• Wing Span: 87 in (221 cm)
• Wing Area: 920 sq in (5935 cm²)
• Length: 78 in (198 cm)
• Weight: 18.5 lbs (8.4 kg)
• Engine: 1.5 - 2.4 2 - cycle
  (24.5 cc - 39.3 cc 2 - cycle)
• 6 Servos required

The AeroPro Laser 200 is a 'Ready To Cover' airframe. It comes shipped in a ready to assemble framed up condition. The wings are balsa sheeted foam core, and come pre-sheeted, with the ailerons cut out and boxed and ready for hinging. The cowl and wheel pants are one piece, sanded and primed, ready for painting. This eliminates the need to glue together the wheel pants or cowl halves together, and spend hours try to get the seams smooth. This is already done, and the parts are painted with a primer coat. Overall, the fit and finish of the pre-built parts was better than expected based on the price of the kit ($299), and the level of finish stated. The final sanding was well done. All parts fit snugly and it was constructed well. Most of the little tedious work was already done.

Building was fairly straightforward. The only tedious items were installing the plywood blocks for the control horns on all the surfaces. This required cutting away the sheeting over the foam cores, removing some of the foam to a certain depth, then gluing in the blocks and drilling for the horns. While it was not difficult, it did take time. Everything else went together quickly.

The tail section assembled similar to most kits on the market. The horizontal stabilizer was installed then the vertical fin was inserted into a slot and glued in place with epoxy. The tail wheel was easily installed. The control surfaces were connected to servos in the tail section for the elevator and rudder. The landing gear was easily installed after a 'just in case' reinforcement from the inside of the fuselage. The other tedious part, was that of the engine mount, throttle linkage, and all wiring and plumbing. While it was not challenging, it did require some thought as to the best way to route all the cables, fuel tubing, wires, and linkages to insure the best performance and least maintenance.

The wing is a foam core wing. It is already sheeted, saving quite a bit of work. However, the aileron servo leads must be installed in each wing. There is a channel cut into the top of the foam cores for the servo wires. The plans give the precise measurements on where to cut the channel and where to find the pre-built servo box. While this is easy to find and cut, the sheeting must be cut on the top of the wing, instead of on the bottom where it would be less visible.

A better alternative to cutting the top sheeting is to use the measurements to find the servo box opening and open the servo box. Next, a very soft wire or flexible Ny-rod is attached to a 12" piece of string. The Ny-rod is snaked in string end first from the wing root entrance to the channel. When the end of the Ny-rod is visible at the servo box, pliers or forceps are used to pull the string around the 90&176; corner and out of the servo box. The servo wire is connected to the string and pulled back to the wing root. This method should work better than the method described in the instructions.

An additional layer of balsa sheeting was added on the inside bottom of the fuselage where the fuel tank and radio equipment would be installed. This after this area was poked it a few times leaving a hole or two. While the structure does not really require it, it was decided that with all the work to be done in that area, as well as supporting it from the bottom to carry the fuselage during transporting, it would be wise to add some sheeting now rather than later. A little extra glue was added on any joint that looked like it could use it, which were few.

This kit comes with hardware for the tail wires, which must be used. The tail wires add a great deal of strength. This plane can be flown hard, and the tail wires will keep the tail attached to the fuselage during violent maneuvers.

On one occasion, the distributor was called concerning on a problem with the kit. The distributor said they would check with the factory return and the call the next afternoon. Early the very next morning, a call was received directly from the factory in Mexico. The issue was discussed and resolved quickly. Overall, the customer service was top notch. They really stand behind their products.

Futaba 9202 servos were used throughout except for the throttle where a standard servo was used and the safety cutoff switch where a micro servo was used. For power, dual 4 - cell packs were used with redundant switch harnesses. This provides a second pack as a backup should either the primary switch or battery fail. Since each battery is controlled separately by a switch and charging jack, each battery can be treated separately as a single battery system during charging and maintenance. Similarly, capacity can be monitored and measured separately before each flight. While this isn't totally failure proof, it does provide redundancy for 80% of the common failures, such as connector failures, switch failures, marginal battery pack, wires coming loose, etc.

