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ALASTAIR NICOL |
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I purchased the kit at the Yorkshire Air Spectacular from Airfoil Services. On opening the lovely coloured box the first thing that you see is a very well presented and colourful model. The model comes pre-covered in a self adhesive film so this will truly be a quick build (if you can call it that). What do you get for your money ? Built and covered wing halves, tailplane, fin and fuselage. There is also a nice epoxy glass cowl that is pre painted. All the accessories that are needed to complete the model are also included. Time to start building (the bit I hate the most) On opening the instructions and reading through them I soon found that these are really only suitable to mix my 30min epoxy on as they are complete and utter rubbish. The instructions make no mention of how to fit the undercarriage, show one aileron servo being installed in the centre of the wing when the wings are cut out for a servo in each wing half and connecting up the nose wheel steering when the model is obviously a tail dragger need I say more. The first thing to do is to join the wing halves together. Mix up plenty of 30 min. epoxy and glue wing panels together with wing brace in place. Tape the wing panels together using pvc electrical tape (epoxy does not stick to this). Bolt the wing to the fuselage this will ensure that the wing panels will stay together and not move while you wait for the epoxy to set. Take the tail plane and insert it in its slot in the fuselage and line it up. Take a pencil and mark where the covering has to be removed then do the same with the fin. Remove the covering with a sharp knife ensuring not to cut into the balsa below it. Glue tail and fin in place with more 30 min epoxy then leave model until epoxy has cured. I thought that this would be a good time to go fly my heli so off I went. The next job to do is cut out the a.b.s. rear decking, belly pan and spats. The rear decking is glued in place with c.a. adhesive as is the belly pan. The fitting of the belly pan is a bit of a pain but with a little careful trimming it fits nicely. The spats are an absolute nightmare to join but they do go together. Insert the wire u/c legs into the fuselage and secure with the screws and saddle clamps provided. Place the wheels on the wire u/c legs and secure with the collets provided (I chose to leave the spats off until after I have flown the model). Install the control horns on the elevators, ailerons and rudder. The control horns are made up of a bolt, two washers, a nut and a plastic keeper. Place one washer on the bolt then put bolt through the hole in the control surface then place the other washer on the bolt and hold this in place with the nut then screw on plastic keeper. Fit the tail wheel assembly not forgetting to glue on the ply block to take the two securing screws. The model construction is now complete and just the engine, tank and radio to be fitted. This kit is very complete with every bolt, screw or fitting that is required, however for some reason it is not supplied with the fuel tubing for inside the fuel tank. The engine is screwed into the preinstalled engine mount with approx. 2 degrees right thrust. Make up the fuel tank and install it in the tank bay then, plumb in the engine. Fit the glass fibre cowl and secure in place with the screws provided then install the prop and spinner. The radio gear is easy to install with the servo trays and pushrods pre fitted in the fuselage and wing. There is plenty of room to install the Rx and nicad in the fuselage in front of the servo tray. The foam for protecting the Rx and nicad is also supplied in the kit. The centre of gravity is not further back than 30% of the cord from the leading edge. Move the Rx and nicad to balance model and add lead weight if required. The model is now complete and awaiting its test flight. The time taken to get the model ready from opening the box to ready to fly was less the 4 hours work. To install my S.C. 65 4 stroke I had to change the engine mount, the rest of the accessories used were supplied in the kit. The model goes together very well and has built up into an attractive airframe that I am looking forward to flying. Model specification Wingspan 132cm Recommended engine size 40-46 2 stroke Engine used S.C. 65 4 stroke Radio gear used Futaba FF8 No of channels required 4/5 Type of construction balsa/plywood Weight ???
Flying The Giles G202 After finishing my other project (turbine powered F15) I thought it was time to test fly the Giles so off I went to the flying field to play with my new toy. The SC65 4 stroke that I purchased at the Rufforth show was second hand and caused me some problems trying to get it to start never mind run.
After about half an hour I had finally got it to run but the slow running needle was out about 4 ½ turns too much. Off came the cowl and I adjusted the engine and the engine now throttles but is not happy at full throttle. I think this may be down to not using a 4stroke plug and 4stroke fuel but at least it is running. I refitted the cowl, filled the tank and started the engine. I placed the model on our tarmac runway checked the control surfaces were moving in the correct direction then opened the throttle.
The little Giles went straight down the runway and lifted in no time at all. The model was flying well with only 3 bleeps of trim on my FF8 for the ailerons and there we have it, straight and level flight. After a few circuits I thought lets see how aerobatic this thing is. I rolled the model, looped and spun the model about the sky, it was great I like this model. The most impressive manoeuvre I found that it did I don’t know its name, it was flying at full throttle straight and level the put the sticks in the top right corners and the model does some cracking forward tumbles. This model has no real stall to talk of, when slowed down and up elevator applied it just gently drops the nose with no dropping of a wing. Time for the dreaded landing. I lined the model up, flew it over the hedge at the edge of our field then dropped it down and it touched down on the tarmac without any bouncing, great.
In the two following flights that I had I found that I need more rudder movement for knife edge but apart from that this was money well spent. If
you purchase one of these kits and need any help with the assembly
please email me and I will try to help. |
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