Don Sims
Jun 01, 2005, 01:00 AM
!Introduction
| spec2
| @914607
|> Wingspan: |< 41"
|> Wing Area: |< 245 sq. in.
|> Weight: |< 17 oz.
|> Length: |< 27.5"
|> Wing Loading: |< Approx. 10 oz/sq. ft.
|> Servos: |< Hitec HS-55
|> Transmitter: |< Hitec Focus 3 & Polks Tracker II.
|> Receiver: |< Hitec 555
|> Battery: |< Thunder Power 2 Cell 7.4V 2100 mAh Li-Poly Pack
|> Motor: |< AXI 2208/26 External Rotor Brushless Motor
|> ESC: |< Jeti Advance PLUS 8 Amp Brushless Controller
|> Manufacturer: |< Gebhart
|> Available From: |< <a href="http://www.hobby-lobby.com/starlet.htm ">Hobby-Lobby</a>
The full scale <a href="http://starduster.com/SA500.html">Stolp Starlet</a> is a homebuilt single aircraft capable of aerobatic flight. It has a parasol wing which gives it a unique appearance. I also found <a href="http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/Stolp%20Starlet%20Specific%20History.asp">an excellent description</a> of a test flight of the full scale aircraft. Hobby Lobby brings you the semi scale version of this highly thought of aircraft. In less than twelve hours you can have this nice looking semi scale model plane in the air or in several hundred hours, you can make the full scale version! The model maintained many of the smooth lines and distinctive parasol wing of the full scale plane and you have some flexibility to power your plane with either a brushless or brushed motor system. For this review, I installed an Axi brushless motor, Jeti Advanced speed control and a Thunder Power 2100 7.4 volt pack.
!Kit Contents
@914608: Hobby-Lobby packed the inner box well as usual -- no damage.
@914609:Gebhart did an excellent job with safe packaging.
!Assembly
Like many of today’s almost ready to fly planes, the Starlet had the wings and stabilizers pre covered and assembled. The fuselage was fiberglass and the quality of workmanship was good. The parts were well packed, there was no warping on the wings, and no damage to any of the parts. I just needed basic building supplies to start assembling the Starlet.
!!Wing
@914610: I added hinges to make the ailerons work instead of leaving the wing stock.
@914611: The wing joiner was solidly made and had a carbon fiber spar.
Since the wing was pre-covered, it took very little time to put together. Instead of building the plane in the suggested three channel version, I decided to make the pre-built ailerons usable. Gebhart already had the ailerons built -- the directions had me adding piano wire inserts in the wing to hold them in place -- so switching to CA hinges was easy to do. I had an extra Hitec-55 servo in my parts box and decided to put it to good use in the plane. The most difficult part of building the wing was inserting the brace inside the fuselage. That was a bit difficult with large hands and took the use of some long nose pliers holding it in place while the five minute epoxy dried.
@914612: Once in place, the wing was easy to insert into the brace.
@914613: Carbon fiber rods helped to secure the wing.
!!Fuselage
I liked the quality of the fuselage, it had a sleek look similar to the full scale plus the fiberglass was finished well. The main things that I needed to do to make the fuselage airworthy were to drill some holes for the control links and Dremel ™ out cooling vents for the motor. At first I decided not to Dremel ™ the front hole out of the plane, but after my first few flights, I decided to go back and open it up to help with battery removal. The Starlet had a lot of room in the fuselage for electronics and the battery. The motor mount was predrilled but I did have to trim it to fit the fuselage. I added 2 degrees of down and two degrees of right to offset motor torque. The photos really accentuate the actual amount of offset for some reason. Like the wing mount, it was a bit of an adventure holding the motor mount in while the epoxy dried. I did a trial fitting then thought that mounting a motor in it after the fuselage was put together would be difficult to say the least. The cockpit is set way back on this plane and my motor wires went about half way down the fuselage then the speed control went the rest of the way. Because of this, I mounted the Axi 2208/26 motor and slipped it into the fuselage by the wires then applied the epoxy. My trusty long nose pliers came in handy to hold the mount while the epoxy set.
