hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

Just got my Escapade ARF together and waiting on weather and time off work to maiden it. I'll be following this post with a full review from start of the build to flight performance review. I can only upload one or two pics per post due to my dial up internet service. So bear with me and keep checking this thread during the coming week for new posts in the review!

I decided to do this review a little different than most by using some new stuff and some components I picked up at varios places. Most of the radio system came from one purchase of a flight pack on e-bay. I've summarized my total investment in the plane minus fuel and accessories. In these current economic conditions, this probably represents what some modelers might actually do with this plane.

Here is the set up for my Escapade including cost for each Item:

$109... Escapade ARF including shipping charge
$20... Circa 1990's Thunder Tiger Pro .40 engine from yard sale
$5..... New O.S. A3 glow plug from Lhs
$5..... New APC 11X6 prop from Lhs, balanced with Dubros hand prop balancer.
$30... used Futaba 6a radio with new battery from Lhs. (basically sold me a battery and threw in the radio!)
$12... New Mpi switch with charge port from Lhs
....... New Futaba FPR-127DF 7 channel reciever from e-bay
....... New Futaba 600mAh square rx battery from e-bay
$50... New Futaba 3003 standard servos (4) from e-bay (includes shipping)
....... Using single aileron servo
....... Using 15% Omega fuel

$231 total invested in this plane! You can't buy most new 4 channel park flyers for less than this!

More to follow soon....!

Tom Nied

Wow, thats almost frugal. $20 Thunder Tiger 40 from a garage sale? I thought I was cheap when I picked up a new Magnum XLS 46 with free shipping for only $47. But good for you if you can pull it off.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

Here's a peek at the finished plane before adding the decals. The first thing I noticed upon opening the box and inspecting the contents was the quality of the covering job. One of the first things the manual reccomends is to tighten the covering with a covering iron while the plane is still in pieces. I have an iron but was tempted not to touch this plane because the covering looked so good compared to the other ARF's I've seen.
At the advice of Minnflyer, I did take about an hour to go over all the seams with the iron. Glad I did, because after sitting in my garage for a night in the freezing temps and then bringing it back into my 72 degree living room for assembly, tiny bubbles and a few small wrinkles did appear on the elevator and the underside of the wings. These ironed out very quickly. The fusalage and rudder remain flawless.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

I apologize for the number of posts this review is going to take. The previous post started with three pictures but my dial up connection was so bad tonight, I had to cut it back to one pic. (22kbps connection[>:])

This post contains my first complaint about the kit. The attached pic from the manual describes the screws that should be included in the kit with a little explaination of size, threads, and length. Good info, but could have been simplified for the average modeler. I am an industrial maintenance tech and deal with machine screws every day. But even I can not tell the difference between a #4 and a #6 sheet metal screw unless they are side by side.
I read thru the entire manual and noted how many different sizes of screws there were, then I emptied the bag of screws and washers into a shoe box and seperated them into groups so I could identify each size and pick out what I needed for each step.
A side by side picture key of each screw in actual size might have been more helpful for the average modeler.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

The next step was fitting the aileron servo into the wing. I chose to use a single aileron servo for now. The manual shows the left wing by itself, turned upside down for drilling and installing the servo mounting screws into the pre-made tray. I found it safer to temporarily join the wings so I had some support under both sides of the tray while installing the screws.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

Attaching the aileron pushrods and connectors was straight foward and pretty much by the book. But I do have a tip for making the 90 degree bends in the push rods. I marked the point where I wanted the bend just like the manual says, then I position the rod in the vise grips so that my mark is just outside the jaws. Then I take a piece of steel automotive brake line or some similar type of tubing and slide it over the pushrod all the way against the jaws of the vise grips. Then I just push down on the tubing to make the bend in the pushrod. The tubing makes certain that all the bending occurs in a sharp angle instead of a large curve.

A "Z" bend could also be made by re-clamping the vise grips in what would be the middle of the "Z", then making the second bend. If a smaller "Z" is needed, use needle nose pliers instead of vise grips. Probably old news to most folks here, but I've seen some pretty shoddy bends on some used planes I've bought, so I thought it might help someone if I mentioned it.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

After the final joining of the wing by installing the wing tube and the plastic tie strap, I connected the servo to my rx and battery to get it centered again and made final adjustements to the ailerons.

