively light O.S. .46LA on mine and had to add lead to the nose but it still came in at 6.5 lbs. which is the upper end of the range Great Planes lists on the box. Haven't flown it yet, waiting for Spring!

Dan

Insanemoondoggie

Just finished mine a month ago . Did the maiden last week . Great little plane, builds tail-heavy . [link=http://www.rcuvideos.com/item/FMDZKJJMNV43NTYG]SlowPoke Maiden[/link]

Danh4

My Feedback: (5)

So how does it fly???? Looks great in the air, your colors really stand out. Nice landing, but put some skis on the poor thing!

Dan

SCOTT42

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Wow those planes look great, do you guys think a os .61 fx max is too much, or a os .46 Ive got both now. The 61 is new, and the 46 is used. Im leaning towards the .46. As the colors ive been thinking blue and yellow, or orange and white? I not certain yet.

Insanemoondoggie

I also did a build thread [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6789231/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm] SlowPoke Build .[/link] If you get stuck let me know .more than happy to help .

Insanemoondoggie

Dan , I ran out of elevator trim . 7/16 throw , had to knock the servo travel down to 45% to get such a low throw . Brought it home and threw a bunch more elevator travel in it . , but have`nt had the chance to try it again .

How does it fly ? It flys weird , lol . Going to take some getting use to . It`s faster than it looks in the air , but I think once a guy gets use to it, it`s going to be a blast .

P.S I hate skis , maybe floats ?

Insanemoondoggie

Go wth the .46 , a .61 well be way overkill for it . My has a Magnum 4c .52 with a 11x6 apc , and it`s more than enough for this airframe . And it runs really good, unless you for get to tighten the throttle screw down . lol[sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

Danh4

My Feedback: (5)

I thought that 7/16" elevator throw seemed a little low considering the short fuselage, I think I'll use that as my low rate setting and double it for high rate. I thought yours looked pretty quick in the air, I wouldn't exactly call it a slow poke, although it did come in nice and slow for the landing. There's 5 of us building them out here, we're going to pylon race them for laughs this summer but now that I see that it flies a little faster than we all thought, it will be carnage!

I've flown planes with both skis and floats on the snow, they both work but I kinda like the little Dubro skis the best.

Let me know how your next flight goes with the increased throw.

Dan

SCOTT42

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Man ive been up and down on color schems so far, but I think im gonna go black graphite and copper in the color schem, I think this will be a good color mix that not many others use. What other color would go good with these two as a trim color? I was thinking maby a metallic blue? what do you guys think?

NorfolkSouthern

The Slow Poke is a good flying plane, but has close coupling and tricky handling. The ailerons are a bit sluggish. I just replaced the 46 AX on mine with a 40 LA, and I'm assuming performance will be similar. All the extra power does is gain more altitude. And yes, the Slow Poke is faster than one would expect, and will catch someone off guard who is not prepared. In spite of the huge wing, they DO require some airspeed to prevent a stall, which is correctable with a little down elevator. More rudder is needed than elevator on the Slow Poke 10, while travel on both rudder and elevator have to be carefully considered for the 40 Sport. I dialed in some exponential for mine, but that may not be necessary with dual rates.

Some would argue that the Slow Poke makes a good trainer, but I'm not so sure. The close coupling and quick response, along with the slow ailerons add up to the "slow" speed in making the instructor's job a bit more difficult. But as a second plane after enough time on a trainer, with little wind (and I mean less than 5 mph), it may be OK. Once you get used to it and good at flying, expect some raves from the peanut gallery once you start to hover in for landings!

NorfolkSouthern

Danh4

My Feedback: (5)

Picking colors is never easy, one thing I like to do is surf the net looking at color combinations, not only on RCU but at sites like Google. Since you mentioned you wanted to use copper, I did a Google image search for "copper" and didn't get much, but then I tried "copperhead" and got a few things. I grabbed the logo below because it uses a lot of both copper and black. I changed the red trim to blue so you could get an idea of how those colors work together. Which one you choose is up to you, I think the red goes with the warmth of the copper a little better than the blue, but then again the blue gives it a little more of a jolt! One thing that is important is the use of at least some white, it makes the darker colors "pop" a little, without the white to contrast against, dark colors can just look, well, dark, especially when they butt up against each other without a white cheat line.

Dan

SCOTT42

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Thanks Danh4, I really like the blue with the copper/black, I agree about the white and had thought about putting white strips on the bottom to help with being able to tell which side is up/down when in flight. Thanks a bunch for the images, I hadent really seen them togeter before just only in my brain

chashint

I had one for a short time. Great style but I never really liked flying it much. I am not suggesting that you do this since it is your first kit, but if I was going to build another one I would make the ailerons as long as possible. With this plane forward motion almost equals flight, but as was previously mentioned the handling is tricky, it always felt like it was wallowing around if it was going slow enough to land. Resist any urge to beef up any structure behind the wing saddle as others have said it will be tail heavy.