@914614: I used the provided motor mount with the Axi Brushless with no problems.
@914615: There was a lot of room in the fuselage for all of the electronics.
!!Tail
As I mentioned earlier, the rudder and stabilizers were pre covered. Since the stabilizers were split at the tail, twin control rods were needed to hook them together with one servo. Instead of taping, I used CA hinges to secure them as I did with the ailerons.
@914616: There were no covering or quality issues with the stabilizer group.
!!Radio Installation
The control servos were held in the fuselage on balsa cross pieces. I used Hitec 55 servos from Hobby-Lobby and Gebhart was kind enough to provide nice hardware for the push rods and even included pushrod locks so I had the ability to fine tune the control surfaces. I used Velcro (TM) to secure my speed control and put a Hitec Slimline receiver on the opposite side of the Starlet's wide fuselage.
@914617: Seven hours into the build and the Starlet was coming along quite well.
!!Completion
Gephart had a nice set of stick on decals for the plane which added a lot to the looks of the Starlet. For a bit of added realism, they also had the upper part of the seat and a detailed instrument panel for the plane. I painted the seat and dropped in the instrument panel, then cut the windshield to fit. There was also a set of wheel pants for the plane and I found out the hard way to not use CA on them. Gephart did suggest using glue in their instructions and not CA. Whenever I applied any pressure, they got hairline cracks in them, then eventually shattered. I changed to some plastic model cement to assemble them instead of thin CA. There were also some wheel legs that you can install. The tail wheel was not movable stock but it could easily be made so it turns with the rudder.
@914618: Be careful using CA glue on any of the very thin plastic parts. They came apart if I handled them before drying. I switched to model car cement.
@914619: I painted the wheel pants the same color as the seat. They functioned well on landing on very short grass.
@914620: I used a heat gun to eliminate the wrinkles on the decals after application.
@914621: A quick pin prick smoothed out this decal after applying heat, then I pushed the air out of the bubble.
@914622: The detailed decals were a nice addition to the plane. There were even two American flags for the upright stabilizer.
@914623: All the supplied decals were peel and stick and they made application a lot easier.
I couldn't decide if I wanted to add the optional spars or rely on the carbon-fiber wing holders. I decided not to use wing spars initially. In mild wind conditions, the plane really does not need them but in wind, the wing got buffeted around and the spars were needed badly. After my first couple of flights, I installed spars and have been much happier with the more solid flights in windy conditions.
Hobby-Lobby provided a Thunder Power 2100 mAh 4 volt battery for the plane. This was my first Thunder Power pack and I had read a lot about them in the E-Zone discussion forums. I hooked the pack to an Apache Li-Poly Smart Charger which I also picked up at Hobby-Lobby. By the time I had finished the details of the plane, the battery was charged and ready to go. Lastly, it was time to check the center of gravity and get the Starlet into the air!
@914624: A well used CG machine is all I use when making sure the battery is in the correct location on a plane.
@914625: The Starlet was ready for the maiden flight...since I made it a four channel plane I used my Polk's Tracker II radio.
@914626: I did a quick walk-around of the plane.
@914627: Nice looking aircraft.
@914628: Another angle of the Starlet.
@914629: One last shot.
!Flying
!!Taking Off and Landing
The AXI 2208/26 External Rotor Brushless Motor, Jeti Advance PLUS 8 Amp Brushless Controller, and Thunder Power pack really pulled the Starlet into the air with authority. I took off out of my barn and the plane was in the air in less than five feet. It also flew quite well by using hand tosses. Climb out was very acceptable and I found that I had a tendency to over correct with the rudder when taking off, the CG was at the rear setting so it was slightly tail heavy, I lowered my rates to compensate for this after the first flight. The plane slowed down nicely and landed easily but the wheel pants caught in medium to high grass and the plane flipped over. It landed much better on packed gravel or a hard surface and had a great roll out. As an aside, the rudder is large enough to do some turning on a hard surface without making the rear wheel turnable.
