GWS Slow Stick it is

[SuperRoo]

OK, so what the go with these. I had a look at the GWS web site and the only difference I can see is that the Pico Stick has a wooden stick and is only a 3 channel plane and the Slow Stick has a metal 2 piece stick and has the optional aileron wing for 4 channel operation.

I only ask the question because some one says they want to get the Pico Stick and I seem to think that the aileron wing of the Slow Stick would be better for future upgrades or suit the more expirenced flyers.

Both are around the same price, I think the Pico is $10 cheaper.

So anyone have any input?
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[mik068]

the gws slow stick is stronger and can take a good crash

[stone]

I havent had a slow stick,but it is allot bigger than the pico.The pico MUST have all micro gear,or smaller ! servos,reciver,battery and from memory I think at 5 amp speedy.

From what Ive been told you could get away with standard size servo's in the slow stick,although I dought it myself.

The slow stick would fly faster,and wiegh more,there for handel a light wind much better than the pico.

the pico was mainly aimed at indoor,and flys excelent in a quite confined space,I have flowen my in a shed the size of half a basket ball court,I dought the slow stick would be that agile.

Another thing you may want to consider is if you might like to fly at an indoor meet,they would have maximum motor/battery and wieght limits that the slow stick mite not meet.

Im heading down to cheek out the Velodrome this thursday night to see what the go is,I know that you have to have a MAAA membership for insurence reasons,just in case you wallop a wall at 5 mile an hour and someone dies laughing at you. :p

[SuperRoo]

Cool, thanks for the info Stoney.

The main reason for asking is because I was thinking of getting one for my Dad who would love to learn how to fly RC and the last plane I bought him (Aerobird Extreme) lasted 2 minutes due to a high speed nose dive into the road.

He would also like to have something he can take paragliding with him for when there's no wind.

So the next question is where to get a cheap (if there is such a thing) 4 channel radio?

[stone]

Yeh the slow stick for sure then,Mic 068 is the man to talk to about them,he's had his flying.

And Darren was saying $185 for a cheep 4 but dont remember where,give him a PM.

Hey if there isnt enough wind to paraglide,that doesnt meen you couldnt slope fly in it.Thats asuming he launches in places like that,I think they do. Something like my fling can fly in very little wind on a decent slope,unlike where I was trying to fly it on the weekend.

when you finaly do come Proper slope soaring with us you'll be hooked,and you'll understand why my grin gets so big when I talk about it. There is somthing about FREE LIFT that realy does it for me.

[Dazz 68]

$185 gets you a Futaba with 3 standard servos and Nicad batt pack,I paid about $250 and got the computerised Futaba with Tx Nicd batteries ,reciever pack ,servos and charger,it has a heap of handy features-end point adjustment-model memory-channel mixing ect.There are a few no name brand units floating around Perth for under $130.
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[stone]

was yours $250 Daz,for that price I think I might up grade.

[SuperRoo]

Well we did a little shopping around this arvo for a radio and came home with nothing. I wont express my bad expirience on here except to say the cheapest 4 ch radio we could find was $250 but they didnt have any in stock because no one buys 4 ch radios anymore, they only buy 6 ch computer radios.

So if any of you guys can suggest where we can get a 4 ch radio for under 200 buck in Perth it would be greatly appreciated.

[SuperRoo]

Never Mind, We've had to support my not so local hobby shops in the eastern states and including shipping we're still paying a lot less than local price. Very sad indeed.
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Thu Jun 21 2007, 08:38AM ]</span>

[stone]

Ah well, that's the way the cookie crumbels sometimes.

Post up a pic!

[stone]

Oh yeh,We saw one of them at the indoor fly in,It had full size servos in it!!,and a brushless/lipo combo. It had no probs flying around in there.

[SuperRoo]

Well the Slow Stick arrived this morning and the radio will be sitting in the post office after 4pm.



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[stone]

choice bro, Just a quick word of wisdom. If you can, ONLY use 5 min epoxy. The foam glue they provide takes ages to cure,and the foam safe CA takes even longer if you cant find the foam safe CA Kicker.
Which I cant find in any LHS.

[SuperRoo]

Only major problem so far is understanding the instructions and with the rudder mounting I have a choice of it being off centre by 5mm either way from the centre of the stick.

So far there is only one place that needed any glue and that was in the support for the stick on the tail section. They also say to glue the motor mount on but it is also bolted on so I'm not going to bother to glue it for the moment because I dont no how I'm going to go for CG with my heavy RX and ESC and the only choice is just behind the front tip of the wing or just behind. If I have to change it I will need the motor mount to come back off.

