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GREAT PLANES CAP 232 
Manufacturer: Great Planes Hits
Misses
The Great Planes .40-size CAP 232 is not your typical aerobatic model kit. With a 58-inch wingspan, it's easy to build and transport, requires a relatively inexpensive power plant and is legal for IMAC and MiniMAC aerobatic competition. It's a good model for intermediate builders and fliers who want to improve their aerobatic skills. The kit features interlocking, die-cut wood parts, a clear canopy, an adjustable engine mount, hardware, decals, full-size, rolled plans, photo-illustrated instructions, Duraluminum landing gear and a three-piece ABS cowl and wheel pants. The model was designed with dual elevator pushrods for added precision and easier adjustment, and it has a large rudder for better handling and a fully symmetrical wing. The wing also has a lot of dihedral, which isn't true to scale but helps to avoid roll coupling. The model's unique design details include an external, rear-fuselage-mounted rudder servo, a fuel tank inspection cover and a removable fuel tank floor. BUILDING THE TAIL GROUP Cover the plans with wax paper and pin the 1/8-inch-thick balsa pieces to the plans. Make sure that all pieces are squared and in place, then CA them together. Unpin the stabilizer and sheet both sides. Cut off the excess and sand the piece to shape. Build the elevators out of 1/4x1/2-inch balsa sticks, which must be cut to the correct lengths and angles according to the plans. After you have fitted the pieces together, glue them with thick CA and remove the assembly from the building board. Bevel the LEs of both elevators and add the balance tabs onto the end of each elevator. The fin and rudder surfaces are built in the same manner as the elevator. Because its rudder is so large, the plane should knife-edge rather well. WING CONSTRUCTION Wing construction is probably the most time-consuming part of this kit. You need to study the plans and instructions carefully and fit everything together before gluing. Position the main spar, but don't pin it. The ribs have tabs that go flush on your building table; place the ribs on the spar and start pinning them in place. Take special care when pushing in the T-pins, or you will split the ribs. Place the pins exactly where the instructions indicate or your wing will be permanently affixed to your building board, because you'll sheet the wing before removing it from the board. After you've built, sheeted and capstripped both wing panels, join the wing halves using five wing jigs (two leading edge [LE], two trailing edge [TE] and one center TE jig ensure that the main spar is flush on the building table).You may need to put extra weight on the center of the wing to keep everything in place. When you are satisfied with the fit, apply 30-minute epoxy to the wing dihedral braces and put them into place. After the epoxy has dried, install the center rib and servo tray, then sheet the center of the wing and rough-sand it. Now install the aileron torque rods and blocks. Shape the ailerons, cut grooves for the torque rods and mark the hinge points and slot them. You've finished with the wing for now. THE FUSELAGE The fuselage is basically a plywood box that's built over the plan. It takes approximately one hour to construct it after you've trimmed and fit everything. Take extra care when you put the doublers on F3; these hold the front of the wing in place. Use epoxy rather than CA here. The wing-mounting blocks consist of two pieces of lite-ply laminated together. I opted to make them out of heavy plywood, to further ensure that the wing would stay on the plane during flight. With the basic fuselage still pinned in place, you are ready to fit the wing. Mount the wing as the instructions tell you, with the fuselage still pinned in place on the building board. Make sure everything is square, then drill the dowel pin holes. Now finish up the front of the fuselage. Pay extra attention to the landing-gear mounting block: it sits too low in the cutouts in the fuselage, and you'll end up with a gap between the block and the bottom of the fuselage. I recommend that you don't glue this block in place until you have CA'd the front bottom section of the fuselage. Use 30-minute epoxy to attach the landing gear rail and extra triangle stock inside the fuselage for strength. Unpin the fuselage and attach the firewall with epoxy. The firewall is two pieces of lite-ply laminated with 30-minute epoxy. All the pre-marked holes in the firewall lined up perfectly. FINISHING UP Install the stabilizer according to the instructions, and epoxy it into place. Use a square to position the 1/8-inch, die-cut formers and main stringer for the turtle deck. The instructions tell you to CA two pieces of 3/32-inch balsa sheet together, then cut out the turtle-deck halves. It is quite a trick to get this sheet to form the turtle-deck sides, and I recommend using only one sheet of 6x3/32-inch balsa. Sand the two fin filler blocks to shape and install them. Install the pushrod tubes, and test-fit the removable fuel tank floor. Sand the fuselage, and you are now ready to cover. I decided to dress my model in red, yellow and orange MonoKote with red and black pinstriping. If you want it to fit nicely, the three-piece cowl supplied in this kit requires a lot of work. The wheel pants are awesome. The halves are indexed and fit well. The wheel pants themselves are indexed to the landing gear, so they should not move at any time during takeoff or landing. I decided to use four FMA servos in the CAP 232. The rudder servo is positioned on the bottom and near the back of the fuselage and hangs down from beneath the fuse. I'd prefer a side-mounted servo because I fly off a grass field and the servo could get hung up easily in taller grass. The elevator pushrods are joined by two wheel collars and then soldered together. This setup works unbelievably well. For power, I chose a 2-stroke O.S. .46 FX with a Pitts-style muffler. The cowled muffler keeps everything looking nice. FINAL THOUGHTS The Great Planes .40 CAP 232 kit is definitely different. It's easy to build and a great performer. Because of its light wing loading, it floats in for landings like a trainer, but if you flip on the high rates and pour on the power, it will scream for you! If you're looking for an aerobatic plane that can be docile or extremely wild, this is the one for you. FLIGHT PERFORMANCE After the first flight, I installed two washers behind the engine mount for some downthrust. Then I changed the rates; I made the high settings low and cut the low settings in half. I also put a lot of exponential on the rudder and elevator. Takeoff and Landing This plane wants to fly. On the initial flight, it was off the ground at 3/4 throttle in about eight to 10 feet, with no rudder or snap on takeoff. It gained speed and altitude quite quickly. Landing the CAP 232 is a breeze. Fly it in with three clicks of throttle, chop the elevator 50 feet off the end of the runway and pull back on the elevator; the model settles in like a trainer. Low-speed Flight I added down-elevator and pulled the throttle to 1/4, then to idle. I added in a few clicks of throttle, and the CAP flew unbelievably slowly, with no stalling tendencies. Dead-stick is unbelievable; the plane wants to keep on flying. It didn't drop out of the sky; it came in slow and easy without any bad characteristics. Aerobatics Flip the rudder on high rate, pull up-elevator and roll into a knife-edge; you can stay there all day long. Rolls and loops are as tight as you would like. Inverted flight is almost effortless with a little down-elevator once in a while. Reprinted with permission.August, 1999 Model Airplane News Editor: Gerry Yarrish
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