Super Sportster 60 (oz10146)

About this Plan

Super Sportster 60. Radio control sport model for .60 power. Discontinued kit from Great Planes.

Quote: "The Super Sportster was designed for the sport flier. The Sportster is fast, stable and aerobatic. It has good looks, good performance and stability at low speeds. For the creative builders it can be detailed to resemble a warbird, Formula 1 racer or a CAP 21 type aerobatic ship. Materials are included for both trike gear and conventional gear (taildragger) to help you create your own Sportster..."

This is a discontinued kit, from Great planes. See their site at https://www.greatplanes.com/parts/gpma0210pl.php for more details, and full parts listing.

The kit instructions (see supplement file) includes details of all three sized models: Super Sportster 20, 40 and 60. Thanks to spitfireflyby.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 11/03/2019: Added PDFvector plan tracing, also dxf CAD file, thanks to AlanSinclair.

Update 18/09/2019: Added kit review from RCME Dec 1992, thanks to RFJ.

Quote: "RCME Review. Super Sportster 60. David Matthews builds the big brother of the Great Planes Sportster series.

This fine example of an American kit has to be seen to be believed, not only for its fine presentation but also for its quality of components. Quality is the trade mark of the Illinois based company Great Planes from which this kit hails. Quality that starts with the box presentation and its fine instruction booklet with good construction photos throughout.

Tailplane: The whole tailplane consists of four well shaped 3/8 balsa parts used in the making of the stabilser and a further three 1/4 in balsa sheet stock for the fin/rudder. I personally thought that the stock used for the stabiliser was a bit on the heavy side, about 189g prior to sanding, but with the chosen MVVS .60 engine up front my fears of a tail heavy plane were put to rest. The two assemblies are not much to report about as they are straight forward enough, but do make sure that all parts are finished warp free.

Wing panels: The wing ribs used in the Sportster are a builders delight as they are die cut from rib stock and not from soft balsa as some manufacturers are used to supplying. This helps the builder to ensure that the wing comes out as warp free as possible and makes the wing, on the whole, a lot stronger, essential for the high 'g' manoeuvres that this breed of aircraft can, and undoubtably will have to sustain on a normal Sunday afternoon. An interesting point about the spars used in the wings are that they are not spruce but are in fact 3/8 x 1/2 balsa. Two are used in each wing and both of these are slotted for the ribs. At this point I expected some, if not all the ribs, to not fit on the spars. Thankfully this was not the case and all of the ribs did, indeed, fit to perfection. Leading and trailing edges were fitted to the ribs. Shim's of 1/4 x 5/8 and 1/4 x 3/4 were used in order to block up the LE and TE. The wing panels were then covered from the LE to the spars using 3/32 sheet, but not before the U/C blocks and hardwood wing bolt plates were epoxied into their positions.

After fixing the wing tips into place the panels were given a preliminary sanding in order to aid the joining of the two panels. The centre trailing edge pieces and torque rods are fitted at this stage. The rods are already pre-bent, with their plastic bushings in place. In order for the correct dihedral to be built in, a balsa centre rib is included in the kit. This has the appearance of a thin section TE but it does the job very well indeed.

With the wings epoxied together it was time to bandage the centre section. The wing has nearly 11-1/2 in chord at the root and the instruction booklet calls for the use of a 5 in wide tape all around the wing. The ailerons are cut to fit and slotted, ready for covering.

Fuselage: The wing has to be built first in order for the fuselage sides to be fitted to it. The whole fuselage is pretty straight forward and I chose to use traditional spruce pushrods for flutter free surfaces due to the power that would be up front. Six formers are used in the construction and three of these you make yourself. With chin block and bottom sheeting in place, the decking is built up. This consists of formers and stringers for lightness at the rear, and formers and planking up front for strength. The engine and supplied mount were trial fitted in order to establish just where and how much balsa was to be removed at the nose. Sanding of the fuselage then took place. I find that it is easier to plane off the excess wood prior to sanding in order to keep dust emissions down.

Squaring up: Final assembly is probably just as important as construction. It has as much to do with the flight charictaristics as anything else, yet all too often I see models 'thrown together' at this stage in an attempt to get them flying and out of the workshop. Care should be taken to ensure that all flying surfaces are equidistant and square to each other.

