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Seagull Boomerang


David Bess
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tis a fine trainer, Im in the process of putting mine back together to teach my little lad, standard servos will be fine for it, I used Futaba 3003`s and never had a problem, the manual is quite good for putting it together, follow it and you wont go far wrong as theres not much to it but if you get stuck on anything jus ask

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The Boomerang is a very popular trainer David and many R/C pilots have taken their first steps with it. Its solid and stable the two most important qualities in a trainer.

Regarding the build, its very straightforward, as far as I know - I've never built one but I've seen loads of beginners turn up at the field with one fully functional and no one has ever complained that it was difficult to build! TBH all these ARTF trainers are much of a muchness when it comes to building and they all follow the same basic method.

You'll enjoy the Boomerang and I wish you every sucess with it! The SC46 will be a good match for it. For servos - any standard size analogue servo will do. Futaba 148's or 3001's would be fine. You can usually buy 4 of these types of servos as a deal from the likes of "Servo Shop" (Webbies on-line). See here for example. You'll find cheaper - but this is a good solid reliable basic servo.

BEB

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Lovely plane. Beef up any joints you can find on bare wood. It'l last longer.

Standard servos will be more than adequate. Double check control surfaces -

give them a good tug, then add CA if necessary to strengthen. If flying off a

grass strip, go 'tail dragger'. 'Cause the nose will dig in and bend

(use a stock wire U/C).

Think they come with a 6oz tank.  Change to an eight if you can.  Good

for a 20 -30 min flight at 1/3 - 1/2 throttle.

Use decent batteries 4.8v 2600 mah, for long training flights.

Will do all the basics and aerobatic capable.

Great little frame .

BB

Edited By BB on 07/03/2012 01:51:32

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On my 2nd one, and I'm a intermediate flyer, but still bring the boomer out for a blast now and then, left mine as a tricycle and fly off a bumpy grass strip, holds up very well with the stock u/c !

Mounted cameras and a home made bomb bay to drop a parachutist amougnst other things.......watch out here come the safety police ! wink

Got an Irvine 40 in mine, apart from a slightly longer take off run it's plenty fast enough !

Here's one of my early flights.......

Edited By Delta Whiskey on 07/03/2012 09:22:09

Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 07/03/2012 12:07:58

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Another thumbs up for the Boomerang from me. I put one together when I returned to flying a few years ago and was very impressed. I went with the standard nosewheel undercarriage and found it pretty durable, although I've noticed the newer ones have been improved with better main legs. Mine flew on an ASP40 initially, then a J'En 37 and most recently a Super Tigre 49. All were perfectly adequate. I've flown another with an SC46 on board and it was excellent. The engine was easy to handle and ran very reliably too. As long as you're getting instruction, preferably on a buddy box, you'll find the Boomerang absolutely perfect.

Building it was very straightforward, the instructions were pretty good. Make sure you get plenty epoxy into the wing joiner. The only things I didn't like were the foam wheels (although they worked mine got eaten by mice) and the covering, which was a bit brittle, so mind you don't poke it with anything sharp.

As for servos, I think I read elsewhere that you're getting yourself a Spektrum DX6i, and the servos that come with that will be ideal, or any of the standard sized servos suggested above.

You'll love it.

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I would like to echo all of the comments posted above and offer two of my own.

1. Make sure you fuel-proof the engine bay and the tank bay to prevent the ingress of fuel into the glue joints and weakening the structure.

2. Glue a piece of balsa block or sheet across the underside of forward fuselage, fuel proof it and cover it in film to match or contrast with the fuselage colour scheme. This will prevent the fuselage opening up like a banana in the event of a heavy landing, especially if you "land out" among crops.

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A friend of mine and fellow club member had one too, but after several crashes he heavily modified it and converted it to electric, flew well !

Check out the pic here from our club website, no. 131 for quick locating......move your mouse along the bottom thumb nails to you get to it.....

 

Edited By Delta Whiskey on 07/03/2012 12:22:01

Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 07/03/2012 14:13:48

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Well John instruction may be a problem as the nearest club to me is more than an hour away ,but there are a bunch that slope 15 min. away every sunday so I will go up and watch them fly ,if they are anything like the chaps on this forum they will be friendly and helpful to beginners and I will be able to see what TX's they are using DX 6 AND8'S are popular TX'S so I may get one to buddy up and give me a start smiley

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  • 9 years later...
On 07/03/2012 at 01:09, BB said:

Lovely plane. Beef up any joints you can find on bare wood. It'l last longer.

Standard servos will be more than adequate. Double check control surfaces -

give them a good tug, then add CA if necessary to strengthen. If flying off a

grass strip, go 'tail dragger'. 'Cause the nose will dig in and bend

(use a stock wire U/C).

Think they come with a 6oz tank.  Change to an eight if you can.  Good

for a 20 -30 min flight at 1/3 - 1/2 throttle.

Use decent batteries 4.8v 2600 mah, for long training flights.

Will do all the basics and aerobatic capable.

Great little frame .

BB

Edited By BB on 07/03/2012 01:51:32

I'm going to buy this plane at the end of the week.  All model shops are sold out at the minute and won't have them in again to mid February 2022, but one man I know has one for sale brand new in his shop.   Although I've been flying for almost 36 years,  I still get fun flying a trainer.   My main problem is picking an engine for it.  I have a choice of an os46fx, an os52 fourstroke or a saito 62.   The os 52 fourstroke has been laying in its box brand new for over 4 years now and I always found it difficult to find a suitable plane for it.  Because the Boomerang is slightly smaller than the Arising Star, I thought to myself , would the os 52 fourstroke fly it comfortably at 70 percent throttle?   I fly from a grass strip at our local flying club and I would hate to think that I may not even have enough power to get off the grass before I get to the end of the runway.   I can't think of any other plane that would suit this engine other than the Boomerang? 

