Great Planes Spectra

SPECIFICATIONS

• Wingspan: 78.5 in
• Wing Area: 676 sq in
• Weight: 48 oz
• Wing Loading: 10 oz/sq ft
• Fuselage Length: 39.25 in
• Motor: Goldfire 550
• Channels: 4: Throttle, Elevator, Rudder, Camera
• Camera: Kodak DC-20
• Currant Status: Still in the Hanger/Still Flyable?

This is my Spectra, it is an electric Sail plane. This was the first kit I actually built. The plane is equipped with an older Hitec SP-1801N BEC Speed Controller and uses the stock direct drive gold fire 550 motor. Power is supplied by a 6 cell 2000 Sanyo pack. I haven’t really done much thermal flying with it, I use to it for mostly taking Aerial Photos. I used a Kodak Dc-20 Digital Camera (which was high tech at the time) that was attached with Velcro to either the side of the plane or under the wing . The camera was connected by means of a special controller that plugged into the receiver which kept the weight down over using another servo. Total weight of the camera and controller was about 5 ounces. Pictures were taking with the use of a spare channel on your radio. The camera could only take 8 pictures at a time but at least I didn’t have to buy film and have it developed every time. Its not even worth using anymore by today’s standards.

The climb rate is slow and steady and I only get a little over 5 minutes of powered flight which is plenty for what I use this plane for. I’ve been told performance can be increased with the use of a better motor/gearbox combo but as of right now I’m happy with its overall performance.

The only real downside of this plane other than being a little heavy is, its prone to tip stall at slow speeds. After the first few flights you can tell when its going to happen and prevent it by keeping it flying flat and the airspeed up. Other than that it makes a good stable platform for aerial Photography.

The Kodak DC-10 – One of the first Digital Cameras, it held a whopping 8 pictures on high res. which was 640 x 480.

Camera Pictures

The pictures are a far cry from today’s standards that’s for sure.

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