An auxiliary servo was installed to activate a secondary safety cutoff switch. This switch will ground the magneto and kill the engine. This will allow the pilot to kill the engine while in flight in the event that the throttle linkage fails.

A Zenoah G62 was selected to supply the power for this plane. The engine was soft mounted to the engine box with a J-Tec soft mounting system. While it does indeed reduce the vibrations, it makes it hard to set the engine thrust settings. With that aside, the J-Tec mount worked without any problems, and was easy to install. A Bennet muffler was used. A Great Planes velocity stack was also added to prevent fuel blowback, which it did very well. To top off the nose, it was fitted with a Zinger 22x10 prop and a TruTurn polished spinner. A carbon fiber prop was ordered to replace the Zinger, and performance testing will be done to compare the two.

A C&H Jump Start system was also fitted to aid in easier hand starts. The Jump Start changes the engine timing and provides some extra spark during the starting process. This allows easy hand starts and allowed the removal the spring starter to reduce some weight.

The engine run-ups proved that the G62 was going to pull the airframe with authority. The initial engine testing showed the engine ran very smooth at idle, with some vibrations at a mid to low idle setting, and then smooth all the way up to full power. Using a Bennet muffler was not exactly quiet, but the sound was pleasing for a 'chain saw' engine. With the initial ground run-ups completed, the Laser was taken to the field for the first flight.

It was a sunny day with light variable wind and the ground was hard. The engine was started and checked. The Laser was headed toward the runway for some taxi testing. The plan was to do a few runs up and down the runway doing taxi tests but half way down the runway on the first taxi test, things were going so well that more power was applied and a little up elevator was added and the taxi tests were over. It lifted off well and started a smooth gentle climb out. Not being able to resist the urge, more power and more elevator were applied and the Laser went into a near vertical climb. It climbed and showed no intention on arresting the climb out, so power was reduce and the Laser leveled out.

A couple of circuits were flown to get the feel of the plane. It was nice and smooth with plenty of power. It tracked well but needed some trimming as it had a tendency to veer right, which was later found out to be due to the engine thrust setting being incorrect. A few vertical climbs showed that there was no lack of power, and the G62 was not even broken in yet. Some basic aerobatics showed that it tracked very well in the maneuvers.

Next, slow flight was attempted. It slows down very well with no bad habits at all. It was surprising to see how slow it would fly. Stalls were forward and fairly gentle with no drop of either wing. Then a few approaches were done in preparation for the first landing attempt. The idle on the engine was a little high and caused a few aborts due to coming in very hot. On the final pass, the idle setting was reduced and the plane settled in on a better approach and glide path. The landing was uneventful with the Laser coming in a little fast but touching down on the main wheels then immediately followed by the tail wheel. The plane was broken down, packed up and taken home. It had flown well and the day had been very successful day.

After about a dozen or more flights, there is more to report on its flight characteristics. Enough approaches and landings have been done that it is comfortable to slow it down for gentle 3 - point landings. It flies very well at slow speed, just above a stall, and still gives plenty of control on all surfaces. There is a slight bit of pitch and roll coupling in knife-edge that needed to be mixed out. Otherwise, it seems as though it will knife-edge all day long. Loops and rolls track nicely. Inverted flight required just a touch of down elevator to maintain level flight. During vertical climbs, a touch of right rudder was required which must be increased to about 60% of total rudder throw when it starts to slow down in the vertical. This is probably due to a combination of torque and engine thrust. The vertical performance is awesome, as it should be with an 18.5 lb. plane with close to 30 lbs. of static thrust. Good choices for engines are in the 3.0 to 3.8 range. A 3.0 engine will give scale like performance and a 3.8 will deliver almost unlimited vertical performance. All in all, there is nothing but good to say about its flying characteristics.