Then it was time to lay the wing aside and attach the tail feathers. (vertical stabilizer, rudder, horizontal stabilizer, and elevator). I really liked the design of the tail section. The horizontal stab has a piece of triangle shaped balsa that secures it properly into the fusalage. No slop or sliding around once its in place and no guess work for getting the stab square with the fuselage.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

The vertical stab has a "tongue" on the front that slides into a slot in the fuselage, and the rear of the stabilizer also has a tab that slides down into another slot in the fuselage. Once again, no guess work, very solid design. Note the base of the stabilizer which has a piece of balsa shaped like "1/4 round" molding on each side. This adds a lot of support once it is bolted down against the horizontal stab.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

One of the hardest parts of this build was getting the two rods that secure the vertical stabilizer to pass thru the holes in the fuselage. A close inspection of the fuselage revealed why. Notice the antenna tube is passing over the edge of the front hole. Just enough to cause the rod to deflect instead of going thru. Not much room to wiggle the rods either since the "tongue" and "tab" from the stabilizer are engaged with the slots in the fuselage when the rods are about to pass thru.
I ended up prying the antenna tube to the side very gently with a small screw driver. Applied some CA and had to hold the screw driver in place for a few minutes while the CA dried. But after this the rods went right thru the holes and the entire tail section slid right into place. I have to say it again: I really like the design of this tail section.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

The included socket tool worked well for tightening the lock nuts to secure the tail section. Be careful though, you can over tighten them, even with this tiny tool.

Next step was adding the tail wheel. Out of morbid curiousity, I decided to go ahead and use the stock tail wheel for now. But I did follow the advice of RcKen and Landek and used a locking collar for the wheel instead of the plastic retainer. I don't know how they expected that little piece of plastic to stay on. Even if you always flew off pavement, it would not last.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

Installing the landing gear went pretty much by the book. But the axels are just barely wide enough for both locking collars and the wheel. The picture in the manual makes it look like there is plenty of room to file the flat on the end of the axel, but there isn't, so I omitted filing the flat spots for now and used my dremmel tool to put a small dimple in the axel shaft. The set screw for the outer locking collar seats in the dimple to help prevent loosening up. I also tried using some washers in place of the inside locking collar to try to gain some room, but the washers interfered with the wheel pants. Unless you have some narrow locking collars, you have to keep everything pushed up tight on the axel, or the set screw for the outside locking collar will not hit the shaft. Oviously this could cause you to loose a wheel.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

The next step involved installing the rudder and elevator servos and pushrods This required removal of the canopy, which was still on the plane at this time. They don't tell you how to remove the canopy at this point, you have to jump over near the end of the manual on page 20 to find out how to remove it.

One other minor complaint here, actually more of a preference than a complaint. The tubes for the elevator and rudder push rods are positioned too low and the rods come out below the servo arms. If you use the 90 degree bend and quik clip as intended, the rod has to come up from the bottom of the arm and exit out the top. No problems with alignment if you do this, but you better make sure your clevises are positioned correctly and you make your bend correctly or you will have wasted a pushrod.

I chose to use adjustable connectors instead of a 90 degree bend because I prefer to have the capability to make adjustments at the servo as well as at the control horn clevises. Because the tubes are so low, I had to move my connectors under the servo arms to keep the pushrods aligned with them. This meant I had to access the set screws for the connectors from underneath with the wing off. This was a little bit of a pain, but as I said, I prefer having the capability to make adjustments here. If they had raised the pushrod tubes about 1/4" higher in the former, it would have been easy to use either method of connecting the push rods to the servos.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

The next step in the manual is mounting the engine. But I prefered to skip this step and mount the fuel tank next because its easier to intall the fuel lines on the tank before the motor is mounted. I do temporarily set the motor in the mount so I can measure the length for each fuel line. Then I install the lines on the tank and just let them dangle out of the way while I mount the motor.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

