KIT REVIEW |TF Sport-scale ARdescribed as a Marmite plane, i.e. you either love it or you hate it. Opinion is divided but I’m on the ‘love it’ side of the fence. It certainly

116 | RCM&E www.modelfl ying.co.uk | August 2014

KIT REVIEW | ARTF Sport-scale

Starlet 1800LIAM SWARBRICK GETS SEDUCED BY GRAUPNER’S STUNNING SPORT SCALIE

I’ve heard the Stolp Starlet described as a Marmite plane, i.e. you either love it or you hate it.

Opinion is divided but I’m on the ‘love it’ side of the fence. It certainly has character and is like nothing like you’ve ever seen before; a bit like a Pitts Special with a wing missing, mated with a crop duster. With its beautiful fl owing lines, wide stance and high-swept parasol wing, it screams out ‘Experimental’!

At 70.9” (1.8m) span, this Graupner interpretation is a (just

under) 1/4-scale ‘almost ready to fl y’ version of the 25ft. (7.6m) span full-size, produced by Stolp in the USA as a construction kit in the experimental class for amateur aircraft builders. With a 60hp Volkswagen car engine up front, it would happily fl y from rough land or overgrown strips where a low wing would be a hindrance. Construction time of the full-size Starlet is claimed to be around 1400 hours, although I’m hoping the model will go together considerably faster!

LOVE THINGThe Starlet’s airframe is constructed from balsa and ply and is designed specifi cally for electric power, using 4-channel radio and 5 servos. Graupner’s website – www.graupner.de – states the model as being suitable for both electric and i.c. power, however there’s no mention of i.c. engines in the instructions, nor are any related components supplied in the kit.

I immediately fell in love as soon as I opened the big, colourful box. The wings and tailplane are packed within foil-backed protective bags (great for avoiding hangar rash) and are covered fl awlessly in striking blue and white Oracover heat-shrink fi lm. The ailerons, meanwhile, are supplied pre-hinged, in a scale manner reminiscent of the full-size.

The large, curvy fuselage also has the equivalent attention to detail. Stunning, fl owing lines are achieved with some intricate woodwork, which is again nicely fi lm-covered. Complementing these beautifully built components are a large

As you’ll no doubt be aware, Graupner

likes its Starlets, and thank goodness

it does.

I’ve used an AXI 4120/20 50-size

outrunner, fi tted to a cross-mount that, get this, matched

the pre-drilled holes exactly!

STARLET.indd 116STARLET.indd 116 20/06/2014 14:4420/06/2014 14:44

RCM&E | 117August 2014 | www.modelfl ying.co.uk

words » Liam Swarbrick | photos » Andy Ellison

fi breglass cowling and wheel spats, metal parts for the u/c and cabane struts, pre-made wing struts, a large tubular wing joiner, and bags of associated hardware.

HANDS ONOddly, a good half of the manual is given over to warnings and do and don’t notices, which is presumably to cater for today’s rotten suing culture. Wade through that lot and you eventually get to the useful bit, which consists of black and white instructions that convey suffi cient information for putting the airframe together. It’s lacking in some parts, notably regarding cabane installation, but overall it’s not bad.

The fi rst job is to rip open the hardware pack and fi nd all the bits needed to fi t your choice of servos, which in my case was New Power XL16s for the ailerons and elevators, and a Hitec HS85MG on the rudder. These fell straight into place with no problems, and the pre-installed pushrods were soon clipped onto the output arms. Fibreboard control surface horns are supplied, which need to be epoxied into pre-cut slots

on each control surface. Aileron servos mount onto the underside of servo bay hatches, which in turn screw to the wing for a very secure and easily maintainable fi tting, using extension leads to get the servo connections out at the wing root.

The wing is permanently retained on the fuselage cabanes, a process that demands some level of concentration on the part of the builder as it’s very easy to fi t these the wrong way around. As mentioned above the instructions aren’t clear in this respect, and the photography that might give you some inclination is a little sparse. You’ll soon work it out if you get it wrong, though!

With the cabanes mounted the centre wing panel can then be bolted into place, using threadlock to make sure the wing stays put, prior to fl ipping the model over to attend to the rather large and gangly undercarriage that helps give the Starlet its characteristic ‘sit’. The u/c has a scale-like sprung system that looks simple to fi t, but isn’t! Actually, I found that part of the fuselage had to be trimmed away to clear the main legs and the wing strut bracket,

which attaches at the same time, both being retained by steel bolts and captive nuts. The more awkward part of this assembly stage comes when trying to hold tension in the spring whilst bolting the lower u/c struts into place over the wheel axles, and reveals the fi rst real problem with this kit. After trying for what felt like hours fi ghting with springs, nuts and washers, it transpired that the retaining bolts weren’t long enough. I eventually gave up and replaced them with a couple of my own M4 bolts to do the job properly, however I soon realised

That’s a pretty sturdy tail wheel bracket that’ll easily survive the test of time.

