with glass/carbon, and completely finished except for cutting out the elevator and ailerons. Aileron servos fit into carefully cut holes in the bottom of the wing on each side. The aileron and elevator "hinges" are Clear Scotch Brand tape. This plane flies nicely without a rudder control. The assembly instructions are clear and easy to understand except that the CG indicated didn't work out. I found the CG to be quite a bit further forward of the balance point indicated.
The little (15oz. all up including battery pack) plane uses a 6V SP400 motor with 7, N-500AR cells. I built packs using three double, end to end cells  with the seventh cell mounted across one end of the pack. It looks like a triangle of double cells with one on the base of the triangle on one end. A Jeti 20 amp ESC is used to regulate the speed.
After the first flight, I painted a large area of the wingtips with a flourescent red paint because this little rocket can go "Stealth" in just a few seconds against a cloudy sky.
I get 2.5 to 4 minutes of flight time depending on how much throttle is used during the flight.
Since we fly off a dirt desert flying site much of the time, I found that a small strip of bathtub anti-slip along the bottom of the fuselage, protects it nicely. I thought it would be too heavy, but it turned out to be only a few grams of added weight and well worth it for the protection it affords.
The Peeper is about 24" long and has a 39" wingspan. The wing is very thin and slips through the air allowing for a pretty quick flight, however it also flies very slowly----almost to a walk and has very nice manners with no nasty tip stalls etc. 
Price: Some people might think this ship is a little pricey at over $200.00 including the motor and prop system, but if the Peeper gives me as many great flights in the future, as it has in the past, I will consider it a bargain.

with good results. It is a gentle flier with a reasonable climb--behaving like an old time free flighter. It glides well and in proper conditions can maintain altitude in a thermal. For what it is designed it is very satisfactory and relaxing to fly. I have been surprised that the gear teeth have survived the jolts of the on-off control, but it survived the Kyosho Zero with the same set-up. I may put in a proportional control some time!

Graupner Ju-52 Rating: **

Ju52-Graupner. A nice kit but mine had problems. A number of vital, irreplaceable (in the US) parts were missing. Instructions have major gaps which are best bridged if you have a lot of kit and scratchbuilding experience. Instructions and parts supplied do not match photographs--for example only 4 ply cowl mount parts are given but photos and careful measurement of the plans show that there should be 8 pieces, or 4 double the thickness. If built with only the 4 parts the cowl mounts would be insecure.
Directions on wiring the motors impossible without gluing the wires in the wing attachments unless the method is changed to obviate this. At one point you are told to place the front wing mounting dowel in place but not to glue it--no mention is ever made of this later, so better glue it. Other gaffes would mean if you follow their directions and timing, you will build and glue several parts that will have to be torn apart to do the next step.
With considerable care, reading ahead, and improvising the weird parts, it can be built. The standard 400 motors and scale props have been criticized by others, but I found them quite adequate. It took off (asphalt) in 30 feet or so and climbed at a scale angle. 
Unfortunately, I had built the wing/aileron set-up as described, although I added aileron differential by separating the cable (snake) attachments to the servo wheel to give more up than down. Major problem--limited "up" available without the aileron touching the wing trailing edge. Climbed to about 50 feet and tried a gentle left turn, so far OK. Gave right aileron and rudder (you need rudder coordination for this aircraft) but instead of straightening up, the left bank steepened into a spiral into the ground--no recovery possible.  I have rebuilt with changes to the ailerons but haven't had a chance to fly again. The problem was that the left "down" aileron created more drag than the right "up" aileron could counter and rudder was not sufficient to overcome it once the turn had started. This has the potential  to be a nice scale-like flier, but watch out for the hidden construction and flying problems.

Electric Hots Rating:  (yep, zero stars)

continued

LeCrate - Graupner Ju-52 - E-Hots - Electra
George Scrimshaw  email: viking@redshift.com


Thought I'd send a couple of my evaluations of some of the planes since my impressions of some are at odds with those on the site, so maybe for variation.

LeCrate Rating: ***
I built a LeCrate 6-7 years ago and used a Kyosho can motor set for reverse rotation using a Kyosho gear out of an old Kyosho Zero that had bitten the dust. With an on-off Kyosho controller with BEC and using a standard receiver and servos it flies well. I have used a 6 cell 1200, a 7 cell 1200, a 7 cell 800 and both a 6 cell and a 7 cell 1400 in it