Craig Limber
Aug 01, 1996, 01:00 AM
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<head>
<title>The Great Planes ElectroStreak</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<h2 align="center"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/ezonemag/1996/../images/streak.jpg" width="350" height="236"></h2>
<h2>Introduction </h2>
<p>HEY THERE; </p>
<p>Here I am with another tale of an airplane. This time its the Great Planes
Electrostreak. I thought you might be interested in hearing abouts its construction and
flight. </p>
<p>When I opened the box and checked to make sure everything was included and that nothing
was damaged/in poor shape I found I was quite impressed with the quality of the balsa and
die-cutting. Everything was uniform in shape/size and the die-cut parts popped out with
very little cutting on my part. It was easily the best die-cutting I have experienced so
far. I spent an evening making outlines and duplicates of the die-cut parts (something I
did not do with my skyvolt and electric hots which I came to later regret when I crashed
them) and got down to the construction. </p>
<p>From what I heard from Kirk Massey and from people on the net, an Astro 15 and 10 cells
are an excellent combination for this airplane. The kit came with an Thrustmaster ferrite
motor and recommended 7 cells. I decided to stick the thrustmaster into my hovercraft (if
I ever get around to making one) and go with a cobalt motor. </p>
<p>The instruction booklet is superb. Each step is clearly described and is accompanied by
competent photographs. There were just a couple minor booboos; see below. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Construction: </h2>
<p><b>The fuselage:</b> </p>
<p>Its a Simple slab-sided construction with 4 formers holding it together. The design of
the stabilizer platform required care on my part to make sure that it ends up level but
that was a minor difficulty. Once sanded, the fuse came out to 74 grams (not bad). From
Larry Marshall's suggestion, I decided to move the location of the rudder/elevator servos
to behind F4 (the aft bulkhead) and access them through a hatch I cut out in the bottom.
The receiver is located aft of the servos and is velcroed to the top of the fuselage. The
servos are upside down. I had to widen the bottom part of F3 slightly to allow the battery
pack to fit through it in case I wanted to slide it forward for balance purposes. There is
provision for landing gear which I decided to go without but included the appropriate
components during construction in case I changed my mind later. During the finishing I
covered over the slot where the landing gear would go. The tail gear is a simple wire skid
and is NOT steerable. </p>
<p>The brushes on the astro motor were a real pain and it simply didn't fit in. I had to
gouge out a hole in the 3/32 top front sheeting to make it fit and then glue on a piece of
balsa to cover it all up. Do this during step 13 on page 10 before the bottom sheeting is
put on. </p>
<p><b>Tail feathers:</b> </p>
<p>I made the rudder slightly larger (by about 30%) as per a another suggestion from Larry
Marshall. Elevator control is through a standard pushrod while the rudder is handled by a
pull-pull cable system. Getting the pull-pull tight and with no slop was a nearly
impossible task and has turned me off of pull-pull systems. </p>
<p><b>Wing</b> </p>
<p>standard open structure with two balsa spars, sheer webs and sheeted with light balsa
from the spar forward. The wing is tapered with a swept leading edge. The airfoil is
semi-symmetrical but I had to look twice to verify this and it handles inverted flight
quite well. The ribs are 1/16 balsa with die cut lightening holes and are capped with 1/16
strips from the sheeting to trailing edge. The ailerons are simple constant chord pieces
of balsa tapered chordwise and span the wing from the fuse to the wing tips. Although I
didn't, I think it would be a really keen idea to glue a strip of basswood to the trailing
edge of the ailerons and sand it to a nice edge. The wing is mounted to a formed saddle at
the top of the fuse and is held in with a dowl at the front and a 10-24 nylon bolt at the
rear. The leading/trailing edges of the kits were machined beforehand and are the only
parts I am unable to easily duplicate myself. They were a little warped so I straightened
them by soaking with water and clamping down on my magnetic building board overnight.
