Written by Ron Grosser, a customer.

Unpacking & preparation

After receiving the Eurostar from Alex at ParkHobbies.com, I was pleased to find all parts neatly packed in sealed plastic bags and grouped for each section.

On this particular model, the aileron, elevator and rudder control surfaces were already glued into their respective positions which was a bonus, as the instructions showed this had to be done.

The surfaces were too stiff so I used a fine dremel cutting wheel held in my fingers and just dragged it through a few times on both sides of the hinges by hand. This removed the excess epoxy glue and allowed them to move freely.

The main wing is packaged as one piece not requiring two halves to be glued together like some other models which is a bonus.

Assembly

The engine mounting box is made from pre-cut ply, and care is needed before gluing together to see that it is assembled in the correct manner to give the motor a small amount of right and down thrust.

To fit the wing I deepened the hole at the front a small amount to allow the wing to sit down in place in the fuesalage and align the screw holes at the rear.

I like to test the ailerons and adjust by plugging into a spare receiver using a 4.8 volt flight battery for power coupled through an on off switch before fitting the wing. I once destroyed a small receiver by trying to plug the flight battery straight onto the battery pins on the receiver. The switch eliminates that risk.

Don’t forget to use the small pieces of plastic hose or fuel line for keepers on the aileron clevises to stop them from coming unclipped. (Further info on how to do this here).

When fitting the tailplane, I had to remove a small amount of balsa at the rear of the fuesalage to allow the elevator to move up and down freely. This and checking the rudder fit was all done along with measuring from the main wing to get the horizontal stabilizer square before glueing.

Before mounting the rudder and elevator servos, check the length of all pushrods. It may be better to mount the rudder servo the opposite way around to that shown in the instructions to better suit the supplied rudder and nose wheel pushrods. After these parts were all completed, I then mounted the motor mount to the firewall using 4’ of my own 3mm bolts, as there were already bling nuts in the firewall. This was a bit fiddly or the mount can be glued as per the instructions.

The canopy was trimmed and fitted with 4 screws and likewise the cowl after a test fit with the motor to make sure of correct clearance for prop and spinner.

First Flight

I used one of my Corona 2.4 gig receivers and mounted it under the canopy after cutting a small hole in the black film to bring the plugs through. By mounting the receiver in this position, I can see the red neon indicator to confirm the receiver is bound ok. After a final test and check of C of G using a 1300MA 3 cell lipo and motor and equipment as per Alex’s recommendation, she was ready for the maiden flight.

Unfortunately, several days passed by before suitable weather was available for the test flight.

Finally late one afternoon, the wind dropped a bit, so down to one of our local flying spots and away we went. After an easy take off, a couple of clicks of aileron and elevator trim had her flying straight and level, hands and feet off, no problems. I climbed up high, levelled out, eased the power back to off then kept checking back on the elevator for a stall. I was surprised to see the nose drop gently until she picked up speed then stalled again. No serious loss of height or tip stall like some of my other models. With the power back onto a bit over half throttle, she put on a good turn of speed and rolls or loops weren’t a problem.

The colour scheme of the Eurostar with stars and stripes looks great in the air and on the ground.

I was flying on dual rates with 70% +-35 expo which I usually use on my models of this size and she was precise,and easy to control. I  flicked the elevator up to 100% and chose to use this on landing which enabled me to hold her off better and make a perfect landing followed by a turn and taxi back to my feet.

All in all, the little Eurostar from Alex at  Parkhobbies.com was a pleasure to build and fly, and it certainly catches the eye at your local field.

In this article we introduce to you the new Cirrus RC Plane SR22 parkflyer. Made from cast fibreglass and balsa wings, it is a great looking semi-scale electric RC Air Plane.

There are some wonderful details and smart design elements in this RC model plane, which we’re sure you’ll love. It comes “almost ready to fly” – the built-up balsa wings connect to the aircraft via aluminium formers, and they can be released easily for transport and storage using a rubber band / hook combination.

There are balsa winglets integrated completely into the main wings, and in addition the pre-formed wheel pants, and the bolt-in canopy with shaded windows all add further to the semi scale realism of this radio controlled Cirrus while making it really convenient down at the flying field.

With a 36.6″ wingspan this is a really practical parkflyer sized model to have, and coupled with a 180W electric motor it zips around the park.

You’ll notice in the photo’s there’s heaps of space to locate your rudder and elevator servo’s, in addition to a LiPo battery and receiver, so you won’t need to worry about having to have little fingers for this one!

It’s lovely to fly as well – and is well suited to the hobbyist who is onto their 3rd model, with its straight forward and predictable handling. The separate servo’s for each aileron give direct control for more responsive handling and aerobatics. Being an electric ARF plane this R/C Cirrus is pretty quick to build too, and you’ll probably only need an evening or two to have it ready to fly.

We’re sure you’re going to love this one!

It’s surprisingly hard to find a good Cessna RC Plane around, so you can imagine how pleased we are to introduce this electric cheap RC plane to you.

