The author with his Easy Sport 40 taken after his first landing.
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Specifications:
- Wingspan: 59.2 inches
- Wing Area: 750 Sq. in
- Flying Weight: 5.5-6.5 lbs. (glow)
8.2 lbs. as reviewed (electric)
- Power system: Astroflight 40 Geared
- Cells: Sanyo RC2000 cells
- Speed Control: Astroflight 204D
- Prop: 12-8 APC
- Kit Price : $119.99
- Manufacturer: Great Planes. Sold through Tower Hobbies http://www.towerhobbies.com
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Introduction
Well, in all honesty, I'm new to electric R/C. As a matter of fact, this is my very
first electric plane. My name is Joe Young, and I'm a 15-year-old electric R/C'er. It all
started 8 years ago; I remember the day well. My dad and I were driving home from a trip
and decided to stop off at the local R/C flying field. We knew that it was there, but we
just never had a chance to stop. We were heading home early so we decided to stop to see
what this hobby was all about. We were so intrigued by what we saw, that we immediately
went home to ask permission from mom to head on down to the hobby store to pick up this
interesting hobby. We got the "okay" after minor debate and some honey do's. Our
dreams were coming true. We both had always dreamed of getting a R/C plane. We had read
about them, and now we had even seen them fly.
At the hobby store, we bought the typical high wing trainer (Eagle II) and your every
day .40 glow motor. After we spent a while building the plane, we received flying
instruction at the local field. My father later went on to be able to take-off and land on
his own. But then it happened: the hobby was put on hold for about 5 years. The local
field had closed, and we couldn't find a place with any suitable instruction. The plane
lay dormant in the garage for about two years until we found a place to fly after talking
to a guy at the hobby store. After spending all day trying to get the glow motor to run
properly, we thought that we finally had it. My dad was confident that he could
successfully fly the plane after such a long absence, so we headed on down to the field.
After more engine trouble, my dad took the plane off only to crash it after the
corresponding flameout on take off. The damage was minimal, as he had crashed into a large
bush that ripped off the main landing gear. While the plane was resting in the garage
awaiting repairs, it was run over by a certain driver parking the car who shall remain
nameless.
Now skip three years later. I wanted to get back into the hobby, this time with an
electric plane. My dad laughed, being the skeptical, I'll believe-it-when-I-see-it type,
saying the idea of an electric R/C plane is absurd. According to him such a plane would
"fly like a garbage truck". I set out to prove him wrong. I got the yellow pages
and turned to "hobby". Being naive, I called every hobby store to ask if
they had a four channel electric R/C plane, only to be greeted with a long pause and then
a "You wouldn't like electric but I have some glow trainers here...". Having
almost lost all hope, I called one last hobby store. The man there said these six magic
words "You can convert almost any plane". "Even a .40 sized
plane," I inquired, a little skeptical myself. "Oh yeah, of
course." This was all that I needed to hear. He told me about this R/C field
that I never knew existed and told me that the electric guys (more like one guy) fly in
the morning. The next morning at the field changed my dad's view on electric planes. We
saw a Sig Fazer modified to electric power. I believe it had an Astroflight 25G and 16
cells. After watching the pilot fly crazy moves with this profile fun fly, and remembering
the engine trouble with the glow plane, my dad and I both knew that we were hooked. I
always felt that something was missing from ordinary R/C flying. I wanted to do something
that very few had done. I wanted to fly an electric R/C plane. Later that Saturday morning
we headed back down to the hobby store where we met Bob Ruff, a very skilled electric
flyer from our field, the Arizona Model Aviators (also where the Arizona Jet Rally is
hosted). We talked about what power plant to use to convert this and that to electric,
what NiCad cells to use, etc. Dad wanted to get a Piper Cub, then Bob recommended the Easy
Sport 40, either kit or ARF. He had successfully electrified the ARF version with an
Astroflight 25G and 16 cells but recommended a 40G and 21 cells for more power. We bought
the ARF version and some 30 minute epoxy and various Ca's to assemble the new toy we had
just decided to buy. We were going to do it; we were going to be different from anyone
else! Enter the Easy Sport 40 ARF.
Assembly
This is a very quick and easy building ARF and I would recommend it to anybody. There
is not much to be said on lightening, since this is an ARF, so let's dive right in to the
assembly and conversion. As you open the detailed instruction booklet to the first few
pages you'll see paragraphs on required tools and the like, a list of appropriate *cough*
glow engines, and a whole page dedicated to a picture that shows every part in the kit and
numbers labeling them.
Wing
You start the assembly off by epoxying the three wing-joiner pieces together and
gluing the lite-ply ribs to the bare balsa interior side of the wing halves to be joined.
Tabs protruding from the front of these lite-ply ribs act as the front half of the wing
hold down system. Next, the manual tells you the lengths to cut the servo hole in the
center of each wing half, but I found that mine were already precut at the factory.