Back to the Sportster, four 1/4-20 nylon bolts are used to hold on those all important main wings. These bolts are tapped through 1/4 in ply plates in the fuselage. Wing fairing blocks are then added to finish off construction. After a final sanding the engine bay was given a good fuel proofing; all that was left to do was to cover in a chosen medium.

Radio installation: My much travelled Futaba FF7 was used in this review model and there is plenty of room in the 3-1/2 in wide body to accomodate the standard size servos. As for the receiver and battery pack, I couldn't ask for more space. The flat pack gets lost in the body behind the tank, so plenty of foam can be used for vibration damping. The aileron servo linkages are simple threaded rods, connected to the torque rods via nylon devises. As I said earlier, the tailplane concerned me a bit as to whether I would have to add weight in the form of 'iron bars' in the nose. Not to worry though as the final C of G was just 1/8 in back from the recommended point, so why add weight I asked myself. The control throws specified are 1/4 in either way for the ailerons, 3/4 in left & right for the rudder and 3/8 in up, 5/16 in down for the elevator.

Cover up: For ease of covering and due to its quick and glossy finish, I chose to use bright red Solarfilm all over, with yellow Solartrim for the lettering. The striping is the same material used for cars, found in every car accessory shop.

Undercarriage: The U/C comes pre-bent and all that there is to do is to silver solder the brass wheel spat brackets onto them. The wheel spats are moulded from white ABS plastic that have to be joined together. The moulding is of high quality and they require just a trim in order to get a good fit. In the instructions cyanoacryiate is suggested for joining, but I prefer to use MEK for joining as this welds the plastic together, thus producing a stronger bond. MEK serves another purpose as it eliminates the need to use glass tape for inner renforcement, thus saving on weight. After the ABS had finally set, I gave the spats a rub down using 400 grade w/d, finishing off with 1200 w/d. Holes were located and drilled for the axle and the fastening screws. Red Solarlac was then sprayed on using an airbrush. The U/C units are held in place on the wings by four nylon brackets and eight 3/8 in wood screws.

Power house: Up front of the Super Sportster I fitted a .60 MVVS, complete with tuned pipe. After giving the engine a thorough run-in on a 12 x 6 Master prop, I decided to switch to an 11 x 6 for flight as recomended in the instruction booklet. The fuel used was straight 80/20 FAI fuel.

Flight time: Up to now I had been practicing faster manoeuvres using my .40 Mustang. I was doing this in order to appreciate the kind of speed that I would have to expect with the Super Sportster, fitted with the MVVS. This paid off as the Sportster is, in a word, fast! After range and safety checks were carried out, the MVVS was brought to life. Take off was called and the Sportster left the ground in Co Galway within 15 feet.

After the initial climb and trimming, which I found to be only slight, the model was put through its paces. It is capable of the full aerobatic schedule. All the stunts look best if executed in a stow, scale like fashion, which is not so easy for a model that has a weight of 6.17Ibs (2.8kgs). I was amazed at the rate of climb with the MVVS and the sheer speed which it attains. The rate of climb is mindblowing, as on just 3/4 throttle the Sportster just keeps on going vertical. I wish I had a video camera to prove this point, but you will have to take my word as the truth. The stall is a dream, the Sportster just wallows out of the nose high attitude without dropping a wing.

I was just getting the feel of the model when all of a sudden the engine cut. This, I thought, was due to fuel starvation as at the time the model was going ballistic. It was, in fact, a blown plug, but it gave me the opportunity to discover the glide characteristics. With the wing having an area of 675 sq .in and a thickness of 2 in (21 oz/sq ft loading), it glides like a slope soarer and on the first dead stick it just greased in. By the way, the Spotster glides just as good inverted as it does the right way up!

Conclusion: Believe me, I have tried to fault this kit but it is my duty to report that everything about it is good. 10 out of 10 for Great Planes. The Super Sportster is so good that my friend has decided to purchase a Sportster as he has been looking for a good low winger like this for ages. As a low wing sports model I think that it has not only got excellent flight characteristics but it looks good in the air as well as on the ground. I am now putting floats on mine as there is a lot of water waiting out here."

Update 16/04/2020: Added kit review from RCM April 1984, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Instructions (44 pages).
PDFvector plan tracing, 2 pages (inc parts).
Reviews.

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