The full-size is a pretty small aeroplane in reality and, believe it or not, the pilot here is just about the right size. Top marks.

The main airframe components are covered fl awlessly in a striking blue and white Oracover heat-shrink fi lm.




that these needed to be removed again in order to fi t the spats... what a frustrating hobby this can be at times! With the spats fi tted, u/c struts trapped in place, wheels attached and free-rolling, the Starlet now sat on her own feet... Hooray! Next up was to add the wing joiner, mount the wings, and align the tailplane, before gluing it in place with slow-setting epoxy.

With the model still in one piece, the following days’ building proceedings commenced by attaching the wing struts and adjusting the clevises, that engage

them with the wing, to ensure a slop-free fi tting. The struts locate with a tab on the fuselage using a single bolt into a captive nut in the strut itself, and here was my second big problem as, with the clevises adjusted to their maximum length, the bolt holes at the other end didn’t line up, indeed they were still a good 10 – 12mm out of alignment. Fortunately there was enough room left on the lower brackets to drill new holes and resolve the problem, but I did wonder if anyone at the factory had ever tried to assemble this kit using the supplied parts before unleashing it upon the world!

The airframe is signifi cantly completed at this point, where attention now turns to installing the powertrain. I elected to use an AXI 4120/20 50-size outrunner, fi tted to a cross-mount that matched the pre-drilled holes exactly, and needed no re-work. The thrust angles are already set on the bulkhead, and with the motor being the correct length for the cowling the installation passed

without incident. With A 70A Jeti ESC duly located at the front of the battery bay, the nicely-moulded cowling bolted into place over the lot.

For the fl ight battery I opted for a 50C 5s 4700mAh Ultra OptiPower Li-Po, attached to an installation plate as far forward as possible to achieve the correct C of G. Pleasingly, the tray slides into place through the cockpit opening and is quite easy to remove for recharging. The power fi gures for this setup are pretty impressive: fi tted with a 16 x 10” APC electric prop, the numbers come out at a whopping 1600W at 74A static, providing slightly more than a 1:1 thrust-to-weight ratio. This should be fun!

I confi gured my radio to receive its power from the Li-Po, via a 3A regulator, although there’s plenty of room should you prefer to use a separate Rx battery. A bolt-on cockpit tray and pilot (of the correct scale – a

Ground clearance for the spats isn’t too bad, although

larger wheels could be accommodated

if your patch isn’t quite as smooth as

this one.

Personally I think this is a really classy colour

scheme and perfect for the aeroplane.

The pilot could be better quality but at

least he’s the right scale! For that we

should be very grateful.


RCM&E | 119August 2014 | www.modelfl ying.co.uk

words » Liam Swarbrick | photos » Andy Ellison

nice change!) completes the model, and with a quick tweak of the linkages to centre the servos, and the addition of a dual elevator mix and switchable CAR mix to combine rudder with aileron for slower fl ight, the job’s a good ‘un. Time to fl y!

MAIDEN OUTINGWith a steady 15mph crosswind making its presence felt, conditions weren’t ideal but that wasn’t going to stop me; the Starlet and I were both raring to go.

Ground handling is tricky due to the model’s high stance, however the rudder is powerful and provided you take your time it’s easy enough. I was warned by Andy Ellison that the larger, 94.5” (2.4m) span Graupner Starlet (which he reviewed in RCM&E a couple of years back) is a big lover of ground looping if you don’t keep on top of the rudder, but this wasn’t the case here. With the taps opened in slow, scale manner, the Starlet quickly picked up speed and was airborne without incident.

A few circuits passed, during which there was no need to add even a single beep of trim – honest! At a little below half throttle the Starlet cruised around nicely and when I opened up to full throttle and pulled vertical she was off like a homesick angel! There was no tendency to pull either to the side or in pitch, so the thrust lines are clearly spot-on. Inverted fl ight is a little unusual, though, as the model likes to wander when that high parasol wing is suddenly at the bottom.

The Starlet is a little more ‘hands on’ than I imagined it would be, indeed fl ying it is often akin to patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. I like this kind of

fl ying, though, as it makes you concentrate a little more.

