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The popularity of ARFs has grown faster than anyone could have imagined. In addition, the popularity of giant-scale planes has certainly increased as people learned about, saw, and experienced their better flight characteristics. The size, price range, and completeness of the Lanier Cap 232 ARF make it a good choice for the time-constrained person looking for a giant scale model. It is also just large enough that it can perform well with either a glow or gas engine. Finally, whether it is precision flying or gut-wrenching blenders, the Cap design just looks great in the air and seems to be a natural for 3D maneuvers. All of these points indicate that the Lanier Cap ARF should be a popular choice for many pilots. It is based on Lanier's Cap 232 kit using the same laser cutting and CNC routing technology to create the components. The significant difference is that it can be flown in a week rather than a few months. All of the hardware needed for the ailerons, tail surfaces, canopy mount, cowl mount, fuel tank, and landing gear is provided. This includes Sullivan and Dubro clevises, control horns (bolts), push rods, axles, fuel tank, lightweight wheels, and Robart large hinge-points for all of the surfaces. The only additional hardware needed is for the engine mounting. Everything except the aluminum wing tube and fuel tank components was sealed in heavy plastic to protect them during shipment. Packing paper is also used to isolate the components from each other. Upon removal from the box, a couple of "hangar rash" marks were found on the fuselage. There was one on top of the forward hatch and one on the left side of the turtle deck. Neither was very bad and would not be visible from a few feet away, and appear to have been created during the building or packing process rather than during shipment. The marks were removed by injecting water under the surface using a hypodermic needle and applying heat in the area. Otherwise the Goldberg Ultracote finish is excellent, much better than a lot of covering jobs seen at some local fields. A couple of loose edges were found that were quickly sealed down with a touch of the sealing iron. The fiberglass cowl and wheel pants were also sealed in plastic. The cowl trim colors are either Ultracote or trim sheets and the whole thing had been clear-coated. The finish is very high-gloss and looks great. The instruction manual is black and white with several construction pictures. The parts list was compared with contents of the box. Some of the Robart Hinge Point hinges were missing but a few extra ones were on-hand from previous projects. Also, the bolt that is used to mount the stabilizer on the fuselage was missing and there was an extra floor piece for the engine box. The wings are solid foam sheeted with 1/16" balsa and had no twists or warps. They come with the aileron mounts ready to go and are already cut from the root to the servo well to run the aileron servo wires. The wings and ailerons are already drilled for Robart Hinge points and have enough bevel to provide 3D throws. Nrmally, 30-minute epoxy is used to attach hinges but the new Pacer Hinge Glue was used this time. After a full day of curing, one of the ailerons was pulled and yanked it right out. The glue was still wet inside. The hinge points were reinstalled with epoxy. The bottom side of the hinge line was then sealed with clear Monocote. A #6-32 bolt is screwed into the aileron to provide the linkage connection, with a #4-40 rod and clevises used for control. The servo mounts are parallel with the fuselage, which gives non-symmetrical aileron movement if used as indicated. The pushrod was connected to the inboard side of the servo, which gives nearly a 90-degree connection to the hinge line and makes for more symmetrical movement in both directions. The wings were mounted and the incidence was checked. The right wing had one-half degree of positive incidence. The plywood incidence blocks were broken free and re-glued so the wing was at zero degree incidence. The aluminum wing tube was too long and needed to be shortened to 32 1/2" to get both wings on. The instructions call for screws through the top of the wing into the aluminum wing tube to hold the wings in place. This type of mount can develop slop over time so the wings were modified to be held in with a #10-32 socket head bolt through the fuselage side. A hole was drilled through the fuselage sides approximately 1" behind the wing tube. One wing was then mounted and the location was marked on the wing root. A 1/4" hole was drilled into the root. A 3/8" x 1 1/2" slot was cut in the bottom side of the wing up against the 1/8" plywood root rib and a 1/4" plywood block was epoxied with a #10-32 T-nut in the backside of it and the hole in the block aligned with the hole in the root. The hole in the bottom of the wing was then covered with some extra Ultracote. The bolt goes through the fuselage side with a lock washer and fender washer into the wing making a very strong and rattle-free assembly. The fuselage is made of sheet balsa sides with lite-ply formers and engine box sides. The forward hatch and turtle deck components are foam sheeted with 1/16" balsa. The removable cockpit/canopy