Sporting a 112cm wingspan, this ARF (almost ready to fly) balsa/ply model features the classic Cessna lines to replicate its unmistakable appearance on the flying field. Complete with coloured wheel pants, a shrouded undercarriage and pre-formed cowl it faithfully represents the original 172.

Inside the Cessna’s fuselage you’ll find there is plenty of room to place your servo’s, speed controller and battery, and direct top-down access via the bolt-on wing makes it simple to connect up the ailerons and conduct battery swaps.

To complete the realism of this model you may also choose to place a pilot / co-pilot into the cockpit as well, taking advantage of the space available, although we didn’t at the time of taking these photos.

One of the things I liked about this RC air plane are the servo connections to the rudder and ailerons. In many park flyers, due to space requirements, the linkages are often visible at the rear of the tailplane. Not with this Cessna 172. If you look very carefully, you’ll see the servo horns are present on the rudder and stabiliser, however are underneath and very well hidden from view.

It’s a great element of the design and really helps make this parkflyer look like a real scale Cessna.

There’s a couple of other elements in this 172 parkflyer which are worth mentioning as well:

Anyway, being a high wing it’s fairly straight-forward to fly, so even if you’re a beginner to the word of radio controlled planes I think you’ll enjoy this one.

ps: You may notice some construction in the background , the location is Albert Park, Melbourne, and they are assembling the stands for the 2010 Australian Grand Prix… anyway on to the photos…

Today I thought I would share some information about the Beaver RC plane, our latest RC Electric plane for sale here.

An iconic aircraft, with it’s curved rudder and wide fuselage – it’s often seen skipping over the lakes or being used as a utility plane in Canada and North America, and this model is a great semi-scale representation, conveniently Almost Ready to Fly.

Unpacking the box you’ll find every component of the model plane wrapped in clear plastic bags for protection. The seven page manual takes you through the 24 steps for final assembly, each including a photo or drawing of the park flyer for clarity.

This radio controlled DHC-2 will take two to three evenings for you to complete, including adding your desired electronic components and running final bench tests.

To ensure glue sets well on your radio controlled Beaver, we recommend you use PVA on the key fittings (eg connecting the wings together, building the motor mount) and leave these overnight. PVA is great for wood – it provides a strong and clear bond and your patience is always rewarded with a well-built and unrushed aircraft at the end.

The TowerPro 2409-18 bundle which includes a 25A ESC is well suited to this aircraft (available from HobbyKing.com), and to this add an APC 9×6 prop and 3S 1500mAh battery. At full throttle our tests showed this combination will draw about 17A of current, so well within the required spec’s of this equipment. Three HXT900 servo’s were used for the ailerons, rudder and elevator, and as per usual we added a Spektrum AR500 receiver to go with our DX7 transmitter.

We had to wait till early last Sunday morning before the Beaver could be flown, but with almost no wind, plenty of sun this was the best morning one could ask for on our maiden flight.

Although the manual states the centre of gravity is 50mm to 55mm distance from the leading edges of the wing, it is always better to shift it forward a litle more for the first flight - and then gradually move the battery back over progressive flights until you reach the best setting for your particular build. We set it to 40mm, and after a final radio check and once-over of all the critical connections, the Beaver was ready for its first R/C flight!

Positioning the airplane on the runway, we gradually throttled up and were pleased to find this electric Beaver takes off at around 2/3rds throttle, so I then took it up nice and high to check the trims. Nothing bad to report here, a few clicks of down elevator and it settled in nicely.

After a few circuits we throttled up to full, and pulled up on the elevator. Given its light weight, the DHC2 was able to go vertical for approx 4 seconds before losing air speed (and it covers a lot of height in that time!).

It handles spins well, ours settled out nicely after letting go of the joysticks. Loops and inverted flight are no problem either for this model.

Something to be aware of is this RC plane really does want to stay up in the air, to the point you really do need to drop the throttle right back quite early on the final turn, and then pretty much glide it in to a landing.

The steerable tail wheel is quite handy for ground handling, and the large front wheels will help you easily navigate some of the larger bumps if you’ve got a dirt/grass runway.

This plane will happily track around for 10 mins plus on a gentle flight, and if you push it harder, will go for 6-7 minutes without any problems of discharging the battery too deep if you’re running a 1500mAh unit.

All in all, a very pleasing aircraft to build and command! Highly recommended, this park flyer Beaver looks great and flies great, so get your hands on one before they’re all sold out!.

Some final specs of the model:

• 102cm wingspan, 4 channels radio controlled park flyer
• balsa / ply construction
• vacuum formed cowl and traditional Beaver rudder shape for scale looks
• fully integrated & tapered winglets on main wings
• pre-formed tinted windscreen
• tough landing gear – built to take a few hard landings
• main wing is easily unbolts for simple storage, transport and battery access
• clear side windows
• heaps of space internally for servo’s, battery placement etc
• elevator/rudder pushrod guides are pre-installed for easy setup
• traditional artwork for iconic “Beaver” appearance
• wing support spars included
• white wheel leg covers included
• limited dihedral on wing for fun performance