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This item is discontinued. GREAT PLANES RYAN STA 1.20 ARF 
SPECIFICATIONS Basic Materials Used In Construction RCM PROTOTYPE SUMMARY
WE LIKED THE: Excellent building/sheeting, excellent covering job, flight performance. The Spirit of St. Louis is one of the most recognizable aircraft from aviation history and its flight in 1927 exemplified the risk, innovation, and excitement of the Golden Era of aviation. The Ryan Company of San Diego, California, which built the Spirit of St. Louis, eventually became the Ryan Aeronautical Company. In 1935, it began producing the Ryan STA with the 125 hp Menasco C-4 engine. The Ryan STA sold for a "mere" $4,685 back then. Its sleek appearance was enhanced by a cowling that fully encased the engine and wheel pants that added aerodynamic flair. Rigging for this low winged monoplane was limited to a few strands under the wing and it had two small struts on the top. In its ARF version of the Ryan STA, Great Planes has captured one of the most handsome aircraft of the Golden Era and, while doing so, has successfully brought ARF technology to a higher level. Not surprisingly, the Great Planes Ryan STA is one of the most popular ARF models on the market today. Aside from its outstanding looks, the overall construction and finish is exceptional. Seriously - you just can't believe it's an ARF. It was difficult to identify things I didn't like about this model. Certainly, the "didn't like" issues I did mention in the summary section of the Specifications box in this product review are all easily addressed (read on for the details). The kit box for this IMAA-legal model is large and measures 49-3/4" long, 9-1/2" high, and 19-1/2" wide. Once you open the box, you'll find that there's a top compartment (measuring about 2-1/2" deep) in which the wing halves are stored. Each wing half is individually packaged in a clear plastic bag. The ailerons are taped in place to each wing panel. A segregated 7" by 18" section stores the instruction manual, decals, hinge material, etc. The bottom compartment has two sections on either side of the kit box with holes through which the fore and aft of the fuselage securely fit. As with each wing half, the fuselage is individually packaged in a clear plastic bag. The stabilizer and elevator halves, fin and rudder, cowl, fairings, windshield, tank, landing gear, turtledeck, and wheel pants are each also packaged in their own bags. One other clear plastic bag contained wheels, engine mount, hardware, spinner, cockpit coaming, two struts, and the 1/8" plywood servo trays. Pushrod tubing and four steel pushrods are stored at the bottom of the box. Everything was easy to identify. The assorted parts of this model were so well packed that I had no damage from shipping. There are no plans because it's an ARF kit. The 28-page instruction manual is easy to read, well laid out, and the picture quality is above average. It has a number of "expert tips" on supplies needed, gluing, soldering, balancing, safety considerations, and flying. It's hard to say if it was the eye-catching black and white MonoKote checkerboard pattern on the bottom of the wing halves or the graceful tri-color fuselage or the nicely finished fiberglass cowl and wheel pants, but as soon as I opened this kit box, I got "the urge" to begin building.  Assembly: Note: Throughout the assembly, Great Planes Pro Epoxy and CA glues were used. Since it is an ARF, the wing panels come precovered, but each wing panel seems to have 13 ribs with the core ribs made of plywood. The ribs beyond the sheeted center section are capstripped with balsa and have lightening holes. The spars have balsa webbing, making the structure very solid - there was no movement when I attempted to twist the panels. Balsa sheeting is used on the leading and trailing edges and on the center section. No warps, twists, or waves were found. There are three 1/8" plywood forward wing joiners that are epoxied together for strength. I used 6-minute epoxy for this quick and easy job. Be sure to wipe away any excess epoxy that oozes out from this "sandwich"style construction as the joiners must fit into tight plywood channels in each wing panel. I should point out that the forward wing joiner is 10" long and the aft wing joiner is approximately 6" long. (The aft wing joiner was missing from my kit so I used some scrap plywood. Its purpose is more to properly align the wing halves than to add strength.) The wing joining construction does not call for any other additional reinforcement (like fiberglass or carbon tape) although the 1/8" plywood bolt plate on the bottom aft center section of the wing does add some additional strength. The wing halves are permanently joined at this point to create a one-piece wing. 30-minute epoxy was used to allow time to properly align the wing halves without being rushed. Be sure to have some denatured alcohol handy when you join the wing halves. This way, you can cleanly wipe away any excess epoxy that oozes from the joint. CA type hinge material is included in the kit. Each aileron has four hinges, and I was pleased to find that all of the hinge slots were pre-cut. The pre-bent wire landing gear neatly fits into two parallel grooves in the landing gear rails on the bottom of each wing panel. I really liked the design structure of the landing gear. It spreads the stress on the landing gear to two rails and minimizes the flex to the space inside the wheel pants. The soldering job is noteworthy - it's quite sturdy. The fiberglass wheel pants nicely fit over this pre-bent wire landing gear and get permanently screwed into the landing gear rails. The 4" sponge