FEATURES: Performs Sustained Knife-Edge Flights Crisp 4-Point Rolls and Gentle Slow Maneuvers Easy to Build Interlocking Construction Instructions for Installing the Optional Retracts Can be Built with Taildragger or Trike Landing Gear
INCLUDES: All Wood to Build the Kit, Photo Illustrated Instructions, Full Size Rolled Plans, Clear Canopy, Adjustable Nylon Engine Mount, Pre-Bent Wire Landing Gear, Fiberglass Cloth, Hardware Package and Pushrods.
REQUIRES: Engine: .40-.45 (2-stroke) or .60-.70 (4-stroke) Radio: 4 to 5 Channel Covering: Two 6-Foot Rolls Misc. Items: One 10oz Fuel Tank and Fuel Tubing, Two 2 1/2" Treaded Wheels, One 1" Tailwheel, One 2 1/4" Spinner, Wheel Collars, Foam Rubber, and Assorted Building and Field Equipment.
I liked that Ultra Sport (the one that I lost in a mid-air with TJ a couple weeks ago). I just so happened to have an open workbench, having completed my 14 month P-51 kit project. So I hemmed and hawed about what kit (or ARF) to build to replace the lost Ultra Sport, and there was only one plane I really felt like building...an Ultra Sport. (I also considered Hangar 9 Ultra Stick ARF, but with them jacking the price from $129 to $179 in the last few months, I won't give them my business, plus I just wanted to build something)
The kit arrived on Tuesday and I started on it yesterday. So far I have the tail feathers complete and both wing halves framed up and the epoxy to join the two halves together is drying as I type. I was very close to adding retracts (in fact I ordered them and they're on the workbench) but decided I didn't want to deal with them so soon after working with them on the Mustang. Plus this is meant to be a fun sport plane, not a headache...I don't know how well any retracts could stand up to some full speed touch-and-goes.
I was also originally planning to power this with a YS .45 with a tuned pipe, but again to avoid any unnecessary complexities, I'll put a trusty Webra .50 in it and place the .46 I had in the last Ultra Sport in the Four Star Forty (or Four Star Foh as Frits calls it) that currently has the Webra.
Just came in from glassing the center section of the wing. Tomorrow I'll work on the wingtips and then it's on to the fuselage. It's going real quick since I'm not straying from the plans at all. I did decide to use two aileron servos so I didn't have to monkey with any annoying torque rods, but other than that it's pretty much right as the instructions call it.
The wing needs the wingtips and belly pan shaped, then it'll be ready for final sanding and covering. Need to get to thinking about a covering scheme I can do with the dozen partial rolls of Monokote I already have.
Got the fuselage box framed up last night; no pictures though. Tonight I should be able to get the firewall in and maybe mount the wing to the fuse. I also prepared the fuel tank. In doing so, I had to cut the brass tubes down using a Dremel tool w/cutoff wheel. Remember, safety first!
The pilot who survived the last Ultra Sport's mid-air is very anxious to get back in a plane. He's constantly in the way, but I manage to work around him. First the formers: Then a large block of balsa wood: Then some shaving (I found that my razor plane is badly in need of a new blade): And finally sanding: Next up is a similar bout of shaving and sanding to make the nose/cowl sections. Stay tuned. Installed the firewall, tail surface pushrod tubes, fuselage bottom sheeting, and wing dowels last night. I'll drill and tap the blocks for the wing mount this afternoon, as well as get the tank compartment fuel proofed and ready for the tank to go in. Next up after that is to start constructing the turtle deck and then the cowl (a.k.a. lots and lots of carving and sanding).
I do have a razor plane and it comes in extremely handy. Especially on a kit like this where the cowl/wingtips/belly pan/turtle deck are all shaped out of balsa blocks. 
Another suggestion for anyone forced to whittle a wingtip out of a solid brick of balsa: buy a band saw! I bought a $99 band saw at Lowe's when I was building my Decathlon just for that purpose. All you have to do is trace the outline of the last wing rib and cut it out with the band saw, and that takes out about 60% of the sanding/carving work.
Put a nose on the fuselage today: And then started carving it down to shape: 
Need to re-mount the engine with the spinner backplate to sand it down even further to match up with the spinner, then I'll move on to the belly pan. And those wingtips are still taunting me too...and the fuselage/wing fillets...and the tail fillets...
I might cover an aileron or something tomorrow just so I can say I started covering the plane already.
The sanding continues!
Here you can see the belly pan pieces glued on. I've planed them down since taking this picture and have some filler on them waiting to dry.
Wingtips are ready for final sanding. The right tip is only tack glued to the wing in case I need to hollow it out a bit for lateral balance:
Also have the tail fillets sanded to shape.
