Great Lakes Trainer from scratch

[Ken-The-Woodman]

This is my second build, the first was a 71" Telemaster. Bought the plans for a Telemaster and the GLT befor I ever touched a RC plane . Balsa was a natural choice since I've worked with wood most of my life. Started second week of Oct.and still have a few little details to finish up. That's about 5 times as long as it took to build the Telemaster. First thing I had to do was re-orient the motor mount by 90 degrees so the glow plug wasn"t covered and the exhaust would go down, not to the side. Added some extra weight by using bass wood instead of balsa for leading edge and other places I wanted more strength so I added 4" to each side of the wings, including the ailerons. I used 2 servos mounted in the wing with a Y harness for the ailerons. Plans called for a 4 oz. fuel tank in the cowl but I put a 12 oz. in the front of the fusal. Pans were revised in 1961 and didn't give any details for placement of servo,batt. etc. Finished up at 9.8 lbs. without fuel and 7.6 sq.ft. of wing. I'm using a 46 engine with a 12/5 prop. so I can get some air outside the slightly large cowl.

 

[Joker 53150]

Nice work! That checkerboard pattern will be hard to miss! I've got a Pitts Special with that same pattern on it.

 

[gabrielete]

Really cool, love the colors and the pilots!!! It really looks like a cool plane.

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Loving it! I'm a huge fan of the great lakes (after all, they are made by WACO!) because of their character, and you really brought that out with this build.

 

[Ken-The-Woodman]

Thanks! I just hope those guys I put in the cockpit can fly a Biplane. I'd hate to see it crash after all the hours I put into it.

 

[Ken-The-Woodman]

I just came to the realization today after 2 builds that the Hobby King film I used has a film backing that is to be pealed off before ironing it to the plane. Found that out reading another forum. So why did it stick to my wood and shrink up so nice with the backing film still on and why didn't the manufacturer mention the backing film anywhere along the line? I figure I've got a pretty tough covering on those two planes since the backing film is tough on it's own.

 

[Joker 53150]

The backing is still on??! I've done that by accident a few times, but it didn't stick.

 

[Ken-The-Woodman]

Yes it's still on. I now know that I was using my iron at a much higher temp than is normal for ironing, I cranked it up to 375-380 F to make it stick so I'm guessing that it must have melted through the backing or welded the backing to the wood. Oh well, it's on, holds and looks good so I'll live with that mistake. Maybe that's why I didn't have any punctures or tears after crashing the Telemaster in a corn field last summer.