wheels were included in the kit, as were the axles and wheel collars. I fly from a grass runway, and even though about 1" of wheel shows through the pants, the drag on the wheel pants from the grass runway took its toll on the four 1/2" screws that hold the wheel pants in place. (The screw heads were pulled through the fiberglass.) To address this problem, I slipped washers over the screw heads and then re-attached the wheel pants to the landing gear rails. If you fly from a paved runway, you shouldn't experience this type of problem. Before construction, dealing with the fuselage begins, the instruction manual suggests that the builder would find the use of a stand or cradle helpful. Pay attention to this request. The fuselage is rounded and, as such, cannot sit flatly on your building surface. It will constantly tip without a stand or cradle and you will face the risk of multiple "hangar rash" dents and scrapes - or worse. The instruction manual specifically mentions the Robart Super Stand II. This is an excellent (and relatively inexpensive) choice. The stabilizer/elevators have a built-up balsa frame with balsa ribs. As with the stabilizer, the fin/rudder also has a balsa frame and ribs. The fuselage utilizes a built-up 1/8" plywood frame (with lightening holes). The formers and firewall give the fuselage its rounded shape. (There is a box-like structure on the front section of the fuselage which the engine mount attaches to.) The entire fuselage is sheeted with 3/32" balsa and some of the sheeting on the front section is doubled. Before you proceed with any work on the fuselage, you will need to mix some 30-minute epoxy for two joints - specifically the "firewall-to-fuselage" joint and the "wing hold-down plate-to-fuselage" joint. It didn't appear to me that epoxy was used for these high-stress joints. At this point in the construction, the stabilizer and vertical fin are epoxied in place. Make certain that the stabilizer and fin are properly aligned. The instruction manual does a good job of explaining "how to" do this, and be sure to have some denatured alcohol handy so you can cleanly wipe away any excess epoxy. I used my Hobbico Builder's Triangle Set to check the alignment when it came time to gluing on the fin. (These triangle tools have a notch cut at the 90-degree angle that permits them to snuggly fit between the fin and stabilizer without interference from the fuselage.) All hinge slots for the empennage were pre-cut. The Great Planes Ryan STA utilizes a number of molded plastic fairings throughout the finishing stages of construction to give it a more aerodynamic appearance. The three pieces that make up the fin and stab fairings are unpainted and don't match the red/white color of the MonoKote, and detracted from the good looks of the model. This is disappointing but easily "fixed" using Top Flite's LusterKote spray paints which do a good job of matching MonoKote colors. The molded plastic rudder fairing halves do come pre-painted and align with the red/white fuselage aft section. The two halves are glued together; I used thin CA for this job. The next step is to trial-fit the rudder in place. However, before you do this, make sure that any CA you have used on the rudder or fin to this point has cured. Otherwise, you may accidentally glue the rudder in place prematurely. The rest of the construction is typical of an ARF although I want to take just a moment to comment on the cowl since the "extra workmanship" is noteworthy. Unlike the "typical" ARF, this cowl has panel lines, rivets, ducting, and blister marks. The finish matches each of the three MonoKote colors on the fuselage. A 1/8" plywood "ring" is glued 1" from the aft end to stiffen it. The cowl is screwed into three hardwood blocks on the fuselage. Make certain that the holes through which the screws pass on the cowl are reinforced (from the inside of the cowl) with the washers provided in the kit. Holes must be made to accommodate the muffler, needle valve, and remote fueling valve. Covering: The covering job is quite impressive. There were a minimal number of seams and all of them were cut straight. There were no ripples or waves in the trim - this includes both the straight seams and the curved (radial) seams. Each black box (making up the checkerboard design on the bottom of the wing and stabilizer) was exact and perfectly aligned. The checkerboard trim designs on the flying surfaces matched well with the corresponding designs on the bottom of the wing and stabilizer. Each of the three colors on the pre-painted fiberglass cowl and wheel pants perfectly matched the MonoKote colors. For decorative reasons, two small struts are added to the top of the wing and fuselage. They, too, are covered in MonoKote and held in place with screws. The ends of these struts require that you cut a 45-degree angle so they snugly fit the wing and fuselage. After making the cuts, I covered the bare spots with scraps of MonoKote. To finish the cockpit, I used a 1/4" scale DGA pilot dressed in civilian garb and painted the inside of the cockpit with Coverite flat black paint, installed the instrument panel decal, cockpit coaming, and windshield (all three included in the kit). Engine: Included in the kit was a Great Planes adjustable engine mount and all the hardware (screws, nuts, washers, etc.) needed to attach the engine. The last page of the instruction manual has an engine mount bolt pattern template to ensure that you properly align the mount to the firewall. To ensure that the screw holes of the engine were properly aligned with the engine mount, I used a Great Planes Dead Center Hole Locator. (If you don't have this tool, get one. It makes engine installations easier and more exact.) The engine is held in place with four 8-32 screws. To ease fueling/defueling, I used a Du-Bro Products Kwik-Fill Fueling Valve and placed the valve through the cowl just in front of the plywood ring. The kit-supplied 16-ounce fuel tank and 2" white plastic spinner finished off the front end.  