!!Aerobatics/Special Flight Performance
The Starlet does nice round loops and can roll with the ailerons set up. I've tried flying inverted but the wing threw off my orientation and the plane lost altitude when I flew it upside down. I'll just have to keep flying the plane and practice, practice, practice. In heavy winds, I wished that I had initially installed spars on the wing as the directions recommended; the wind was really pushing the wing as well around. Since taking the photos, I added two bamboo spars on the wing and it was rock steady afterward. Spars made a huge difference in the steadiness of the flight.
!!Is This For a Beginner?
I always worry about recommending a plane for a beginner. I feel that a plane needs to be durable and able to handle crashes as well as other abuse that a new pilot puts a plane through. The Starlet is well built and the fuselage seems to be quite durable. No damage was done on my landings and the prop didn't even break when the plane flipped over. One factor was the light weight of the plane; another was the quality of the build. I have no problem with saying that the Starlet would make a great little second or third plane. The plane has no bad habits, flies where you point it and has plenty of power using Hobby-Lobby’s recommended setup. Besides that, it doesn't have the look of the run of the mill park flyer!
!!Flight Video Gallery
Weather conditions just haven't allowed for good quality video of the Stolp Starlet at this time. Please visit Hobby-Lobby's <a href="http://www.hobby-lobby.com/starlet.htm">Starlet page</a> for some great flight video! If the winds, sun, time, and a friend's schedule (to run the camera) can all come together at once, I'll add more video here, and our editor will place the article at the top of the E-Zone page again!
!Conclusion
The Starlet is a fun little park flyer and flew well in a four channel configuration. I really liked its unusual looks and stable flight characteristics. The finish on the wings was better than I expected and the fuselage was well built. I liked how it flew overall and have really enjoyed the plane. Hobby-Lobby and Gebhart have brought a classic homebuilt plane to our wonderful world of modeling.
| spec2
| @914607
|> Wingspan: |< 41"
|> Wing Area: |< 245 sq. in.
|> Weight: |< 17 oz.
|> Length: |< 27.5"
|> Wing Loading: |< Approx. 10 oz/sq. ft.
|> Servos: |< Hitec HS-55
|> Transmitter: |< Hitec Focus 3 & Polks Tracker II.
|> Receiver: |< Hitec 555
|> Battery: |< Thunder Power 2 Cell 7.4V 2100 mAh Li-Poly Pack
|> Motor: |< AXI 2208/26 External Rotor Brushless Motor
|> ESC: |< Jeti Advance PLUS 8 Amp Brushless Controller
|> Manufacturer: |< Gebhart
|> Available From: |< <a href="http://www.hobby-lobby.com/starlet.htm ">Hobby-Lobby</a>
The full scale <a href="http://starduster.com/SA500.html">Stolp Starlet</a> is a homebuilt single aircraft capable of aerobatic flight. It has a parasol wing which gives it a unique appearance. I also found <a href="http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/Stolp%20Starlet%20Specific%20History.asp">an excellent description</a> of a test flight of the full scale aircraft. Hobby Lobby brings you the semi scale version of this highly thought of aircraft. In less than twelve hours you can have this nice looking semi scale model plane in the air or in several hundred hours, you can make the full scale version! The model maintained many of the smooth lines and distinctive parasol wing of the full scale plane and you have some flexibility to power your plane with either a brushless or brushed motor system. For this review, I installed an Axi brushless motor, Jeti Advanced speed control and a Thunder Power 2100 7.4 volt pack.
!Kit Contents
@914608: Hobby-Lobby packed the inner box well as usual -- no damage.
@914609:Gebhart did an excellent job with safe packaging.
!Assembly
Like many of today’s almost ready to fly planes, the Starlet had the wings and stabilizers pre covered and assembled. The fuselage was fiberglass and the quality of workmanship was good. The parts were well packed, there was no warping on the wings, and no damage to any of the parts. I just needed basic building supplies to start assembling the Starlet.
