Graupner Mini-Piper / Stinson Voyager

Not many people don't know about the Graupner Mini-piper. It has to be one of the most popular foamie park-flyers for the '300' size electric motor. Probably its biggest appeal is its simplicity and 'fun per pound' value. For those who don't know, it is a 3-channel electric slow-flyer, with only rudder for steering. It is relatively easy to fly, it almost corrects itself thanks to the great amount of dihedral in the wing, and should the unthinkable happen you just glue or tape it back together and fly it again. I've known of at least 2 that have had the wing snap in half in a crash and be flying again the same day.

The Mini-piper is also ideal for night flying, 3 fishing glow sticks being all you need to (hopefully) keep track of where the model is. Half a dozen of us have tried this and it is a totally different experience to flying in the daytime. Well worth trying if you ever get the chance. For more on what a Mini-Piper in the dark looks like check out the Park-fly 2003 report in the events section.

A little while ago, probably by popular demand, Graupner announced news of a new alternative which featured ailerons too. This eventually turned out to be the Stinson Voyager. An identical fuselage to the mini-piper bar the tailplane and undercarriage means that the wings are interchangeable. The biggest difference, obviously, is the wing. Most of the dihedral has gone, it is slightly longer, thinner, and has a semi-symmetrical section, as opposed to the under-cambered section on the Piper, which means it should fly inverted. But will it?

Well, mine's had a few flights now, and I can happily say that it was so much more than I was expecting. Fitted with one of Graupner's fancy Cam-props and running on a 7-cell 700mah NiMH battery, it certainly isn't short of zip. It whizzes around the sky at quite a rate of knots for its size, I reckon it could give a Funky chicken a run for its money for outright pace. Presently I have a different prop fitted, an APC 5x5.  There is not much to choose between this prop and the Graupner one, but they are both better than the standard plastic one.  But what are the ailerons like? Well, they are very effective, even though they are only just over half-span. Rolls are quick, and if your moving fast, quite axial too. Barrel rolls look great and are a doddle, knife edge isn't but on a 45 degree bank it looks good. It'll even spin! But the big question is, will it fly inverted...of course it will, the other day I spent at least 2 minutes flying it inverted non-stop. It really is that easy. Of course, Thomas wanted blenders, 4 point rolls and the like. Well, it does 4-point roll, but any fancy 3D stuff, forget it!

Overall view is that this is 'more of a plane' than the Mini-Piper, but they are designed differently to try and compare them like-for-like would be wrong. I think they're both great, and plan to continue flying both for a long time to come. For these 2 models, Graupner get 10 out of 10!!