Product Review 2003/11
Tom Sullivan [email protected]
Great Planes U-Can-Do 3D ARF
Pros:
- Well-illustrated instruction manual covers steps in detail.
- Solid, complete hardware package.
- High-quality prebuilding.
- Prepainted fiberglass cowling and wheel pants.
- Extremely high-visibility color scheme: white with red, cyan, and dark-blue stripes on top, and white with red checks on the bottom.
- Tremendously stable flying characteristics with no bad qualities; this model flies better than many purpose-built trainers.
Cons:
- Color striping on the cowl did not match the fuselage.
- Cowl’s design forces you to use a small spinner.
- Several wrinkles in the covering right out of the box; easy to fix with a heat gun or iron, but there were more wrinkles than is typical.
The U-Can-Do 3D is capable of performing virtually any maneuver you ask of it. Snaps, spins, rolls, and knife-edge flight are easy and fun to do.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what this model was designed for: extreme 3-D flight. The U-Can-Do 3D is marketed as an airplane that makes it easy to learn all of today’s wild maneuvers: hovering, torque rolls, etc. I’m not a 3-Der at heart, but I wanted to see what this model can do.
First impressions
When I opened the box, several things instantly caught my eye, one of which was the high quality of the finish. All parts were finished in white, with attractive red-and-blue striping. The bottom of the wing, ailerons, stabilizer, and elevator were covered with a big red-and-white checkerboard pattern; there are no excuses if you can’t tell this model’s top from the bottom.
With the exception of the cowling and wheel pants, all other parts of the U-Can-Do 3D were built up. The fuselage was constructed mainly from balsa, with light plywood used in key sections for strength. The wing, ailerons, and tail surfaces were also built up from balsa. All were resistant to flexing and had no warps.
A complete hardware package was supplied; it included foam main wheels, hinges, wheel collars, pushrods, a fuel tank, screws, control horns, a tailwheel assembly with a hard-rubber wheel, a two-piece engine mount, and a bag of balsa, plywood, and hardwood pieces used during assembly.
The fuselage has a tall, thin shape—ideal for knife-edge flight. On the bottom of the fuselage the area just forward of the landing gear was tapered to accommodate a muffler. Another unique feature was the removable stabilizer, held in with two hex screws. Although the model isn’t small—fuselage length is 68 inches—the removable stabilizer could decide whether the fuselage will fit in some cars.
Construction
Construction began with assembling the wing. One of the reasons the U-Can-Do 3D box was so big was that the wing came in one piece; there was no joining in the middle. The ailerons were attached to the wing using the supplied hinge material. After cutting the covering away from the servo mounts, each servo was mounted into the underside of the wing (one servo per aileron). Then the aileron horns and pushrods were attached.
Assembling the fuselage was straightforward. The stabilizer, vertical fin, tailwheel, and movable surfaces were mounted first. Once mounted, the pushrods, control horns, servos, and fuel tank were installed rather quickly. The rudder and dual elevator servos were mounted back by the leading edge of the stabilizer; you'll need 18- or 24-inch extensions for these three servos.
When it came time to mount the engine, the O.S. .91 FX fit perfectly in the cowling. Holes needed to be cut in the cowling for the muffler, air intake, cooling, and for glow-plug and fueling connections. The instructions described an easy way to locate and drill all of these holes; if you follow that technique, your cowling will line up flawlessly and all holes will be drilled in the proper spots.
The kit came with a red plastic spinner that the manual instructed not to use. I contacted Dave Brown to see if one of his 2-1/4-inch-diameter Vortech spinners would work. He was able to custom-cut one to fit the Zinger 13 x 8 propeller, but I had to do quite a bit of work to shorten the propeller adapter and setscrews.
In reality, the cowl’s design makes you use a spinner that is a bit too small for this size of engine. I used a standard-profile spinner, but an “ultimate” style would probably work with less fuss.
After setting the throws to those recommended in the manual and checking the CG (center of gravity), the model balanced right on the money and was ready to go fly. The U-Can-Do 3D comes prebuilt, precovered, and prepainted; the aircraft goes from that stage to ready-to-fly in approximately nine hours.
Flying
It’s a good idea to range-check any model before you fly it. After assembling the U-Can-Do 3D, the range check and preflight check showed that everything worked fine, so I fueled up, started the engine, and taxied out for the maiden flight.
The landing gear provided plenty of height to comfortably taxi in relatively tall grass. That, along with the high rudder throw, gave a great deal of maneuverability for such a large airplane.
Lining up into the wind, I throttled up and the U-Can-Do 3D took off like a rocket. Taking it easy for the first few passes, I trimmed the model for hands-off, level flight. It required right aileron trim and some down-trim.
After trimming, it was easy to see that this was a performance machine. A couple of quick rolls showed it to be quick and precise, staying exactly where I left it. Minimal down-elevator was needed to maintain level flight, and point rolls were effortless.
Knowing I would be reviewing this kit for a while, I bought a video from Airborne Media: Defying the Limits, Volume 1. It features Jason Shulman showing 3-D setups and walking you through several 3-D maneuvers. Applying what I learned from the tape, I attempted to put the U-Can-Do 3D through some of the same things.
Torque rolls and hovering were fairly easy—even for a first try. The O.S. .91 FX provided more than enough power to hover at half throttle. I also tried maneuvers such as the Harrier and the Waterfall. The model was more than capable, but the pilot needed a bit more training!
The U-Can-Do 3D will knife-edge forever. Loops, rolls, snaps, spins, and more were quite easy to do. I recommend this model to anyone looking for a 3-D trainer or a precision pattern trainer.
Landings were easy, even for a taildragger. The large movable surfaces gave plenty of control even just above stall speed. The tall landing gear made asphalt and grass landings smooth.
The U-Can-Do 3D does everything Great Planes says it will do. It's a quick build, and in spite of some finish problems, it is a great-flying design. It even makes sport pilots such as myself look better.
MA
Specifications:
Wingspan: 65 inches Wing area: 1,024 square inches Length: 68 inches Weight: Recommended, 7–7.5 pounds; review model (ready to fly), 7 pounds Engine: Recommended, .61–.91 two-stroke or 70–91 four-stroke; used, O.S. .91 FX two-stroke Radio: Recommended, four-channel with six servos; used, Futaba 6KAS transmitter, Futaba R127DF receiver, six Futaba S3004 servos
Manufacturer/distributor:
Great Planes Model Distributors Box 9021 Champaign, IL 61826 www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma1270.html Street price: $190
Materials used:
- Construction: balsa, plywood
- Cowl and wheel pants: fiberglass
Products used/referred to:
- Futaba 6KAS FM radio system: Great Planes Model Distributors, Box 9021, Champaign, IL 61826. www.futaba-rc.com
- O.S. .91 FX engine: Great Planes Model Distributors, Box 9021, Champaign, IL 61826. www.osengines.com
- Zinger 13 x 8 propeller: J.Z. Products Inc., 25029 S. Vermont Ave., Harbor City, CA 90710. www.zingerpropeller.com
- Vortech spinner: Dave Brown Products, 4560 Layhigh Rd., Hamilton, OH 45013. (513) 738-1576. www.dbproducts.com
- Ultrathrust muffler: Performance Specialties, Box 3146, Gardnerville, NV 89410. (775) 265-7523. www.pspec.net
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
