Great Planes "U-Can-Do SF" Maiden

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tomapowa

Great Planes "U-Can-Do SF" Maiden

Post by tomapowa »

So, 4 weeks (or so) ago during a weekday off from work, I wandered aimlessly down to the BCRCC flying field in Dartmouth (yes, first time I've ever been there and made many U-turns but still an enjoyable ride!). In tow, I had my new electrified U-Can-Do made by Great Planes. I own every U-Can-Do they make (previous 3 models, the UCD 46, UCD 60 and the giant UCD which I sold) and all are great predictable flyers. This new "SF" model is designed mainly for electric power (only model that has a removable canopy for battery placement), and actually employs these new fangled "Side-Force" generators (supposedly adds lift when in knife-edge flight). I powered this model with the preferred (of course) Great Planes RimFire motor, went with a Castle Creations 90 amp Talon ESC, and a 4000mAh 6s LiPo (actually, I opted to use 2-3s 4000mAh packs as they are easier to place into the plane, plus I can use these same 3s packs with my FPV glider!)

Here's the link to the plane on the Great Planes webpage:
http://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma1272.html

So, after meeting up with a few BCRCC members, (Bob, Carlos, his son and friend Ben, then eventually Gerry & Gary)... I dropped in the batteries, ground tested every thing only to find out I forgot to plug in one aileron servo when I assembled it @ home... :o Unfortunately I couldn't blame Carlos for chatting with me while I got my planes ready!... :lol: After checking it all out, I took her off down the field and upon a graceful liftoff, it flew straight and level after two clicks of left aileron. Wow!... this thing (59" wingspan) flies big & very light and even though if was it's maiden flight, a minute into the flight I started wringing it out with loops & rolls, rolling circles, stalls/hovers, cubans, knife-edges, etc...... WOW is all I can say. Only thing I am concerned about is that as light as it is built, it can be a little fragile. (I already broke one stringer on the turtle deck carrying it back to my van when leaving). Fun plane nevertheless! Hope to get many more flights on it this summer!
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