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As you know Aidan, I have an OS 52 in a Baron but that's another story. I also have a Boomerang ARTF currently fitted with a Thunder Tiger 46 PRO. It flies it ok but the Boomerang has a semi symetrical  wing section and needs a good run to take off. When fitted with an Enya 50, this was not a problem but I love my Enyas too much to trust them to the ham fisted hands of beginners.

 

Given your engine choices the OS 46fx is the go to engine for all trainers of this size but with a grass runway, I'd be tempted to try the Saito 70. That said I've seen them fly on an OS 48FS on YouTube with the glow igniter still attached.

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12 hours ago, David Davis said:

As you know Aidan, I have an OS 52 in a Baron but that's another story. I also have a Boomerang ARTF currently fitted with a Thunder Tiger 46 PRO. It flies it ok but the Boomerang has a semi symetrical  wing section and needs a good run to take off. When fitted with an Enya 50, this was not a problem but I love my Enyas too much to trust them to the ham fisted hands of beginners.

 

Given your engine choices the OS 46fx is the go to engine for all trainers of this size but with a grass runway, I'd be tempted to try the Saito 70. That said I've seen them fly on an OS 48FS on YouTube with the glow igniter still attached.

Thanks David.  My Saito 72 is on the Super Frontier Senior , an 80 inch wingspan cloned plane of the Sig Kadet Senior.  Its a Saito 62 I have lying around doing nothing at the minute.  I'm still tempted to try the new OS 52 fs on the Seagull when it arrives.  But if its underpowered,  I will change it right away for the Saito 62.   I remember the day I maidened my Kyosho Calmato Sports 40 with an OS 46ax.  I had to fly it at full throttle most of the time just to keep it up there.  I wasn't happy with the power, so the very next I arrived back at the field with its replacement   an OS 55ax.  Its was just perfect as I could throttle back.  At this rate of going David, the Boomerang could be vastly underpowered with the OS 52 surpass, but I'm going to give it a go as our grass strip is cut like a bowling green.    It will be very interesting.  

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4 hours ago, Denis Watkins said:

A properly tuned, and propped .52 Surpass is well able to fly a Boomerang Aidan, 

Have seen such a set up fly a " B " certificate successfully.

Thanks Dennis.  I've been flying 36 years and this is my first OS 52 fourstroke in all that time.  I'm a Saito fanatic, but the owner if this engine was selling it brand new for £110 which I thought was good value.   I'm finding it difficult to find the proper plane for this 52.  Hence the reason I'm looking towards the Boomerang trainer.    I fly most of my planes at scale pace.  

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Just now, Denis Watkins said:

Where you see sport sized models Aidan, high or low wing, 5 - 6ft wingspan, 5lb - 7lb weight, 40 - 46 2 stroke,

then you are in the ballpark with the .52 4S.

My favourite match, currently flying a .52, is a 72" span, 6 lb, Piper Cub

Dennis , I had looked at both the Seagull low wing sport 40 and the Seagull pc 9 46arf.  But kept going back to the Boomerang.  There something I like about trainers with semi symmetrical wings.   Your Piper Cub sounds great and I bet it flys real nice with the 52?

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I am very lucky that at my field , I am the go to " maiden flight " man, so I get to fly them all, petrol, glow and electric.

There are 3 sport 40s, 2 glow I/C, and 1 electric. All fly very well and are lightly built resulting in good training characteristics too.

The Boomerang is brilliant, and will fly in wind too, as it has a great wing and a little heavier.

Flys equally well, I/C or electric, there are a couple of 4S lipo powered at my strip.

I find the PC9 is not a trainer, but more intermediate, probably because lack of dihedral, but flys well and looks good in the air.

Cubs are a favourite, and with big sides and tail feathers, do fly in their own way, and you can learn much from them.

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37 minutes ago, Denis Watkins said:

I am very lucky that at my field , I am the go to " maiden flight " man, so I get to fly them all, petrol, glow and electric.

There are 3 sport 40s, 2 glow I/C, and 1 electric. All fly very well and are lightly built resulting in good training characteristics too.

The Boomerang is brilliant, and will fly in wind too, as it has a great wing and a little heavier.

Flys equally well, I/C or electric, there are a couple of 4S lipo powered at my strip.

I find the PC9 is not a trainer, but more intermediate, probably because lack of dihedral, but flys well and looks good in the air.

Cubs are a favourite, and with big sides and tail feathers, do fly in their own way, and you can learn much from them.

Not to confuse things anymore Dennis,  I was looking also at two other planes, the Kyosho Calmato 40 trainer and the Seagull pt 19 fairchild 46arf.   I have the Calmato Sports 40 low wing which flys well on an OS 55ax.  In your opinion, would the Boomerang still be a better plane?   

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On 07/03/2012 at 01:09, BB said:

Lovely plane. Beef up any joints you can find on bare wood. It'l last longer.

Standard servos will be more than adequate. Double check control surfaces -

give them a good tug, then add CA if necessary to strengthen. If flying off a

grass strip, go 'tail dragger'. 'Cause the nose will dig in and bend

(use a stock wire U/C).

Think they come with a 6oz tank.  Change to an eight if you can.  Good

for a 20 -30 min flight at 1/3 - 1/2 throttle.

Use decent batteries 4.8v 2600 mah, for long training flights.

Will do all the basics and aerobatic capable.

Great little frame .

BB

Edited By BB on 07/03/2012 01:51:32

 

If you choose to go tail dragger, be careful because the instructions just take you straight into trike and don't give you any options. If you were to build it in ignorance you'd have the rudder glued in before you could fit the tail wheel wire.

 

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