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(10.7 cc cycle) .90 4 - Cycle (14.7 cc 4 - Cycle) |
This decade has come with the creation and production of many unique full scale aerobatic aircraft from the Extras to the newer Staudacher, Edge, and Caps. Most of these have eagerly been modeled by R/C companies. One of the more unique and widely known models of the 90's has been Wayne Handley's "Raven", which started out as a Rebel kit and was highly modified during construction. The gyrations through which Wayne throws his airplane have awed many. Many modelers were very enthusiastic when Global Models released their version of the "Raven" in 1995. This model was ordered from the local hobby shop. After waiting two months due to a delay in the release, the kit finally arrived. Packed inside a moderately sized, stubby box, was a nicely packed kit with a few stacks of balsa sheeting, wood, ribs, stringers, hardware, canopy, cowl, plans, and other miscellaneous parts found in conventional kits. The first thing that caught a modeler's attention about this kit is that there was two sets of plans in the box. They were both double sided with the fuselage on one side and the wing on the other. This may have been a mistake in printing but this seemed to come in handy because both sides of the plans were available when needed. The wood contained in the kit is impressive. The balsa was not overly soft nor hard, had no wormholes, nor bad spots. The kit also contains parts made of a balsa/ply laminate. This is a lamination of a tough, balsa-like wood in alternating grains. The hardware included a nice spinner, a Hayes motor mount, a leaf spring tailwheel assembly, and other normal hardware. The Hayes mount is probably the best piece of hardware included with the kit. It should be noted that this kit was built in 1995. Some things may have changed in this kit since then, but the comments are based upon impressions at the time of construction. The plans are CAD generated and are very nice. The instructions had clear photographs which helped significantly during construction. Construction started with the tail feathers and these were completed in a couple of hours. They are typical built-up construction with 1/16" sheeting on either side. The decision was made to use two elevator servos on this model since the surfaces were fairly large and to have the torque available when needed. The interlocking structure of the fuselage makes it difficult to build a crooked fuselage. The balsa/ply laminate was heavy and hard to bend and work with. The instructions vere vague in some areas of assembly of the fuselage such sheeting of the bottom and the tailwheel assembly. The plastic cowl halves did not fit together properly. The spinner face on cowl was elliptical with the halves of the plastic joined as they come out of the box. It us recommended that a fiberglass one be substituted. A cowling from Aeroglass was used on this model but but any other will suffice to replace the supplied plastic cowling. The canopy had a 3/16" gap between the wing and canopy flange at the trailing edge of the wing. This required that the fuselage be sanded at the back turtledeck as a compromise and black foam seating tape was used to fill the gap. The wire landing gear is flimsy and weak for a model of this size. It is recommended that a search be made for a fiberglass landing gear to replace the wire gear. It may be available from Supergear or one of the fiberglass landing gear manufacturers. If one is available, it would be worth the money and effort to replace the gear. The wheelpants and skirts are not what might be expected. The wheelpants are one-piece, but are of a flexible, rubbery type plastic. The decision was made to leave the skirts off the landing gear because with the flimsy wire gear, the skirts could damage the fuselage every time the gear flexed. Cutting them short was not an option because they would not have looked right. The decals were described as being "fuelproof" but when the airplane was turned upside-down for maintenace, raw fuel ran down the Raven decal and the black ink used on the yellow vinyl came off. After three phone calls to Global, contact was made with the person in charge of the Raven production. The problem was explained and another set of decals was supplied. The airplane came out heavy by 9 1/2 pounds. Even though a smoke system and six (6) servos were installed, this would not account for the excessive weight of the airplane but the overall airframe was heavy. It is recommended that efforts be made to reduce weight in some areas during construction if possible without significantly effecting the structural integrity of the model. There seems to be a misprint in the recommended control surface throws. The recommended throws of 3/4" on all surfaces for the first flight of the model is excessive. The throws that were used for the test flight were:
The Raven has great flying characteristics. It will do any manuever in the book; flat spins, hover, tailslides, "Bug Flickers", "Whoooeee Tumble", and anything else that can the modeler will attempt. It will sustain knife edge flight but will not climb because of the excessive weight. It had plenty of power with a Super Tigre 75. The elevator construction was found to be weak. The right half of stab fluttered on the third flight while flying level and almost broke off. This problem also occurred on another model. The point of the break was approximately 2 1/2" - 3" out from right fuselage side. The elevator should be reinforced or tail bracing added to reduce the chance of having flutter occur. Overall, the Raven did not result in a positive experience. With the expense of having to buy a fiberglas cowling and considering the price of a replacement landing gear, the cost of the overall model starts to climb rapidly. It does fly well and Global has probably fixed the canopy and the cowl problems by now. This model is only recommended to the experienced builder and accomplished pilot. |
