This item is discontinued.

GREAT PLANES SPIRIT 2M ARF
PRODUCT REVIEW
by Mike Lee

Name SPIRIT 2-METER ARF
Aircraft Type Sport 2-Meter Sailplane
Mfg. By Great Planes Model Mfg., P.O. Box 788 Urbana, Illinois
Mfg. Sug. Retail Price $99.95
Available From Retail Outlets
Wingspan 78.5 Inches
Wing Chord 9 Inches (Avg.)
Total Wing Area 676 Sq. In.
Fuselage Length 39 Inches
Stabilizer Span 21 Inches
Total Stab Area 97 Sq. In.
Mfg. Rec. Engine Range N/A
Rec. Fuel Tank Size N/A
Rec. No. of Channels 2 to 3
Rec. Control Functions Rudder, Elevator, Landing Spoilers

Basic Materials Used In Construction
Fuselage Balsa & Ply
Wing Balsa & Spruce
Tail Surfaces Balsa
Building Instructions on Plan Sheets No
Instruction Manual Yes (19 pages)
Construction Photos (No) Illustrations

RCM PROTOTYPE
Radio Used Hitec Flash 5-X
Engine Make & Disp. N/A
Tank Size Used N/A
Weight, Ready to Fly 32 Oz. (2 Lbs.)
Wing Loading 6.9 Oz./Sq. Ft.

SUMMARY
WE LIKED THE: Highly prefabricated kit, fast assemly, good flight performance, and excellent quality.

WE DIDN'T LIKE THE: Skimpy instructions, and one incorrect illustration.

Getting started in R/C flying has always been an exciting and sometimes harrowing experience. Newcomers are faced with the decision as to what kind of model to get started with, as well as whether they wish to take the time to build a new model or not. As a result, the market has flourished with Almost-Ready-To-Fly (ARF) models of all types within the past 20 years. Some have been better at achieving their intended goals than others, and the subject of our review is a model which achieves its goals quite nicely for a sailplane enthusiast. This model is the Great Planes Spirit 2-Meter ARF.

Assembly:

Assembly is touted as being possible to complete within two hours. After opening the box containing the model, you can see that this goal is probably not too far off the mark. There are only five main parts within the box, these being the two wing halves, the fuselage, vertical fin, and horizontal stabilizer. Other smaller components include the cockpit/canopy assembly, pushrods, and radio mounting hardware. The model comes to you in a box measuring 40" x 9" x 4.75", meaning that it should have no problem being shipped by common carriers. Within the box, along with the model is a 19-page assembly manual that is fully illustrated and written in six languages. No doubt, this model is intended for a global market. The builder will require only epoxy, a CA type adhesive, and some small hand tools to assemble the Spirit.

Because ARF models are subjected to all kinds of variable temperature conditions while being sent to us, it is not likely that your model will arrive to you without some wrinkles in the plastic covering materials. Our Spirit was no exception, and re-shrinking the film covering was the first chore out of the box. This is not a defect on any model, and is a simple item to correct with a heat gun. Once everything was looking like it should look, we went right into the assembly.

We start with the wings, and save for the fact that the wings are already built in two halves, they are completed, and utilize all wood, built-up construction. The wings are covered with MonoKote heat shrink film, and look exactly like the box. No additional decoration or trim required. (Of course, we just had to add our own RCM insignia to the wing for color balance.) The two wing halves are joined by a unique wing joiner made from a sandwich of aluminum, balsa, and aluminum. Once epoxied in place within the wing spar system, this joiner should be quite bulletproof. After the wing halves are joined, two small squares of hardwood are added to the trailing edge of the wing to prevent rubber bands from crushing the balsa at that point. With that, the basic wing is completed.

The builder does have an option with spoilers in the wings. The spoilers are already installed for you, including the actuator tubes and control horns. Here is where we did have some confusion with the instructions. All of the steps within the manual are simple, one or two sentence instructions with an illustration. In the case of the spoilers, it shows in one illustration the spoiler actuator tubes exiting the wing facing towards the trailing edge. This is incorrect as they should face towards the leading edge of the wing. In fact, getting the tubes is a little tougher than it looks. We found the tubes to be exactly where the instructions say they are located, but connected to the main spar and they are very stiff tubes! To cure this, make the slot for the tubes as directed in the instructions. Using a sharp hobby knife, cut the tube at the end closest to the leading edge. Once cut, use a pointed device, like a pencil, and insert the tip into the cut end of the tube with the pencil tip aimed at the TE. Angle the tube such that it pokes out of the wing skin and then heat the tube gently with a heat gun. The heat will soften the tube and when it cools, the tube will remain aiming out of the wing skin. With that, you are now ready to hook up the spoilers. We used eight pound monofilament fishing line, which works great.