area is already painted black and ready for an instrument panel and pilot. The fuselage was very straight with no twist or warp anywhere, and all visible joints showed evidence of glue on them. A Midwest instrument panel and 1/3 scale Officer and Gentlemen heavy pilot were installed in the cockpit area and then the canopy was attached. This takes very little time since it overlaps the cockpit area on all sides. The canopy was taped in place and a marker was used to identify where the excess was to be removed. RC56 glue was used to hold it in place and then the perimeter was trimmed with 1/4" blue vinyl tape. The cockpit mounting blocks are already installed but requires that two (2) holes be drilled and T-nuts installed on the inside. The one-piece horizontal stab must be attached to the fuselage using a mounting bolt. It can be mounted permanently or left removable. The choice was made to make it permanent with the bolt and 30-minute epoxy. The mounting bolt was missing from this kit so one was picked up from a local hardware store. The stabilizer had a 1 degree positive incidence. Lanier recommended that it be set to zero so the mount area was sanded until it gave the correct incidence. The mounting joints were covered with some scrap pieces of blue Ultracote. This probably should have been included in the kit since most people will probably mount the stabilizer permanently. The rudder and elevators are then attached with the Robart Hinge Points. Before the hinges were glued, the bevels were checked and found to be insufficient for the throws required for 3D manueuvers. The Ultracote was cut on the hinge lines and peeled it back far enough so that additional beveling cut be sanded to allowed the desired throws. The Ultracote easily ironed back into position. Epoxy was used for mounting the hinges and the hinge lines were sealed with clear Monocote. A Stika vinyl cutter was used to make some graphics for the wheel pants, fuselage, and rudder. An aerobatic plane just must graphics on it. The aluminum gear must be drilled for the fuselage and wheel pant mount points and are attached to the fuselage with three (3) large bolts. The fiberglass wheel pants are held in place with a single screw through the gear into a plywood plate inside the pants. Two (2) screws rather than one (1) were used and were placed about 1/2" apart to better hold the wheel pants in place. Hitec 545 servos were used on the ailerons with the supplied hardware. The elevators are controlled with Hitec 605 servos and a reversing Y-adapter, mounted in the stock position just below the elevators. For the rudder, a single JR4721 servo with a pull-pull system was mounted below the canopy. The throttle is controlled with a Hitec 425, which was also mounted below the canopy area. The receiver is a Hitec Supreme 8 channel with a single 5-cell 1500mah receiver pack. A Fox 3.2 was selected to power the Cap because of a preference for gas engines and a desire for unlimited vertical/3D performance. Lanier had used both a 2.4 and 3.2 for the prototype and indicated that the 3.2 really made a big difference. The engine arrived just a few days after ordering, neatly packed in a custom-cut Styrofoam casing inside the box. It is is a great looking engine, with a polished crankcase and painted cylinder head. The thrust plate is a larger diameter than those on other engines of this size, which provides more bite to the spinner back plate. The plate first appears to be heavy but it has large lightening holes drilled in the back. The pivoting "L" that transfers the throttle pushrod movement to the carburetor throttle has three (3) holes on each arm, all of which are already tapped for #2-56 ball links. The innermost hole on the short arm to the carburetor and the outermost hole on the long arm to the throttle servo were used to give very fine throttle resolution. A J&A Peacekeeper Pitts-style muffler was used based upon experience with their use on several other engines. They are great for keeping the noise down without a big loss of performance on the top end. Fox recommended a Mejzlik 21x10 prop for best vertical performance and a Dave Brown 3 1/2" Vortech spinner was added. The motor box sides must be cut to accommodate the selected engine and then the 1/4" firewall is epoxied in place. The firewall is too flexible so a second piece of 1/4" aircraft plywood was epoxied on top of it. This made a huge difference in stiffness and gave a better feeling about hanging the 3.2 up front. Additional lite-ply is then attached to the bottom of the motor box with a cutout to clear the muffler. The plans indicate the engine box floor should be 1/8" lite-ply but the one supplied in the kit was 1/4" so it was replaced with some extra 1/8" from a scrap box. All of the corners are reinforced with triangle stock. Smaller pieces of 1/8" plywood were used to provide 2 degrees of right thrust. The throttle servo was mounted toward the center of the fuselage to keep it safely away from the ignition components. The CH ignition module was mounted on the inside of the engine box and the 4-cell 1500mah battery pack on the engine box floor using packing foam and cable-ties to hold them in place. The ignition switch was mounted on the right side of the fuselage as far