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This item is discontinued. GREAT PLANES OLD TIMER 40 KIT
Aircraft Type: 3-Channel Sport RCM PROTOTYPE SUMMARY
It appears that Great Planes has looked far back into the roots of the R/C hobby to come up with a nostalgia-style model in the popular 40 size range. "40 size" may be a slight misnomer for the model as far as size is concerned (the plane has a six foot wing), but there are plenty of modelers out there who enjoy flying "low and slow" (especially us more mature types). The Old Timer incorporates a couple of features that will moisten the eyes of the graybeard. It has curved laminated edges on the tail grouping, plus there are lots of visible fuselage "stringers." These were standard back in the old days when saving every fraction of an ounce in the rear end of the model was gospel, as the free flighters of the thirties and forties had to haul heavy batteries aloft to power those pre-glow power engines. Don't even think about radios. If you want to appreciate what those guys accomplished, take in a SAM (Society of Antique Modelers) meet in your area sometime and see some of their stuff. The 45" x 5" x 7" box arrived without a ding, and I was impressed with both the packing and the quality (and quantity) of wood in the kit. I didn't get to weigh the box, but it's substantial. Everything was neatly packaged and grouped. Usually I just dig out the plans, and grab some sticks and start gluing, but in this case I took the time to read the 47-page instruction manual cover to cover. This is one area where Great Planes stands out. Even after having built about 150 models over 25 years, I picked up at least three tips that I hadn't heard of before. Instructions are logical, well written and the construction flows in an ordered sequence. "Expert tips" are thrown in along the way. Don't just pay this booklet lip service ... spend an hour with it, you'll reap dividends.
Construction Tail Group: The instruction book suggests you start with the tail feathers, and both pieces (horizontal and vertical stab) are fully built-up. You are given the choice (well detailed) of making the laminated edges either with CA or with aliphatic. I chose aliphatic, as I wanted a little more time to work with the wood, and I didn't want to have to sand the harder surface that CA creates. No problems here. I carefully positioned the supplied bending jigs on the building board, weighted the items down on a flat building board, and allowed plenty of time for the moistened wood to dry. Everything came out straight ... using the Great Planes Plan Protector made parts removal from the board very easy. I cut the hinge slots with a Great Planes Slot Machine too. What a time saver.
Wing: Now things get a little more interesting. The character of the model is enhanced by a flat-bottomed, tapered wing with a planform reminiscent of the Stinson Reliant. The entire wing consists of 20 ribs, most are balsa, but a few are lite ply. The wing outer section ribs are stamped with a number, but the center section ones are not. The center ribs have an extra cutout on the base of the rib to accommodate a full span shear web. The shear web aligns and spaces the ribs, as well as providing support for the entire structure. The wing is built in three sections and then joined. One of my good modeling buddies, when he first saw the completed model, thought the wing construction looked "tough to build" ... Wrong! The outstanding instruction book leads you through the process. You will get a lot of compliments if you will take just a little time. The wood of the ribs was quite hard (good) and the die-cutting was excellent. I would recommend collecting all the ribs, marking and separating them into three groups: (1) the wing center section (2) the outer left, and (3) outer right wings. Make sure you get the correct basswood spars. The inner pair are 18" long and the outer ones 30" long. The instructions very adequately illustrate what happens if you have a warped spar. Don't miss that. The wing sheets easily, and the sheeting widths provided fit easily into the overall dimensions. Wingtip plates are simple, strong, and effective. I am glad that Great Planes chose not to use laminated edges here. On my Quaker, the laminated wingtips took a lot of abuse, and since the wing was 84" in span I kept banging it into all sorts of things. They are very hard to repair once they get beaten up. This wing is solid and well-engineered.
Fuselage: To build some character into the fuselage, Great Planes has chosen to start with a strong balsa fuselage frame and then "accent" the sides and top with flush stringers over the frame. These are relatively easy to install, but when you handle the uncovered model you have to be extra careful as your fingers tend to squeeze where the stringers meet the fuselage. I spent considerable time re-gluing the stringers. Once the model is covered, this problem disappears. I also chose to build the fuselage sides on top of each other, another technique of the old-time modeler to guarantee duplication. The model has plenty of interlocks so that it "snaps" together. I was very pleased when the top of the fuselage slipped right into place after the sides were assembled. The balance of the fuselage assembly was straightforward and simple. The equipment trays, engine supports, and wing attach pieces all fit nicely.
I would like to compliment Great Planes for providing enough of everything. There was enough sheeting, and even an extra stick or two of every dimension. All the tiny screws were there, and the wood quality was above average. Nothing is worse than to get almost finished with a task and then have to drive to the hobby shop to buy one more 1/8" x 1/4" piece of balsa. Covering: I covered the model in MonoKote, both white and transparent yellow to let the framework show through. The only fiddling that I had to do was with the windshield. It didn't quite fit, but don't throw a rock at the kit maker - I am well known for getting a few of my angles wrong. The wheel pants are a pain to build, but they add so much to the finished look that we will fly them, even though our grass field at winter level here in the Northwest will cause problems. Engine: I decided we had to have a 4-stroke in this lady, and installed my tried and true Magnum .53 4-stroke. It has a lot of time on it and has been totally reliable. I installed a Hitec 6-channel radio, and was tickled to see that the kit contained steel rod pushrods. No expansion/contraction problems here. I have become a fanatic about this since an experience in Arizona in July a number of years ago.
Flying: The completed model weighed in at 6 lbs. 1 oz., which was in excess of the stated kit weight by 8 oz., perhaps partially due to the bigger engine. No balancing problems were encountered and no additional weight was required to balance the model at the indicated C.G.
We assembled the model and went out to our flying field in Western WA (Flaming Geyser State Park) on a mid-December morning when the weather brightened only slightly. Due to time restraints, we wanted to get the first flights in before the wetness of a Pacific winter really shut us down. We had strong gusty crosswinds that had almost all the modelers present hangared, but we elected to give it a try. My expert partner, Dean Brinton, volunteered to do the first flight, and after some problems with wheel pants versus the grass runway, we got the model into the air. It performed better than could be expected for a 3-channel model in swirling, gusty wind conditions, and the wing planform did not seem to exhibit any nasty stall tendencies (in fact, the model recovered well from a number of attitudes forced by the wind). The landings were normal. The second day out we had unusual conditions; a sunny day at almost 50° with no wind. We removed the wheel pants, and the model was off the ground immediately. Very little trim adjustment was required, and while we didn't get into wild aerobatics, the comments from the group on the field were, "Gee that airplane looks good in the air." It slows right down for landing, and three pilots found no faults whatsoever. Like the box says, "Low and slow" ... you can do it with the Old Timer 40. Conclusion: More and more today, there are models that almost fall out of the box assembled. I don't think I could build at the level of some of the better ARFs that are in the stores. However, as one good buddy of mine says, "There are builders and there are fliers." If you would like to spend the time to produce something that you can proudly take to the field, and you don't possess the top 2% of the world woodworking skills, then this kit is for you. It looks very good in the air, and while it is not billed as a trainer, it is not difficult to fly. It certainly looks like there might once have been a full-scale version, and it makes me look like a better builder and flier than I really am. Reprinted with permission.July, 2003 R/C Modeler Magazine Editor: Patricia Crews
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