Cyntec

HiThere!

I bought a Great Planes Seawnd .60 last year and just started building it. This will be my first attempt to fly a fast, expensive, gas powered plane off water and while I'm excited to get it in the air I'm nervous about the takeoff and landing. None of the seaplanes I've flown before take off or land at such high speeds. Does anyone have any tips for taking off and landing a Seawind in water?

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

I don't have a seawind, and have only seen an electric foamie Seawind fly.
However, everything that could POSSIBLY ever be known about the GP seawind is on a thread in that other forum.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...eawind+takeoff
Hundreds of posts. 

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

Also a big thread with modification suggestions here: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3324981&key=

Don

alasdair

I test flew a GP Seawind for a friend and found the water handling poor. It had to be held dead into wind on takeoff.
Another friend fitted extra extensions to the wing tips (made from foam) to make them just like the tips on the little electric Seawind, and it helped the water handling greatly.
Try foam wedges to slope the tips down, from nothing at the LE to 30-40 mm at the TE

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

Alasdair,

What plane is that in your avatar?

Don

jollyroger

My Feedback: (6)

Sell the Sea Wind and find an Ace Sea Master kit either .40 size or the larger 120. You'll be much happier with one of these than wasting your time trying to get one of these pieces of junk from Great Pains to R.O.W. I've seen several people attempt to fly these and they are indeed a handful and in some cases , nearly impossible to ROW.
Personally I wouldn't waste my time of that overpriced piece of Chinese made junk.
Stay away from the Neptune from Maxford...another poorly constructed piece of Chinese made trash......almost non existent hot glue, poor control surface mechanics, wing attachment poorly done. Probably made by some 12 year old kids working 18 hours a day in a Chinese sweatshop for 25 cents an hour.

alasdair

Don,
It is my own design Jet Trainer. I call it "JayTee" (not very original with names)
It flies really well on wheels from just about any club field, and then I put it on floats (home-made veneered foam) and it flies extremely well off water too.

I uploaded a few videos onto YouTube Here is one. check out my other uploads for some more (or search YouTube for "Wren jet waterplane JayTee"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWtlSaf9uSw[/youtube]

JayTee is 80" wingspan and is powered by a Wren turbine with 63 N (14 pounds) of thrust. Dry weight is about 13 pounds, and it carries 2 litres of fuel.

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

Jollyroger, I completely disagree with you. I just bought a Seawind from a friend that was having fits getting the plane off the water. I did some research and had some online discussions with other Seawind owners and found that the Seawind, handled properly does a beautiful takeoff and flies like a dream. There are numerous threads on RCU in the "Great Planes Seawind" post that address how it's done. Primarily either remove or greatly reduce the size of the water rudder, advance the throttle slowly and DON'T touch the rudder during the takeoff run. All this while heading dead into the wind. Look at posts 1258 and 1259. I did what JRF and ALO 111 instructed and had a great flight yesterday.

Cyntec

I can't speak to the flying characteristics of the Seawind yet but I'm a sucker for looks and in terms of RC amphibians the Seawind takes the cake... At least until someone comes out with a proper fiberglass ICON A5 (the Parkzone foam one is nice but really just a toy).

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

Cyntec, I have to agree with you on looks. When I bring my Seawind down for a low pass along the beach it's a stunningly beautiful sight. Just follow the directions I directed you to in my previous post and I think any water handling issues will be absent.

Cyntec

Will do! I'll let you know how it goes once I finally get it up in the air.

lupy

My Feedback: (3)

At least with the little foam version, the seawind likes to fly fast and has a pretty high stall speed. Combined with a big planing surface on the hull, it likes to skip when taken in too fast. My biggest complaint is that it's very easy to land too fast, causing a skip. The plane now is moving too slow for the elevator to work, so it noses over and splashes in. This wets the electronics, requiring a rescue boat. I am not saying it can't be landed, I have had numerous good landings with mine. But it is not forgiving to minor errors. If I skip and try to gun the engine, the high mounted engine torques the plane over increasing the problem. This does not happed with a seamaster because it is a longer design with much lower wing loading.

The seawind is a very pretty design and when in the air it's stable and quick, but I do not enjoy touch and goes with it.