For the past four years, I have watched the amazing world of slow and parkflyer planes develop. Today we have everything from stamp-sized receivers and five-gram servos, to tiny batteries and motors. Another key factor in the popularity and growth in this aspect of the hobby has been ARF park and slowfly airplanes. Many of these planes are made from injection-moulded foam and are pre-painted in catchy colour schemes. Until Steve Horney offered a chance to review one of these ARFs, I knew very little about them. I had been reading mixed comments about foam ARFs on the E-Zone discussion forum for quite a while. Previously I felt that scratch building was the key to performance. However, the folks at Great Planes have changed my perspective on ARFs with the Escapade. Weighing in at 11 ounces, it will brighten up any park and is a hoot to fly. It is modern looking plane with a nice smooth finish and a very nice pre-painted color scheme.
Building
Upon first inspection, it was clear that this plane was designed light and strong. The fuselage was pre-glued nice and straight with no paint flaws, and only a very minor shipping rash, which of course would not affect performance. There was a nice assortment of goodies in a bag consisting of control horns, very light metal pre-bent landing gear, pushrods, and struts. The only part of the plane that I worried about was the wing, which is only a 1/4 inch thick. The tail surfaces were slightly warped, but when built they would be equipped with struts, which corrected this condition and added strength. I flipped open the instruction book and read it to familiarize myself with the building process. The directions are very clear and concise with pictures on every page. AMA regulations and rules for flying are clearly stated. The instructions said that I could be flying in as little as 12 hours if I did everything right and there were no complications.
Marked clearly at the beginning of the book was "step 1 - tail surface preparation." There is not much to this step, as all you have to do is cut and bevel the tail surfaces with an Exacto knife and some sand paper, and hinge them with tape. I soon realized that only the stickiest tape would work. I did not have the appropriate tape so I split some packing tape in half with a knife and used that for the hinge, which has not failed yet. Using a little epoxy, I glued the two tail surfaces together. The vertical stabilizer is slotted make alignment easier when gluing it to the horizontal stabilizer. Remember to use a square to ensure that the two stabilizers are set at exactly 90 degrees to each other. At the rear of the fuselage, there is a little flat area where the tail is mounted. The tail assembly simply glues right on top of that area of the fuselage. Simple!
The battery holder was designed to be light and easy to assemble. The battery holder pieces are well cut, pop out of the wood easily, and fit together snugly. This is one of the only places that you will use thin CA on this plane. For those who do not have access to odourless CA, white glue would make an excellent substitute. I like the battery hatch design, which employs a spring-loaded mechanism to hold the hatch in place. The "spring" is a piece of 1/64th ply tab mounted on a square of wood. This set-up allows wires passing through the hatch cover to plug into the ESC. The ESC just slips in between the landing gear former and the wing! Wow, that went fast!
The landing gear assembly was very easy to complete. The landing gear former has a part of it cut out where the landing gear rests. This part is then "sandwiched" between two 1/64 inch ply pieces. A piece of ply similar in thickness to the landing gear former is slipped into the remaining slot and glued into place. This is very effective and strong. The front landing gear wire screws onto the front former using two screws. Great Planes has ensured that the lightest wire was used and it was all pre-bent! The wheels are also very light. I have never seen these wheels. I was shocked and amazed that they have a 2 1/4 inch diameter and only weight a gram each! Mercy! They are also very tough and I think I will use them on more planes in the near future.
The 39-inch wing comes as one piece. It was scary how the wing sagged when held at the root. The fully functional struts consist of four pieces of wood roughly 30 cm (15 inches) long. They just need to be glued into the fuselage and wing. There are also some "mini" struts on the stab to keep it from warping, which also work very well. The wing slips into a precision cut saddle in the fuselage. The builder must bend up the turtle-deck in order to slip in the wing. I had visions of the turtle-deck snapping in two as I slipped the wing in, but in the end, it worked out well. I was careful not to force it open too far when sipping in the wing. After the epoxy had set, I had a nice straight wing held snugly in the saddle. The wings are designed with generous under camber and wash out for stability.
The equipment was not very hard to install. The servos are screwed into a mount, which in turn is glued into the plane. It all fits together perfectly. The equipment is all mounted on a plate that extends from the landing gear former to the front motor mount. The receiver can be held in with Velcro. The motor is screwed into a hole in the motor mount by the gearbox. This offers very easy access for service. The pushrods are installed by simply slipping them through the fuselage. The push rod wire is held into place by spring action. It took all of three seconds to make the Z-bends.
Flying
Now it was time for the really fun part! Two days after I had started, I was finished. The only thing delaying me now was the wind. Finally, one evening it calmed down and I took the Escapade for a test run. There is a small ballpark within a 5-minute drive from my house, which has a small paved section nearby. I placed the Escapade down on the pavement and checked controls. Slowly I powered up, expecting a 25-foot takeoff roll. The Escapade leaped into the air after 10 feet! Trimming was minimal due to its inherently stable design. I only had to add just a tad of up and a touch of right trim. Once trimmed, it flew hands off from one side of the field to the other. Balance was right on the button and even though there was a slight breeze, it flew wonderfully! About half way into the flight, I wanted to see what kind of a thermal ship it was. It had to be good with that huge wing. I powered down and headed for the school nearby to see if it could catch some lift off the roof. I stayed up in that thermal for two minutes with no throttle and just the sound of the gently "windmilling" propeller. A couple minutes later, I decided to play it safe and land. I brought it downwind, crosswind, then to final to make a graceful touchdown accompanied by a flare (and applause). The Escapade rolled to a stop in about 20 feet, and then I eased it around to taxi back. It taxies rather well for a non-steerable three-wheeled slow flyer. On grass, the turning radius is roughly 10-15 feet, and on pavement, it is around 20 feet.
The designers of this marvel knew what they were doing when it came to efficient power systems. This plane uses a 4:1 gearbox and a 9 x 6 prop. I get a whopping five minutes of flight time from a mere 150mah pack! With a 600mah pack, I can get up to 30 minutes of flying time! My record so far is 26:32 with power to taxi back. (Very nice!)
With it's sleek streamlined design, bright and easy to see colour scheme, and simple design, the Great Planes Escapade is no doubt one of the best planes I had flown in my four year modelling career ( I am 14 years old ). From box to air, I managed to get it built in eight hours, thanks to some experience. The Escapade is very suitable for a beginner learning to fly, a retired gent looking for an easy to see and no hassle airplane, or anyone who likes simplicity and relaxing flights. I frequently take it out for evening flights and I imagine that if cared for, it would live forever. Overall, I give the Great Planes Escapade a big "thumbs up."
WARNING!!! If you plan to use a 600mah NiMH pack in the Escapade, make sure to bring a lawn chair, some soft drinks, and music. It gets lonely when all of your friends leave and your plane is still in the air.
Nov 16, 2001, 01:00 AM
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