Starlet 1800

KIT REVIEW | ARTF Sport-scale
Starlet 1800
As you’ll no doubt
be aware, Graupner
likes its Starlets,
and thank goodness
it does.
I’ve used an AXI
4120/20 50-size
outrunner, fitted to a
cross-mount that,
get this, matched
the pre-drilled holes
exactly!
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LIAM SWARBRICK GETS SEDUCED BY GRAUPNER’S STUNNING SPORT SCALIE
’ve heard the Stolp Starlet
described as a Marmite plane, i.e.
you either love it or you hate it.
Opinion is divided but I’m on the
‘love it’ side of the fence. It certainly
has character and is like nothing like
you’ve ever seen before; a bit like a
Pitts Special with a wing missing,
mated with a crop duster. With its
beautiful flowing lines, wide stance
and high-swept parasol wing, it
screams out ‘Experimental’!
At 70.9” (1.8m) span, this
Graupner interpretation is a (just
I
under) 1/4-scale ‘almost ready to fly’
version of the 25ft. (7.6m) span
full-size, produced by Stolp in the
USA as a construction kit in the
experimental class for amateur
aircraft builders. With a 60hp
Volkswagen car engine up front, it
would happily fly from rough land or
overgrown strips where a low wing
would be a hindrance. Construction
time of the full-size Starlet is claimed
to be around 1400 hours, although
I’m hoping the model will go
together considerably faster!
LOVE THING
The Starlet’s airframe is constructed
from balsa and ply and is designed
specifically for electric power, using
4-channel radio and 5 servos.
Graupner’s website – www.graupner.
de – states the model as being suitable
for both electric and i.c. power,
however there’s no mention of i.c.
engines in the instructions, nor are any
related components supplied in the kit.
I immediately fell in love as soon as I
opened the big, colourful box. The
wings and tailplane are packed within
foil-backed protective bags (great for
avoiding hangar rash) and are covered
flawlessly in striking blue and white
Oracover heat-shrink film. The
ailerons, meanwhile, are supplied
pre-hinged, in a scale manner
reminiscent of the full-size.
The large, curvy fuselage also has
the equivalent attention to detail.
Stunning, flowing lines are achieved
with some intricate woodwork, which
is again nicely film-covered.
Complementing these beautifully
built components are a large
www.modelflying.co.uk | August 2014
20/06/2014 14:44
words » Liam Swarbrick | photos » Andy Ellison
The full-size is a
pretty small
aeroplane in reality
and, believe it or
not, the pilot here is
just about the right
size. Top marks.
The main airframe
components are
covered flawlessly
in a striking blue and
white Oracover
heat-shrink film.
fibreglass cowling and wheel spats,
metal parts for the u/c and cabane
struts, pre-made wing struts, a large
tubular wing joiner, and bags of
associated hardware.
HANDS ON
Oddly, a good half of the manual is
given over to warnings and do and
don’t notices, which is presumably to
cater for today’s rotten suing culture.
Wade through that lot and you
eventually get to the useful bit, which
consists of black and white
instructions that convey sufficient
information for putting the airframe
together. It’s lacking in some parts,
notably regarding cabane installation,
but overall it’s not bad.
The first job is to rip open the
hardware pack and find all the bits
needed to fit your choice of servos,
which in my case was New Power
XL16s for the ailerons and elevators,
and a Hitec HS85MG on the rudder.
These fell straight into place with no
problems, and the pre-installed
pushrods were soon clipped onto the
output arms. Fibreboard control
surface horns are supplied, which
need to be epoxied into pre-cut slots
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STARLET.indd 117
on each control surface. Aileron
servos mount onto the underside of
servo bay hatches, which in turn
screw to the wing for a very secure
and easily maintainable fitting, using
extension leads to get the servo
connections out at the wing root.
The wing is permanently retained
on the fuselage cabanes, a process
that demands some level of
concentration on the part of the
builder as it’s very easy to fit these
the wrong way around. As mentioned
above the instructions aren’t clear in
this respect, and the photography
that might give you some inclination
is a little sparse. You’ll soon work it
out if you get it wrong, though!
With the cabanes mounted the
centre wing panel can then be bolted
into place, using threadlock to make
sure the wing stays put, prior to
flipping the model over to attend to
the rather large and gangly
undercarriage that helps give the
Starlet its characteristic ‘sit’. The u/c
has a scale-like sprung system that
looks simple to fit, but isn’t! Actually,
I found that part of the fuselage had
to be trimmed away to clear the
main legs and the wing strut bracket,
which attaches at the same time,
both being retained by steel bolts
and captive nuts. The more awkward
part of this assembly stage comes
when trying to hold tension in the
spring whilst bolting the lower u/c
struts into place over the wheel
axles, and reveals the first real
problem with this kit. After trying for
what felt like hours fighting with
springs, nuts and washers, it
transpired that the retaining bolts
weren’t long enough. I eventually
gave up and replaced them with a
couple of my own M4 bolts to do the
job properly, however I soon realised
That’s a pretty
sturdy tail wheel
bracket that’ll easily
survive the test of
time.
