Funkey Cap 232 from J. Perkins.                  

Intro:

Here we go again another ARTF!

Will it be different from all the rest? The not to be missed box was impressive. It came in an outer corrugated sleeve with a full colour cardboard box for shop shelf display inside. I never have been good at packing and a good guide to me is if I can’t get all the bits back they must have been packed well. This Cap was no exception. First impressions were of the stunning quality of the finished paintwork and probably the canopy is the best I have ever had. The latter even came with spray painted border! The instruction book must have taken ages it covers every aspect of the model in both words and pictures. So having pulled all the bits out best I get started.

Bits out:

So I was more than happy with the paintwork as good as the best. The usual wood problem seemed to be there, as in heavy! The first ARTF manufacturer that manages to buy and use good quality balsa as apposed to oak is going to be streets ahead. Most models in this category are starting to try and lighten their models with holes but starting with the correct materials would be much better. The finish of the model is also high and I think the model is covered in Monocote. I decided to re-iron the whole model as one example at Sandown was looking a little wrinkly. I felt that an hours work was worth the effort as the test day was very warm and no signs of sagging on mine. I have had this problem with my own models, it seems to be change of location, pressure or general weather has an adverse effect on the covering. I covered a show model for Weston UK a couple of years back and to my horror when we arrived in Nuremberg (very cold) it had gone wrinkly. So a quick iron solved the problem.

The build:

Not much to do really I think the model is over engineered but all is well done. A nice touch is the dovetailed blocks that carry the undercarriage. They have obviously learnt from the Kyosho cap, which is prone to breakout here. If you have built an ARTF "Anything" the build is the same for all of them. If you haven’t then really all you are doing is installing the motor, radio and plumbing the tank. A very nice stearable tail wheel has to be assembled and all the flying surface’s must be hinged and fitted. I dumped the plastic pin hinges in favour of furry Mylar but I used all the other fittings as supplied. Once the servos are all in the rods horns and clevises can all be aligned and fitted. Screw the undercarriage on and fit the top-notch spats and you are almost there.

Motor choice:

My Cap weighs a tad under 7lbs. So a 60 will not be ozone-heading power but would be more than enough to power the plane. Giles had a YS 91 in his and put the servos for rudder and elevator at the back thinking the motor weight would be balanced off. He would also gain direct surface control. Good idea but wrong. Sorry Giles but I was glad I had seen yours first. I decided to plump for a 90 2 stroke and use the servo positions as recommended by the manufacture. Most of the 90 size motors are bored out 60 units so there is little in the way of extra weight for the big increase in power. My choice and a good one I think is the O.S. 91 swings an APC 15" x 8" prop @ 9,400 rpm and with its very effective baffled exhaust is a club friendly unit (very quiet). The only down side was I had to make an extension from motor to the silencer body to clear the fuzz. A nice throttle pipe would always be an option. The tank is huge (should have saved this with the mount for the 20\23)J , so duration will never be a problem.

Motor mount and cowl:

I mounted the motor on a Weston quiet mount, which actually weighed 60 grams than the monster pair of brackets supplied. Even if I had not gone the soft mount route I would have dumped the bearers @ 100grams (nearly 4 ozs) for the pair I will save them for a S.T.20\23!!

The best bit on the whole model is the cowl what a work of art. The lay-up construction is faultless and the paint job is as good as my best work. Difference is they are achieving this standard every time and my Sebino cowl took me approx 15 hours. Which is less than the Funkey Cap took to assemble ready to fly! The monster book of instructions (fourteen sheets of words and nine sheets of diagrams) has a weird diagram at this point I haven’t bothered to find out whose idea it was but its crazy!! The sketch shows a bent piece of piano wire bolted to the motor mount, which is then secured to the cowl. You have got to be kidding! Not only would this little gem of an idea be hard to achieve it will rip your cowl to pieces. I just used the standard self-tappers supplied into the fuzz. Having got that off my chest the cowl is cavernous and swallowed my 91 with no cut out save the whole for my glow stick. There is ample pre-cut air intake at the front so all you must make sure of is you have even MORE at the back underneath to let it out! I cut a huge "D" shape out (which doesn’t show) from the underside.

