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The full scale Giles 202 is a two-seat version of the all composite Akrotech Giles 200, first seen at Sun-n-Fun in 1994. The Lanier Giles 202 is a very scale rendition of that plane, designed by Jerry Smith using CAD technology and scale drawings from Akrotech. The only significant deviation was the enlarging of the stab and elevator. The placement of them, however, are at the scale location rather than being lowered as other manufacturers have done. The short-coupled scale fuselage should provide incredible tumbling, and the over-center elevators and rudder surfaces should enable the 3D aerobatics being flown by the experienced pilots. The characteristics that make the full-scale 202 so popular are likely to be the same with this 35% version. The Lanier 202 uses a 15 percent E168 airfoil, with the thickest part of the wing moved forward quite a bit. According to Jerry Smith, this provided great slow flight stability on the prototype models. The kit arrived in two large boxes with all components tightly packed with paper. Careful attention had been given to isolate the larger, heavy components from those needing protection the most, like putting the landing gear in a different box from the canopy. The two rolled sheets of plans have been reduced from full size to make them much more manageable for the builder. This is a great improvement over full-size plans for a plane of this size. No scale is given on the plans but its something a little larger than half-scale, resulting in plans that easily fit on the workbench. The instructions are type-written, with references to pictures contained in the back. The pictures are very helpful. Another difference that is noticed quickly is that there is no ABS turtledeck or hatch. Although the ABS is quick and easy to install, Lanier has listened to the many that have expressed a desire to replace the ABS with lighter and more durable built-up areas and incorporated them into the 202. Only the cowl, wheel pants, and a small tail-feather component are ABS. A great feature of the kit is that there are no die-cut components. All have been cut using a laser or CNC-router, including the balsa end caps for the fin, rudder, elevators, and wings. Lanier has invested heavily into this new technology by purchasing their own equipment. Jerry Smith designed the 202 using CAD technology and fed the output of this software directly to the laser and CNC systems to cut the parts. All future kits will be developed this way, and previous kits like the Laser are to be converted in the future. The large sheets of all laser-cut components are really impressive. It is apparent that that everything is going to fit just like it should. The components are not cut entirely free. Some material is left in place to hold the component in the sheet. The CNC routered fuselage sides, for example have several lightening holes that are still attached by 1/4" long areas that have not been cut by the router. These section must be cut free resulting in huge pieces of leftover lite-ply that could probably be used to build a .40 size trainer. The laser-cut components are left attached by a very small dot of material, maybe 1/64th inch thick. An Xacto knife easily frees these components. Like the fuselage sides, this results in quite a bit of material to put in the stock bin for some other project. Another nice touch is that the laser-cut components have the part number etched on one side. Most people who are interested in building giant scale aerobatic planes are very weight concious. Lightness equals performance and flexibility for various engine, servo, and battery combinations. Jerry Smith has done a great job of placing lightening holes throughout the fuselage to keep the design fairly light. For every plane built to date, a few areas have been found where additional weight could be removed. The approach taken to building the Giles was to take a very conservative approach to lighten it where possible without any additional expense and in areas that would not jeopardize overall strength. All removed material would be placed into a "weight bag" so that the total amount of weight removed could be quantified. This would indicate what the total weight would be if built stock as well as how much could be removed without extreme effort, expense, or significant reduction in strength. The fuselage is made of CNC-routered sides and top made of 1/8" lite-ply, laser-cut formers of 1/8" and 1/4" lite-ply, stringers sheeted with 3/32" balsa for the turtledeck and area forward of the cockpit. The bottom is formed with 1/4" balsa stringers. The components have been designed to interlock, making it extremely difficult to build a crooked fuselage. All of these larger components have