Just about to start on the main wing then I might go for a walk down to the post office to pick up the radio that should be there after 4pm.



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[SuperRoo]

Ooops, I better run to the post office now



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[stone]

Looken good mate,been building myself today,coz Im cough cough, crook! I made a rc paper plane outa depron. Oi Ive found a bargin at perth rc,nano servos for $13.50 exactly the same servo as the HiTec HS 55 but its red and half the price.somthing about a hitec merge or buy out or somthin so I was told. I bought five of them!!great little servos.

[SuperRoo]

Bugger, didnt see them when I was in there this morning.

Having a few little problems.
1) the instructions for putting the wing together say to tape down the centre with as much dihedral as I can give the wing but the spars and angle mounts for the spars flatten the wing out a little so now the wing halves have flopped a little and I cant get them to stay tight in one place.

2) I cant get the rudder to go back to centre because of the stupid tape idea for holding the rudder in place. might have to put some proper hinges in there.

3) The stupid dicks sent me the correct radio but with dry cells not the nicad version as ordered so I am left wondering if they will want the radio back or will just want me to send the dry cell holders back.

[remotebandit]

it does look like a great plane mate , is it a song plane or pretty delicate ?

[SuperRoo]

The main wing is weak as piss if you do things the way the instructions tell you but I found a few good threads about fixing it. So I'm about to fix that problem now. The biggest problem is that it really requires 3 hands minimum despite being a molded one piece wing.

The stick and tail section are pretty solid as I have already banged it around while installing the servos.

The best thing about the Slow Stick compared to the Pico's is that it will take stock servos and RX so the only special items needed are the PLAIN (sorry I stole that spelling from the Perth Hobby Centre's web page) brushed speedy and the battery pack which they recommend a 6v 270 - 600mah pack. I'm using either a 800 or 1050mah 7.4v lipo I've got sitting around for the Twister Bell.

The Slow Stick really is a big plane so you can see why it is so easy to fly and this guy makes it look even easier:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X7CnN9Zbec

[stone]

Bugger, didnt see them when I was in there this morning.

Having a few little problems.
1) the instructions for putting the wing together say to tape down the centre with as much dihedral as I can give the wing but the spars and angle mounts for the spars flatten the wing out a little so now the wing halves have flopped a little and I cant get them to stay tight in one place.

2) I cant get the rudder to go back to centre because of the stupid tape idea for holding the rudder in place. might have to put some proper hinges in there.

3) The stupid dicks sent me the correct radio but with dry cells not the nicad version as ordered so I am left wondering if they will want the radio back or will just want me to send the dry cell holders back.

1)I hate when that happens!In this day and age the instructions should be fool proof in any kit,fact is almost all kits instruction leave alot to be desired.I find I spend as much time scrathing my head as actualy building.

2) Tape hinges are a stupid idea I agree,best thing to do is find a realy sticky tape like DUCT tape,place one piece on the rudder/fin while its flat,then fold the rudder back on the fin so the first bit of tape is in between the two,then tape over the outside.

3) How ****en hard is it to get an order right,I get that all the time ordering shit for work.

[SuperRoo]

I actually found the instruction for the first generation SS and they are a lot easier to understand and have helped heaps.

Only have one more question about CG

Is it ok to fix the CG with weights?

The reason for this question is because I have been mucking around with the CG on the Slow Stick and no matter what I do its still tail heavy. The manual says it will fly fine tail heavy but nose heavy is much better for learners as it makes the plane more dosile to control input.

There is a few configuration suggestions in the manual for getting the correct CG but with the esc, rx and battery at the very front of the plane its still tail heavy. I think it might have something to do with using the standard size servos which mount just under the rear of the wing.

[mik068]

mate put the battery in front of the wing and if you are using a lipo you need weight up the front for sure. i had the same problem the easy fix is weight it or you can change to micro servos thats what i did

[stone]

Yeh mate,thats fine. Adding wieght to an aircraft is somthing we try to avoid,but ya gotta do what ya gotta.If you can use lead,and have it as far forward as you can to minamise the amount needed.

[SuperRoo]

Yeh mik096, the battery and everything else is as far forward as possible and yes using a lipo.

I was mainly concerned with messing things up by adding weight up front.

[SuperRoo]

Maybe if I just put a camera under the front tip of the wing that will be enough weigh :)