!!Wing
@914610: I added hinges to make the ailerons work instead of leaving the wing stock.
@914611: The wing joiner was solidly made and had a carbon fiber spar.
Since the wing was pre-covered, it took very little time to put together. Instead of building the plane in the suggested three channel version, I decided to make the pre-built ailerons usable. Gebhart already had the ailerons built -- the directions had me adding piano wire inserts in the wing to hold them in place -- so switching to CA hinges was easy to do. I had an extra Hitec-55 servo in my parts box and decided to put it to good use in the plane. The most difficult part of building the wing was inserting the brace inside the fuselage. That was a bit difficult with large hands and took the use of some long nose pliers holding it in place while the five minute epoxy dried.
@914612: Once in place, the wing was easy to insert into the brace.
@914613: Carbon fiber rods helped to secure the wing.
!!Fuselage
I liked the quality of the fuselage, it had a sleek look similar to the full scale plus the fiberglass was finished well. The main things that I needed to do to make the fuselage airworthy were to drill some holes for the control links and Dremel ™ out cooling vents for the motor. At first I decided not to Dremel ™ the front hole out of the plane, but after my first few flights, I decided to go back and open it up to help with battery removal. The Starlet had a lot of room in the fuselage for electronics and the battery. The motor mount was predrilled but I did have to trim it to fit the fuselage. I added 2 degrees of down and two degrees of right to offset motor torque. The photos really accentuate the actual amount of offset for some reason. Like the wing mount, it was a bit of an adventure holding the motor mount in while the epoxy dried. I did a trial fitting then thought that mounting a motor in it after the fuselage was put together would be difficult to say the least. The cockpit is set way back on this plane and my motor wires went about half way down the fuselage then the speed control went the rest of the way. Because of this, I mounted the Axi 2208/26 motor and slipped it into the fuselage by the wires then applied the epoxy. My trusty long nose pliers came in handy to hold the mount while the epoxy set.
@914614: I used the provided motor mount with the Axi Brushless with no problems.
@914615: There was a lot of room in the fuselage for all of the electronics.
!!Tail
As I mentioned earlier, the rudder and stabilizers were pre covered. Since the stabilizers were split at the tail, twin control rods were needed to hook them together with one servo. Instead of taping, I used CA hinges to secure them as I did with the ailerons.
@914616: There were no covering or quality issues with the stabilizer group.
!!Radio Installation
The control servos were held in the fuselage on balsa cross pieces. I used Hitec 55 servos from Hobby-Lobby and Gebhart was kind enough to provide nice hardware for the push rods and even included pushrod locks so I had the ability to fine tune the control surfaces. I used Velcro (TM) to secure my speed control and put a Hitec Slimline receiver on the opposite side of the Starlet's wide fuselage.
@914617: Seven hours into the build and the Starlet was coming along quite well.
!!Completion
Gephart had a nice set of stick on decals for the plane which added a lot to the looks of the Starlet. For a bit of added realism, they also had the upper part of the seat and a detailed instrument panel for the plane. I painted the seat and dropped in the instrument panel, then cut the windshield to fit. There was also a set of wheel pants for the plane and I found out the hard way to not use CA on them. Gephart did suggest using glue in their instructions and not CA. Whenever I applied any pressure, they got hairline cracks in them, then eventually shattered. I changed to some plastic model cement to assemble them instead of thin CA. There were also some wheel legs that you can install. The tail wheel was not movable stock but it could easily be made so it turns with the rudder.
@914618: Be careful using CA glue on any of the very thin plastic parts. They came apart if I handled them before drying. I switched to model car cement.
@914619: I painted the wheel pants the same color as the seat. They functioned well on landing on very short grass.
@914620: I used a heat gun to eliminate the wrinkles on the decals after application.