large lightening holes cut into them. It is also interesting to note that the 1/4" firewall sides extend back into the fuselage and provide support for the 1 1/2" aluminum wing tube. The main components are fitted together, tacked in place using thick CA, then glued with white glue at all of the mating surfaces. A baby syringe was used to dispense the glue into the corners and then it was smoothed with a fingertip. All fuselage sides and formers were easily done the first night in the shop. The second night was spent attaching the stringers and 3/32" sheeting. Lightening holes were drilled in the large 1/4" plywood landing gear plate. Lanier claims that future kits will have this piece lightened already. Lightening holes were cut with a hole saw in the fuselage sides just forward and above the wings and in the front former. The fuel tank mount was built out of 3/8" balsa stick and 1/8" lite-ply, centered on top of the wing tube in the fuselage so the tank would be centered on the CG. The cockpit and canopy are built directly on top of the fuselage using 1/4" spruce for the sides and supporting spars, and 1/8" lite ply for the front and back. The floor is made of 3/32" sheeting on top of the spars. This is when the building process slowed down, not due to the kit but rather an obsession with having a pilot and two instrument panels in the cockpit. Scale pictures from a Kitplanes magazine were used to determine where the two pilots sit and where the instruments are located. The passenger panel was made fairly scale using 1/8" balsa sheet. The back panel in the full-scale version is almost entirely below the canopy level, which is below the floor in this kit requiring that this model deviate from scale. A panel was made by cutting which was with black construction paper. A JTec 1/3 scale instrument kit was used for the instruments. The cockpit floor was covered with monocote. The pilot is a 1/3 scale Officer and Gentleman torso painted with acrylic paints. Cockpit details do take some time but really make an appreciable difference in the overall appearance of a plane. The final touch was to shrink a copy of the Advanced IMAC routine to scale size and attach it on the pilot's instrument panel. The canopy is very large, just like the full-scale 202, and is cut to fit flush on all sides. This takes some effort to get it just right; trimming, testing, trimming, testing. When the fit was acceptable, the canopy was attached to the cockpit using RC56 glue with the cockpit in place on the fuselage and wax paper around the joints to prevent gluing it all together. The kit comes with a two piece ABS cowl. An optional fiberglass version is also available but if carefully built and properly reinforced, the ABS cowls will last forever. These have been used for years without any problems. The fiberglass versions are lighter but are not worth the extra money to save a few ounces. The cowl comes with a top and bottom. These pieces are trimmed up and attached to a 1/4" lite-ply cowl ring, making a single-piece cowl that is is fairly light and very durable. The cowl is then attached to the fuselage with 4 small bolts that go through the sides of the cowl into blocks mounted on the firewall. The first step in assembly of the cowl was to remove the mold flashing and sand all edges smooth. The bottom half was tacked to the cowl-ring using medium CA. Thin pieces of ABS material were then attached to the sides to provide a surface for gluing the top half. There was enough plastic material to also provide glue surfaces to the front of the cowl. After the bottom and top were attached to the cowl ring, the inside of the joints and stress areas were sanded lightly and were reinforced with 2 oz. fiberglass cloth and finishing resin. The instructions call for using all-purpose PVC cement but finishing resin provides more strength with very little additional weight, if any. The joints were then filled on the outside with Bondo and sanded flush. Rustoleum white primer was sprayed on the outside and then sanded smooth with 400-grit wet-dry sandpaper. A nice feature of the Lanier 202 is how the landing gear is mounted. Like the full size 202, the landing gear exits the fuselage sides near the bottom rather than just being bolted to the bottom of the fuselage. A cover is then carved from a solid balsa block that hides the mounting bolts and keeps the transition from cowl to fuselage consistent. Weight-concious builders could remove some weight here by making a built-up gear cover or hollowing out the solid balsa block. The landing gear are formed from 3/16" aluminum and gets bolted to the 1/4" plywood gear plate. The plans called for 1/4-20 bolts but 10-32 bolts were used instead. Also, 3/16" axles were instead of the recommended 1/4" axles. The gear spans