forward as I could get it. This is a pretty standard setup that has never had any ignition noise interference problems. The provided fuel tank was mounted using foam and cable-ties to hold it in place, with a Sullivan Fueling valve to the right side of the plane and a vent tube exiting the bottom of the fuselage. As stated earlier, the fiberglass cowl was nicely done with paint and decals, which have been clear-coated. The color matching would pass the 10' visual test but is a little off when examinded more closely. It mounts to the fuselage using four bolts through the sides into mounting blocks on the fuselage. A Dremel tool was used to cut a hole to clear the engine head and another towards the back for cooling. Another very small hole was drilled for a small nyrod to connect to the carburetor choke. The dry weight of the Cap was 17 pounds, with weight being added by the additional firewall plywood, the pilot, instrument panel, and #10-32 bolts/washers/T-nut through the fuselage to mount the wings. Other builders might consider the following if trying to minimize weight:
The instructions recommed a CG location at 1" in front of the tube meaning 1" in front of the center of the tube. This location results in a fairly nose-heavy plane. The 25% MAC is located 13/16" in front of the center of the wing tube and is recommended for most people to try the initial flights. The receiver battery was located to set the CG 1/2" in front of the center of the tube, 27% MAC, which turned out to be fairly sensitive. Just a little down pressure was required to maintain level flight when inverted. The initial throws were set according to the instructions for low rates with 20% exponential on all surfaces and high rates set for full 3D maneuver throws and 60% exponential. The Fox 3.2, J&A muffler combination turned the Mejzlik 21x10 at a max of 7,500 RPM right out of the box. It was tuned down to 7,300 RPM for the initial flights to ensure the it was not run too lean. It would idle as low as 1,300 RPM but was set for 1,500 RPM for the initial flights. Throttle acceleration is quick and there is no mid-range burble. The combination has a nice sound to it with no real "bark" at the high end. The Cap taxis without any tendency to nose-over but the spring-steering tail wheel felt a little loose. A stronger spring or just a piece of music wire would probably provide better control. Take-off was smooth and uneventful. Two (2) clicks of right aileron and one (1) click of up elevator were required to trim it for level flight. It was immediately apparent that the Fox 3.2/Mejzlik/J&A combination was far more than enough power to satisfy those with the need for ballistic vertical. Uplines indicated that the two (2) degrees of right thrust was not quite enough. The ailerons were a little too sensitive so more exponential was added for the subsequent flights and this was much better. Snaps were more felt like bigger planes, stopping immediately when the sticks were released. Spins were fine as well, with no tendency to fall to either side. Knife-edge required 14% mix to remove the pitch coupling, and there was not enough roll coupling to need any mix. The first landing resulted in three (3) bounces because the plane was not allowed to slow down enough to stop it from flying. Landings were later found to be very slow with the nose up and a little throttle maintained. After the Cap was checked for loose items, it was time to do some 3D testing. Gary Wright, one of the best helicopter pilots in the world and also a fantastic airplane pilot did this part of the tests. Upright elevators and harriers showed very little wing-rock. Inverted elevators and harriers were dead steady. Waterfalls were extremely tight. It seemed that Gary would rip the wings off with the Blenders. The Cap also would do "The Wall" and "Parachute" maneuvers on the 3D rates. The Cap is certainly able to grow 3D skills improve. After Gary's initial flight, the cowl had come unglued from one side of the plywood cowl ring on one side. This should probably be reinforced with glass/epoxy. The Lanier Cap 232 ARF has turned out to be exactly as expected; a good looking and quick building aerobatic design that can be used for both precision and 3D practice, and the price is very reasonable considering size, glass components, and supplied hardware. The covering and painting job is certainly better than a lot that have been seen at fly-ins. It builds easily and has really been fun to fly. With the Fox 3.2 it has all the vertical performance needed. The choice of the larger engine has proven to be a wise decision and is recommended for anyone wanting real unlimited vertical. An average builder could certainly build a kit with overall better quality and less weight but not be improving flying skills in a week of evenings. This seems to be a common tradeoff with the ARFs of today. It took only three (3) nights to fix things, which is not bad considering the alternative of building one entirely over a few months. None of the issues were terrible but were just minor annoyances that could certainly be prevented at the factory with a little more quality control. Otherwise Lanier has a great thing going with this ARF. | |
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