Here is a review of the plane from a UK magazine. quite thorough

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B66w...enM/edit?pli=1

Mike

flip the carb so needle is on the top like in model airplane news my mistake

Yes flip the needle and leave it out when fitting the cowl. Mine is a floater for such a load. It glides for long time, even dead stick was no prob.
Saito has TONS of power for sure, and a 20cc would fit but I would go DLE, they seem to be very worthy.
Flew in 20 knot winds and the Glasair did very well. Fun plane, who wants it!?! It is sitting for now, too many family things going on and not enough $....

Mickel and Bladebender

thanks for posting back. I expected this thread to be fairly active, but I guess the plane is not a popular as I thought it would be.

Glad to hear that despite it's heavyish wing loading it glides well. What about the Flaps? Where are people setting them? I will have only one option with my current 6 channel radio as all the channels will be spoken for.

From what I can tell the XYZ seems to be a faithful (blatent) copy of the DLE 20. Valley View mentions that they have worked with xyz to produce the engine and they offer a 2 year warranty. Just trying to lessen the price of admission.
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In the review I posted from the UK magazine, the author claims the wing retention system is lacking. claiming that the bolt in the front tube don't hold the wing against the fuse as securely as they should and that there is a gap near the trailing edge because of it. I noticed that he got the wing strut mounts on back wards and wondered if that made a difference? Any problems with wing retention via the two bolts and struts?

Thanks
Mike

Hi All,

Picked up my Sportsman from my LHS earlier this week. First impressions are good! I'll be assembling it when I've finished building my Super Skybolt (GP kit), but here are some of my initial thoughts.
The covering is Oracote/Ultracote and apart from a few wrinkles, primarily on the flaps and ailerons, everything looks good.
Everything is metric.
The firewall seems strong enough and is 5/16" ply.
You'll need a couple of AA batteries for the LED landing lights plus a switch. The wheels are 2 1/2" and the pants look as though 3" will fit.
The tank is approx 10.8 Fl Oz which for a larger engine may be a bit small. I'll be using an OS FS-95V which is at the lower end of the recommended engine sizes. There's ton's of room behind the firewall to put a larger tank in but length may be an issue.
If the included engine mounts don't fit your particular installation it's easy to get at the back of the firewall to change blind nuts around. They are glued in but it should be easy enough to knock them out. I can get my hand though the hatch. Talking of hatches, Seagull went to a lot more trouble than I would have to make the two hatches! Great job!
The servo mounts are in two pieces and each held in place by a slot and a screw.
Now to the wing mounting..... I read the RCM&E review (link earlier in this thread) after I'd bought my Sportsman and I must admit I wondered what I was getting myself into! It took me a while to figure out how it works as the photo in the included manual (with the B&W pics) wasn't very clear exactly where the holes are to be drilled through the wing into the aluminum tube. A mock up quickly clarified things (I should have done this before I read the instructions!!) ....the holes are on the wing tops 8" in from the roots and about 1 1/4" from the LE. Obvious now, but may save some-one else from a little head scratching! I can foresee alignment issues here with these holes and it may be easier to glue the forward tube into one wing so it will always be aligned.
The maximum flap deflection I can get on one wing is 40 degrees. The other flap goes to 50 degrees. I can see where it's binding, but I've no idea how to remove these hinges so 40% max flap it will be!
I'm still trying to figure out the tail wheel steering system with the float rudder. It looks a PITA to change from the tail wheel steering to the float rudder and back again. I'll be buying the floats when they become available - Horizon says they are back ordered until mid May. I'll try and figure something out then. Maybe someone has already done this and can help?

Anyway folks, this is my very first post on any forum and it's time to bet back to my Skybolt.

Cheers, Chris

I think Model Airplane News has a review of this bird....or was that Fly R/C?

MAN April 2013 - Actually that's where I first saw this bird and decided this one's for me! Luckily my LHS had one.

I have decided to go with the xyz20cc. Have read good reviews of Valley View service and it has a 2 year warranty. wish me luck. I'm thinking with that engine the tank should be big enough.

On the floats, I wonder if you can fit a micro servo in there to run the rudder? I concur that the set up as described in the manual is PITA.

I downloaded the manual from Horizon. it is in color and the images are far better than the included manual's B&W images.

The MAN review is very a good write up, but is very vague.

As to the wing mounting. It looks sort of second thought, but as my buddy said when I was discussing it with him. "I have planes that hold the wings in with rubber bands and have never had a problem". So time will tell.

Glad to see some comments here. I was beginning to think no one had one or liked it.

Mike

Well, cool, I like VVRC so you are in good hands imho. Please use a Xoar prop lol!

No problem with the wing mounting/seating to the fuse. I checked a few things prior to making them permanent. The alum tube was short enough or I woulda trimmed it. The ply root rib area allowed for an easy fit on each side. When all was seated well, I added 1 screw to 1 side and may have used an extra set of hands to apply pressure to side 2 while I added screw 2.

