GP Wright Flyer?
 

Anybody got one? Comments?

GP Wright Flyer?
 

Whoops- it's not due out for a few more weeks.

Never mind..

GP Wright Flyer?
 

But if anyone has one already, it'd be cool.

Looks like a fun little "cruiser".

out now?
 

Tower hobbies has them in theirs ads now, they might be avaible through them at this time.

GP Wright Flyer?
 

Tower's Ad says "mid September"

RE: GP <span class=
 

I just purchased and flew one today. One slightlly hard landing and the fuse is in pieces [:@].

RE: GP <span class=
 

:) Happy to report that I sent an email to Great Planes and received an immediate response within hours of sending it. They are working with me to replace the fuse and get me back in the air. There is nothing in this world that compares to excellent service! If you are planning to buy one of these planes then I reccomend it, even if you have trouble with it you know that they will support you.

RE: GP <span class=
 

Flew the Wright flyer yesterday,boy was it a hand full, trying to gain altitude, keep from stalling and all those other things that happen on maiden flights. First go was short, wallowed around about three feet off the ground and hit some tall weeds and spun in, no damage, second attempt was like the previous attempt, but further out in the field, so then I moved the battery as far forward as possible, and got some real altitude, six feet! need more power?C/G is real critical,I had the elevator trim all the way up for nose down, canard you see; Getting closer to trim now,the little Flyer is quite responsive to both pitch and ailerons,It will turn in a 20ft circle and once up to speed it will climb and fly pretty good for such a small draggy model. I was able to fly as high as I dare and keep the flyer in close and had control of its flight attitude,which it has.. In the shop for some trim reflecting and adjustments, also added another cell to the battery pack,more power and a teeny bit more nose weight, Will see how it performs after the rain goes away

E Jim

RE: GP <span class=
 

The rain went away this afternoon and I had a chance to fly the Wright flyer, with the changes that I made. 8-cells, fix the elevator control horns so they would stay is sink, C/A'd the horns to the rod. So airborn it goes with lots of power, but very poor climb out, even with the new battery pack! It would not gain any altitude,seemed to be in a stall mode most of the flite. Yesterday after some triming and patients it did fly pretty good,but not today? After a hard landing,with a fence post, the lower canard wing was bent and needed some repairs,also the plastic wing support guild on both sides of the lower wing where broken, all repairable. But most of all I was disappointed in its flite performance. I'm looking over the plane and I see the trim settings that are still on the airplane, there is about 3/8 of an in. of canard up,to keep the nose down,whats up with that...then I see that the motors are at the bottom of their thrust adjustment, or lots of forward up-thrust, maybe thats the problem of flying in such a stall attitude..I wonder where the thrust line is suppose to be? I didn"t see anything about it in the construction book! I thought that it was a c/g problem, but maybe not. Anyways I'll study this plane some more... and reset the thrust line on the motors and see what happens tomorrow. E-Jim

RE: GP <span class=
 

Flew mine today as well, 1st flight very bad, an extreme tail heavy bird. I concealed about 6 grams of weight under the front lower canard and it flew great! This thing climbed like crazy and gracefully did circuts, I did a few close passes and my flying buddies were impressed. In very low wind it'll fly in real tight, I flew in a church lot behind my house. The secret to taming this one is unfortunately adding weight to the front. The thing looks like an antique in the air. I was amazed at it's ceiling altitude, the two motors make it climb way better than my GWS 300 size planes. Hopefully it's nice tommorow, I'd like to get some photos. This was my first canard plane. Add the weight and you guys will love it.

RE: GP <span class=
 

Hi FB, Really glad to here your success with the WF, It was rainy all day,so no playing to see if any of the changes I made to the C/G would help. Although from your flites I maybe on the right track, Ya! How far from the leadding eage of the bottom wing does your plane balance? The book called fro 1-1/8, oh well. Tell me where is the trust line on the motors set at? The back screw-bolt has a adjustment to change the angle of the motors, I think mine may have slipped and allowed the trust angle to be to + pushing the nose up, I had a lot of trim in the elevator to keep the nose down. Tomorrow is a rest day,ya right, if its clear,fly FLY... E-Jim

RE: GP <span class=
 

Jimbo,

Until you mentioned it, I didn't know there was an adjustment on the motors.They're in the full up position, but mine baloons a little so I may have to adjust these too. It launches so nicely this way, so I may leave it. I'll be out with mine tomorrow if weather permits. I noticed a lot of other people on the boards are having problems with this one. It's such an interesting ship you just have to get it trimmed right. Keep me posted.


Thanks.

RE: GP <span class=
 

Oops,


Forgot to mention, I have the balance very nose heavy probably 1.5 in. in front of the wing. Really stabilizes it. I don't know why they release a plane that needs weight, and they even tell you that in the instructions the prototype needed it. GWS at least gives you clay and tells how to use it. I feel sorry for beginners that try this plane, it's very trick to set-up to fly correctly.

