After a dissapointing experience with underpowered electric planes, I decided to return to the smell. and noise of fuel powered aircraft. I chose the Great Planes Rapture because of the low cost, and the fact that I have enjoyed building GP products over the years. I am a builder, and feel that if you skip this step of the hobby, you are really robbing yourself of half of the experience with model aircraft. ARFs have their place, but I prefer to build something unique that no one else is flying. Anyway, after looking at the box for 3 days, it was started today with the tail feathers. I will try to remain faithfull in posting pics of my progress as I build this aircraft, and welcome questions, and suggestions. I plan to power it with a Super Tigre G51 ringed 2 stroke engine. It is lighter than the G45 ABC and has more power.

I always enjoy reading and following along with a build thread.
I look forward to seeing this plane progress throughout your build.

Ryan

Have fun, this was my first low wing plane and I loved it. It did have a habit of tipping onto the nose on takeoff but nothing that couldn't be managed (could have been my inexperience too).

Thanks Ryan... it's always encouraging when you have support from others that are interested.

Hey Chuck, Looks like yours turned out real nice ! Are you still flying it ?

Well, I wasn't able to work on it today. I'm doing a re deck on my Brothers boat, and the day was too long. I plan to finish up the tail feathers tomorrow and start the wing. I was going to order some wheel pants from the supersportster arf parts list. Their only 12.00 and I think would look real nice under the wing. I can sand them and paint any color. I just like wheel pants on a model of this type.

Wheelpants would look great on a Rapture.... good idea!

Here is another modification suggestion.... MinnFlyer is cutting/splitting the inner third of his ailerons and using them as flaps.
He has reported really good results in using them.

Ryan

No, I sold it. I missed it for a while though. I ended up building a few Sig 4-stars which I also liked. I still like having a basic, no-nonsense sport plane around so I ended up with a Sportsmen Aviation Sport Stick.

I've always thought the Rapture would make a good kit bashing foundation. Maybe with the engine turned sideways, balsa cowl, sheeted turtle deck, possibly with modified wing tips or tail shape.

Split ailerons/flaps ?.....hmmmmm, sounds interesting ! I was going through the rib sheets last night in prep for the wing....the overall quality of the balsa in the kit is good, but I noticed a couple of rib sheets are warped pretty bad...one of them to the point of splitting. Well, I can take the warp out with my sealing iron . Anyone else encounter that with their kits ? GP does a great job with design and instructions, but I feel the quality of their balsa leaves a little to be desired. To date I have built the Easy Sport, and Profile 38. The Easy sport was a great flyer until dumb thumbs killed it.[:'(] I never flew the 38, but sold it to someone that had to have it. Both kits had some questionable balsa in them. I had a supersportster arf, and the landing gear looks the same as the rapture, also, they share the same wheel size, so the pants would be a natural.....and not look like an add on. After Church, I plan to start the wing.

The flap mod is easy to do. Just cut about 1/3 off of the inboard side of the ailerons and use the aileron torque rods to control them.

Then run flexible pushrods through the wing to the ailerons, or mount an aileron servo in each wing

I am having problems loading my avatar on the page. When I try to upload my photo, I get "internet explorer cannot display the webpage " any suggestions ?

Make sure that your avatar is no larger than 85px x 85px
and that the file size is less than 7k

Got a few things done today. epoxied the landing gear rails, made the wing jig, and glued the plywood rib doublers to the R2 ribs. My diving weights work great for this. Since these will be supporting the landing gear, I used epoxy. I had a tough time with the warped rib...I tried heating it with the iron...then tried steaming it out, and finally had to settle for slight warpage. The rest will go away when I glue it to the spars. Just waiting for the epoxy to cure before pinning the ribs to the spar.

It's the weekend once more, and making progress ! Today the right wing got sheeted and the landing gear rail was epoxied in place. Also started on the right wing tip. here are some pics..... also ordered my Super Skybolt from tower.....the last one. They wont be available again until late Feb !

I know exactly what you mean about the balsa. I've experienced this with several GP kits. Some sheets look decent then others are extremely hard and heavy, like they are some other kind of wood altogether. The die cutting isn't always the best either. Another thing that drives me nuts is their plywood. It seems very soft and I've had several pieces that were starting to de-laminate. I still think they have nice kits and I don't want to sound like a whiner but I think they could spend a little more time selecting better materials and making sure the die cutting is clean & consistent.

it looks like this thread is just getting started which is good because i just got mine from tower hobbies on thursday.

So far I have had only minor problems....mostly due to the poor quality of some of the balsa for the ribs. The other problem I had in the wing construction was the fwd and aft dowel plates are smaller than the leading and trailing edges of the R2 ribs, which makes it fun to sheet. A little extra time taken to slightly modify these ribs before gluing them to the spar is well spent. Overall though....it has been a good build so far, and I have no doubt as to the flight performance when its done. All the GP planes I have built have been great flyers.

The R2 ribs are larger than the dowel plates so you can sheet flush with the leading and trailing edges. The problem is that the dowel plates are too small, so the sheeting is proud of the leading and trailing edges. I just took my bar sander and knocked down the very edges of the ribs so the sheeting would flush out. I hope that makes sense.......

I finished mine about a month ago, great flying plane....

Congrats! Do you know the weight? What engine? How did the balance work out? Thanks
Jim

Hello buzzard. The weight came out at 5 lb. 3 oz. I had to add two oz of weight to the nose to balance her out. The engine is a o.s. 46 FXi. Hope that helps...

Yes, thanks, it does. I've been thinking about getting one. Looks like a good 4 Star alternative (with a better canopy!). I'm surprised it doesn't seem to be very popular. I guess it came out when ARFs really started taking over. Jim

Well, the right wing is completed, and starting the left. All in all the wing construction is simple and staight forward. No real problems, and it's sturdy and light. The wing tip is a breeze. I am thinking of yellow monokote for the fuse, and chrome for the wings...I love the look of a chrome wing as the sun dances on it in a bank or knife edge !

oops ! I loaded the same pic twice....heres the other one.

Thanks for posting you progress, I had been looking at this kit and am close to ordering one. For those of you who get unuasable wood in your kit just e-mail great planes and complain and they will send a replacement. I am half way through a GP RV-4 and one fuselage side sheet was so badly warped nothing I tried would flatten it. After e-mailing Great Planes I had a replacement in a week. For a large company they do have excellent customer support just give them a chance.
I am in no way associated with GP just a mostly a satisfied customer.

cooper998