The next step is to join the wing panels with 30 min. epoxy. Be sure to take your time
with this step and be sure that everything fits fine before you start mixing epoxy. From
there it is a simple thing to coat all parts, join the wing halves, and let it cure
undisturbed (now is a good time to start something else). The booklet says to tape the
wings while the epoxy cures, but I used two spring clamps and a rubber band.(see pic.).
The next step for the wing is to install the servo tray. If you want to be able to remove
a 21 cell pack without having to take the wing off, do not use the supplied wing servo
tray.(I hate having to take a wing off after every flight). You'll have to make a new tray
out of lite-ply that recesses into the hole (see pics.). If this is not done the servo
sticks down far enough to get in the way of the motor battery pack. We don't want a
stalled aileron servo in flight, now do we? I didn't think so. All you have to do is cut a
piece of lite-ply with the grain going horizontally to the length of the servo, and make
the width wider than the hole. Use this excess wood to glue underneath the
sheeting in the area cut out for the servo.
To finish off the wing, glue the wing bolt plate into place. It must be
scribed so it will flex to fit the dihedral in the wing. Be careful not to cut
through or break it in half. The ailerons aren't the smoothest moving things in the world,
but hey, its an ARF. On my plane, one of the aileron's torque rods were loose at the part
that goes inside of the aileron. I could move the aileron without the torque rod moving. I
cured this by cutting out a square of balsa from the bottom of where the rod enters the
aileron and filling it with epoxy. I then patched the hole with blue trim sheet. Other
than this, control linkage installation for the ailerons was straight forward.
Fuselage
Before you install the servo tray into the fuselage, cut it back past the throttle
servo holder and glue into place with wood glue (not Ca as indicated, Ca doesn't adhere
well to lite-ply [personal preference]). This is an excellent place to put your
receiver. When it comes time to install the servos, run thin Ca into the holes drilled for
the servos to harden them so a servo won't get ripped out of the lit-ply (I've seen it
happen, so it is a good safety precaution). I would highly recommend against the ever
popular tube-in-rod pushrods found on most ARFs (at least this one). They have far
too much slop, put excessive loads on the servos, and just don't work too well. Make the
traditional balsa square and thread pushrods and you'll be much happier, I guarantee. As
easy as it is to make one of these, I don't see any excuse not to.
You can skip the section about the assembly of this strange "fuel tank"
device. I am still unsure of its purpose, but its absence in the fuselage doesn't seem to
affect the structural integrity of the plane any. When it comes time to attach the fuel
ta...er...battery access hatch, I suggest you find a more convenient method of taking this
hatch off. It would be a pain to unscrew the 4 tiny screws every time you want to change
the pack, so I came up with another idea: You get plenty of the little plastic landing
gear straps with this plane, so use one of the spares for this. You use one of the tiny
machine screw included with the kit and screw it into the front of the hatch. Be careful
not to put it in front of the 'ears' on a brushed motor or else you won't be able to get
at it. (note that other screw hole on the hatch; I had to move it because the brush holder
was in the way). Put a drop or two of thin Ca down into the hole to harden it so it won't
come loose with time. Then make a slit in the second screw hole on the plastic strap. Mark
the location on the firewall where the second screw should go so that you can slide the
tab over it. Now you can now open and close the hatch very quickly. The back of the hatch
is held down by the plastic wing fairing which goes a little past the wing and on to the
hatch. At this time you epoxy the three lite-ply wing hold down plates together, making
sure that the wider one is at the bottom. Once this has cured, epoxy it into the fuselage,
but not before checking the fit.
Attaching the Wing to the Fuselage
Now it's time to prepare to drill the holes through the wing for the wing hold down
bolts. Position the wing on the fuselage and center it. Using a string pinned to the
center of the tail, move the wing until both wing tips line up to the same mark on the
string. You may want to remove the wing tips for this to get an accurate
measurement; you'll end up having to take one off anyway to balance it laterally, so
it doesn't really matter. The glue used for the tips is very soft, so you can carefully
peel the tip off without any harm to the wing tip whatsoever. After the plane is
completely finished, balance the plane laterally by adding lead weight to the tip that is
lighter and reinstall the wing tip with medium Ca. After you have the alignment perfect (
remember, your plane flies with its wing so it must be perfect), get ready to drill. Using
a 5/32" bit, firmly hold the wing to the fuselage, being careful not to move
it. Put the drill bit on the little dots on the wing bolt plate and start to drill. Keep
the bit perfectly perpendicular to the wing in all directions. After you make it through
the wing, make sure that you continue on through the wing hold down bolt tray with out
moving the wing in the slightest way. After both holes are drilled, remove the wing and
enlarge the holes on the bolt down tray in the fuselage to 3/16". This allows room
for the blind nuts the go through the hole from the bottom of the tray. Use the bolt for
the wing to draw up the blind nut until the three prongs are fully seated in the
wood. After this is just the last, easy step of sliding the bolts through the wing and
putting the rubber retainer washers on to keep the bolts from sliding out during
transport.
