These pages will document my attempt to build a Great Planes Super Sportster 60 Kit

This is my second kit.

The first one was a House of Balsa PT-19.

I really struggled through that build, but in the end I was

very pleased with that airplane.

I always take it to the field with me. I just wish it was bigger.

The choices for this plane came down to the Super Sportster 60 or the 4-Star 60.

I read a lot about both planes on the internet forums and finally decided to go with the Super Sportster based on eye appeal and the impression that it was more capable of aerobatics.

I bought the the Super Sportster kit at Mike's in Carrolton about a year ago. Since that time I acquired an Astro Hog in October that a gentleman had built many years ago but had never flown. I replaced the servos and battery, installed an OS 91 Surpass and a radio. The plane flew for the first time January 10, 2004. I am very pleased with the Astro Hog and I think the Super Sportster will fly very similar.

While I like the Astro Hog, I love the PT-19 that I built. I think I like it in no small part because I built it out of a box of sticks. So enough yapping already, here is the story of the Super Sportster.

(click on any picture for a larger image)

This is my half of the garage that I use for all my workshop needs.

The Super Sportster's box looks like this.

Here is what was in the box.

The building instructions and the plan.

Before I get started there are a few modifications I plan to make to this airplane during the build. I am going to change the landing gear from wing mount to fuselage mount, like the 4 Star airplanes. I am also going to use two aileron servos instead of the single servo and torque rods.

I have not decided on this yet, but, I may change the engine from vertical to horizontal and change the profile of the nose so the top is closed in. Since this is pretty far down the line and I have a chance to think about it some.

The kit has separate instructions to build for a 4-stroke or a 2-stroke engine. I plan to use a new Magnum 91 4-stroke in this model. The radio will be a Hitec Supreme and the servos will be Hitec 425's.

After looking the instructions over very carefully, there does not appear to be any reason to build the plane in any particular order so I have chosen to build the wings first. I will build the tail feathers next, then the fuselage.

Proceed to the building pages.

(Build Page 1)

(Build Page 2)