I just got my first gas plane, just happened to be an Escapade. I put a super tiger .40 (already broken in by a friend) in it. The maiden flight went awesome... on my second flight I decided to push the envelope a little bit and did some steeper dives. I experienced what, after reading your post, I realized was elevator flutter (a buzzing sound). At the time I thought it was some sort of engine or prop malfunction. Coming into my second dive I lost all elevator control and went into the ground at a 45 degree angle. Upon inspecting the wreckage I realized that not only had half of my hinges come out, but my control horn had completely broken in half. I believe the engine is salvageable, but the plane itself is a total loss. I really wish I had read your post prior to my second flight! For those of you buying a Great Planes Escapade, you NEED to somehow reinforce your elevator if you plan on any high speed maneuvers. Thank you for your post... I hope others may read this before its too late - Steve

LILDex, Thanks for the report. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Wish we could rewind and give you the possibility of preventing the failure. Damn. It's a shame. I hope you get another plane. It's tough to lose a plane and we all do it eventually. Get yourself another plane and better luck. And again, thanks for the report, we all appreciate it.

Better flights.

Tom

ESCAPADE OWNERS TAKE NOTE. At a minimum, to future readers of this forum. http://manuals.hobbico.com/gpm/gpma1200-tech.pdf And check the hinges as well. This is in reference to the Elevator torque rod not being glued sufficiently and possible elevator flutter in high speed dives. Might be a good idea to seal the hinge gap.

Thanks Tom!
Steve so sorry to hear of your plane! It is tough when a lost of the plane happens, I know I have been there, Things are 100% better for me since I went to the 2.4! I would get another and read these posts, and I do not think you will loose another, I know these guys have sure helped me! And thanks for the reminder, I will be checking mine again! Good luck with your next one! Bob

I had a chance to fly my Escapade again yesterday. I noticed that I have a little bit of tail wag on some of the high speed passes. Has anyone else noticed this with theirs? I wonder if it has to do with the horizontal stabilizer being able to shift left and right slightly as I described in post #246. Anyway, I am going to take a look at it tonight to see if I can tighten it up.

You need to check the tail assembly periodically to make sure it is still tight. I needed to tighten the lock nuts a couple of weeks ago due to the tail assembly loosening after a couple weeks of flying. If I were building another Escapade I would add some epoxy to the tail assembly during the install process as a precaution. I don't want to take my tail apart at this point so I just need to remember to check the lock nuts every once in a while.

I flew the heck out of my Escapade today. Mostly at 80% to 100% throttle. I noticed that when I change the throttle position any slight movement to the rudder input (due to the throttle change) causes my plane tail wag. The rudder has so much throw on this plane that it makes the plane very sensitive to rudder input but it also makes for great snap rolls.

I've been inspecting the elevator wire area after every flight. When I built my ARF I wicked CA into the hinges but not the elevator wire which is now what Great Planes recommends. When I was building the plane I pulled on the elevator to check the strength of factory elevator wire install but it was solid so I just left it alone.

I managed to run the thing out of fuel on my second to last flight today. No damage to the plane from the dead stick landing only to my ego as I had the "walk of shame" to go find my plane out in the weeds.

I fixed my running out of fuel problem! I just hand the girlfriend a timer and she lets me know when to come in, I figured if she could tell me how to drive all the time that little job would make her feel important! So far it has and so far its working! Now she asks when are we going flying! Bob

As much as I'd like to have the g/f out with me, our schedules don't always match. So I do use a talking timer. http://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=9286&trng=fgle Love the cukoo sound for end of time.

Hey I get the cu koo sound!

Thanks, e30pq. I checked the lock nuts on the bottom of the stabilizers, and sure enough they were loose. I tightened them up, and now the stabilizers don't move side-to-side anymore. I'm only worried that I'll tighten those nuts too much and rip the threaded rods out of whatever they are threaded into.

