ModelAero Showcase

by FliteTest | May 1, 2015 | (11) Posted in Reviews

We had the chance to do some flying on the water with the Aqua Cat and Polaris, kit airplanes from ModelAero.com

The Polaris seaplane parkflyer and the Aqua Cat kits are made from depron sheets and come with these high quality sticker schemes.

Before the maiden, we discovered a faulty servo.  Repairing it meant cutting into the hull of the aircraft.  A simple angled cut keeps the piece from falling through and speeds repair. (Another great tip from Alan!)

Mornings are often the best time to fly from the water.  No wind, boats, or swimmers! 

Flying amphibians can can be intimidating.  The Polaris and the Aqua Cat were a blast both on and off the water. We loved keeping them on the water while driving them around like speed boats.

Every episode has to have a near miss, right!?

Big bird.

Aerobatics were a breeze with both the Polaris and the Aqua Cat.

The Mobius was very useful in capturing different angles.  We used tape over the buttons and connectors to make it more water resistant.

Steve Shumate is the designer of both the Polaris and the Aqua Cat depron kit versions. He is truly passionate about these aircrafts and he was a delight to spend time with and hear more about his airplane designs.

We flew both water planes with the recommended power set-ups from ModelAero.com

Learn more about these great water planes at: ModelAero.com 

Keeping the heat sink of the ESC exposed is a great way to reduce heat from aircrafts that need to be sealed.

Alan's power set-up was quite large and he showed us some easy mods to strengthen the tail of his Polaris

Alan also used a tray divider from his tacklebox/ toolbox to make a useful window to see his receiver.

He used a keel to protect the belly of his polaris while racing it on the ground.

Magnets to the cover and a custom lower tray are another great mod that Alan did to personalize his seaplane.

Steve has a great trick to provide the same protection with simple plastic folders cut and glued to the belly.

We want to thank Alan Bruce for inviting us out to his house to fly with him and taking the time to share his experience and tips with his Polaris.

These are great airplane kits and a blast to fly on and off the water. We hope you get some time to check them out! We also want to thank Steve from ModelAero.com for offering a discount to everyone who supports Flite Test! You can use the coupon code: flitetest and receive 10% off your purchase. CLICK HERE 

COMMENTS

raydar on May 4, 2015
Excellent episode! I was most recently looking at the Polaris on the parkjets.com website, they state that free ( donation requested) plans are available for download. If you find yourself economically challenged, check it out. http://www.parkjets.com/free-plans/?currentPage=4
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wolverin0309 on May 4, 2015
Wow! i had lots of fun! i love the water, so i think when i get there, this will be my plane for sure....
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Ano Pilot on May 4, 2015
imho THIS is what it's all about. Brilliant.
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raydar on May 4, 2015
InvertedG, please share with the rest of us, exactly what you did to waterproof dollar tree foam board sufficiently to withstand water operations. My understanding is, that depron is closed cell but Adams foam board is open cell, am I mistaken?
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Bayboos on May 5, 2015
In DTFB/Adams FB the foam itself is waterproof. The paper covering isn't. DTFB foam core is less stiff than depron; it gets it's stiffness from the covering. In most applications using the foam core itself is not enough; that's why you can't afford to get it wet and loose the covering. The paper covering on wet DTFB will fall off midair and the plane will crash (most likely) due to insufficient control authority or unexpected response.

But if you remove the paper before building the plane and make it stiffer using other means (i.e. carbon/wood reinforcements) you can build it waterproof and perfectly flyable without any other covering.

InvertedG already said he/she removed the paper and used two layers of DTFB core for the wings; I believe this plus some carbon (as specified in the plans) is enough to make it a decent plane.
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raydar on May 5, 2015
Bayboos thank you for that explanation.I guess I'll have to re-examine the Adams foam board more closely. I had visions of each little open cell sponging up water till the whole plane became a heavy, waterlogged, unflyable mess.
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Bayboos on May 5, 2015
I work moslty with depron foam (it's readily available here, for a reasonable price); and I still have left-overs from the Storch kit. Comparing both types of foam (paperless) next to each other you can barely see the difference. Using magnifying glass you can tell that DTFB have bigger cells; that's why (mainly) depron foam is stiffer, but heavier. But the structure is almost identical.

The outermost cells do in fact take some water; but the cells are tiny and "sealed inside". The water collected on the surface is not enough to bring the plane down. Even if for some reason some of the surface cells are not sealed, there are still quite a few more cells on the way trough the foam - one of them will stop the water. You would have to be really unfortunate to get the leak without phisically damaging the foam.
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raydar on May 5, 2015
Bayboos, thanks for the through analysis on my question of concern. I had thought that foam board derived it's lightness by being of the airy, open cell styrofoam type of construction. Similar to the type of foam used by florists in their displays, which is also of extreme low density as well as being a water sponge.
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jjtan on May 6, 2015
Hi! Im 15 yr old frm Singapore i used to fly flight simulators and im perfect at them .
I am trying to find a good plane for me is the ^^^ plane suitable?
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GluedFingers on May 15, 2015
JJTan,

I would build this but not fly this as my first plane. I would try building the FT Delta, FT Duster or the FT Tiny Trainer that just came out. Look back at some of the old videos. Even might want to try the FT Nutball. Check out the getting started section. If you listen to the podcast, a repeated theme is how people took out a plane over their heads for the first flight and failed over and over again. No doubt about it you will fail but better with something easier to fly and rebuild. However this plane does look awesome I hope you do build it and eventually do fly it but with some time on some simpler planes first.

All three of those guys are superb pilots. Even though Josh tends to crash a lot. I think that is why his building skills are so good from rebuilding all his crashed planes so many times. LOL

Good luck and happy flying.

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Tom123 on May 4, 2015
Ft Foam soon?
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Willsonman on May 4, 2015
Polaris plans were originally intended to be free...
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=922465
Built one and flew it over 200 times before I had to retire it. Fantastic plane. Super easy to build. Very stable at high alpha... surprised they did not cover that. It is super stable at fast and slow. I actually used Adams foam board without the paper. Used two layers for the wings. That is all.
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Gravitysucks on May 5, 2015
My Polaris had been laying arround in my mountain cabin for a couple of years until I took it out for a testrun two months ago. Taking off from the snow on the frozen lake I was just blown away how this thing flies. No trim at all and it flies steady as a rock. The 2200 combined with the flight charcteristics makes it possible to gracefully float arround in the air near idle, as well as doing a screaming fast lowpass that stirs up the snow behind it.
If you Google 'how much fun is it possible have?', the answer will be Polaris ;)
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masive duster builder on August 9, 2015
can you make plans?
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NorCal on July 31, 2015
Would anyone have Alan's contact info? Thanks
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kyle mast 2002 on January 15, 2018
flite test please make tiled plans for this plane
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ModelAero Showcase