Radio: Each wing panel has a pull-through string taped inside so you can easily run the servo leads from the wing's flying surfaces to the center section. You'll need at least an 18" servo extension for each aileron and one "Y" connector. A 1/8" plywood tray is provided for two elevator and one rudder servos. I added two 1/8" sq. spruce rails to the sides of the bottom of this servo tray just to make it stiffer. A separate 1/8" plywood tray is provided for the throttle servo, receiver, and battery pack. The receiver and battery pack are shock mounted in foam and rubber banded to this tray. (If you want continued access to the fuel tank, instead of gluing it, this particular plywood tray can be screwed in place.) I used a Great Planes Switch Mount attached through the side of the fuselage and I ran the receiver antenna under the bottom of the fuselage so as not to detract from the model's good looks. The pushrod tubing for the elevators is already pre-installed. The tubing runs along both sides of the fuselage's interior through holes in the formers. The solid steel pushrods running through these tubes are provided in the kit. Dual elevator servos are used, and because the servos must move in opposite directions (due to the way they are mounted in the fuselage), you cannot use a standard "Y" connector unless you have either a "reverse" servo or a radio with programmable elevator mixing. I ended up using a Maxx Products electronic servo mixing device called the Miracle "Y". This device makes the elevator servos operate in opposite directions simultaneously. The rudder controls utilize pull-pull cables and all the materials needed are provided in the kit. The cables exit through two holes in the flat aft section of the fuselage. The control horn on the rudder is a threaded rod that passes through some hardwood dowel material that is flush with the sides of the rudder. Molded plastic rudder fairings (painted to match the fuselage's finish) hide much of the threaded rod. A separate steel pushrod connects the rudder servo to the steerable shock-mounted tail wheel. The instruction booklet clearly delineates the amount of high rate and low rate throw each flying surface needs. I followed this exactly with excellent flight results. And last, I used my Great Planes C.G. Machine to check the balance point. The review model balanced right where the instruction manual said it should (4-3/16" from the leading edge of the wing).  Flying: Take-offs are enhanced with a slow and gradual increase in throttle. (Because of torque, you will have to apply some right rudder to track straight.) My model consistently came off the ground once I reached three-quarter throttle with a very slight amount of up elevator. Climb-out tracked straight and level on about a 20° angle. (Climb-outs on a greater than about 30° got a bit sluggish, even with the extra power afforded with the 1.20-size engine.) The model is not overly sensitive on high rates, although I found that I got a much more scale-like flight performance when I put the ailerons on low rates; the elevators were left on high rates. Predictably, rolls were large and graceful (at low rate each took about two seconds). From level flight, I was able to accomplish a 50-foot loop without dropping a wing panel. Loops greater than that diameter just bled off too much airspeed and the model struggled to reach the top of the loop. Inverted flight required a small amount of down elevator.  The model calls for ample rudder control (1-9/16" on high rate). With this amount of throw, stall turns/wing-overs were very distinct although the vertical climb was only about 15-20 feet. Knife-edge flight was difficult with the amount of dihedral in the wing. On my first few attempts, the model pitched up in the knife-edge so I lowered both ailerons with a couple of turns on the clevises and that corrected the problem. Spins (both left and right) did not have a lot of snap but were scale-like. Upon releasing the controls, the model came out of the spin and quickly responded to some up elevator to re-enter straight and level flight. For my landings, I chose to go back to full rates just so I'd have that extra level of throw in case I needed it. Landings simply require that you line up the model with the end of the runway and gradually drop the throttle setting. The Ryan STA is so stable and predictable, that it doesn't require an excessive amount of work for a nice landing. Be careful not to bleed off too much airspeed, though. On several landings, I had a distinct crosswind and the model has a tendency to "weathervane" unless you apply some opposite rudder - another reason to maintain a good amount of airspeed that will keep your Ryan STA's rudder responsive to your commands. Conclusion: This is a very handsome model and aptly captures the art deco streamlined designs endemic to the Golden Era. A number of unsolicited comments were received by fellow modelers, complimenting just how good it looks and how gently and scale-like it flies. The Great Planes Ryan STA is a model I'd heartily recommend to those seeking to experiment with Giant Scale or to those who want one of the best looking ARFs on the market today. Photos by Bob Van Tassel. Reprinted with permission.December, 2001 R/C Modeler Magazine Editor: Dick Kidd
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