LA 25s can howl. Friends use them in speed limit combat. Pull out the venturi, use a remote needle and bladder.
It has been the fashion of late to take a perfectly good old time combat/sport plane, stick an LA 25 or FP20 in the nose, fly on the slow side and do the pattern. If that's your interest, do it with a Skyray. They're smaller than Galaxies. A simpler build with a straight non-tapered trailing edge, no capstrips. If you're learning the beginner pattern, o.k. Good choice. Better than the Galaxy. An ARF Flight Streak with it's lightly constructed fues, put an LA25 in that, keep the stock muffler on, put in learning time for the pattern, beginner or full-- until the nose falls off. Also, a good choice. I took that route. Had a few ARF Flite Streaks. I have even seen some folks do a decent corner with these. The Brodak Streak and a stock Flight Streak or any of the Goldberg remakes by Bro do better flying fast, with power. My recommendation is let them. They are balls out fun flying at the highest speed you can handle. My Buster was an early Brodak kit, super light wood. I had a Tower 40 in that. it cranked. Needled until it shrieked. Looked like it never slowed down in a turn.
A 4 to 5 second lap, splitting the difference, is a 4.5 second lap. About right for the low side of what a Galaxy needs to turn well. Fast for a pattern. In terms of speed of flight, my experience is consistent with Scott.
These days, if I wanted a simple profile to practice the pattern, I'd build a Fancherized Twister, or one of the Brodak stunt profiles. Twisters are as simple a flapped plane as there is. If you are getting at all serious about competition build that. I have judged Beginner for many years at Brodak. I even saw a piped ship out there. Since the availability of cheap ARFs the typical Beginner flies some kind of serious stunt birdie. Often these birdies aren't trimmed that well. You might actually be at an advantage in that case, if you decide to fly your Galaxy in that company. More than likely the winning plane will be a Brodak ARF. Trimmed pretty well. Doing a decent corner.
I am drifting around in this entry. That's what happens when you have experience. And I do have experience with the Galaxy and similar planes. I have probably been flying my Galaxy for nearly eight years. I flew the full pattern for the first time using this plane. I am still flying the pattern with this plane. A few differences between then and now. Back then, I was trying to get the Tower 40 or FP40 to run rich. That worked o.k. Now a days I needle the Tower 40 until it strieks. Fly it fast as possible. Excellent fun. My thought is, why make a tough old bird like the Galaxy into a mediocre faux stunt plane. Power up. And the plane dances. I love using the old design like that.
An FP35 will allow you versatility. Use a .265 venturi (the small FP venturi, also the size of the LA 25 insert). This will tame the engine. You can also use an extra head gasket. To give a softer break, if you are needling the engine to break, 2 cycle to 2 cycle. If your thoughts run towards trying more speed. (yeah!) Pop in a .283 venturi, needle until the engine shrieks. Fly the G plane the way it was meant to be flown. Enjoy.
Caution: watch out for that big flapper, it'll stall the plane (not always a bad thing, probably contributed to the longevity of my bird, hit the elevator too hard -- easy to do -- tah dah it dethermalizes) unless elevator movement is restricted to 20/25 degrees or so.
Topic: Just bought a Brodak Galaxy (Read 3606 times)