With my timer beeping after the pre-set six minutes a landing was called and with the throttle backed off I lined her up onto the strip and fl ared out to land, which she did like a butterfl y with sore feet. Really gentle, nice and straight, a result that had me grinning from ear to ear. What could be nicer than that? Taxiing back to the pit area didn’t prove to be any hassle, the direct-drive tail wheel coping easily with our grass strip.

With the battery re-charged and some photography in the bag, it was time to see what the Starlet could really deliver. Again the take-off was effortlessly easy with the available power. Apply that same power when in the circuit and she transforms from steady, sedate cruiser to a beefy, purposeful aerobat. You name it, she does it. Rolls are near-perfect, even with no differential aileron mixing. Nothing twinkly here, though, just a nice, steady, scale-like roll rate. Multiple point-rolls can be crisp, and

My power system generated some 1600 watts, which is more than enough. Truth is, the Starlet would fl y happily on less.

As you’d expect, she’s a laser-cut balsa / ply ARTF and, happily, the quality is very good.

The undercarriage has a scale-like sprung system that looks simple to fi t, but isn’t!




slow rolls can be stretched out across the horizon. How big would you like your loops? Not very scale, I’ll grant you, but good fun nevertheless. Chuck in a snap roll at the top and you’ve got yourself an avalanche. Knife-edge does take a little work because of the general lack of fuselage side area, but the model looks much better when side-slipping anyway. Be careful here, though, as the powerful rudder will show you who’s boss, often at the most inopportune time!

The Starlet will fl y snaps and spins almost faster than you can count, but I did fi nd that it over-rotates about 180° after letting go of the sticks, which can turn out pretty interesting. It also has a tendency to fl ick out

during a really high g pull, which I’ve noticed to be most prevalent when pulling from a fast, level pass to a vertical up line. Okay, such a manoeuvre is, perhaps, a bit out of character for the model, but we must fi nd these things out for the sake of the review! An unexpected bonus is the awesome whistle the model makes when passing in front of you at speed, from a dive. It really is very prominent and can be easily heard over the prop.

All of the above aerobatics were performed at the throws set in the manual, the 4700mAh Li-Po working hard to provide a maximum fl ight duration of no more than seven minutes. Switching to slow ’n’ safe mode, fl ight times have been upwards of 12 minutes.

With many fl ying hours now in the bag, I’m sure that the airframe is defi nitely up to taking an i.c. motor. Perhaps a .52 two-stroke, .82 four-stroke or maybe even a 15cc petrol. But that would drown out the beautiful sounds it makes... And,

besides, it really does seem to suit electric power.

AND SO...Graupner’s Starlet 1800 isn’t a model for the faint of heart as you always need to keep an eye on her, however I love that sort of ‘hands on all the time’ stuff. A smaller powerplant would no doubt tame her somewhat if you were that way inclined, but the full-size aircraft was quite aerobatic, so why wouldn’t you fl y it like that?

I’d imagine that this would make a superb club scale model with the right control throws set. It has real presence in the air that’s even bigger when sat in the pits alongside Wot-4s and trainers. It’s a stunning-looking craft, no matter which angle you look at it. The colour scheme is so striking, especially in glorious sunshine. I really do adore this model and if there’s even the slightest chance of slipping off for a crafty fl y, the Starlet is always there with me. Hand on heart, this is one beautiful model to fl y, and it’s great fun!

Name: Starlet 1800

Model type: ARTF sport-scale

Manufactured by: Graupner

UK distributor: Logic-RC Tel. 01992 558226 www.logicrc.com

RRP: £359.99

Wingspan: 70.9” (1.8m)

Fuselage length: 46.8” (1.19m)

Wing area: 4.74sq. ft. (0.244sq. m)

All-up weight: 8 lb 2oz (3.7kg)

Wing loading: 27.4oz / sq. ft. (8.4kg / sq. m)

Functions (servos): Aileron (2); elevator (1);rudder (1); throttle (via ESC)

Rec’d powertrain: O.S. OMA 5020-490 brushless motor; 70A ESC; 4s / 5s 4000 – 5000mAh Li-Po; 16 x 10” prop

DATAFILE

Quality:

Assembly:

Flying:

Poor Acceptable Excellent

Easy Intermediate Diffi cult

Novice Improver Experienced

The Starlet certainly has a very distinct

character and style, which I happen to

adore!

I’m sure the airframe is up to

taking an i.c. motor. Perhaps a .52

two-stroke, .82 four-stroke or

maybe even a 15cc petrol.


Documents

KIT REVIEW |TF Sport-scale ARdescribed as a Marmite plane, i.e. you either love it or you hate it. Opinion is divided but I’m on the ‘love it’ side of the fence. It certainly