BUILDING THE GWS SLOW STICK PLANE

SIGNIFICANT DEVIATION FROM BUILDING PLANS

FUSELAGE
MAIN WING
FINAL FUSELAGE AND ELECTRONICS
BUILDING SUPPLIES
 GWS Slow Stick

The Slow Stick radio controlled model plane is a basic, electrically powered, trainer park flyer
that can be flown in relatively small spaces such as parks which permit RC aircraft.

It is popular with beginner or novice RC plane pilots due to its relatively modest price, slow
flying speed and docile handling.

The plane is made by Taiwanese company Grand-Wing Servotech Co.,Ltd ("GWS") and is
available in a "barebones" kit form, without ESC and radio control but with engine, or as a
Ready-to-fly (RTF) package, which contains everything needed to get airborne.

The Slow Stick has been sold with 3 different motor versions, the Slowstick EPS150C, EPS300C
and EPS400C.

The most common version appears to be the Slowstick-EPS300C in Red. Some versions are
available in Green, Blue, or Yellow.

THE DESIGN

The Slow stick is, as the name indicates, based on a simple stick fuselage, made of a square
section of carbon fibre profile, to which the engine system (motor and gearbox), the electronic
speed control ("ESC"), the flight battery, the radio control receiver, and servos are attached. The
tail fin and stabiliser are glued and/or bolted to the fuselage. Finally, the wing is attached with
rubber bands to make it detachable and more crash-resistant.

The wing is made of foam and is reinforced along the leading and trailing edges with glass-
reinforced plastic (GRP or fibreglass) rods, giving a light and relatively crash-resistant wing. The
stock wing has a fairly high dihedral and a pronounced airfoil shape, meaning it is designed for
generating high lift at low speed, but will generate a lot of drag as speed increases.
The fin and stabiliser are made from sheet foam, so are of non-aerofoil construction, with
comparably large control surfaces hinged using plastic tape. The control surfaces are actuated
using traditional piano-wire push rods from the two servos.

SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions and loadings

• Length: 954 mm (37.6 inches)

• Wingspan: 1176 mm (46.3 inches)
• Flying weight: 405-440g (14.3-15.5 oz)
• Wing loading 12.4-13.5g/dm2 (4.0-4.4 oz/sq.ft)

Control Surfaces

• Elevator: yes, tail

• Rudder: yes, tail
• Ailerons: no

Power system

• Motor: GWS EPS300c / GWS EPS400C

• ESC: GWS ICS-300 / GWS ICS-400
• Propeller: GWS EP 1180 / GWS EP7035
• Battery: 7.2V, 400+ mAh

Radio equipment

• Minimum channels: 2, recommended: 3+

• Servos: 2 x Pico/Naro/Mini

FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE

The Slow Stick relies on its rudder for horizontal control and the elevator for vertical control.
There are no ailerons for banking so rudder input which causes the outside wing in a turn to "fly
faster" than the inside wing and generate more lift, raises that side of the wing and banks the
aircraft. Once the rudder input is returned to neutral, the dihedral ensures the plane automatically
returns to level flight.

The stock motor is mounted perfectly in line with the fuselage, meaning there's a fair amount of
torque effect which requires trim changes to compensate for different throttle settings. It is fairly
common for pilots to modify the motor mount to address this (see modifications, below)
The plane can be either hand-launched or take off from hard ground and, once in the air,
responds very well to control inputs at medium throttle settings in level flight.

Climb performance is adequate and the stall characteristics very docile, especially when the
centre of gravity is set around the forward range of 95mm-105mm from the leading edge of the
wing, as recommended for learner pilots. The plane is not able to hover using a stock motor.

The large control surfaces mean it is possible to overcontrol the aircraft and there are reports of
the wing failing or "folding" as a result of overcontrolling at high speeds, especially dives.

COMPONENTS
6 Channel Mini Receiver Type : Dimensions:51.3*36.3*16.8mm

Products description:
 Type: FM
 Channels: 6
 Include BAT: + 5V
 Demodulation type: frequency demodulation
 Intermediate frequency: 455KHZ
 Frequency: 35MHz/36Mhz/40Mhz/72Mhz
 Weight: 15g
 Dimensions: 50*24*15mm
 Current Drain: 11.5mA
 Color: Dark green
 ANT Length: 100cm
 Certificate: CE,FCC,RoHS
GWS ICS- 300 Li Electronic Speed Controller

Specificatons:

• Dimensions: 25.5 x 12.5 x 9.0 mm (1.0 x 0.49 x 0.35 in)

• Weight: 4 g (0.14 oz) without Wire; 14 g (o.49 oz) with Wire
• Heat Sink: 12 x 21 x 6 mm (0.47 x 0.83 x 0.24 in); 2 g (0.07 oz)
• Auto cut off: 5.4&8.1 V
• BEC: 1.2 A @ 5 V
• Reset: Full Throttle Down
• Continuous Current: 8 A/15 A Max (Used with Heat Sink)
• Batteries: 2 to 3 cells (Li-Poly) (6.0 to 9.0 V)
GWS Slow Fly EP 1260 12x6 orange(Propeller)

EPS-400C-IS/BB Motor W/Gearbox (6.30:1) & Spinner

 Diameter of motor case: 1.1" (27.70mm)

 Length of case behind spinner: 0.87" (22mm)
 Distance from spinner to case: 0.80" (20.3mm)
 Distance from pinion to prop shaft: 0.70" (17.6mm)
 Length from top of case to bottom of case: 1.8" (47mm)
 Weight: 3.3oz (295g)
Thunder Power 2100mAh 3-Cell 11.1V LIPO,16GA

4-pin balancer connector

16G wire
15C (31.5A) continuous

Type: Lithium Polymer

Capacity: 2100 mAh
Voltage: 11.1V nominal
Connector Type: N/A
Wire Gauge: 16
Number of Cells: 3
Weight: 5.0 oz
Configuration: 3S
Dimensions (WxLxH): 1.35 x 3.9 x 1.0
Maximum Continuous Discharge : 15C
Maximum Burst Discharge : 20C
Maximum Continuous Current : 31.5A
Tower Pro Micro Servo 9g

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 22*11.5*27mm
• Stall torque 1.2kg/cm
• Operating speed 0.12sec/60degree(4.8v)
• Operating voltage 4.2-6V
• Temperature Range: -30 to +60 Degree C
• Dead Band Width: 7used

Futaba FF10CG 10 Channel TX w/8C RX

Specification

8 Programmable Mixes (4 linear/ (4) w/5-point curves)

9 Factory-Defined Mixes: Elevator-Flap; Ailvator (for dual elevator servos); Throttle-
Needle; Aileron Differential; Flaperon; V-Tail; Elevon; Snap Roll; and Air Brake
w/elevator delay
Dual/Triple rates (4 ch.)
Exponential (4 ch.)
Idle down
Throttle cut
Throttle delay
Throttle Hold & Idle-up w/delay
2 independent gyro settings
7-point throttle curve
Flap trim