GREAT PLANES SLOWPOKE 15
FIELD & BENCH REVIEW
by Randy Randolph

A slow yet frisky sport flyer

There is no question that the indoor RC movement with its nearly weightless airplanes and tiny radios has attracted a lot of attention-so much that a second generation of lightweight, slow-flying airplanes has been developed for those of us who don't have access to indoor flying facilities. Called park flyers, they're capable of indoor as well as calm-weather outdoor flight.

It follows that other airplanes would be developed along these lines. Such craft can handle the wind on an average day at the flying field yet provide the same slow, yet frisky, type of performance achieved by indoor and slow flyers. Enter the Great Planes SlowPoke!

This model has what it takes to become popular with giant-scale fliers as well as member of Small Model Airplane Lovers' League (SMALL). It neatly bridges the gap between park flyers and typical sport airplanes. It will fly slowly and still behave well in the moderate breeze. I think this airplane will find a home at just about any flying field!

CONSTRUCTION
From the artwork on the package to the kit's strip wood hardware and die-cut parts, the airplane just begs to be built! The manual is well-illustrated and offers step-by-step instruction from the first glue joint to the finishing touches-including what to expect when you're flying the plane.

All strips, sheets and die-cut parts are bundled with the hardware according to the subassembly for which they are intended. By any standards, this is a good kit.

Tail feathers
According to the instruction manual, you should build the tail group first. The stab is on the left side of the plan and the elevator is on the bottom right. Because of the size of the plan, the manual suggests that you detach the stab plan so you'll be able to work on it while you're assembling other parts. I don't like to cut up plans so I built the stab first and then removed it so I could assemble the elevators and fin/rudder on the building board. It took a little extra time, but it kept the plan in one piece.

I did cheat in the tail area. The provided wood was rather heavy, and the tail is not a good place for extra weight, so I substituted lighter wood. By and large, the kit's wood fit the job, but in this case, it missed the mark. Other than that, I built the tail by the book.

WING
The wing is wide: its center section just about fills up my 20x24-inch building board! Before starting on the wing I separated all of the wing parts from the die-cut sheets and sanded a few edges here and there. Because I followed the manual step by step, the center section "grew" as smoothly as one could want. Everything fit perfectly.

Instead of using the traditional dowel-through-the-leading-edge (LE) approach to the front wing/fuselage anchor system, the SlowPoke has a nice square, plywood encased appendage that fits into the center rib just above-yet is part of-the LE (a very slick system worth remembering!)

After you've completed the spars, ribs, capstrips and top sheeting, you lift the center section from the building board. Then you add the bottom sheeting, capstrips and landing-gear mounts. I advise you to drill the gear mounts before you install them. At this point in the construction sequence, the wing uses a sub-LE and you add the actual LE when you've completed the wing and it has both outboard panels joined to the center section.

Begin the outboard panels by laying down the trailing edge (TE), capstrips and sheeting and then adding the spars, ribs, top sheeting and TE. A plywood gauge that comes with the kit helps you set the dihedral rib at the proper angle.

To ensure that the bottom remains flat, complete the panel while it is still pinned to the building board because you add the top sheeting over the ribs that taper toward the top. When the panels are complete, the tips are added. I was a little disappointed with the way the tops had been cut, and they seemed flimsy compared with the rest of the wing.

The outboard panels are butt-joined to the center section with the help of two 1/8 inch dowels that help with the panels' alignment. I would have liked a joiner of some sort, but this method seemed satisfactory. After you've joined the panels and the glue has set, add the LE, and the wing is then complete and ready for sanding.

FUSELAGE
To build the fuselage, you add two plywood doublers to the two party built fuselage sides and build up the rest of the sides with balsa strips. Build the first side directly over the plan and the second over the first. This practice is very familiar to old-time modelers, and it works very well to ensure that both sides are the same.

