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NEED TO KNOW
MANUFACTURER: The World Models Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
DISTRIBUTOR: Airborne Models
TYPE: Giant-scale gasoline-powered ARF
FOR: Intermediate pilots
PRICE: $799.99
NEEDED TO COMPLETE
80cc gasoline engine, 4-channel radio system, five high-torque servos (100 oz. torque min.), standard servo for the throttle
There are several areas of this model that need some attention and there are a few things that were confusing to me during assembly. Let me address my confusion first.
The “manual” shows mounting an engine, but doesn’t say one word about it, just a shows a few photos. The manual calls for an 80cc engine which I thought strange for a model that has a projected weight of 28 pounds, but maybe they feel the drag is high enough to warrant the requirement. Anyway, they show a Zenoah GT-80 twin cylinder, an excellent choice and I just happened to have one in my shop. However, two things were amiss. One, they showed the engine mounted with the exhaust pointing straight UP, so the exhaust ports would be flush with the top of the cowling, and the next photo was taken at a distance, showing a propeller mounted on a shaft with no prop nut. Strange? You bet. Upon further investigation, when trying to install the GT-80, I discovered that it was exactly 1-inch too wide for the airplane. So even though the manual shows it being mounted, although erroneously upside down, and with NO cowling mounted, it absolutely will NOT fit this airframe!
The next disappointing item, and very important, is the threaded pushrods they give you. The “threads” are so shallow that the clevis will slip off just by giving them a little tug! If a novice builder, who may not know any better, were to use those rods, he is courting disaster with a capital D.
Another thing that simply does not work is the Tail Wheel linkage. The spring affair they include doesn’t work at all! The geometry is so flawed, that you can’t possibly steer that tail wheel. I fabricated something that does work from parts lying around my shop, and hopefully you can do the same. But trust me, if you don’t change it, when it comes time to steer this baby, it will have a mind of its own!
Last and perhaps most important, you absolutely can NOT just bolt an engine to the piece of material they call a Firewall. The wood they used at first appears to be very robust, about ½ inch thick. But this wood is so poor, so soft, and so weak, that I question being able to fasten ANYTHING to it. I am not even certain it is freaking wood. While mounting my ZDZ Super 80 and Bisson Muffler I noticed that the firewall was being crushed under the stress of tightening the mounting bolts. The mounting flanges on the engine were being pulled into the front of the firewall, creating indentations approaching ¼ inch! The solution was to face the firewall with a piece of 1/8” G-10, (Fiberglass Sheet to you), and use oversize blind nuts on the rear of the firewall, but only after I coated the rear of the firewall with two generous coats of Z-poxy 30 minute adhesive.