Tail Feathers
The first three steps were already done for me by the factory so I didn't have to worry
about lining up the elevator joiner wire or drilling into each elevator half. Make sure
that the wire travels deeply enough into the groove on the leading edge of the elevator or
else it'll bulge out and not allow the elevator to meet flush with the horizontal
stabilizer. When I test fit the halves, I noticed that when I set them on a flat surface
one half was flat on the table and the other half tilted up. It is a very serious problem
to have a cock-eyed elevator. I have built three of these ARFs and every one of them had
this problem so listen up. You must test fit the elevator halves and have two pairs of
pliers to bend the wire until you can set the joined elevator on a flat surface and have
both sides touching level. ONLY THEN proceed to epoxy the wire permanently in place. It
would be very difficult to correct this once hinged to the plane.
After some work to prepare the tail to receive the horizontal stabilizer, it's time to
glue it into place. You slide horizontal stabilizer into the slot in the tail and align it
in relation to a pin stuck in the center of the fire wall and a string (sound familiar?).
Then, using a marker, mark where the stab meets with the fuselage and remove it. Cut off
the covering following the lines while being sure to leave 1/16'' inside the line so no
bare wood is exposed. Glue this into place using wood glue or epoxy. While it is setting,
check and recheck the alignment of this part. The alignment of the vertical and horizontal
stabilizers is as important as the wing. The vertical stabilizer goes in similarly.
Just be sure to check that it points straight forward and that is perfectly vertical. The
hinges are your every day Ca hinges and go in with ease. Servo installation and control
linkages are straight forward.
Conversion
The only area that you need to modify for electric power is the fuselage (besides the
servo tray in the wing). The former directly front of the wing needs to be enlarged
until it is at least 3 inches wide to allow for the 21 cell pack (three packs of seven
cells connected in series) to slide through. Don't worry about weakening the wing hold
down system. I've put this plane through very violent snap rolls and high G
maneuvers; that wing isn't going anywhere. I laid a 3'' wide strip of lite-ply for the
battery tray which goes past the enlarged former and butts up against the former in front
of it. The tray goes back until it is about 3/4" from the landing gear block. The
area in front of the tray is the perfect size for the speed control so I Velcro'ed it down
in this area . You will need a servo wire extension for the speed control
because it has a fair distance to go. I made notches in the bottom right side of the two
formers that the battery tray rests on to accommodate the throttle speed control wire for
travel underneath the battery tray. I wedged the connector for the servo wire extension
between a notch in the battery tray and the fuselage side. This allows easy access to the
connection while still being held firmly in place. For the rear of the battery tray
I cut and shaped a piece of lite-ply and fitted it vertically to the very beginning of the
landing gear mount. It is angled because the tray has a slight incline to it. I used
Industrial Strength Velcro (available at Wal-Mart) throughout the plane for holding the
motor battery, receiver battery, speed control, and receiver in place. Place the charging
jack and on/off switch behind the end of the tray by the receiver so it won't be in the
way of the battery. On all three Easy sport 40's that I've built, the model balances
perfect with the 21 cell pack when you put a flat receiver battery pack behind the servos
in the rear of the fuselage. I put it all the way back until it touches the first former
in the tail. You may also need a servo wire extension for the receiver battery, depending
on how long the lead is for the battery that you have. I also cut two cooling holes
directly ahead of the tray used to support the receiver battery which also doubles as easy
access to it in case it needs repair or replacement.
I installed the Astroflight 40 geared motor using a Stitzer Aero-Vee mount. I ordered
it through New Creations R/C and recommend it highly. Since the gear reduction drive on
the motor puts the prop shaft lower than if it were direct drive, attach the mount as high
as possible on the firewall. I put in a slight bit of down thrust and fair amount of right
thrust into the mount using a washer. There is already a hole drilled in the firewall
which allows all the wires through, and also acts as a cooling hole. You could add more
holes in the firewall, but I find that it has enough air flowing out of the holes to not
worry about it. You will need to buy a nose gear attachment setup since the glow version
utilizes the one located on the glow mount provided. This is not a problem; just make sure
the the arm for the nose wheel aligns with the hole in the firewall.