When the sides have been completed, they're joined at the tail, and the bulkheads are attached from the tail up to the firewall while the sides are pinned over the top view. When the bottom part of the fuselage is complete, add the top bulkheads from the tail post forward. Install the servo mount between the cockpit formers, then attach the engine mount to the firewall.

If you build the engine mount as shown in the manual, you'll have left thrust instead of the intended right thrust. With all later kits, Great Planes includes an addendum to the instructions that corrects this. I noticed the problem during construction, so I corrected it simply by turning the engine mount upside-down!

Although the instruction manual does not tell you to do it at this stage of construction, it is much easier to install the 4-ounce fuel tank before you add the forward sheeting. There is plenty of room for it, but it takes a few extra pieces to hold it in place.

At this point you'll start sanding, and there's quite a bit to do. Although it isn't shown on the plan, adding fill around the fuselage/stab joints when they have been glued into place will make the covering job easier.

When the fuselage is complete place the wing in the saddle, and drill holes to match the mounting bolts. After you've cemented the T-nuts below the plywood wing mount, the fuselage is ready to cover.

FINISHING TOUCHES
With the fin and stab already glued into place, the fuselage is a little difficult to handle. It is fairly large by SMALL standards, and a stand of some sort is very handy to hold it while you iron on the MonoKote. Covering this plane is not difficult, and it's even easier-and the covering is less likely to wrinkle-if you use narrow strips for the curved areas of the turtle deck and the "stringered" area aft of the cockpit. Cover the fin, stab, elevator and rudder first, so you'll easily be able to fair the fuselage covering smoothly into them. When you've finished covering the fuselage add the tailwheel and hinged surfaces.

Even though it's large covering the wing is a piece of cake. Only the built-in hanger at the center of the LE area needs a little extra attention, and it's really no problem. I covered the bottom of the wing first, and before shrinking the film, I covered the tops of the wingtips. These tops are rather weak, and I was afraid the shrinking film would warp them and wrinkle, but by shrinking both sides of the tips at the same time, you can head the problem off at the pass!

Before installing the engine, I painted all of the exposed wood around the engine mount, firewall, landing-gear mount and cockpit with alcohol-thinned epoxy to seal them against exhaust residue.

The kit provides all of the hardware needed to connect the radio system. Since the space in the supplied servo mounts was larger than any servo I owned, I installed smaller mounts to fit my servos. Everything else went smoothly, since the guide tubes had been added during earlier construction.

As long as I can remember, I have hated installing windshields, and this one is not exception. This time, however, it was easier than I expected because I used Balsa USA Super-Gold gap-filling, odorless glue with their Quick Shot accelerator. Worked like a charm!

CONCLUSION
The SlowPoke is not the quickest airplane to build, but it isn't difficult and the instructions are good. All of the parts fit and the hardware package was complete. I wouldn't recommend an engine smaller than a .20 for it because less power would probably mean marginal performance with the plane of this size.

Although you can't expect high aerobatic performance from the SlowPoke it has a unique look that's interesting, and it's easy to fly.

FLIGHT PERFORMANCE

TAKEOFF AND LANDING
The SlowPoke's first flight was somewhat less than satisfying. I seemed to have built to much of a warp into the wing, and that caused the airplane to make a steep left turn as soon as it broke ground. Full right rudder made the turn a bit wider, and I executed a wing low landing without damaging anything except some weeds. A session with the heat gun got the wing back into shape. Trimming started with the next flight and resulted in the airplane that flies as it was designed to.

When you are ready, it will smoothly touch down in a 3-point landing. The steerable tailwheel makes taxiing and takeoff very controllable.

GENERAL FLYING
The SlowPoke flies like a trainer with an attitude! The tail wags a bit before banking, and the response, even with 2 inches of rudder travel, is not rapid. That 2 inch rudder travel is in both directions - a 4 inch total from on side to the other!

AEROBATICS
With the balance point shown on the plans, the airplane will, with a lot of urging, do a slow snap roll and manage a respectable loop, but that concludes the list of available stunts. It will fly slowly with full control, and when the stall does come, it will wallow around and let you know it's coming.