Park View: Great Planes ElectriFly Lancair ES EP ARF
BY DAVID ADAMS
Sport-scale electric-powered ARF of the "hot" homebuilt
The Great Planes ElectriFly Lancair ES EP kit surprised me with its quality, fit, finish, and with the completeness of the included materials and accessories. The kit box contained a beautifully molded and finished fiberglass fuselage that required no additional cutting, grinding, painting, or trimming. All necessary holes and vents were already made. I also found a neat prefitted cowl, canopy, and wheel pants. When I checked the canopy-to-fuselage fit, the canopy literally jumped into place — the canopy-attach magnets were preinstalled. It was a nice touch.
Just when I was thinking this was a lot of airplane for the price, I found an ESC and flight battery in the box. At first I thought they were included only for the review, but the ESC and battery are part of the kit price. Imagine a beautiful airplane with quality construction, an ESC, and a flight battery for just $99.99 — a very good buy. Great Planes produced an extremely complete kit with quality components and offered it at a great price.
I don't want this to sound like a sales ad, but this is a good value. I am impressed with the offering, and I like the feeling of getting many quality airplane "goodies" for my money.
The Lancair has appealing lines, which coincidentally produce an aerodynamically clean airplane. Everything, including the wheel pants and tip shapes that were designed for the original full-scale airplane to improve its flight performance, was nicely duplicated on the model.
Assembly and Concerns
Since this is a low-wing, aileron-controlled airplane, it should not be flown by someone without a reasonable amount of flying experience. You should be comfortable flying an airplane that is "hotter" than a high-wing, aileron-controlled trainer. The Lancair is stable and controllable but will go wherever you command it to go; confidence in your abilities is a must.
The straightforward assembly can be accomplished in one day with no hassle — that includes time spent admiring the kit's fine quality. I recommend that you read through the manual before assembling the Lancair. It is well written and thought out, and there are no tricky assembly steps involved. The latest updated version of the manual can be found on the Great Planes website, and you should get a copy to make sure your experience is a good one.
Some modelers have had trouble keeping the canopy in place in high-speed flight, but I have had no problems with the basic kit propulsion system or with my later upgrade to an AXI 2808 motor. The model is exceptionally fast with the AXI, and so far the canopy has stayed attached with no problems. This is important since my flying field has most of its flight space over a cornfield and finding a lost canopy would be challenging.
I doubt the Lancair could take off from a grass field unless the grass was clipped very short. In one landing I missed the runway a bit and landed in the grass to the side of it. The airplane rapidly decelerated and came to a stop in just a few feet, indicating that the "grass drag" is substantial. I haven't had any problems with the landing gear as long as I land on a runway. Given the design, some landing-gear bending might occur when landing on grass that would scale up to cornstalk size with the full-scale Lancair.
To date I haven't tried to hand-launch the Lancair. Aside from the fact that I can't generate the required flight speed with my running launch technique (which is not a pleasant thing to watch), the smooth lines of the fuselage and the low wing make it awkward to hold the model in a launching position. At least there is no glow-fuel slime to make holding the airplane harder.
The Lancair's first flight was nice and uneventful. Because little control movement was needed to make maneuvers smooth, I suggest dialing in exponential on the aileron and elevator. Do check the direction of the controls before each flight, especially if you have a transmitter that is capable of handling multiple airplanes.
When using the standard power system you should allow close to 50 feet of smooth ground or runway for takeoff. My Lancair ran straight along the runway, and the nosewheel steering sensitivity was about right. When I judged that adequate flight speed had been reached, I slowly fed in up-elevator. The Lancair lifted off smoothly and flew well with a bit of trim adjustment. (I did check the zero setting of the control surfaces before flight, as the manual instructed.)
The recommended CG location seemed to be good, and you should make sure you are quite comfortable with the airplane's flight characteristics before deviating from the CG location. Make sure you check the CG before flying the airplane!
After reaching a suitable altitude, I tried rolls and loops and examined the low-speed flight envelope. Level flight was good, but maneuvers that required more energy than level flight were difficult. The Lancair wouldn't loop from level flight and required a dive to get sufficient energy for a loop and a good, straight roll.