Winds are over 20mph today, so I'll have to let you know if it fixed the tail wag another day. =)

Hey Guys

I'm thinking of getting this as a replacement for my four star 40 I recently lost to voltage drop. It's cheap, fast build and seems like it flies pretty well. Can anyone tell me if it will be a similar flying plane to the four star? Better, worse? Thanks for any comparisons you can make

I have a super tiger 40 I was going to put in
Tim

I had this plane and put a super tigre .40 in it... The thing was VERY fast with a 10/7 APC sport prop. Great aerobatics and it whistled at full throttle. Im not sure if it will hover because I lost the plane on its second flight (you can read my post in the same thread you posted) and so never got to fully experiment with her capabilities. The one thing I will say is that if you get an escapade, it may be a good idea to completely rebuild your elevator. On your first few flights pay close attention to ANY flutter problems (this is how I lost mine). Here is a video of the maiden flight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE-Ei...e=channel_page

Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Steve

Gotta agree with the fact a person should rebuild the tail end. I pulled the elevator and epoxied the connector rod (earlier post), added dubro pinned hinges and epoxied the tail feathers on, you only need to check the lock nuts once, but I'll leave them attached. Also epoxied the wing halves also. Did have to add glue to the rudder CA hinges. Just need to get some time and take it for a rip now that the snows pretty much gone now, I feel that this should be a fun little bird to monkey around with.

flynte

Looks like they are out of stock everywhere. Is there another plane that you get this kind of bang for the buck?

thanks for any links/suggestions

I just took mine out again today with the tightened up stabilizer nuts, and I had absolutely no tail wag. So, that must have been the culprit.

I'm getting more confident with this plane now (both the construction and the feel of it). It's pretty fun to fly, and nice looking too. My TT 46 Pro does great high speed flybys.

It's too bad Great Planes can't seem to keep up on the production of it. This is the 2nd time since it's introduction that they've been out of stock, right?

Hi ptuxbury
I have the same set up as you (TT.46 Pro with Escapade) but haven't put it together yet. How did it balance out for you?
Glad to hear everyone likes the plane.

I'm using a TT.46 Pro in my Escapade.

I have my battery on the bottom side of the fuel tank tray. I'm running dual aileron servos, an APC 11x6 prop and a Harry Higley prop nut (with the stock prop nut). I added the Harry Higley prop nut for balance.

That's all I did to get my Escapade to balance.

BTW ptuxbury I checked my stabilizer nuts again after my last post and they needed to be snugged again. I'm not sure how many more times I will be able to tighten those nuts before the threaded part pulls out.

Thanks for the reply on balancing. I hear everyone having trouble with the tail. I think I'll epoxy mine on. I like to fly fast, high speed dives etc. don't thinks those nuts will hold for me.

Hi rich52mag,

e30pq put his battery pack under his tank. I put mine on top of my fuel tank (see erif_f post #213 - [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8530094]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8530094[/link]).

Like e30pq, I had to put some weight on the nose to get it to balance out. I used a 1oz Great Planes spinner weight ([link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXK245&P=7]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXK245&P=7[/link]). I'm not sure if I had to do this because I put the optional cowl on or not, but since e30pq has the same engine and same balance method, I'm guessing it's just how it balanced out.

By the way - here are a couple more pictures of my plane with the optional cowl that a friend of mine took in the sun. I still think it looks really good.

That looks great ptux. How did you cut the opening for the engine? Dremel rotary tool?

Wow that does look nice! I was not thinking cowl for mine but you do have me thinking it now, Great Job!

Thanks for the balance info. your plane looks real nice. I just finished a Cox Giles 202,after I maiden it I will start on the Escapade.
Thanks again and happy flying. Rich

Hey Guys - so what is this plane capable of in flight? Knife edge, etc?

I have an well experienced friend who has suggested I go with the Kaos (with my experience). That the escapade would be a little tame for my tastes at this point becuase it's not a tapered wing the dihedral etc.

Has anyone flown both? I have to admit, I wanted to go with the Escapade becuase it looks a hell of a lot cooler and is $10 less, but I can see where it looks like the Kaos would be more pattern capable. Plus with it being out of stock everywhere till may, I'm feeling the pinch to just get the kaos in


Thanks!
Tim

just thougth would let anybody know who wants , have about 6-8 flights on my escapade , (love it) have supre tiger 45, 10-6 wood prop and works great i have already redid elevator and glued rear on as di dnot trust bolted item , there a lot of wind going by that , does nice invert will knife edge better than my twist I even put skirts on , my air field is a little rough, wish i could use a little bigger wheel but then skirts would not fit , i have an 82 satio on twist , not a big 2 stroke fan but do like this tigre very nice looking and fast littler plane for the money may get another for just those ocasions , when should have pulled up instead of down , never hurts to have extra weve all been there

I agree, always good to have one laid back in reserve. I've got a GP Big Stik & an Escapade on the shelf for when I mess up my Four Star or old scratch built Stik