The remaining three main parts of the plane, these being the fuselage, vertical fin, and horizontal stabs, go together right now. Both the horizontal stab and vertical fin are bolted in place on the fuselage. The horizontal stab is first, and here is where we ran into the only weak spot on the entire plane. A small plywood plate is used to bolt the horizontal stab in place. There is only about one square inch of this plate in contact with the fuselage, held there by glue, and it looks pretty small to be holding up the tail. Once the horizontal stab is placed, the vertical fin is also bolted in position, and both line up beautifully. From here, it's simply a matter of installing your radio gear, pushrods, and the cockpit/canopy assembly.

The cockpit/canopy assembly is just what it sounds like, and both are molded plastic parts. Simply cut out the parts along the cut lines, and they will fit like a matched set of gloves to each other. In fact, they will then fit to the fuselage and wing exactly as good as they do to each other, without further trimming. The cockpit assembly is held in place with a simple rubber band, but we did modify ours just a tad. We placed a couple of small scraps of balsa on the back of the headrest to keep the cockpit assembly aligned with the fuselage opening. Otherwise, the cockpit could easily slide sideways.

Radio:

Our choice of radio was two Hitec HS-300 servos to handle the rudder and elevator control, plus a single HS-80 servo to handle the spoilers. As a builder, you may use almost any size servo gear you wish, from standard size and smaller, without a fit problem. There is plenty of room inside this plane. A Hitec-RCD Supreme 8-channel receiver fit with room to spare in the cockpit compartment, along with a 500 mAh battery pack up front. You can easily get away with much smaller gear, and if this is your choice, I would make a slight change to the radio placement. I would place the battery up front, followed by the servos and then receiver. This would place the bulk of radio weight up front towards the nose, thus reducing the need for more weight to balance the ship. As it is, our plane required 3/4 ounce of weight to achieve perfect balance. (Please note that the addition of weight to balance this or any other glider is not a detriment, but simply a necessary task to ensure proper flight control.) Providing control was a Hitec Flash 5-X system. This is the latest in economy class, microprocessor-controlled radio systems from Hitec. With a 5 model memory, digital trims, and a host of other features, you'll be seeing a lot of these systems at the local flying fields in the future.

The total time it took to make this model ready for flight in its basic form was about three hours, including snacks. A true building addict could get the plane airborne within the claimed two hours quoted on the box, and to that end, we don't fault the manufacturer on that claim. Your average entry-level modeler would probably take a few evenings at home to complete the model, which should include a couple of calls to his flying friends to make sure he is doing the assembly correctly. The all-up weight of our test model was 34 ounces, about 2 ounces more than the specified weight of 32-ounces. If mini radio equipment had been used, the 32-ounce weight goal could be easily obtained.

Flying:

Our initial flight tests consisted of a couple of hand tosses to confirm the trim settings and general flight qualities of the Spirit. To our surprise, the model floated off quite nicely on a hand toss, belying the 34-ounce weight. Before hooking the model to a winch for launching, we noted the builder must make a choice of tow hook position. There are three tow hook positions on the Spirit, and all three have blind nuts installed for you. The forward-most hook position is for newcomers to use, and this position affords the most stable launch of the model. Newcomers need this. The center position provides a steeper launch angle for better altitude on the launch, while the rearward-most position gives the highest launch but requires the touch of an expert pilot to guide the plane, as the aircraft is quite twitchy with this position. We initially settled on the rearward position, and were rewarded with three consecutive pop-off launches. Moving the tow hook to the middle position was the cat's meow and, from that point forward, the launches were solid and straight.

Once off the tow, the Spirit shows it is very stable and forgiving. The float on this model is quite nice, and we were able to get 4-minute flights with no lift conditions as the norm. When the plane encounters lift, the nose responds nicely to signal the pilot, and this is what a thermal plane is supposed to do. Holding the Spirit into a thermal turn is no problem, as the plane remains stable unless the pilot rolls excessively into the turn. Even when rolled hard into a turn, the model does not display any bad habits, allowing the pilot to recover easily and get the plane back to level flight.

Landing the Spirit is pretty easily accomplished. Without spoilers, you can perform lazy "S" turns to bleed off altitude and airspeed. Just keeping the nose level is all that is needed to make a tidy landing every time. With the aid of the spoilers, the Spirit requires just a touch of elevator compensation to hold the nose level on approach. A slight flair just before touchdown results in the plane settling nicely to the turf with about a 4-foot slide. On subsequent flights, I allowed several other pilots to fly the Spirit, one of whom had not soloed as yet. All of the pilots remarked that the plane was very nice to fly, and our newcomer pilot accomplished his first solo tour with it. That's a pretty good indicator of a good model in anyone's book.

Overall, this is a great ARF sailplane. It is built correctly and can handle the rigors of modern launch systems without a problem. The level of assembly from out of the box together with the level of quality should please most anyone, especially a newcomer. Couple this to the very good flight performance and you have the making of a classic winner. In my opinion, this model will set the new standard by which future ARF sailplanes will be judged. If you are looking for a sailplane to get you started in non-powered flight, you may have just found what you're looking for in the Spirit.