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KIT REVIEW | ARTF Sport-scale
The pilot could be
better quality but at
least he’s the right
scale! For that we
should be very
grateful.
Ground clearance
for the spats isn’t
too bad, although
larger wheels could
be accommodated
if your patch isn’t
quite as smooth as
this one.
Personally I think
this is a really
classy colour
scheme and perfect
for the aeroplane.
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STARLET.indd 118
that these needed to be removed
again in order to fit the spats... what
a frustrating hobby this can be at
times! With the spats fitted, u/c
struts trapped in place, wheels
attached and free-rolling, the Starlet
now sat on her own feet... Hooray!
Next up was to add the wing joiner,
mount the wings, and align the
tailplane, before gluing it in place
with slow-setting epoxy.
With the model still in one piece,
the following days’ building
proceedings commenced by
attaching the wing struts and
adjusting the clevises, that engage
them with the wing, to ensure a
slop-free fitting. The struts locate with
a tab on the fuselage using a single
bolt into a captive nut in the strut
itself, and here was my second big
problem as, with the clevises
adjusted to their maximum length,
the bolt holes at the other end didn’t
line up, indeed they were still a good
10 – 12mm out of alignment.
Fortunately there was enough room
left on the lower brackets to drill new
holes and resolve the problem, but I
did wonder if anyone at the factory
had ever tried to assemble this kit
using the supplied parts before
unleashing it upon the world!
The airframe is significantly
completed at this point, where
attention now turns to installing the
powertrain. I elected to use an AXI
4120/20 50-size outrunner, fitted to a
cross-mount that matched the
pre-drilled holes exactly, and needed
no re-work. The thrust angles are
already set on the bulkhead, and with
the motor being the correct length for
the cowling the installation passed
without incident. With A 70A Jeti ESC
duly located at the front of the battery
bay, the nicely-moulded cowling
bolted into place over the lot.
For the flight battery I opted for a
50C 5s 4700mAh Ultra OptiPower
Li-Po, attached to an installation plate
as far forward as possible to achieve
the correct C of G. Pleasingly, the tray
slides into place through the cockpit
opening and is quite easy to remove
for recharging. The power figures for
this setup are pretty impressive: fitted
with a 16 x 10” APC electric prop, the
numbers come out at a whopping
1600W at 74A static, providing
slightly more than a 1:1 thrust-toweight ratio. This should be fun!
I configured my radio to receive its
power from the Li-Po, via a 3A
regulator, although there’s plenty of
room should you prefer to use a
separate Rx battery. A bolt-on cockpit
tray and pilot (of the correct scale – a
www.modelflying.co.uk | August 2014
20/06/2014 14:44
words » Liam Swarbrick | photos » Andy Ellison
nice change!) completes the model,
and with a quick tweak of the linkages
to centre the servos, and the addition
of a dual elevator mix and switchable
CAR mix to combine rudder with
aileron for slower flight, the job’s a
good ‘un. Time to fly!
MAIDEN OUTING
With a steady 15mph crosswind
making its presence felt, conditions
weren’t ideal but that wasn’t going to
stop me; the Starlet and I were both
raring to go.
Ground handling is tricky due to
the model’s high stance, however the
rudder is powerful and provided you
take your time it’s easy enough. I was
warned by Andy Ellison that the
larger, 94.5” (2.4m) span Graupner
Starlet (which he reviewed in RCM&E
a couple of years back) is a big lover
of ground looping if you don’t keep
on top of the rudder, but this wasn’t
the case here. With the taps opened
in slow, scale manner, the Starlet
quickly picked up speed and was
airborne without incident.
A few circuits passed, during which
there was no need to add even a
single beep of trim – honest! At a
little below half throttle the Starlet
cruised around nicely and when I
opened up to full throttle and pulled
vertical she was off like a homesick
angel! There was no tendency to pull
either to the side or in pitch, so the
thrust lines are clearly spot-on.
Inverted flight is a little unusual,
though, as the model likes to wander
when that high parasol wing is
suddenly at the bottom.
The Starlet is a little more ‘hands
on’ than I imagined it would be,
indeed flying it is often akin to patting
your head and rubbing your stomach
at the same time. I like this kind of
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STARLET.indd 119
flying, though, as it makes you
concentrate a little more.