Check out this thread, lots of Slow Pokes were built here http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_34...tm.htm#3410866

SCOTT42

My Feedback: (1)

I recieved my kit today, I have doulble checked all the parts, everything is here. But I do have two parts that are warped, they are the same parts, part #SP40F03. Is this normal, or do I need to make a phone call for replacement parts? Look at the pics and tell me what you guys think.

Scott

Danh4

My Feedback: (5)

Lite ply always warps like that. I wouldn't worry about it or get it replaced, it will straighten itself out when the pieces are built into the entire fuselage structure.

Dan

SCOTT42

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I forgot to ask, but how much does it cost normally to have copys of your plans made. Ive read that some of you guys do this to protect the original set, and I like the idea of doing that. It will be next week before I get started building as I need to get a few things before I start.

Things I need before starting.

small clamps ( paper clip style)
medium clamps (spring loaded)
T-pins
Masking tape
Metal ruler
thin ca
medium ca
5 min epoxy
15 min epoxy
sandpaper
clear plastic (plan protection)
Please tell me if theres anything I forgot to list.

These are things I have now, which isnt much.

Scroll saw
titebond woodglue
large building table
Good lighting
hobbie knife, and blades
razor blades
5- 3" C-clamps (but I dont think they are a big help here)
rubberbands
large cutting board
heating iron
heat gun
30 min epoxy
medium ca

Yea I know I got the carriage before the horse, but this is as planned, the wife would freak if I didnt need this stuff, now that I have the kit these are things I need. Please give me more "I NEED THIS IDEAS"

Danh4

My Feedback: (5)

The most obvious thing you seem to be missing is a building board or ceiling tile to actually build on. You'll need something that you can push pins into that is also firm enough to hold them well. I built my first planes on an old ceiling tile and it worked pretty well, then I bought a dedicated building board from Guillow's and I'm still using it.

If you cover your plans with wax paper or plan protector and you're careful about not using too much glue and don't cut wood directly on them, you should be able to reuse them in the future, no need to have copies made.

I see you already have 30 min. epoxy but are planning to buy 5 min. and 15 min. as well, the 30 min. is probably all you need and you could get some thick CA instead of the 5 & 15, you'll use it more often.

Do you have a small square of some sort? You'll need one to keep wing ribs vertical, etc. Great Planes sells an inexpensive set of aluminum triangles and a square that is nice to have.

That's all I can think of right now!

Dan

SCOTT42

My Feedback: (1)

Your right I need the ceiling tile, can I buy it as a single, or would I need to buy an entire package? Allso I had planned on buying 5 and 15 min epoxy, but the 30 min is all I need is that what your saying? allso are you sugesting thick ca instead of 5-15 min epoxy. Ive got two building tables, but one of them is dedicated to the power tools and cutting,while the other one is for glueing parts. I need to get a small sqaure, Ive got a large one now but its too big. I hope to be prepaired by this next week.

Danh4

My Feedback: (5)

I think you can buy single tiles, I got mine "used" from work so I'm not sure how they sell them in stores.

Yes, I meant that you could skip on buying the 5 & 15 minute epoxies and buy some thick CA instead. However I am NOT saying that you should use thick CA in place of epoxy when its needed, just that 30 minute epoxy is good unless you're really impatient. Thick CA comes in handy when you're gluing sheeting to ribs, things like that.

Dan

SCOTT42

My Feedback: (1)

Ok, cool I understand now. My main building table is 3' by 5', and I have a friend who works at a glass shop and he's gonna get me a 1/4" sheet of glass to fit my table top. I should have it this week I hope.

SCOTT42

My Feedback: (1)

Ok, I went ahead and bought some clamps and t-pins, plus some clear plastic today. Im really wanting to get started on this thing soon, I know I still need to get the ceiling tile but it's not gonna happen tonight, maby tommorow I can get one or two of them. Now will cardboard work aswell for the night? It's only gonna be temporary untill I can get the tiles that are needed.

Insanemoondoggie

I would wait till you have the ceiling tile, about 4 bucks at Home Depot . If you build on a surface that's not true and flat , your build will suffer .

I`m going to take mine out for it`s second flight tomrrow , we`ll see how it goes .

Good luck with the build , enjoy .

NorfolkSouthern

For a little "inspiration": Here's my Slow Poke. While I was getting the covering back in shape with the heat gun, I managed to put a few holes in the turtle deck. Some of it just didn't want to get tight. That, and there were a few embelishments comming off in other places. So, I figure a partial skin rebuild is in order. Back at the top will go the standard Sapphire Blue Monokote. I've already finished the lower front of the fuselage after removing some stickers. I'll keep you all posted on the progress. Good luck with your build, Scott!

NorfolkSouthern

SCOTT42

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, I really like your color combo, Im thinking im gonna go with black dominated with copper accents with metallic blue trim, and use some white strips on the bottom wings. Thats what ive come up with sofar, I like that color combo alot but im worried it might be hard to see far away in the air, so thats why im putting white on the bottom. Who knows I might change my mind by the time covering rolls around?