There is a booboo in the manual on page 26 where it asks you to drill a 5/32 hole in the
ailerons for the control horn bolts. I think that should be 3/32. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Equipment </h2>
<p><b>Maiden flight power: </b></p>
<p>Astro 05 6 turn FAI with 7 1700 SCR cells. Power later: Astro 15 with 10 Sanyo 1700 mah
SCRCs. All Connectors are Anderson Powerpole that I cut down a little to make the
connectors a little shorter. Propellor is the 7x6 that came with the kit (I think its a
Grish Tornado). At full throttle, the motor draws 38 amps static. Speed control is an
Astro 210. It was a bit of pain sticking all of this stuff into the narrow fuselage. The
hardest part to deal with was the receiver power switch which is located just under the
leading edge of the wing. I will eventually move it as it complicates battery
removal/installation. </p>
<p><b>Radio: </b></p>
<p>Hitec 535 micro receiver, 3 TS-11 micro servos, 225 4 cell RX pack. I had to locate the
receiver battery just aft of the motor in order to get it all to balance. I had to cut out
little chunks of the triangles along the top of the fuse in order to make the receiver fit
nicely. If you use the upside down servo mounts, make sure you check their placement and
throws before assembling them according to step 2 on page 14. Also, when they say install
the servo deep in the wing, they mean it! I didn't and had to go back and make it deeper
as the top of the servo was resting against the motor battery. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Mods: </h2>
<p>Other than the access hatch and tail servos, the only mod I added were tip plates of
about 1 sqdm each to see if it improves the flight profile at all. It is also to make
knife edge flight a little easier (which it does). I haven't tried the airplane without
them. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Flying: </h2>
<p>It flies fast and can perform pattern-style maneuvers for 3.5 to four minutes. It needs
to build up speed on launch so be careful during that portion of the flight. I haven't
flown it on 10 cells with the 15 yet but I will let you what I think of it (I want to get
used to the airplane first). Much thanks to Mike Allman who test flew it; I admit my
piloting skills need a little work! I think the recommended elevator throw is a little
much and I plan to reduce it. The best way to describe the electrostreak's flight
characteristics are "fast, slick and crisp". Watch out when coming in for a
landing! It's very clean and easy to overshoot. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Data: </h2>
<p><b>Measures:</b>
<ul>
<li>Wingspan: 112 cm (44.4 in) </li>
<li>Length: 99 cm (39 in) </li>
<li>mass 10 cell: 1342g (47.3 ounces) </li>
<li>mass 7 cell: 1168g (41.2 ounces) </li>
<li>wing area: 21.93 dm^2 (340 sqin) </li>
<li>wing loading 10 cell: 61 g/dm^2 (20.3 oz/square foot) </li>
<li>wing loading 7 cell: 53 g/dm^2 (17.7 oz/square foot) </li>
</ul>
<p><b>covering: </b></p>
<p>dark blue micafilm on wings and tail, flourescent pink super monokote control surfaces
and wing tip plates and yellow fuselage. The pink monokote did NOT go on very well. It
just refused to shrink in all directions. I will never use it to cover an open frame again
and have learned to give every covering a try on my test frame before putting it on an
aircraft! </p>
<hr>
<h2>Summary: </h2>
<p>Most excellent kit, most excellent plans, most excellent airplane. </p>
<p>Craig Limber<br>
<a href="http://rcgroups.com/shared/nospam.php?u=climber&d=myra.com">climber(at)myra.com</a>
</body>
</html>
<head>
<title>The Great Planes ElectroStreak</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<h2 align="center"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/ezonemag/1996/../images/streak.jpg" width="350" height="236"></h2>
<h2>Introduction </h2>
<p>HEY THERE; </p>
<p>Here I am with another tale of an airplane. This time its the Great Planes
Electrostreak. I thought you might be interested in hearing abouts its construction and
flight. </p>
<p>When I opened the box and checked to make sure everything was included and that nothing
was damaged/in poor shape I found I was quite impressed with the quality of the balsa and
die-cutting. Everything was uniform in shape/size and the die-cut parts popped out with
very little cutting on my part. It was easily the best die-cutting I have experienced so
far. I spent an evening making outlines and duplicates of the die-cut parts (something I
did not do with my skyvolt and electric hots which I came to later regret when I crashed
them) and got down to the construction. </p>
<p>From what I heard from Kirk Massey and from people on the net, an Astro 15 and 10 cells
are an excellent combination for this airplane. The kit came with an Thrustmaster ferrite
motor and recommended 7 cells. I decided to stick the thrustmaster into my hovercraft (if
I ever get around to making one) and go with a cobalt motor. </p>
<p>The instruction booklet is superb. Each step is clearly described and is accompanied by
competent photographs. There were just a couple minor booboos; see below. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Construction: </h2>
<p><b>The fuselage:</b> </p>
<p>Its a Simple slab-sided construction with 4 formers holding it together. The design of
the stabilizer platform required care on my part to make sure that it ends up level but
that was a minor difficulty. Once sanded, the fuse came out to 74 grams (not bad). From
Larry Marshall's suggestion, I decided to move the location of the rudder/elevator servos
to behind F4 (the aft bulkhead) and access them through a hatch I cut out in the bottom.