With my timer beeping after the
pre-set six minutes a landing was
called and with the throttle backed off
I lined her up onto the strip and flared
out to land, which she did like a
butterfly with sore feet. Really gentle,
nice and straight, a result that had me
grinning from ear to ear. What could
be nicer than that? Taxiing back to the
pit area didn’t prove to be any hassle,
the direct-drive tail wheel coping
easily with our grass strip.
With the battery re-charged and
some photography in the bag, it was
time to see what the Starlet could
really deliver. Again the take-off was
effortlessly easy with the available
power. Apply that same power when
in the circuit and she transforms from
steady, sedate cruiser to a beefy,
purposeful aerobat. You name it, she
does it. Rolls are near-perfect, even
with no differential aileron mixing.
Nothing twinkly here, though, just a
nice, steady, scale-like roll rate.
Multiple point-rolls can be crisp, and
As you’d expect,
she’s a laser-cut
balsa / ply ARTF
and, happily, the
quality is very good.
The undercarriage
has a scale-like
sprung system that
looks simple to fit,
but isn’t!
My power system
generated some
1600 watts, which
is more than
enough. Truth is,
the Starlet would
fly happily on less.
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KIT REVIEW | ARTF Sport-scale
The Starlet certainly
has a very distinct
character and style,
which I happen to
adore!
I’m sure the
airframe is up to
taking an i.c. motor.
Perhaps a .52
two-stroke, .82
four-stroke or
maybe even a 15cc
petrol.
slow rolls can be stretched out
across the horizon. How big would
you like your loops? Not very scale,
I’ll grant you, but good fun
nevertheless. Chuck in a snap roll at
the top and you’ve got yourself an
avalanche. Knife-edge does take a
little work because of the general
lack of fuselage side area, but the
model looks much better when
side-slipping anyway. Be careful
here, though, as the powerful rudder
will show you who’s boss, often at
the most inopportune time!
The Starlet will fly snaps and spins
almost faster than you can count, but
I did find that it over-rotates about
180° after letting go of the sticks,
which can turn out pretty interesting.
It also has a tendency to flick out
DATAFILE
Name:
Starlet 1800
Model type:
ARTF sport-scale
Manufactured by:
Graupner
UK distributor:
Logic-RC
Tel. 01992 558226
www.logicrc.com
RRP:
£359.99
Wingspan:
70.9” (1.8m)
Fuselage length:
46.8” (1.19m)
Wing area:
4.74sq. ft. (0.244sq. m)
All-up weight:
8 lb 2oz (3.7kg)
Wing loading:
27.4oz / sq. ft. (8.4kg / sq. m)
Functions (servos): Aileron (2); elevator (1);
rudder (1); throttle (via ESC)
Rec’d powertrain:
O.S. OMA 5020-490 brushless
motor; 70A ESC; 4s / 5s 4000 –
5000mAh Li-Po; 16 x 10” prop
Quality:
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
Assembly:
Easy
Intermediate
Difficult
Flying:
Novice
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Improver
Experienced
during a really high g pull, which I’ve
noticed to be most prevalent when
pulling from a fast, level pass to a
vertical up line. Okay, such a
manoeuvre is, perhaps, a bit out of
character for the model, but we must
find these things out for the sake of
the review! An unexpected bonus is
the awesome whistle the model
makes when passing in front of you
at speed, from a dive. It really is very
prominent and can be easily heard
over the prop.
All of the above aerobatics were
performed at the throws set in the
manual, the 4700mAh Li-Po working
hard to provide a maximum flight
duration of no more than seven
minutes. Switching to slow ’n’ safe
mode, flight times have been
upwards of 12 minutes.
With many flying hours now in the
bag, I’m sure that the airframe is
definitely up to taking an i.c. motor.
Perhaps a .52 two-stroke, .82
four-stroke or maybe even a 15cc
petrol. But that would drown out the
beautiful sounds it makes... And,
besides, it really does seem to suit
electric power.
AND SO...
Graupner’s Starlet 1800 isn’t a model
for the faint of heart as you always
need to keep an eye on her, however I
love that sort of ‘hands on all the
time’ stuff. A smaller powerplant
would no doubt tame her somewhat
if you were that way inclined, but the
full-size aircraft was quite aerobatic,
so why wouldn’t you fly it like that?
I’d imagine that this would make a
superb club scale model with the
right control throws set. It has real
presence in the air that’s even bigger
when sat in the pits alongside Wot-4s
and trainers. It’s a stunning-looking
craft, no matter which angle you look
at it. The colour scheme is so striking,
especially in glorious sunshine. I
really do adore this model and if
there’s even the slightest chance of
slipping off for a crafty fly, the Starlet
is always there with me. Hand on
heart, this is one beautiful model to
fly, and it’s great fun!
www.modelflying.co.uk | August 2014
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