Patriot 40 (oz14051)

About this Plan

Great Planes Patriot 40. Radio control sport model. Wingspan 47 in, wing area 524 sq in, for .40 engine.

Discontinued kit from Great Planes. See the archived copy of the Patriot 40 page from the now defunct GP website at the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20040803...

Quote: "Introduction: Congratulations! Thank you for purchasing the Great Planes Patriot! The Great Planes Patriot is a high performance propeller-driven sport airplane that looks like a jet. In the air, the prop is invisible, adding to the realism. The smoothness and speed of this airplane allow you to experience the thrills of flying a jet-like airplane without the complexity and high cost of a ducted fan model.

The Patriot is not a scale model of any particular airplane, but rather it incorporates many key attributes of jet airplanes in general, to result in the 'jet-like' effect. Not being tied to a particular scale outline allowed the Great Planes designers to design out any undesirable characteristics, to give you an easy-building and great flying sport airplane - one that you feel comfortable with, flight after flight. We think you'll like it.

This is not a beginner's airplane! While the Patriot is easy to build and flies great, we must discourage you from selecting this kit as your first R/C airplane. It is very fast, highly maneuverable, and lacks the self-recovery character-istics of a good basic trainer such as the Great Planes PT Series airplanes. On the other hand, if you have already learned the basics of R/C flying and you are able to safely handle an aileron trainer airplane such as the Great Planes Trainer Series or Big Stick Series airplanes, the Patriot is an excellent choice. If you currently fly an aileron airplane, but you are unsure about your ability to handle the Patriot, we recommend that you have a more experienced pilot help you with the first few flights.

Decisions you must make: Engine and Mount Selection: The recommended engine for the Patriot is a.40* - .46 cubic inch displacement 2-cycle.

*NOTE: Performance may be marginal if a non-schneurle-ported .40 cu.in. 2-cycle engine is used. The engine you select will determine how you build the fuselage, so it is important that you have the engine close at hand while building. Because of the size limitations and the nature of this model, 4-cycle engines are more difficult to install and balance.

The shape of the fuselage permits the use of standard mufflers without modification. For maximum speed, you may choose to install a tuned pipe instead of a normal muffler. On one of our prototypes, we did so, using a MACS Tuned Pipe #1040 and a MACS Header #2581 Long. In this installation the pipe was attached to the bottom of the wing using a MACS #9380 Pipe Mount. Because all radio gear is located aft in the fuselage, we suspect that some innovative modelers will experiment with enclosed tuned pipes.

This kit includes a Great Planes MM40 engine mount (or similar mount) that fits most .40 - .46 (2-cycle) engines (slight modification of this mount is required to mount the OS4OSF and OS46SF, by filing the inside edges of the engine mount beams). If the supplied mount does not fit your engine, it may be necessary to purchase a different mount (check with your hobby dealer).

Selection of Wheels: To save weight, we recommend using lightweight wheels. Remember, large wheels are ugly and unrealistic on a model of this type, so try to keep the wheels as small as possible.

If you will be flying from a concrete or asphalt runway, we recommend 2 in main wheels and 1-3/4 or 2 inch nose wheel. For grass fields, larger wheels will be required, such as 2-1/2 main wheels and a 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 in nose wheel. If you will be installing retracts, you should try to limit the wheel size to a maximum of 2-1/4 main wheels and a 2 in nose wheel.

Retractable Landing Gear (optional): Note: This airplane flies very well with a fixed landing gear, and retracts are not necessary; however they do add realism and speed, and are a nice addition (if you are prepared for the extra work involved in their installation).

Because of space limitations in the nose of this airplane, we recommend only Hobbico Low-Profile 3-gear retracts (HC AP4000).

A standard servo may be used to actuate the nose gear retract; however, a low profile retract servo (such as the Futaba FP-S136G) is strongly recommended for the main gear retracts..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Morning Steve, here are the plans for the Patriot 40. I received the plans from a model builder in Toronto. Can't remember where the jpegs for the ribs came from."

Update 5/9/2022: Found the origin of the ribs drawings. They are in a old 2014 post in RCUniverse, posted by Pavan, see: https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/kit-building-121/3147950-great-planes-patriot-40-a.html many thanks to JimPurcha for finding that old post.

Supplementary file notes

Instructions, 57 pages.
Ribs drawings.

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