The receiver is located aft of the servos and is velcroed to the top of the fuselage. The
servos are upside down. I had to widen the bottom part of F3 slightly to allow the battery
pack to fit through it in case I wanted to slide it forward for balance purposes. There is
provision for landing gear which I decided to go without but included the appropriate
components during construction in case I changed my mind later. During the finishing I
covered over the slot where the landing gear would go. The tail gear is a simple wire skid
and is NOT steerable. </p>
<p>The brushes on the astro motor were a real pain and it simply didn't fit in. I had to
gouge out a hole in the 3/32 top front sheeting to make it fit and then glue on a piece of
balsa to cover it all up. Do this during step 13 on page 10 before the bottom sheeting is
put on. </p>
<p><b>Tail feathers:</b> </p>
<p>I made the rudder slightly larger (by about 30%) as per a another suggestion from Larry
Marshall. Elevator control is through a standard pushrod while the rudder is handled by a
pull-pull cable system. Getting the pull-pull tight and with no slop was a nearly
impossible task and has turned me off of pull-pull systems. </p>
<p><b>Wing</b> </p>
<p>standard open structure with two balsa spars, sheer webs and sheeted with light balsa
from the spar forward. The wing is tapered with a swept leading edge. The airfoil is
semi-symmetrical but I had to look twice to verify this and it handles inverted flight
quite well. The ribs are 1/16 balsa with die cut lightening holes and are capped with 1/16
strips from the sheeting to trailing edge. The ailerons are simple constant chord pieces
of balsa tapered chordwise and span the wing from the fuse to the wing tips. Although I
didn't, I think it would be a really keen idea to glue a strip of basswood to the trailing
edge of the ailerons and sand it to a nice edge. The wing is mounted to a formed saddle at
the top of the fuse and is held in with a dowl at the front and a 10-24 nylon bolt at the
rear. The leading/trailing edges of the kits were machined beforehand and are the only
parts I am unable to easily duplicate myself. They were a little warped so I straightened
them by soaking with water and clamping down on my magnetic building board overnight.
There is a booboo in the manual on page 26 where it asks you to drill a 5/32 hole in the
ailerons for the control horn bolts. I think that should be 3/32. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Equipment </h2>
<p><b>Maiden flight power: </b></p>
<p>Astro 05 6 turn FAI with 7 1700 SCR cells. Power later: Astro 15 with 10 Sanyo 1700 mah
SCRCs. All Connectors are Anderson Powerpole that I cut down a little to make the
connectors a little shorter. Propellor is the 7x6 that came with the kit (I think its a
Grish Tornado). At full throttle, the motor draws 38 amps static. Speed control is an
Astro 210. It was a bit of pain sticking all of this stuff into the narrow fuselage. The
hardest part to deal with was the receiver power switch which is located just under the
leading edge of the wing. I will eventually move it as it complicates battery
removal/installation. </p>
<p><b>Radio: </b></p>
<p>Hitec 535 micro receiver, 3 TS-11 micro servos, 225 4 cell RX pack. I had to locate the
receiver battery just aft of the motor in order to get it all to balance. I had to cut out
little chunks of the triangles along the top of the fuse in order to make the receiver fit
nicely. If you use the upside down servo mounts, make sure you check their placement and
throws before assembling them according to step 2 on page 14. Also, when they say install
the servo deep in the wing, they mean it! I didn't and had to go back and make it deeper
as the top of the servo was resting against the motor battery. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Mods: </h2>
<p>Other than the access hatch and tail servos, the only mod I added were tip plates of
about 1 sqdm each to see if it improves the flight profile at all. It is also to make
knife edge flight a little easier (which it does). I haven't tried the airplane without
them. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Flying: </h2>
<p>It flies fast and can perform pattern-style maneuvers for 3.5 to four minutes. It needs
to build up speed on launch so be careful during that portion of the flight. I haven't
flown it on 10 cells with the 15 yet but I will let you what I think of it (I want to get
used to the airplane first). Much thanks to Mike Allman who test flew it; I admit my
piloting skills need a little work! I think the recommended elevator throw is a little
much and I plan to reduce it. The best way to describe the electrostreak's flight
characteristics are "fast, slick and crisp". Watch out when coming in for a
landing! It's very clean and easy to overshoot. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Data: </h2>
<p><b>Measures:</b>
<ul>
<li>Wingspan: 112 cm (44.4 in) </li>
<li>Length: 99 cm (39 in) </li>
<li>mass 10 cell: 1342g (47.3 ounces) </li>
<li>mass 7 cell: 1168g (41.2 ounces) </li>
<li>wing area: 21.93 dm^2 (340 sqin) </li>
<li>wing loading 10 cell: 61 g/dm^2 (20.3 oz/square foot) </li>
<li>wing loading 7 cell: 53 g/dm^2 (17.7 oz/square foot) </li>
</ul>
<p><b>covering: </b></p>
<p>dark blue micafilm on wings and tail, flourescent pink super monokote control surfaces
and wing tip plates and yellow fuselage. The pink monokote did NOT go on very well. It
just refused to shrink in all directions. I will never use it to cover an open frame again
and have learned to give every covering a try on my test frame before putting it on an
aircraft! </p>
<hr>
<h2>Summary: </h2>
<p>Most excellent kit, most excellent plans, most excellent airplane. </p>
<p>Craig Limber<br>
<a href="http://rcgroups.com/shared/nospam.php?u=climber&d=myra.com">climber(at)myra.com</a>
</body>
</html>