@914621: A quick pin prick smoothed out this decal after applying heat, then I pushed the air out of the bubble.
@914622: The detailed decals were a nice addition to the plane. There were even two American flags for the upright stabilizer.
@914623: All the supplied decals were peel and stick and they made application a lot easier.
I couldn't decide if I wanted to add the optional spars or rely on the carbon-fiber wing holders. I decided not to use wing spars initially. In mild wind conditions, the plane really does not need them but in wind, the wing got buffeted around and the spars were needed badly. After my first couple of flights, I installed spars and have been much happier with the more solid flights in windy conditions.
Hobby-Lobby provided a Thunder Power 2100 mAh 4 volt battery for the plane. This was my first Thunder Power pack and I had read a lot about them in the E-Zone discussion forums. I hooked the pack to an Apache Li-Poly Smart Charger which I also picked up at Hobby-Lobby. By the time I had finished the details of the plane, the battery was charged and ready to go. Lastly, it was time to check the center of gravity and get the Starlet into the air!
@914624: A well used CG machine is all I use when making sure the battery is in the correct location on a plane.
@914625: The Starlet was ready for the maiden flight...since I made it a four channel plane I used my Polk's Tracker II radio.
@914626: I did a quick walk-around of the plane.
@914627: Nice looking aircraft.
@914628: Another angle of the Starlet.
@914629: One last shot.
!Flying
!!Taking Off and Landing
The AXI 2208/26 External Rotor Brushless Motor, Jeti Advance PLUS 8 Amp Brushless Controller, and Thunder Power pack really pulled the Starlet into the air with authority. I took off out of my barn and the plane was in the air in less than five feet. It also flew quite well by using hand tosses. Climb out was very acceptable and I found that I had a tendency to over correct with the rudder when taking off, the CG was at the rear setting so it was slightly tail heavy, I lowered my rates to compensate for this after the first flight. The plane slowed down nicely and landed easily but the wheel pants caught in medium to high grass and the plane flipped over. It landed much better on packed gravel or a hard surface and had a great roll out. As an aside, the rudder is large enough to do some turning on a hard surface without making the rear wheel turnable.
!!Aerobatics/Special Flight Performance
The Starlet does nice round loops and can roll with the ailerons set up. I've tried flying inverted but the wing threw off my orientation and the plane lost altitude when I flew it upside down. I'll just have to keep flying the plane and practice, practice, practice. In heavy winds, I wished that I had initially installed spars on the wing as the directions recommended; the wind was really pushing the wing as well around. Since taking the photos, I added two bamboo spars on the wing and it was rock steady afterward. Spars made a huge difference in the steadiness of the flight.
!!Is This For a Beginner?
I always worry about recommending a plane for a beginner. I feel that a plane needs to be durable and able to handle crashes as well as other abuse that a new pilot puts a plane through. The Starlet is well built and the fuselage seems to be quite durable. No damage was done on my landings and the prop didn't even break when the plane flipped over. One factor was the light weight of the plane; another was the quality of the build. I have no problem with saying that the Starlet would make a great little second or third plane. The plane has no bad habits, flies where you point it and has plenty of power using Hobby-Lobby’s recommended setup. Besides that, it doesn't have the look of the run of the mill park flyer!
!!Flight Video Gallery
Weather conditions just haven't allowed for good quality video of the Stolp Starlet at this time. Please visit Hobby-Lobby's <a href="http://www.hobby-lobby.com/starlet.htm">Starlet page</a> for some great flight video! If the winds, sun, time, and a friend's schedule (to run the camera) can all come together at once, I'll add more video here, and our editor will place the article at the top of the E-Zone page again!
!Conclusion
The Starlet is a fun little park flyer and flew well in a four channel configuration. I really liked its unusual looks and stable flight characteristics. The finish on the wings was better than I expected and the fuselage was well built. I liked how it flew overall and have really enjoyed the plane. Hobby-Lobby and Gebhart have brought a classic homebuilt plane to our wonderful world of modeling.