For the nose wheel control lines I used Flexible Gold-N-Rod, which allows for secluded
placement of this so as not to interfere with the motor battery pack. I routed the pushrod
through the vertical part of the battery tray, the former in front of the wing, and the
firewall. At full deflection either way there is no flexing or servo binding. On the
Gold-N-Rod pushrods you must screw a threaded pushrod wire into the end of the flexible
plastic inner tube to attach it to the servo. I didn't like the ones provided because the
whole length of it is threaded and you have to use another connector for this setup. I
prefer Z-bends, so I used the ends of the supplied pushrod wire that came with the Easy
Sport 40 ARF kit. I shortened the threaded part to about half the original size and
screwed it into the inner tube until all of the thread was in it. Using the smooth pushrod
wire now protruding out, I did a Z-bend for the nose wheel side and I used an E-Z
connector for the servo side. Now you have very simple, easy to access, secluded nose
wheel linkages that move very smoothly. The following picture shows the fully converted
interior of the model. A picture is worth a thousand words so...
In order to achieve prop clearance, I had to raise the height of the fuselage
considerably. I did this by buying some 3/16'' wheel collars and tightening one to the
base of each side of the main landing gear. You need one size bigger collar because it is
the only way to get it up past the curve in the landing gear. Then I took some spare
pushrod wire that I didn't use in the kit and pulled the gear closer together, making them
taller, and tied the wire around the bottom of the collars. This holds a taller stance in
the main gear. Raising the nose wheel is as simple as loosening the set screw and pulling
it down. Since the nose wheel now has less sticking out the top, the motor can be pushed
as far back as possible. You know the gear is tall enough when you have some clearance
between the top of the nose gear and the motor and the plane sits level. Now you'll have
enough clearance to use a 13 inch prop. This procedure also has a second purpose. On
landings the plane would bounce and bunny hop down the runway. With the stiffened gear
this is completely eliminated. And without further ado...
Flying
To put it simply, this plane is an absolute dream to fly. If I had to describe it in
one word it would be "AWESOME". I truly believe that this is the world's best
R/C trainer. I learned on this plane, and my dad nearly has the landing part down
(almost). My instructor, Joe Carter, had never flown an Easy Sport 40, electric or
otherwise, before my plane. Now he can't recommend it enough as the trainer for anyone to
buy. Joe is a very nice guy; he was very opened minded when it came to my electric plane
and teaching us on it. Whenever somebody asks him which plane to start off with in R/C, he
always proclaims the Easy Sport 40 as the best every time. He later had the opportunity to
fly a glow Easy Sport built from a kit for another student, and says ours flies just as
well as the .46 powered Easy Sport. We even think mine might fly a little faster. It is my
opinion that the every day high wing trainer isn't that good of a starting airplane. It
may give you more time to correct for errors, but in the long run you'll need to relearn
when you progress to a second plane. The Easy Sport 40 lands so much easier than a high
wing trainer it is incredible. I could just sit all day and shoot touch-and-goes. It is
very stable when doing a trainer pattern, but when you want to you can really wring it
out. I initially flew on a 12-8 prop and it flew great. It would climb out very nicely on
take-off. I tried an 11-9, but it flew like a sick puppy. I switched back to the 12-8 and
that's what I've continued using for a while now. When flying with this prop you can
really pour on the electrons and do excellent aerobatics. The first snap that I did
surprised both my instructor and me because it did it so much better than anticipated. It
was almost too violent. The nice part is once the controls are released, it immediately
stops and starts flying again. Spins are the same way; it spins so beautifully and once
you release the sticks it stops right there. The center of gravity listed in the manual is
perfect for this plane because it flies smooth and stable, but when commanded it will do
awesome rolls, loops, spins, and snaps. The low rate control throws listed are perfect for
teaching someone to fly and the high rates are good for aerobatics. If you don't have a
dual rate Tx than set the throws for high rate, because the extra throw is there if you
need it. This is what I learned on. Rolls at high rate are a little slow for my taste but
it wouldn't be to hard to increase the throw. I may also seal the hinge gaps and see if
that helps. Landings are nothing less than absolutely perfect. The plane just settles in
so perfectly and kisses the runway so gracefully. Everything from the approach to the
actual touch down is a thing of beauty. It takes very little time until you can grease
landing after landing after landing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Easy sport 40 ARF is one of the best ARF candidates for conversion
to electric R/C. I give this model the highest recommendation. I think a flyer of any
ability would absolutely love and appreciate the way this bird flies. Novice,
intermediate, or expert, I think anyone would love this plane. Christmas is coming up so
do yourself a favor and go buy it for a present for loved one or even for yourself. I
guarantee that you won't be disappointed. If you have any questions at all, feel free to
e-mail me at Jykangaroo(at)aol.com. I am more than
willing to help somebody face to face on an electric conversion of this model. When I
watch my Easy Sport 40 fly at the glow dominated field, it makes me feel so proud. I
achieved my success. I had done what I set out to do. I had done what few had. I proved
wrong all who said it couldn't be done. I was finally set apart from everybody else...
Dec 01, 1999, 01:00 AM
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