RE: GP <span class=
 

Hello FB, Thanks for the info on the trust angle of your motors. My computer went south with the rain. Its working, but don't know for how long. Your right about some of these designs that require a great deal of experience to fly ,trim,and have more than one or two flites, before we hang them from the rafters,but ain't it fun,you know,being a test pilot don't you know. I'm going to add nose weight also and see what happens, a larger capacity battery of seven cells It will give me more weight without having to just add ballast. When the WF did fly it was really nice to watch fly by,canard and all,anyways thanks E-Jim

RE: GP <span class=
 

Gents,
What is the proper thrust angle of the engines?
Does this effect the weight needed to fly straight?
What was your consensus?
Last- what ESC can we use as a substitution for twin engines on this model?
Thanks
Vinny

RE: GP <span class=
 

I have the motors pointing straight, and still needed the balance weight up front. More than likely a 10 Amp esc would handle these little motors. It's a tricky slowflyer even when you get it trimmed, but looks great in the air. I still have really not had a non-wind day to do thorough adjustments, so I may get it better if the wind goes down for long enough. Keep me posted on how the rest of yours fly.

Thanks.

RE: GP <span class=
 

Thanks for the Info. Keep me Posted.
How much weight did you add 1.5 in. from the wing?
I am waiting for a new ESC. Mine did not work out of the box.
They say it will take a month or so to replace.
That is why i am looking for an alternative ESC.
GP said that it was a special one for twin motors but, it looks like a c-5 unit to me. They will send me a C-5 to try for free. Hope it works.
I would like to get this baby off the ground!
Thanks again!!!
Vinny

RE: GP <span class=
 

The day was over-casted but calm,time to try the changes I made of the WF, With weight,(about 8grs. on the nose) and the repaired canard wing,new thrust angle on the motors, also the eight cell pack. Me to dumb to check the elevator direction on the canard, I few a Slow stick earlier and changed the servo reversing to the ...thats right the elevator. I held the WF in my hand and watched the control go up and down,so my brain told me! Reved her up a gave it a toss into the slight breeze. It was going good, until I gave a little up elevator, and in it went. But that was not enough of a flite, let me do it again, got a better hand launch and more height....How about some up.....in it went. DUH! Know its broken ,again (not the planes fault) ,So up is down and down is up, CANARD.I also change the battery pack back to seven cells, I don't know why but that eight cell actually made the motors run a bit slower,go figure? maybe the voltage? To high? After I removed it ,the motors ran up with much more thrust. When Its back together. I'll give it another chance...until then... E-Jim

RE: GP <span class=
 

When I saw that "thing" in the Tower flyer, I thought geez what a cg nightmare waiting to happen,,I hope it is at least realistic in flight, that is to say the real thing barely flew, so what could you expect from a replica of it? if you have more power what is that going to do but perhaps make it float around a bit faster? I bet it is neat to watch, but not neat enough to pay for, and would quickly turn from neat to boring...my .02, Rog

RE: GP Wright Flyer
 

I took my Flyer out this weekend for the first time. On the first flight I thought it was too tail heavy, added 1 oz to the nose and it still took a lot of down to fly. Found out one of the motors was tilted way up. Straightened out the thrust line, took off the weight, and now it flies great, and looks really cool flying. I flew it at a local park while they were getting ready for soccer practice and the kids loved it, wanted to know all about it. Most of them had never seen anything like it.

RE: GP Wright Flyer
 

Got a few more flights on the Flyer. After final trim, it took a nickel taped to the battery to make it fly right. Get 3-4 minutes off a full charge. I put a 1200 mah LiPo on it and flew for 20 min. Great fun flying circles 2 feet off the ground, but it will also climb as high as you want.

I have had my share of hard landings. If you nose it in it comes to an abrupt stop. Also cartwheeled it once when I dragged a wingtip. When I put mine together I did not use any glue, just slipped the wings and canard in place, this makes it very flexible and seems to minimize any crash damage.

The motor mounts both broke off at the rear. The post sheared off. I tried cable ties, but they were too floppy, so I epoxied a couple of pieces of 1/2 ply to the mounts and remounted them with screws. The front crossmember that supports the battery sheared off at the ends, but a 1/8 in dowel will push through and works fine. All in all, this plane gives me something to fly at the park so I don't have to drive 30 min to the field, in fact, I have been able to fly it in the cul-de-sac in front of our office, it's about 75' in diameter, and I can fly circuits around it.

Nothing exciting here, but it really looks cool in flight. For excitement I take my gassers to the field.

RE: GP Wright Flyer
 

what lipo set up did you use? 2 cells or 3?

RE: GP Wright Flyer
 

It's a 2s2p (2p2s?) pack, 1200 mah, doesn't have the zip of the freshly charged battery that comes with it, but it's plenty enough to fly, even at about 3/4 throttle. This plane likes to fly slow anyhow.

RE: GP Wright Flyer
 

Got a couple of flights in yesterday. Used the lipo in another plane so put the original battery back in the flyer. Lost my nickel I used for nose weight so I used a quarter, must have been just right, got 6 min+ flying, and high enough to feel like I caught some thermal.

Heres pics

RE: GP Wright Flyer
 

Thanks Fla-g for the pictures, It fly's it fly"s Oh and your two bits worth... I also have had many good flites with the WF, Its really quite tuff, Its seem that I have ran into or hit just about all the things around hear. And thanks to all the others for there help and ideas. Just finished a Clancy's lady bug, with the Gws stick set-up, but its raining,and windy BoOO. It looks like it will be a in-close fun flyer. Say Clancy fly his a the San Diego, electric fly-in a couple years ago, and he was having a blast. Any others flying one? E-Jim