Balancing and set-up:

I mentioned earlier that Giles had bolted the YS 91fz (great motor but heavy) and opted to fit servos in the tail end, good idea but this model is not very CG tolerant and is in my mind a bit to heavy for its size. Having to add lead to the cowl because the servos are in the back is not a good idea and just makes the models weight go up and increases its flick momentum. In these days of high throws, loads of exponential and rearward C.G settings a word of warning this one will bite back. Follow the instructions stick to the throws shown (I know they look small) but trust me start there. I was lucky and had access to feed back from good pilots early on. With what I had in mind the first flight could have been interesting!

Finished:

Took all of about 15 hours ish! I have to knock time off for looking round my fleapit of a work shop for bits and for making the extension for the exhaust. This latter item is available pre-made try Just engines if you follow my routeJ . The ally under carriage is also sprayed, nice touch but I left some raw fuel on mine and it pickled a leg so watch for that. The cowl and spats seem un affected. The sprung linked tail wheel works well and I had great fun driving my Cap around in the garden sad but true (I don’t get out much you know)! I was trying to check the motor was tiptop never need to worry much with an OS.

Flying:

Headcorn was the venue seeing as my man on the sticks Dave (boy) Stephens was pretending to have packed it all in (he will be back). I was in need of a photographer. I do like to act the David Bailey now and then but when the shoe is on the other foot and you must fly for the old box brownie you realise just how good the "Boy" is. So a very hot steamy Sunday morning was chosen and I was to meet the big cheese himself young master Ashby. As usual he arrived (late) and after a brief fly with my Capiche 120 the big G and I were ready to do battle! Fuelled and checked it was out to the patch for the static shots. No problems there. I had in the back of my mind all the comments from the show pilots and was more than wary that an interesting flight could take place! I have to be objective here as I have been flying my Majestic and Capiche 120 so much lately that the drop back down to a higher loaded smaller toy like the Cap was going to cloud my judgement. First thing of note was my total trust in the OS 91 both reliable and quiet. She started as the glow fell off less than half a turn. I was a little concerned when I asked the big G to hold the model aloft so I could check the needle setting that the power would not carry young Ashby airborne! Sure is a powerful piece of kit that OS. A virgin flying site a brand new model and a demanding photographer were the challenge! I had set my tranny to use exactly the throws as shown and then set dual rates at 60% of that. I powered up and off she trundled gathering speed at quite a pace. The Cap was airborne in short notice and climbed almost vertical from the patch. I messed with the rudder trim a bit on the way up apart from that I think I might have added a click of down trim. So the basic set up is all but bang on the money. A circuit or two and I was off doing all the things you would expect from a semi scale aerobat like this. I do remember struggling to stop the model from over flicking. I tried flicking from knife-edge to knife-edge on several occasions and always managed to do half a roll more than I intended. Even from straight and level the snap develops so quickly it’s hard to stop on one. The model was doing the book on its first flight without much trouble with the photos in the bag young master Ashby asked me to try the stall. With full up elevator and tick over I could hold the wing level with aileron down to the point were the model just mushed. If I had just pulled back and made no effort I suppose the model would have dropped a wing. The point I would have to watch would be flying on knife-edge to slowly then she will flick and bite. Inverted, stall turns and loops etc are all no problem. I could not get the model into a blender but that might require a higher rate elevator throw. Knife-edge is no problem I felt the servo I was using was flattening a bit so be aware that a good 5-kilo servo will be necessary for the hooligan element. I even let young Ashby have a turn on the sticks and I think he quite liked the little change from his now circuit capable food mixer (heli) antics.

Post flight:

I did add a little bit extra to high rate aileron. Not much just a couple of mm and lowered the low rate. I have not touched the elevator or rudder. I used 40% expo on all controls and enjoyed flying the model.

Conclusions:

This model fits well into the gap between the Kyosho cap (49") and the Sebino Cap (67"). The range of motors available from Sunday pottering on a cheap 60 through to ballistic on a good 90 gives good scope for most pilots.

I am not unpleased with the performance of the model and the motor has a lot to do with this. I think the decal sheet is poor and the wood heavy. If only you could have Balsa craft type wood this model would be 1\2 lb lighter and would then be in the Sebino category (flight wise). As it is, the model is better finished and bigger than the Kyosho Cap but without the decal sheet. The standard of finishing is high and indeed a couple of guys at Headcorn said, " I would rather have one of these". The extra cost might slow them down a touch? For the average modeller to achieve a finish even close to this model he is likely to win the club concourse comp!! If the far east and east European republics get hold of good balsa and stop over engineering I’ll stop building save for the fun of munching wood they are getting that good at finishing!