BUILDING THE GWS SLOW STICK PLANE

SIGNIFICANT DEVIATION FROM BUILDING PLANS

FUSELAGE

MAIN WING

FINAL FUSELAGE AND ELECTRONICS

BUILDING SUPPLIES

GWS Slow Stick

The Slow Stick radio controlled model plane is a basic, electrically powered, trainer park flyer that can be flown in relatively small spaces such as parks which permit RC aircraft.

It is popular with beginner or novice RC plane pilots due to its relatively modest price, slow flying speed and docile handling.

The plane is made by Taiwanese company Grand-Wing Servotech Co.,Ltd ("GWS") and is available in a "barebones" kit form, without ESC and radio control but with engine, or as a Ready-to-fly (RTF) package, which contains everything needed to get airborne.

The Slow Stick has been sold with 3 different motor versions, the Slowstick EPS150C, EPS300C and EPS400C.

The most common version appears to be the Slowstick-EPS300C in Red. Some versions are available in Green, Blue, or Yellow.

THE DESIGN

The Slow stick is, as the name indicates, based on a simple stick fuselage, made of a square section of carbon fibre profile, to which the engine system (motor and gearbox), the electronic speed control ("ESC"), the flight battery, the radio control receiver, and servos are attached. The tail fin and stabiliser are glued and/or bolted to the fuselage. Finally, the wing is attached with rubber bands to make it detachable and more crash-resistant.

The wing is made of foam and is reinforced along the leading and trailing edges with glass-reinforced plastic (GRP or fibreglass) rods, giving a light and relatively crash-resistant wing. The

stock wing has a fairly high dihedral and a pronounced airfoil shape, meaning it is designed for generating high lift at low speed, but will generate a lot of drag as speed increases.

The fin and stabiliser are made from sheet foam, so are of non-aerofoil construction, with comparably large control surfaces hinged using plastic tape. The control surfaces are actuated using traditional piano-wire push rods from the two servos.

SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions and loadings

Length: 954 mm (37.6 inches) Wingspan: 1176 mm (46.3 inches)

Flying weight: 405-440g (14.3-15.5 oz)

Wing loading 12.4-13.5g/dm2 (4.0-4.4 oz/sq.ft)

Control Surfaces

Elevator: yes, tail Rudder: yes, tail

Ailerons: no

Power system

Motor: GWS EPS300c / GWS EPS400C ESC: GWS ICS-300 / GWS ICS-400

Propeller: GWS EP 1180 / GWS EP7035

Battery: 7.2V, 400+ mAh

Radio equipment

Minimum channels: 2, recommended: 3+ Servos: 2 x Pico/Naro/Mini

FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE

The Slow Stick relies on its rudder for horizontal control and the elevator for vertical control. There are no ailerons for banking so rudder input which causes the outside wing in a turn to "fly faster" than the inside wing and generate more lift, raises that side of the wing and banks the

aircraft. Once the rudder input is returned to neutral, the dihedral ensures the plane automatically returns to level flight.

The stock motor is mounted perfectly in line with the fuselage, meaning there's a fair amount of torque effect which requires trim changes to compensate for different throttle settings. It is fairly common for pilots to modify the motor mount to address this (see modifications, below)

The plane can be either hand-launched or take off from hard ground and, once in the air, responds very well to control inputs at medium throttle settings in level flight.

Climb performance is adequate and the stall characteristics very docile, especially when the centre of gravity is set around the forward range of 95mm-105mm from the leading edge of the wing, as recommended for learner pilots. The plane is not able to hover using a stock motor.

The large control surfaces mean it is possible to overcontrol the aircraft and there are reports of the wing failing or "folding" as a result of overcontrolling at high speeds, especially dives.

COMPONENTS

6 Channel Mini Receiver Type : Dimensions:51.3*36.3*16.8mm 

Products description: Type: FM Channels: 6 Include BAT: + 5V Demodulation type: frequency demodulation Intermediate frequency: 455KHZ Frequency: 35MHz/36Mhz/40Mhz/72Mhz Weight: 15g Dimensions: 50*24*15mm Current Drain: 11.5mA Color: Dark green ANT Length: 100cm Certificate: CE,FCC,RoHS

GWS ICS- 300 Li Electronic Speed Controller

Specificatons:

Dimensions: 25.5 x 12.5 x 9.0 mm (1.0 x 0.49 x 0.35 in) Weight: 4 g (0.14 oz) without Wire; 14 g (o.49 oz) with Wire

Heat Sink: 12 x 21 x 6 mm (0.47 x 0.83 x 0.24 in); 2 g (0.07 oz)

Auto cut off: 5.4&8.1 V

BEC: 1.2 A @ 5 V

Reset: Full Throttle Down

Continuous Current: 8 A/15 A Max (Used with Heat Sink)

Batteries: 2 to 3 cells (Li-Poly) (6.0 to 9.0 V)

GWS Slow Fly EP 1260 12x6 orange(Propeller)

EPS-400C-IS/BB Motor W/Gearbox (6.30:1) & Spinner

Diameter of motor case: 1.1" (27.70mm) Length of case behind spinner: 0.87" (22mm) Distance from spinner to case: 0.80" (20.3mm) Distance from pinion to prop shaft: 0.70" (17.6mm) Length from top of case to bottom of case: 1.8" (47mm) Weight: 3.3oz (295g)

Thunder Power 2100mAh 3-Cell 11.1V LIPO,16GA

4-pin balancer connector 16G wire 15C (31.5A) continuous

Type: Lithium Polymer Capacity: 2100 mAh Voltage: 11.1V nominal Connector Type: N/A Wire Gauge: 16 Number of Cells: 3 Weight: 5.0 oz Configuration: 3S Dimensions (WxLxH): 1.35 x 3.9 x 1.0 Maximum Continuous Discharge : 15C Maximum Burst Discharge : 20C Maximum Continuous Current : 31.5A

Tower Pro Micro Servo 9g

Specifications: Dimensions: 22*11.5*27mm Stall torque 1.2kg/cm

Operating speed 0.12sec/60degree(4.8v)

Operating voltage 4.2-6V

Temperature Range: -30 to +60 Degree C

Dead Band Width: 7used

Futaba FF10CG 10 Channel TX w/8C RX

Specification

8 Programmable Mixes (4 linear/ (4) w/5-point curves) 9 Factory-Defined Mixes: Elevator-Flap; Ailvator (for dual elevator servos); Throttle-Needle; Aileron Differential; Flaperon; V-Tail; Elevon; Snap Roll; and Air Brake w/elevator delay Dual/Triple rates (4 ch.) Exponential (4 ch.) Idle down Throttle cut Throttle delay Throttle Hold & Idle-up w/delay 2 independent gyro settings 7-point throttle curve Flap trim