Easy Rider

Easy Rider

I only built half of this plane! The original model was built by a fellow club member, Paul Stewart. In 2002, Paul and his wife relocated to Malaysia, so he decided to sell his models as part of the preparations for the move. I bought the model complete minus the receiver, fitted with a Magnum 25 Pro converted to diesel with a Davis head. The deal included half a litre of diesel to get me going!

In operation, I found the diesel excellent. It had bags of torque, and would pull the plane around in fine style using a 10x7 prop. The downside was having two sets of fuel cans, fuel pumps, tubing etc, and these days diesel fuel isn't cheap or well stocked at model shops. I used to buy 2.5 litre cans at shows from Fuels N Things.

This model is the club standard low winger - many examples have been built by club members, and a 25% scale up for a 40 engine is a popular variation. They are stable but manoeuvrable, and with the engine on song can be quite nippy.

One day, I was quietly buzzing around the field with the Easy Rider when the engine suddenly stopped, and the prop/spinner/nut flew off. A deadstick landing was safely made, and investigations revealed that the crankpin had sheared off the crankshaft. I suppose the increased compression of the diesel compared with a glow had taken its toll.

I decided to replace the Magnum with an Irvine 25, as the Magnum was an old Thunder Tiger version, and I didn't fancy my chances of getting a new crank and I wanted to fly the plane rather than having it laid up. The Irvine has stayed as a glow engine, and I find this easier in practice - only one fuel and fuelling system to worry about.

The model was originally covered in Fibafilm, which proved quite durable, but at the beginning of 2003 was starting to look decidedly tatty. At some point before I had it, the wing had been repaired from a crash, which had left it with some holes in the centre section sheeting, and a rough epoxy finish on the underside.

I decided to overhaul the model, so a new wing was constructed from the plan, and the whole model recovered in Solartex. The photo shows the wing on the board. A good mod to do is to change from a single centre servo to a mini servo in each wing, as the ailerons are outboard. I also slotted out the trailing edge sheeting to make aileron separation easier.

She continues to fly well, and is my hack model which gets taken to the field every time.

This page was last updated on 21/02/04