Right now there is some 1/4" balsa tack glued where the horizontal and vertical stabs will be:
Once that filler dries I can get the belly pan shaped, then I have to do the dreaded wing fillets. I hate those things...especially covering them.
I have the belly pan mostly to shape now.
Added some more filler for a few low spots and it should be ready for final sanding.
The nose section is pretty much done to shape too. Since this picture I've also cut the necessary access holes to tighten down the muffler bolts.
The wing fillets in process. The kit includes the flat fillet bottom.
It's then left up to the builder to build up the fillet as they see fit. I use some balsa triangle stock to fill up some of the space, then add wood filler. This worked pretty well on the Mustang, though I lost my patience when it came to covering them. Maybe I'll do better this time around....maybe.
Here's the cutout that was left when I removed the scrap balsa that was in place while shaping the tail fillets.
And then the tail feathers have been glued in. The sharpie pen was a tool utilized to add the precise amount of weight needed for the stab to dry perfectly level. This building stuff is an exact science.
It's getting there! Once the filler all hardens up I'll sand down those wing fillets (then probably have to fill and sand about five more times), and once that's done I should be able to mount the radio equipment and engine for a quick lateral balance check, hollow the right wing tip as necessary, and give it a once over sanding before moving on to the covering.
Not an exact scheme decided on just yet, but I'm leaning towards using a mix of metallic green, white, and metallic plum. Perhaps an all green bottom, then a white base on top and on the fuselage with green and plum for the accents? Maybe I'll throw some gold trim tape in somewhere. I am worried that with too much purple and green it might look like The Joker from Batman, so the top will probably be more white than green/purple.
Well, the fillets only took one extra filling and sanding, so I'm pretty pleased with that. I used regular old Elmer's wood filler instead of the hobbylite or balsalite or whatever other junk I had used in the past. I don't know if there's a real difference, but I liked this stuff better.
Did the lateral balance thing, and after hollowing out the right wing tip a bit it was still heavy to the right side. I don't own any normal lead weights, as I've only actually had to add weight to a plane once or twice in 14 years of building. But it just so happened that the weight of two of these nuts I had lying around was about right. I cored out a little groove in the left wingtip with my Dremel and a sanding drum and epoxied them in place.
This put the lateral balance right where I wanted it.
And finally, though it feels like I'm missing something, I think it's actually ready to cover. Well, final sand and then cover, but yeah, the building process is done.
I also installed the servo rails in the fuselage with the elevator, rudder, and throttle servos, but no picture of that.
I might get around to some of the sanding in the next couple of days, but more than likely the major covering work will wait until Monday or so.
Most of the covering is complete and I've started tidying up some final details. I want to go over some of the seams again with the iron to make sure they're sealed up tight before some fuel gets under them. Might even try that Monokote trim solvent that I've never used before, who knows. Other than that I need to cover and glue on the triangle stock underneath the horizontal stab.
All servos are in, engine is in, throttle linkage run. Need to install the tank, set up the tail pushrods and aileron pushrods, then add some decent wheels. The last decision is whether to paint the cockpit and install the canopy clear, or to just paint the canopy black. Leaning towards painting it black.
Here's a finished picture, courtesy of Frits:
I've not yet taken any myself with the canopy on. I'm very pleased with the look of the blacked out canopy though.
Justin and Andy think the fuselage needs more color other than the green strip down the top and the solid green bottom. I kind of like it as is, but I'm thinking about possible additions.
The first flight was mostly successful. The plane had a pretty serious tendency to want to roll to the left after takeoff. I haven't built a plane that out of trim in years. The plane was balanced laterally, and if anything was left just a bit heavy on the right side. It's possibly I built in a little bit of a wing warp, and/or my two elevator halves aren't quite even or some other variable. Wasn't able to do too much troubleshooting on other flights though, as the back half of my Webra 50's muffler started trying to come loose. I'll get that fixed and be back out with it next week. Speed is just about right.
I was able to get a few more flights in today, so I decided I could go ahead with my official report.
The plane still had a tendency to want to roll to the left after I set the ailerons back to neutral. I'm convinced this is likely a result of my split elevator halves not being quite even with each other. There may also be a slight warp in the wing or something of that nature, but it's not enough to worry about as I was able to trim the airplane just fine with a few clicks of aileron.
This plane is easily much faster than my previous Ultra Sport. I wish someone had a radar gun just so I'd know how fast it actually is. The Webra .50 pulls it around without breaking a sweat. It'll hover at half throttle, and vertical performance is unlimited. I could still stand for it to have a little bit faster roll rate and a little more rudder as well, so there's still some tweaking to do. Overall though I'm very happy with the airplane.
I give this kit two thumbs up. If I catch wind that Great Planes is ever going to discontinue it (again), I'll have to pick up an extra kit to keep on the shelf as a backup.