This is an old Graupner Race Rat
kit I picked up recently. I
plan to power it with an AstroFlight
035 sport and the only
modifications I plan to do
are a 5/32" carbon fiber spar in the
wing. I've heard that this wing
has been known to fold in high G
maneuvers. I may even make a mold
of the fuse, I think this
could be a popular flier. I've
been told this is a 100 MPH plane!
The 1st flights were conducted at
the Mid Winter Electric's in
San Diego, CA. on Feb. 11, 2000.
The batteries were charged up
and I couldn't put it off any longer.
I gave it full throttle and threw
it as hard as I could. She dipped
slightly but started to gain speed. I
slowly started to feed in a little
UP and away she went. about 2 clicks
of down trim was all that was needed
to maintain level flight. I backed
off to 60% throttle and checked
responsiveness to the controls. The roll
axis seemed OK but it was very
sensitive to pitch input! I lined it up and
landed immediately. She came in
fairly hot as I wanted to make sure
there wouldn't be a stall. After
traversing the entire field and one BIG
bounce, she came to a safe rest
in the overfly area. I've moved the CG
forward since then and she seems
to be just fine. I'm not sure what
speed it does but I'd estimate
70-80 mph, flat out. It really moves for a fairly
inexpensive power train! I fly
most of the time at about 60% throttle
(~60 mph) and I routinely get 5+
minute tearing up the sky flights.
I just got in my 50th flight on
4/6/00 at the DVRC field in Antioch CA. I
really love this plane, it looks
terrific in the air and does almost anything I
want it to do. I'm using it as
my pylon trainer, and getting used to flying a
fast plane. I even took it on an
airliner to Houston as carry on baggage, it
fits in the overhead perfectly.
The wing is only 39" long and very thin, it'll
fit almost anywhere. I haven't
had this much fun with a plane for a long time.
I'd recommend it to anyone with
aileron experience.
On 11\7\00 I purchased a new set
of zapped 2000 NiMH cells from Greg
Kamysz of Specialized
Model Supplies. These were to go in the plane to
try and extend my flight times
over the aging 1000 SCR cells I had been
using. I had heard that the NiMH
cells didn't hold the voltage as well as
NiCd cells. I've read many posts
on the Ezone discussion list that a
person would normally add an extra
cell over the number of cells they
had been using in a NiCd pack.
I decided I didn't want the extra weight
so I ordered 10-2000 zapped cells.
These were made into a pack and
slowly charged overnight. I made
the 1st flight with the new pack on
11\11\00 at the DVRC
field. I was totally amazed at the performance
increase I had now. And as a plus,
my flight time was extended to
five full minutes of aerobatic
flight! I checked the pack when it landed
and they were actually cooler than
they were coming off the charger!
Everyone that sees it fly
is amazed that it's an electric and it gets a long
flight at such a high performance
level. I was suprised that I could now fly
to speck height before loosing
climbing ability. This is something the glow
fliers value highly. I'm glad there
were plenty of them there to witness this.
On 11\20\00 I made the tenth flight
on this new pack. The performance
seemed to get better every flight.
I had launched the plane into the wind and
kept it at full throttle for one
circuit around the field. I then pointed it up
and climbed it straight up until
it stalled and started down. I was still on
the throttle and picking up tremendous
speed. I slowly pulled in some up and
was at ~45 deg. angle, 75 ft. from
the ground, when it just went BOOM!
The wing literally exploded, showering
the area with pink confetti. I couldn't
believe my new toy had left me.
I went out to pick up the pieces and it
took me almost an hr. to find them
all. They were spread out over an
area of maybe 150 X 50 feet. The
wing bolt was still intact and so was the
dowel that held the leading edge.
The carbon fiber spar was still holding
the two wing tips and it didn't
have a scratch on it. The post mordem
investigation makes it look like
the wood around the center of the wing
just couldn't take this kind of
punishment. You can see in the photo
below that the spar is all there
with the tips. That's exactly how I
picked it up. You may also notice
the center section still holding on
to the nylon bolt, and the pile
of pink confetti in the bottom left corner.
The hardest thing to find was all
the new cells. The pack had come
apart and the cells were all over
the place. I finally managed to round
them all up. They still look great,
even if they didn't stay in a pack.
I highly recommend these cell to
anyone that will listen. NiMH cells
look like they are the future for
electric flight. That is until something
else comes along!
The wreckage picture is at the
very bottom of this page. I hope
you're not squeamish.