the full width of the fuselage meaning there is a lot of weight in the mounting portion of the gear that really is not doing anything. A portion of this mounting area was cut away with a band saww to remove weight but still provide the needed surface area for the mounting bolts. Also, 1/4" was removed from the back side of the gear. Kavan 4" wheels were used since these are lighter than the Sullivan Skylites used in the past. The wheel pants are formed ABS and work quite well. Lanier also offers fiberglass versions, but again, they add to the cost of the model. The sides are tack glued together and then reinforced with fiberglass cloth. As was done for the cowl, 2 oz. cloth and finishing resin was used on the seams and also on each side where the lite ply mounting plates are attached. Very little resin is needed. The result was very light pants that are quite rigid as well. Compared to some fiberglass wheel pants from another plane, there was very little difference in weight. Like the ABS cowl, these were primed with Rusoleum white primer and sanded smooth. The tail feathers are all foam sheeted with 1/16" balsa. The stab is reinforced with a 1/8" lite ply spar, and another lite ply piece is epoxied in vertically with material extending below the stab to tie it into the fuselage. This makes a very solid and reliable joint. An incidence guage was used to make sure the stab was set at 0° per the plans and it was attached with 30 minute epoxy. The only modification made was to the rudder. To get 45 degree throws, a 3/8" balsa plank was added to the 3/8" rudder leading edge, and same amount of material was removed from the foam core to end up with the same total width. Then the hinge holes were drilled and 45 degree bevels were cut on a band saw and the leading edge was glued in place. A 45 degree bevel was cut in the elevator leading edge and a 10 degree bevel in the trailing edge of the horizontal stab. The vertical fin must be trimmed to fit over the stab and is then epoxied in place. A 1/8" lite ply trailing edge is then epoxied along the trailing edge of the fin and the back of the fuselage. An ABS cover plate is used to blend the back of the turtledeck over the vertical fin and stab. Like the canopy, this is a "trim and try" experience that requires a lot of patience. When the fitting is complete, there isn't much of a piece left. While this piece would probably have worked, the decision was made to make a piece from 1/32" plywood. A piece was made from construction paper stock and then the outline was traced onto 1/32" plywood. The main reason for using the plywood was so that it could be blended in better with the turtledeck and easily covered with Monocote. The wings are made from foam cores reinforced with 1/4" spruce spars and 3/32" sheeting applied to the leading and trailing edge. Cap strips are glued between the leading and trailing edges. The wings are held in place with a 1 1/2" aluminum wing tube that inserts into phenolic tubes located in the fuselage and each wing. The cores were the best yet. There were no ridges or "hot spots", just beautifully smooth cores. Having tried making some cores, the quality of the work can truly be appreciated. They are completely symmetrical, there is no left or right, top or bottom. One of the cores was arbitrarily chose to be the left and the other as the right and the cores and beds were marked accordingly just in case there was some undetectable difference. The phenolic wing tubes were glued in place with Elmers Probond white glue as were the 1/4" spruce spars. A 1/8" lite ply former is used to attach the end of the tube to the outer edge of the square hole through the wing. This is a great idea to extend the strength of the tube as far as possible. The cores were then placed in the beds and weighed down with a large piece of particle board and concrete blocks so they would dry straight. The leading and trailing edges were then sheeted with 3/32" balsa using Pacer finishing resin. A very light weight method of doing this is to lightly spray the sheeting with hair spray prior to applying the finishing resin. This seals the wood resulting in a very thin application of the resin. After the sheeting had dried overnight, the 3/8" cap strips were added every three inches according to the plans. Other builders may want to consider fully sheeting the wings with 1/16" balsa, especially if a complex, multi-color covering scheme is to be used on them. The end result would be just as strong and probably no heavier than the cap-stripped wing with 3/32 balsa, as well as be more scale in appearance. The next step was to cut out the ailerons using a band saw. Hinge holes were then in the aileron leading edge material and 45 degree bevels were cut on it using the band saw. This was then