Mines ready to maiden... tomorrow weather permitting!!

Here are my normal "pre-maiden" picts when she is nice and neat...just in case things dont go my way

notice anything "funny" about the nose pict??

The spinner is for a two blade prop, and you cut it out for three?

No the kit comes with foam spinners for both 2 and 3 balded props...

MAIDEN REPORT:

Hand launch was easy... but the plane lacks any real power on the stock setup... GWS BL 004 with a 10x6x3... needless to say any rolls or loops were not an option since I was at WOT and she was slower then my P-38.... flight went well, she handles nicely, very stable, looks great in the air...

the landing started off uneventful... till I was 2 feet off the deck (dead stick) and the nose dropped out from under her... cowling is toast...but the prop survived (go figure thats why I landed dead stick to try and protect her since she is a belly flopper) and the spinner remained intaked... needless to say I am unhappy. Power wasnt even scale, and the thin plastic GWS is using for the cowling (same as P-38 and the new Estarter) sucks, it doesnt dent, it shatters... and I did not cut out all the holes to so it would be stronger...but over all I like the plane, build was easy, good detail, and flys well even being under powered...but she really needs a little more speed to look scale.

So I will switch to a 2 bladed prop and see if that makes a difference...where can I get a new cowling and decals... the sharks teeth are toast...

ATIS, sorry to hear of the stall on landing. The poor cowling plastic (and canopy) of the new kits infuriates me since GWS knows the plastic does this and user feed back for the last 4 years I've been on this forum has confirmed this over and over and over.... ad nauseum. Mr. Lin continues to ignore the problem. Why is this? Well, check out this source for a new cowling:

http://www.caliberhobby.com/gws40_parts.html

To get a new cowling, you have to buy it as part of a "kit" that includes the canopy and two more foam spinners......cost = $10!

To get a new decal sheet costs you another $10!

Every GWS plane I've had has needed a new cowling. The Formosa cowling costs $5 JUST FOR THE COWLING! I just put packing tape inside mine now to rejoin the split pieces and keep on flying rather than pay exhorbitant prices for spare parts. Some fiberglass the cowlings inside to prevent this. Others make molds and shrink soft drink bottles over them to make durable replacements.

GWS would make the cowl and canopy from other split-resistant plastics (like PET, PETE, and CPVC if they gave a hoot about this, but it's obvious they don't care when they can get some additional income on replacement parts for those who don't mind the cost.

I'll make a color photo copy of the decals before applying them as well so I can make replacements if needed.

If it were me, I'd bag the GWS outrunner... it clearly doesn't have enough power for this plane.

To ease your pain a little, my GWS Tiger Moth flew away yesterday on a far out aerial photo mission... $300 gone! I glanced at my TX timer for a second and could not regain sight of the plane when I looked back up. I still had control, but...

p.s. The spinner in you picture looks smaller in diameter compared to mine... is it a non-stock one?

Tom,

Thats the stock spinner....

Sorry about the TM400... its still my favorite plane I have (I added aelirons to the top wing and linked them to the bottom wing for nice barn storming rolls) and I take it out everytime...but today she was grounded... I did 2 maidens... the P-40 and the Koyosho F-16... the P-40 was first and then the F-16 (which despite reports of her being slow is totally inaccurate... 60 mph level...I cut back to 1/2 and still had to me moving at 40 mph or more) and that flight went well till I over shot the landing (dead stick at 50 feet and 300 feet away and still over shot the LZ) and hit a soccer pole... decided it wasnt my morning...and watch a few others fly...and crash (my buddy totaled his GWS ME 262 and another friend left his flaps on his Eflite P-47 during take off...cart wheeled down the field throwing peices all over the place). I had the same thing happen with my Formosa... sun went down and I lost orientation (over the airport!!!...luckly its a small airport and flights are about 2 hours apart) and I couldnt tell which way she was going.. just kept trying to make cirlces for about 3 minutes till I figured out what she was doing and I managed to bring her back...shaking... havent flown her since and that was last fall...

I agree the plastic as been a known issue, and despite loving GWS planes I am done buying them till they do something about the plastic. The old plastic was better, I have 16 planes all ready to fly at any time ( yes, lots of money tied up on the wall) and 3/4 of them are GWS. I still have a replacement ME-109 NIB that I havent had the heart to build till I sort out what went wrong on the last flight of my first one (absolutely loved that plane).


edit... just checked the link... I needed new cowling for my P-38... $28 for the kit!! I dont need LG.. I have the original in the original bag... warbirds arent suppose to have LG hanging under them unless they originally had fixed gear (WW I)... this sucks...

ATIS

I agree with Tom about your spinner. Here are three photos of my GWS foam 3 blade spinner.

Note:- To improve the strength of the lower cowling, I have not cut out the holes in the radiator cowling. Not cutting out the radiator cowing also improves the cooling airflow around the motor. See the attached drawing.

I also glued overlapping strips of 1 inch wide 0.75 Oz fiberglass cloth to the inside of the lower cowling with thinned 30 minute epoxy.

Ken

Ken and Tom,

My spinner was a foam 1 piece...both of them were (2 blade version and 3 blade version)... spinner is good and remained in place. On my cowling I cut little holes in the lower (maybe a 1/4 of the area..but apparently that was still too much)... I did not cut the upper hole at all. Looks like GWS changed thier kits part way threw. Got mine at epyaya.

I need to figure out how to belly flop her and not let the cowling touch.. I used 2 of the aeril mounts for gassers (the angled plastic part the aerial exits the plane threw) on my belly right after the cowling hopping to give her an extra 1/4 inch clearance for the prop so only a little of the prop would touch the grass and even that didnt help.

ATIS

My spinner started as a foam one piece item but I modified it as shown in this post from my Build Thread titled Discussion - GWS-40 with a GWS2215-12 Motor, 3 blade propeller and Flaps. This gives the spinner a more secure mounting and better centering for higher RPM

I have not posted on this thread for a while so it has disappeared down the tittle list. I think that I will bump it to bring it back to peoples notice.


Ken

Ken... is your plane... slow?? I meann at WOT I think I might have hit 20 mph... I was having flash backs of my HZ Phantom.... it just putted around....

I forgot about that thread. I ruffed up the rubber and then used CA to mount the rubber piece to the foam.

getting ready to maiden mine with the park 480 1020 outrunner.. hope it goes well

good luck, she will stall if you slow down to much.... so keep some speed on landing.

Roger that and watch the cowling.... Winds are dead... so I guess this is it.

Originally Posted by ATIS

Ken... is your plane... slow?? I meann at WOT I think I might have hit 20 mph... I was having flash backs of my HZ Phantom.... it just putted around....

I forgot about that thread. I ruffed up the rubber and then used CA to mount the rubber piece to the foam.

My GWS-40 is flying in the range of 40 MPH not fast but it is about the scale speed. These newer large GWS Warbirds seem to be slower than the older 33-35 inc span models, because they are larger.

At my club there is a 1.5 meter 46 glow powered P-40 and it looks to be flying at about the same speed as my P-40 its actually faster, at about 60 MPH. It just looks slow because it is bigger.

Ken