Building the (Old) FLYLINE Great Lakes 2T-1A Kit (Flight Report)

This one was worth waiting for. A couple of weeks ago my good friend Gary Ritchie, who does all the flight photography you see here, called me and suggested that the weather was about as good as it would ever get at this time of year and did I want to go flying? As it turned out the cool air made it clear that summer was long past. Holding a transmitter (or a camera) with bare hands quickly stops being fun when that happens. Gary ended up with one flight shot that he was comfortable letting me share with you, but I think that one image says it all.

Now it’s time for a flight report.

Perhaps the first and most important thing I need to tell you about this 1/8 scale Great Lakes 2T-1A Trainer is that the model is NOT a trainer. It is a compact, moderately high powered representation of a late 1920’s airplane that often ended up being used for aggressive aerobatic flying…it would be fair to say that it might be considered the Pitts Special of its day. The model I have built here, based on the FlyLine kit of about forty years ago and converted to contemporary RC and electric power, flies in a way that fits that description pretty well. My model weighs in at about 3.5 pounds…I could have built it at least half a pound lighter, but at the cost of all the neat detail stuff that makes it impossible to ignore. I have to admit that I’m not sure whether such a weight difference would matter much, or not. As it turns out, my airplane is somewhat overpowered by scale performance standards, but probably a bit doggy in terms of what most RC fliers would expect of a similar sized sport-aerobatic model. It flies just the way a Great Lakes 2T-1A should…not like a 3D job.

I discovered one really interesting quirk that makes a lot of sense to me as a full scale taildragger pilot. Operating from a well mowed grass strip, as you power up to begin a takeoff roll, the combined torque/P-factor/precession forces will jerk the airplane all over the runway and make it nearly impossible to run in a straight line long enough to make a safe takeoff…unless you force the tailskid to dig in by holding plenty of up-elevator until the airplane is nearly up to flying speed. This is exactly what I would expect from the full scale airplane, but not what RC fliers without a lot of experience with SCALE models might feel comfortable with. The other challenging characteristic this Great Lakes turned out to have is that she does NOT like to get slow on landing. Unless I either set the idle really high or discipline myself to carry extra power right down to the grass, this little lady has the habit of letting me fly a perfect approach and then DROPPING the last six inches or so, which results in a bounce and turning over. Not a disaster, but it spoils the effect.

I like this airplane. Building it was everything I expected and more, and I am extremely pleased with the way it looks hanging in my office along with several other smaller scale jobs that I take out to fly once in a while. It may also be one of those models I’ll choose to share…recently my wife insists that if one of my new projects is not relaxing to fly I need to consider selling it to somebody who will appreciate it as a display piece. That’s what’s going on here. As the subject of this blog on rcmodel.com, this particular model airplane is undeniably unique and carries with it some substantial bragging rights. It would be an outstanding addition to the right office or private collection. If this is something that might interest you, I invite you to email me directly to see whether we might agree on a value. I do in fact have a few other small scale jobs, all the subjects of magazine article covers, articles, or both, that I am considering selling on the condition that potential purchasers agree that their flying days are past.

Bob