Mark's RC Van's RV-4

I have always wanted to build a full size airplane or gyrocopter. If you have not visited other parts of my web page you may not know it but I'm a licensed pilot with a 1950 Cessna 170A. I also just happen to live less than a ten minute's flight from the Van's Aircraft facility. That places Van's aircraft at the top of my list of possible builds. Last month I decided to tour the Van's facility and have set a goal of starting a kit within five years. I'm also hoping to finish the kit within five years of that so hopefully in ten years I will have an airplane that I built with my own hands. I'm thinking about the RV-7 but it will be a while before I can afford to start so I could easily change my mind.

In the mean time I have decided to build an RC-RV. Originally I had planned on building one from scratch based on the dimensions found on Van's web page. However, after spending six months scratch building the flap wing for my Telemaster I decided I wanted to build a kit. I didn't want to spend over $100 and the only one I could find was once again at Stevens Aero Model. This will be my second kit from Steven's. They build great kits that are more like puzzles as everything snaps/fits together requiring no cutting. Although it is easier and quicker to build, it is also not as much fun. They didn't have an RV-7 but they do have an RV-4. So, I decided to purchase it.

It took about two weeks of off and on evenings to build. The kit must be a few years old as it is not designed for a brushless motor so I had to build a custom motor mount. I also installed larger wheels as I fly off rough grass. Other than that I pretty much followed the instructions in the kit.

I will let you know how it flies once I take it out. Both my wife and daughter like the look of this plane.

It took longer than it should have for me to finish construction of my RV-4. Shortly after the above photo was taken I became interested in foam planes and my RV was set aside. After building a half dozen foam planes I decided to return to balsa. I'm actually pretty excited to see how it flies. I hope to take it up for its maiden flight tomorrow.

A friend who has a lot of kids was looking at my just completed RV-4 and commented about the lack of a pilot. I told him I had been looking for something but the figures at the local hobby shop were not the correct size and were kind of spendy. He recommended going to the department store and get an action figure like Spiderman or something. This turned out to be an excellent idea. Following is a picture of my $6 pilot - Woody.

My first flight did not go as planned as can be seen from the following photo. I had setup my radio with reduced throws of 50% along with -35% expo. However, I still had way too much aileron throw. I suspect my problem was that the RV has a much shorter wingspan than my other models allowing for quicker rolls. The ailerons are much smaller than on my Shaft but it seems to roll much quicker. Anyway, as soon as I got it up I realized I had a problem. (I also had a slight rear CG due to my battery selection which was probably a mistake for a maiden flight.) The plane would quickly roll over with just the slightest aileron. I decided to bring it in on my first pass around the field. As I turned base however it rolled over and entered a spin hitting the ground in a nose down attitude. My motor mount was driven into the fuselage destroying the cowling in the process. I can order a new cowl for $12 but I might see if I can't build one from scratch first. This will also give me an opportunity to modify the battery box for a more forward CG.

Woody was not not hurt in the crash because he was too much of a chicken to take the RV up for its maiden flight - something about not liking the rear CG.

That was ironic about this crash was that I was pretty sure I had become a good enough pilot that I would not be crashing this plane for years. Not only did I crash this one but I also flew my foam biplane into a tree, crashed my foam Extra 300 while flying with a camera taped to the tail, and landed hard after stalling my F-22 while flying slow low to the ground. All within one hour! The moral is as soon as you think you are done crashing LOOK OUT!