The Lancair's stall characteristics are similar to those of any airplane of this type: it will stall and drop a wingtip if the airspeed gets too low. There isn't enough available power to power out of a stall condition, so a stall that is performed accidentally at too low an altitude might be the last one. Consequently, I recommend that you try stalls on purpose at a high altitude. This allows you to get a feel for the airspeed needed during landing and the altitude required for recovery and pullout. The stall is nothing to be afraid of, but because of the Lancair's size you need to get your visual system calibrated before landing.
Landing was a nonevent; I just let the airplane settle at a speed above the stall and gave a little up-elevator to flare it just before touchdown. The Lancair does land relatively fast compared to a light foam trainer; however, it is comfortable and predictable at landing speed.
The airplane flies in a scale-like manner with the supplied power system; however, I seem to have watched too many episodes of "Home Improvement" — give me more power.
Specifications
- Type: Sport-scale ARF
- Pilot skill level: Intermediate
- Wingspan: 43 inches
- Wing area: 236.5 square inches
- Length: 31 inches
- Weight: 26–32 ounces
- Wing loading: 15.8–19.4 ounces/square foot
- Motor (included): Speed 400 with 3:1 gearbox
- Speed control: 30 amps (included)
- Power: 9.6-volt, 1800 mAh battery (included)
- Radio: Four-channel transmitter and receiver; four mini servos for aileron, elevator, rudder
- Construction: Molded fiberglass fuselage, cowl, wheel pants; built-up balsa wing; solid-balsa tail surfaces; thick molded-plastic canopy
- Covering/finish: Plastic film covering; high-gloss, two-color paint on molded parts
- Price: $99.99 street
Test-Model Details
- Motor: As provided
- Battery: As provided
- Propeller: 9 x 6 slow-flyer type
- Motor current: 8.8 amps (10-amp limit)
- Power output: 85 watts at 9.6 volts, 5,900 rpm
- Radio system: Futaba 8U transmitter, Futaba receiver, four Hitec HS-55 servos, short Y harness, 9-inch extension
- Ready-to-fly weight: 31 ounces
- Flight duration: Exceeds six minutes
Pluses and Minuses
- Good flying characteristics with smooth, harmonized control responses.
- Easy assembly with a good instruction manual.
- Excellent prepainted and trimmed molded parts that fit.
- Vent holes precut in fuselage.
- Included Speed 400 motor is adequate for scale-like flight, but most modelers would prefer a step up in power.
AXI 2808 Conversion (Power Upgrade)
Feeling that many fliers would like more power in the airplane, and having had success with the AXI 2808 in the Goldberg Tiger 400 conversion, I decided to use the AXI 2808 in this Lancair ES.
I used the recommended Jeti 30-amp ESC and a Thunder Power 2100 mAh three-cell Li-Poly battery. Most modelers capable of flying the Lancair would have enough experience to make the conversion on their own. This review isn't about the conversion steps, but here are the results.
The AXI-powered Lancair is an incredible airplane. Its first flight with the AXI produced a takeoff that broke ground in approximately 10 feet, and it appeared to climb straight up. Level-flight speed was delightfully fast. Huge loops and long, smooth rolls were easy to perform, as were all looping and rolling maneuvers. The increase in power results in an airplane capable of almost anything, and with a total weight less than that of the original power system. The airframe has been fully capable of handling the power involved. Even at half power the Lancair is delightful to fly.
One problem has arisen, though: be careful when swatting flies and other small distractions — the model will disappear from sight in just a few seconds!
Conclusion
The Lancair ES in the original kit form with the supplied propulsion is a great scale airplane. The kit fit and finish are excellent, and the assembly will take little time. Be sure to visit the Great Planes website for important updates and addendums to the instruction manual. There's also a great video of the model in flight available for download. Having all the propulsion gear included is a plus — especially when you consider the low price. You will get a scale-flying airplane with good flight characteristics that looks terrific in the air.
The Lancair is capable of substantially more performance than the stock configuration provides. An increase in motor power will delight even the most jaded modelers. I can easily recommend the Great Planes Lancair ES.
Manufacturer/Distributor
- Great Planes Model Distributors
- Box 9021
- Champaign, IL 61826
- (217) 398-3630
- www.greatplanes.com
Products Used in Review
- Futaba 8U Super Series radio system: Great Planes Model Distributors, www.futaba-rc.com
- HS-55 servos: Hitec RCD, 12115 Paine St., Poway, CA 92064, (858) 748-6948, www.hitecrcd.com
Other Printed References
- Quiet Flyer, October 2004 issue, Volume 09-10
- RCGroups.com, www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=524500
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