The first thing I realized when installing the tank is the instructions are incorrect. The manual says the side of the tank labeled with "270 cc" is to be the top of the tank. If you do this, the holes in the fire wall do not line up. They are drilled offset to the right side of the plane when looking straight at it. Pictured below, I was actually able to install it like the manual says but the tank sat at an angle and the fuel lines were in a bind. To work properly the tank must be installed with the "270 CC" on the bottom in order to line up with the holes in the fire wall. This also means you must turn the tank lines and clunks around so that the vent line is on top.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

This pic is the final installation with tank turned oposite from the instructions.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

The next problem I noticed was some missing balsa. The tank and throttle servo tray are supposed to be screwed or glued into rails on the sides of the fusalage. The outlines in the pic show where the missing rails are supposed to be. I would have sent the plane back to Tower Hobbies at this point, but I did not want to have to wait for shipping and return. I happened to have some square dowels handy, so I made my own rails and used 30 min epoxy to glue them in.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

After securing the throttle servo tray and tank tray, it was time to mount the engine. I used a method similar to manual instructions. I positioned the engine where I wanted it, but instead of just marking the holes, I used some scrap pushrod pieces, held them with pliers and heated the ends with a lighter. After about 30 seconds of heating them, I inserted them thru the engine base and let them melt a little ways into the mount. This made it a little easier for me to keep the engine positioned properly while marking all the holes. After all four holes were placed, I removed the engine and the rods. Each rod left a shallow hole that made it very easy to finish drilling acurately with a cordless drill and bit.

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

With engnine mounted, fuel lines and push rod connected, next came the prop and spinner. I chose to go ahead and use the supplied plastic spinner, but I had a little problem fitting my Apc 11x6 prop. For those who are not aware of this, the prop should never be in contact with any part of the spinner cone. The openings in the cone were not big enough for my prop, so I marked the area where the leading edge of the prop was comming contact with the cone and used my dremmel tool and exacto knife to remove a little material from the inner portion of the slots. I balanced the spinner after this to be sure I had removed the material evenly from both sides of the cone. I didn't have to make any adjustments to it, so balancing may not have been needed since I was carefull to mark the cone before removing the material and I had removed it carefully, but better safe than sorry I guess.

wormturner

Jerry, thanks for the detailed assembly thread! It has helped tremendously! This is my first real ARF, and it's my first glow build. I'm looking at the muffler and noticing that it is angled downward. I have a similar angulation on my plane, but isn't the overflow fuel going to splatter all over the wheel pant and the wing, both during fuel-filling and flight exhaust??? I'm new to this and am just wondering where all this expelled "stuff" is going to drip. Are you going to add anything, or don't you find that it's a problem when properly tuned?

Thanks.

Phil

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

Thanks for the encouragement! I do have plenty to add to this review but I can not upload pics any more. Rcu doesn't seem to be able or want to correct the problem anytime soon, and I don't really want to bore everyone by finishing without pics, so I don't know if I will ever get this review finished.[&o]

As far as the muffler, I did add a diverter tube and turned it out to the side and angled slightly up. It helped a lot, but I am still getting some oil on the top of the wing, right side of the fuse near the tail, and right side of the tail stab surfaces. Not getting any on the wheel pants or the underside of the wing anymore though. Good luck with yours, I'm really enjoying mine!

wormturner

Nevermind the pics! If you have the time, explain it verbally, you're almost done. I improved the fuel tank mount because of this thread. Wheel pants, canopy removal, monocoat experience, etc..... Anything helps, because there isn't a whole lot else that's specific!. Tips and tricks for beginners who buy this plane will be appreciated. Clear skies and low winds to you!

Phil

wormturner

That's it, I'm finished. I think this is a thing of beauty! I'm ready to tune the engine and up, up, and away!

Thanks, Hugger...for all your help!

Tom Nied

You will probably be swapping out that tailwheel bracket for something more substantial like the Sullivan. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFV47&P=6

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

I'm still doing ok with the stock tail wheel and a lock collar, it does bounce around a little when I'm taxiing slowly on grass, but if I keep a little speed up, it handles fine.

wormturner

I certainly, at LEAST, upgraded the plastic rear wheel *friction* collar for the metal one with a locking nut.