Great Planes Big Stick .40 Review

Review by Eric Bradley, Staff Contributor

Equipment Used:

Spektrum AR500

Futaba s3003 standard servos

Hydrimax 4.8v battery

OS .46axII








-Great range of flight

-built tough

-easy build, clear instructions



-Check CG (my own fault)

- Rudder guard gets chewed up

-landing gear makes the tail squat a little


If you have never flown a big stick.... You are missing out. Whether you want a nice gentle flight, or full speed on the deck knife edges, inverted flight and some high up hovering with some thrown in aerobatics, this is the plane. I am bold enough to say, this could possibly be a good first training airplane. I actually bought the Great Planes 40 size float kit, and tossed this plane around a lake. It handled the extra weight like a champ, and still made beautiful water landings. I actually had too much fun to take any pictures of it with floats.


The rudder guard was the only issue I really had, it has been reinforced as a consequence of the landing gear, if you can see the picture, the tail sweeps downward, and the tricycle gear actually angles the tail downward even more. I glued part of an aluminum soda can to protect the wood.


Bottom line is, if you haven't flown one, you need to, I think you will like it.