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The "Dazzler" is an extremely aerobatic "Fun-Fly" model airplane. Great Planes provides high quality wood, full size plans, and a 20 page instruction manual filled with photos and expert tips to aid in building. Construction begins with the stabilizer and elevator which are built out of balsa sticks over the plans. The plans show the elevator built as two separate pieces, connected together with a torque rod. Instead, both elevator halves were built as one piece with a long leading edge. After the torque rod was in place and the epoxy had hardened, the excess balsa was carved away. This was done to ensure that both halves were perfectly aligned with each other. The fin, rudder, and ailerons are built using the same balsa stick construction over the plans. There is nothing tricky in this construction. The semi-symmetrical wing is constructed from basswood spars, balsa ribs, leading and trailing edges, and sheeting from the leading edge to the spars. Each half is joined together by lite-ply doublers on the spars and edges. The lite-ply servo tray is also part of the wing structure. Scrap lite-ply was added to the servo tray to give the servo screws something extra to bite into. A Nyrod tube was run through the ribs on one wing half to route the receiver antenna. The wing's leading edge requires a considerable amount of carving and sanding to reach the desired shape. A mini-plane to do most of the carving and then a block sander was used for finishing. Care must be taken in shaping the leading edge and the supplied leading edge template should be used to check the progress. It is advisable to glue the cap strips on after the wing is slid through the fuselage to minimize damage. The fuselage is built from balsa sheets with lite-ply formers over the plans. There are balsa doublers where the wing and the stabilizer attach to the fuse. Additional doublers were made from balsa that was left over from the wings and were located along both sides and bottom of the fuselage for increased strength. The firewall and landing gear plate are made lite-ply and are epoxied to the fuselage with triangle stock reinforcements. Scrap lite-ply from the fuel tank hatch was used instead of the supplied balsa. The wing is permanently attached into the fuselage. This reduces weight but makes transporting the model more difficult. The wingspan is 48" so it should fit into the trunks of most cars. The turtle-deck adds a nice touch but is the most frustrating stage of building. If the instructions are followed exactly and patience is applied, the results will be worth the effort. The engine was mounted sideways to improve fuel flow to the carburetor and to keep the oily exhaust underneath the airplane. A Great Planes 6 ounce tank is suggested and since nothing larger would fit, the recommended tank was used. Final sanding was done with 400 grit sandpaper and TopFlite MonoKote was used for covering. The supplied CA hinges were used for all control surfaces. Radio installation is very straightforward. Each aileron has its own servo so five servos are required. Plastic clevises, FastLinks, and music wire pushrods are provided, but the throttle linkage must be fabricated. The surface throws were set at the "high" settings, and the dual rates on the radio were set the "low" settings. Since the wing does not come off to provide access to the battery, a Great Planes switch/charge mount was added. After mounting the landing gear and engine, the battery was moved back to obtain the suggested C/G. Flying weight without fuel is 4 pounds. A bushing type .40 was used for the initial flights. With the dual rates turned on, the Dazzler flies nice and smooth. With dual rates off, maneuvers are a blur. If a radio with dual rates is not available it is suggested that one be bought. Landings are gentle because of the thick wing but the wide rib spacing allows the MonoKote to "drum" at certain speeds. This doesn't seem to hurt anything but it sounds strange. The music wire landing gear bends easily, but that is better than breaking the fuselage. The performance with the bushed .40 engine was satisfactory but not dazzling so a ball bearing .45 engine was substituted. Now it jumps off the runway and climbs like the space shuttle. The 6 ounce fuel tank limits the fun to about 5 - 6 minutes but by then, the pilot has been "Dazzled". |