As for the rotation of said tube- I was easily able to locate the holes in the wing halves. I pre-drilled them with my dremel, 1 at a time- first screwing screw 1 in before drilling for screw 2. When screwing into the tube through those holes a bit, I backed them out and removed the tube. I then sanded the "mushroomed" aluminum areas so the tube was smooth and round again and now leave the tubes in at all times. When I get to the field, as long as I orient the holes UP, I can do 1 wing at a time and it's easy without issue.

Finally, I was fortunate enough to play with the L & R struts and realized they were indeed handed. I did have to apply some pressure to get the bolts in but not enough to worry about. The fit wasn't Hangar 9 but it was not low end either.

Hope this makes sense!

Mike,

I look forward to seeing how your build goes with the xyz20. I'm sure my OS FS-95V may not have enough power with floats, but I happened to have it lying around NIB awaiting another project which isn't going to happen this winter. I'm sold on gas engines and my choice for an upgrade would be a DLE20 or similar - hence my interest. I'm not sure if the tank fittings are OK for gasoline.
Regarding the wing mounting - the more I think about it the better I like it! I'll be doing a trial run to see how the struts fit before I glue anything. The screw through the aluminum tube in the wing is 1" long (25mm) and the thickness of the wing at the point where the tube goes is 1". It remains to be seen whether the screw will protrude below the wing. When I drill through the tube I'm going to be careful not to go right through the wing and take it from there.
Downloading the manual from Horizon is a must! It's so much better than the B&W one. http://www.horizonhobby.com/pdf/SEA158-Manual.pdf
My firewall has not one, but three large holes of similar size. Only one is shown in the pics which is for the tank. I've no idea why the others are there. Maybe for ESC cooling when going the electric route? I'll have to put balsa sheet or covering over them as all the guk from the engine compartment gong into the tank compartment won't be a good thing.

Good luck Mike and keep on posting!

Cheers, Chris

Hey 266,

That tank is sent from the factory setup for glow but you could get a kit from sullivan or dubro and convert it to gas. My wing screws were shorter than 1" iirc and if they were long I swapped or cut 'em shorter. Your 95 will be fine just more scale and not as overpowered. I bet a 75 would fly it well. I hope we hear soon about a 20cc 2+2!

Thanks Mikel - all makes good sense. Thanks also for your optimism for my OS FS-95V! Sounds like it should fly pretty much the way I'm hoping for. Water takeoffs may be a bit long, but I need the practice!

266

I am planning on getting started on the Sportsman pretty soon. Took a look at the engine/mount/cowl relationship today. The mount will need to be spaced further apart than the stock holes to accept the xyz20. Just shy of 2 inches. So I have some exacting work ahead of me to properly place the engine. Wish they had included a transparent cowl as some kits do. would make the deed much easier.

The mount that came with the engine is more heavily braced than the one that came with the kit so will be using that one. Looks like there will be plenty of room for the carb but linkage might prove to be challenging.

Glad to hear the wing mounts don't appear to be the issue the UK review made it out to be. Do you think the problem was his reversing the wing strut mounts? Seem to me that positioned as they are, the struts would serve to pull the trailing edge tight against the roots.

This will be my first gasser, so I am anxious. I only have one Saito and that is in my H9 pawnee. The rest are glow two strokes. Which I don't really mind, but as I go bigger I was looking for a way to cut back on cost.

With fuel being 1/4 the price and the engine itself costing half what the Saito would, if it works out, I'll be in the tall cotton.

Mike

Oh I forgot. The engine was here in yesterdays mail! It is a jewel. Ready to fly it should be about 3 oz heavier than the Saito. Unless I add a dedicated ingniton battery which I probably will.

I fly off a grass field so will probably leave the pants off for a while and fly with some fatter Dubro wheels.

Not sure about that tail wheel set up. It looks like the pull pull will be sawing away tube it goes though owed to the angle it exits from. what is your experience on that?

Mike

When I tried a test fit of the wings and tubes I did notice a small gap on the right wing at the TE. The left one was snug. Nothing to do with struts here.....haven't unwrapped them yet! I've just done a bit more playing around and without any tubes I still had the gap. Further investigation revealed that the pocket hinge mounting rod was protruding at the root. Pushed it in and tried the wing again. Voila - no more gap!
I clamped on my DLE20 (it's going in my Super Skybolt!) on one of the included engine mounts. Looks like there's room to mount it either sideways or inverted. Inverted would be nice - less cowl cutting! I too wish they'd included a transparent cowl. It would have been a nice touch.
Mike - check and see if you can flip the carb on your xyz20 180 degrees. It may help your linkage issue. You may have radio issues if you use the same battery for your ign & Rx etc. Place the ign module and its battery as far away from the rx as you can!
I noticed that when I read the section of the manual for the electric installation it shows the 3 large holes in the firewall that my bird has.

Chris