Aviation Models 43% Giles G202 Build

[DKjens]

I’ve been flying my MA 37% Yak quite a bit. It’s set up for 3D, a bit rearward CG, mega throws on all surfaces, small 30” prop for good throttle response and “out of the hole” speed. Then I got a new engine, which I mounted in my old Fiberclassics 3.0m Extra, for run in purposes. For running these engines in I believe in getting as much fuel (at least 10 gallons) through them with run in oil (Lawnboy Ashless) as quick as possible. I don’t like to do much 3D during this process, and 3D doesn’t burn fuel very fast. I do it by doing a bunch of IMAC style flying; the engine moves at a nice rate of speed 99% of the time so the engine gets good cooling, everything is done fairly high and with good speed so any deadstick is easy to bring in.

So I started burning some fuel in this Extra, practicing point rolls, slow rolls, positive and negative snaps and all that other IMAC stuff. I really started liking it; I liked how your fingers start remembering the positions on the sticks to give just the right amount of rudder or down elevator to make your four point rolls look good, etc. etc.

Well, I had this strong and good running 3W140TOC engine sitting here, a bunch of HS5995TG servos and Fromeco batteries, so I decided to look for a plane that I would set up for IMAC only. I contacted Sammy Lee to see if we couldn’t give his 43% Giles G202 some exposure by doing a build thread and a review. We all know that MA’s Yaks have been moving like sliced bread and it is by far the most popular airplane in the MA hangar. The 42% Extra 330 has also received very positive critique from the people acquiring this plane, but I don’t recall having read anything about the 43% Giles G202. I really like the covering scheme on the big Yak and hey, the rudder has the US flag on it. So Sammy and I worked out the little details and got a BIG Giles shipped out to me, thank you Sammy.

Like the previous two airplanes I’ve bought from MA, the 40% and the 37% Yak 54, the 43% Giles is packed impeccably. Again, four individual and very sturdy cardboard boxes with parts inside a sturdy wood crate. And the foresight by MA to mount lengths of 2”x4” under the crate, so forklifts can easily get under it, is commemorable.

I went to Forward Air by LAX on a Friday evening to pick it up. The crate fit on its side in my Tahoe, just sticking out the back a little. Another advantage to MA’s packing is that you can put the crate on its side without fearing any shifting of the parts inside and damage to follow. Once back home I unpacked and inspected the parts and everything looked good.

I put the fuse on my worktable, which I had spent a considerable amount of time to clear off (my worktable just morphs into a table of litter in no time).

As you can see, the covering is impeccable; not a wrinkle and at this time no need to get the iron or heat gun out.

This Giles is from the first shipment arriving to the US, and the fuse does not have a pipe tunnel incorporated. I have a set of mufflers for my 3W engine so that really doesn’t matter to me.

The inside of the fuse is your normal, to be expected from MA, high quality wood structure and great workmanship. Beautifully laser cut lite ply and assembled using just the right amounts of glue.

[DKjens]

The first step is mounting the main gear, the wheel pants and the wheels. Everything lined up perfect, the gear bolts onto the support with four bolts. The wheel pants already have a reinforcement plate glued to the inside for mounting to the gear. Everything went smooth and it didn’t take long to get the fuse on its feet.

[DKjens]

I proceeded to mount the engine. At first I had visions of standing the fuse on its tail, resting the engine on the firewall, mounting the cowl, lining the engine up, removing the cowl and marking for mounting holes. But this fuse is large, I don’t have a banister or staircase to hang it from, and I don’t have a 9’ ladder, so I always find that procedure a bit nerve wrecking. I mounted the bottom cowl, then the top cowl and lined the front of the cowl up with each other to get a perfect fit with my 5” spinner (back plate). With just the bottom cowl installed, I just held the engine in place against the firewall, slid the spinner back plate onto the prop shaft and lined it up with the cowl. I marked the two top mounting holes and removed engine and cowl. I just drilled the two top mounting holes first and mounted the engine with only two bolts. This way, if the placement was off, I could correct with the bottom mounting holes and enlarge the top holes to allow for the slight correction. With the engine mounted with the two bolts, I mounted the bottom cowl again and then the top cowl. The spinner back plate lined up perfectly with the front of the two cowl halves. I measured how much the engine needed to be spaced from the firewall for the spinner back plate to just clear the cowl. I marked for the bottom mounting holes and removed the engine. I am just using some ¼” Allen head bolts, washers, fender washers, some aluminum backers from other stand offs I had laying around, and nuts to mount the engine, here is the result:

Below you can see the distance needs to be 7-5/8” from firewall to prop driver.

[HighRoller]

I'd like to know how it flies. I don't know much about the Giles airframe itself. Great looking airplane.

[DKjens]

I proceeded to mark the bottom cowl for the muffler cut outs and to cut slots for cooling air to exit. After cutting the slots for the cooling air exit I found the cowl to be a little flimsy and was afraid vibrations or air pressure would rip the remaining fiberglass apart, so I Epoxied in some ¼” balsa stringers:

The below photo also shows how I’ve drilled the sides of the cowl for joining screws, which keep the two cowl halves together, a standard way to join two piece cowls. I am using 4-40 screws with reversed blind nuts glued to the inside bottom cowl with Epoxy and milled fibers. This photo is a bit out of focus, but shows the blind nuts glued in:

After the Epoxy had dried I mounted the cowl for a last test and slid the spinner on for a fit check, it all came out very nice.

[SUPERFLYJAY]

hats off to Sammy and crew again another work of art its amazing how well the covering is done and the great match on the cowl. as usual construction looks awesome. Jeeum just finished my 37.5 yak up today and said everything fit perfectly and was well constructed, cant wait to fly it. Good luck with the giles it looks great

[DKjens]

The top of the engine box is not glued in place. I anticipate mounting all batteries up in the engine box to get CG forward for IMAC, so I wanted to make the top lid removable. The engine box is built very sturdy, and with a regular 140-150cc engine I doubt I’ll have any structural issues going this way. I cut some mounting blocks out of some hardwood and mounted them to the inside of the engine box side walls.

I mounted the top lid and I mounted the ignition to the top lid, so far so good.

[DKjens]

Next I attacked the canopy and canopy frame. As with all canopies, one has to be very careful when cutting and trimming these. It’s very easy to make them crack. I have found that making sure the material is nice and warm before taking the scissors to them helps. So if you live in a sunny place, leave the canopy in the sun for a while first (does not apply to Arizona, Texas and Florida). Of course one should use discretion and good sense, I am just saying, that cutting the canopy if it is below around 75F is probably not good. I trimmed the canopy and got it ready for attaching to canopy frame. I used the special canopy glue to attach the canopy. I first taped of the area on the fuse where the canopy frame would mount up against. Then mounted the canopy frame to the fuse with all four bolts to keep it in alignment. I then spread the glue onto the canopy frame and lowered the canopy onto the frame/glue. I taped the canopy down to keep it aligned and to keep contact between canopy and frame.

[Dhanni]

DKjens, how is she fly? I have another Giles300 2 6% with engine YS140FZ so wild, i thought my mine is so little and need more bigger plane. How about yours?
Thanks and great plane there..

[cloudshaker]

Let us know the all up weight when you're finished. Thanks

[Dennis C]

Looks like this thread fizzled out

[gdavisjr69]

Any updates on the plane? Was it finished and flown? Weight by chance, flying characteristics?

Thanks,

Gerry