GWS A-10 Product Review
a-10
The GWS A-10 was a kit that was born way before it's time. I saw one of these a couple of years ago that another club member had brought to the field and couldn't wait to see it fly. What a bummer! I could have walked faster than it flew. But that was when brushless motors and Li-Po batteries were just coming onto the market. They were expensive so at that time, you would be looking at a couple of hundred bucks just to make it fly. This kit began life on the auction table at a local fun fly. I tried to enter and win it thinking I could make if fly but didn't. What I later found out is that a fellow club member, Todd Davis, won it but didn't want to make the investment. So, he gave it to me on the condition that I would build it and he could fly it. As of 11/30/08 we have the first half done.

So my goals were to make it fly decent and not sink a lot of cash into it. Right away, I dump the 50 mm fan units and brushed motors and upgrade to 55 mm fan units. I already had a E-flight 400 brushless motor so just needed a second one. I had the two small servos needed and had to pick up a pair of 40 amp ESC's. The fuse seemed kind of flimsy so I laid carbon fiber rods on the top and bottom of the fuselage to stiffen it up along with one in the wing. I'm using a E-Flight 2100 mAh battery after finding a 2000 mAh battery wouldn't cut it.

I met a couple of friends at the field, Paul Hohensee and Marv Ingerson to help with maiden duties. It flew with just a bit of trim input and we did some rolls and flew it inverted. Most of the time at 1/2 throttle. When I punched it, it really scooted. The only odd thing about it was on landing. When I chopped the power, it seemed to sink a bit but got used to it. Here is a short video (since my battery died). So, it flew nice and I got it in the air for around $100. What fun!