5 FLIGHT TESTS NORTHEAST SAILPLANE PRODUCTS ...

FALCON TRADING BEAVER EXPERIMENTAL
GETTING STARTED
I was excited to review the Beaver
Experimental because it's so versatile and can
easily be set up for land- or water-based operation.
Falcon Trading also offers an optional set
of floats that's designed to work with it.
The Beaver's construction is a bit unusual in
that it is made entirely of molded plastic. This
means that the whole plane is waterproof! It's
a quick build, and the parts all fit perfectly.
You'll have to sand a bit to remove some
flashing, but that's about it. Because it comes
molded in white plastic, you have to paint
only the parts of the plane that you want. I
chose to paint the cowl, wingtips and rudder.
The instruction manual comes with a
large poster with photos of each of the 48
construction steps. Each photo is captioned
in Italian, but the accompanying multilingual
instruction book has excellent English
translations of each step.
WINGING IT
The wing comes in two pieces, but unlike the
rest of the plane, the molded plastic halves
are filled with foam that adds rigidity and
strength and prevents the plane from sinking
The engine head aligns perfectly with the precut
cowl.
if it is swamped. A doubler piece that fits
over the root of each piece joins the halves.
This piece sets the dihedral and ensures that
the wing halves have the correct incidence.
All of the control surfaces come molded
and permanently attached to the flying surfaces,
so you don't have to hinge them.
Installing the aileron actuation mechanism is
a simple matter of gluing root caps onto the
aileron root ends and then inserting torque
rods into place.
The wing struts aren't functional but really
enhance the scale look of the plane. They are
hinged at both ends and are permanently
attached to the wing. When it's time to
attach the wing, swing down the struts and
simply slip them over tabs that are glued to
each side of the fuselage. You don't have to
remove any screws for the struts; the wing
itself is held in place by one large screw
through its center. Four dots that are aligned
with the corners of the wing saddle prevent
the wing from shifting in flight. I wondered
All of the surfaces are airfoiled, and the rudder is
pull-pull.
SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL: Beaver Experimental
MANUFACTURER: Modelfly
DISTRIBUTOR: Falcon Trading
TYPE: semi-scale
LENGTH: 45 in.
WINGSPAN: 613/4 in.
WING AREA: 604 sq. in.
WEIGHT: 61/2 lb.
WING LOADING: 24.79 oz./sq. ft.
ENGINE REQ'D: .46 2-stroke or .52
4-stroke
RADIO REQ'D: 4-channel w/4 servos
PRICE: $180
COMMENTS
This all-plastic plane is a nimble, light
flyer that's easy to build and comes
with a complete hardware package.
HIGHLIGHTS
>Unique, well-engineered
construction
>Versatile—easily set up for
float flying
>Very good flight characteristics
how effective that would be for holding the
wing in place, so I tried to twist it out of
alignment. I had to push pretty hard to
move the wing, so I am very confident that it
will stay put.
MAIN COURSE
The one-piece fuselage has molded-in details
such as rivets, panel lines and doors. Putting
the fuselage together is essentially a matter of
The fuselage has plenty of room for the radio
components.