glued to the aileron, as was the wing trailing edge material to the wing, using white glue and masking tape to hold it in place. The plans call for 1/2" dowel rod to be glued into the aileron leading edge for mounting the control arms. Drilling a straight hole that is partially on a 45° bevel and partially over sheeted foam is impossible unless a drill press and Forstner bit are available. Another method is to sharpen the rim of a brass tube and hand-drill the holes. Since no drill press and no brass tubing around were available at the time, notches were cut in the leading edge and a 1/2" wide piece of aircraft plywood was epoxied in place. A 1/8" lite-ply root piece was glued on the root ends and then the dowel alignment rods were put in place. A Robart Incidence gauge was used to set the wing incidence at zero according to the plans. Finally, the foam was removed from the 2nd, 4th, and 6th bays from the tips. This lightens the ends of the wings a little to help them stop faster on rolling maneuvers and causes no significant reduction in strength. TAll wood components were sanded smooth with 200 grit sandpaper on my 12" sanding bar then sanded again with 400 grit paper. I used my shop-vac to blow off and then vacuum all the pieces, and then used tack cloth from Wal-Mart. I use another tack cloth over the pieces again right before I put on the covering. Its amazing how much balsa dust can be in the wood and not be visible until you rub it with the cloth. Monocote was used primarily for covering so that Lustercote paint matching the white and metallic plum colors could be used. The other colors used were metallic blue and pearl red. The pearl red is more difficult to work with than other colors but if done right, is also one of the most beautiful. If the iron is too hot, the color will get messed up. It also does not seem to shrink as much as the others and the color will bleed slightly when applied over other covering using window cleaner. Again, it is beautiful, but it takes some patience and learning to get it right. The cowl and wheel pants were painted with Lustercote, which was really a major disappointment. The first can of white would not spray the paint smoothly, it would only spit blobs. Fortunately, it was tested on a cardboard box prior to attempting to paint the cowl. All attempts to fix the problem failed. The second can was better but still spit blobs of paint occasionally. Finally, the paint was drained from the cans and a Preval sprayer was used. The next disappointment was that the Metallic Plum Lusterkote was only vaguely similar in color to the Monocote. It was a much lighter in shade than the covering. This experience lead to plans to only cover future planes in Monocote colors that matches Rustoleum. Finally, graphics were made using a Stika machine. The Quadra 75XL was chosen to power the Giles because it available and known to be reliable. It had been used in a 25 lb. Lanier Extra 300S with great results so it was assumed to be a good match for the smaller and lighter 202. This engine continues to grow in popularity as more people are finding out about its power and reliability. Hand-starting is very easily done by choking it until gas is seen dripping from the carb, set the throttle to idle, turn on the ignition, and flip. The ignition unit was insulated with foam and tie-wrapped to the side of the engine box. The 4-cell, 1500mah Cermark battery pack was insulated and tie-wrapped to the inside-bottom of the engine box, with the switch harness located on the right side of the fuselage just in front of the wing. A 4-cell sub-C 1300mah packs were used for ignition but the difference in weight and capacity is worth the extra cost. A Hitec Supreme receiver and a Futaba 7UAFS were used to control the Giles. All surfaces are actuated by Hitec 605 servos; one for each elevator and two for the rudder in a push-pull configuration. This servo is a very strong, reliable, and economical choice for giant scale, especially when used with a 5-cell receiver pack. The fuselage sides have servo holes already cut into place for the rudder and elevator servo. A Cermark 5-cell 1700 mah battery pack was mounted in the very rear of the fuselage and connected through an FMS Heavy Duty switch harness. Another 5-cell 800 mah pack with a separate switch was connected to the receiver as a redundancy pack. The receiver was mounted in the center of the plane under the canopy with Cermark heavy duty 24" extensions back to the tail surface servos and in the wings. The material that was removed during the building process was weighed and the total amount of weight reduction was 9.5 ounces. This is not a great amount but a conservative approach was uded in removing material. An experienced builder with some knowledge of where the major