What ? no posts? OK Escapade ARF

[jeffie8696]

I am not much of a builder, too new to this stuff. So recently I purchased a Great Planes Escapade ARF.
It was so simple and easy to assemble I was amazed! The quality is good the manual is easy to read , not perfect but very good and it flies really well.
Couple of points about the plane.
It is light so it doesnt need a huge engine although it will take one and go really fast if you want to. In fact there are people flying this plane on a strong .25, I used a Thunder Tiger GP42 and it was an excellent match next time I will use an Irvine 36.
Glueing the wing halves together and the tail feathers on is a good idea especially if going with a larger than .40 size engine.
With a light engine I moved the receiver battery to a small tray under the engine ,that I made, in order to balance, Escapades are famous for being tail heavy and I did not want to add weight and increase wing loading.
I used a much smaller servo on the throttle, a GWS Naro Max and it saved a lot of weight and worked great, really how much servo do you need to move a throttle? I am surprised this is not more common.
This plane is made to be the next step up from your basic trainer and I found it to be a as easy to fly as my PT-40 just a little faster. It is not designed to be a 3D plane, it is a casual sport plane so dont expect the same flying performance as a Sukhoi.

[jeffie8696]

Update.
I have found the Escapade has an Achilies heel. It suffers from flutter at high speed possibly related to the elevator joiner being somewhat weak. My first Epade took a dirtnap on an unrelated issue but flew really well on the Thunder Tiger GP42. My new one is powered by an fine Irvine 36 and it is plenty . Great Planes recommends the OS55AX and I think you could get in trouble very quickly.

[RCModelReviews]

Yeah, a lot of ARFs are built pretty light these days and many use laser-cut ply rather than a decent thickness of good old balsa -- the result can be reduced stiffness and a tendency to flutter.

You seem to have found that out for yourself though

[jeffie8696]

I found out the problem through a build thread on that other huge online forum. A friend of mine has first hand knowledge of it also.
I understand the problem stems from a weak elevator joiner . There have been some fixes suggested such as adding some thin strips of balsa to the area of the elevator the joiner fits through . I may try that .
Other than that it is a very inexpensive great flying easy building ARF.

[jeffie8696]

I now have several hours of flying on the Epade and it is still kickin. I am resisting the urge to swap out the engine for something with more power, it really doesnt need it. That Irvine with a 10X4 Zinger prop winds up quick and is plenty fast.
Tried a lot of different props on it and the Zinger flew the best for my style of flying(nothing fancy just the basics).

[Willielyons]

Hey there, I'm sure you're wondering what happened to the Escapade ARF (Acronym Renovation Flier) blog. Well, it's a long story. It all started with my desire to get back into flying after an injury and shift in professional life caused me to have to cut back on the flying that I had been doing. I was excited to join the HPRC and get out of my desk job, but alas I was laid up from a separate accident sometime later on. At first everything was great as we were on track for being ready but then came a change in https://studydemic.com/top-essay-writing-services/ plans which required another build-out (and lots of leftover parts). Now we are over a year later with little visible progress despite having taken lots of time off here and there (often without warning).