stresses occur could probably remove at least a full pound from the total weight. Preflight procedures included using blue Locktite on all the servo arm screws and the spinner bolt, checking all mounting screws and engine bolts, verifying the servo direction and throws, fuel lines, and making a checklist for use on all flights. With the overall time and money investment in giant scale planes, check lists should be used. An Email exchange with another modeler who already flown a Lanier Giles 202 gave confident in having placed the CG towards the back of the recommended range on the first flight. Normally the CG is located it in the center of the range. After going through the checklist, including a full-throttle ignition interference test, the Giles was ready for the maiden flight. The 202 taxis very easily with no up elevator required but it was held as a matter of habit. The throttle was slowly advanced and within about 70 feet, the plane was airborne. The first impression was that it feels very light, probably due to use of the rearward CG location. Using the recommended throws, the model responds quickly to the ailerons and the elevator felt about right. This is certainly a "go-where-you-point-it" airplane and it is very easy to fly. Inverted flight required only a touch of down elevator to keep it flying level. Rolls are very axial. Knife-edge flight showed pitching to belly and rolling away from the rudder which was more exaggerated with left rudder than right. Adding 10% mixing on subsequent flights almost entirely eliminated the roll coupling. The rudder is very effective. The Giles will easily climb in knife edge with only half of the maximum throw. The stall was very subtle and straight ahead. The Q75XL, Bolly 24x10 prop, and Bisson muffler appear to be a great combination for the 23 pound model. It has unlimited vertical performance and can accelerate upward after being stopped. The engine is set to 3° of right thrust which seems to be about right in that pulling to vertical showed little or no yaw to the left. The landing was uneventful. The 202 slows down nicely when the throttle is reduced. A littl throttle was retained until the end of the field was cleard then it was pulled back. Even though moving fairly slowly, the Giles wanted to keep flying. After a couple of low bounces, it was safely on the ground. The second flight was the time to determine the capabilities of the Giles. The controls were switched to high rates. The Giles will easily perform waterfalls, knife-edge spins, lomcevaks, or whatever the pilot wants to perform. The tumbles are very wild and tight probably due to the short fuselage, high throws, and rearward CG. During a left to right knife-edge pass with high rates, a snap back to knife edge was attempted. The sticks were mistakenly moved all the way which caused an incredible full-stall tumble that almost didn't recover in time. The sticks were relaxed to allow it straighten out and recovery came at about 30 feet above the ground. This plane will tumble in a second on high rates. The third flight of the day ended in a dead stick landing due to a carburetor change that had been made prior to the flight. The nose was kept down to maintain sufficient speed to make the runway and the Giles glided in without incident. Lanier is using the latest modeling technology and input from modelers to develop designs that surpass their previous efforts. Jerry Smith has done a great job with the 202. With the laser cut and CNC-routed components, fit is excellent. The instructions and plans had a few minor mistakes that were relayed to Lanier for correction, but otherwise were clear and were enhanced by the photographs. The smaller scale plans that were provided were so much easier to work with than full-scale plans. The built-up components, rather than ABS, are a great improvement and a welcomed change. Lanier has listened to the customers and has responded. With its short-coupled fuselage, large frontal area, and large moving surfaces, this is an incredible performer as well. It will fly very slowly but flies very precisely on low rates and it is certainly capable of being a serious IMAC competitor. It will also tumble quickly if the rates are high and the CG is back. Overall, the 202 is an easy building, easy flying, and great looking rendition of the full-scale 202 with the flexibility to handle a variety of engines and lightening modifications if desired. The deviations from scale are only minor compared to other kits on the market. For the street price of $350-$375, it is more affordable than other 202 kits of this size and a great overall value. This is consistent with the entire line of Lanier giant-scale kits and their place in the market. |
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