Watching a de Havilland Tiger Moth fly is a special experience—kind of like listening to a string quartet play Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon” while sailing on a calm ocean at sunset. I’m talking sheer grace here. With the GWS Tiger Moth, you can experience this brand of aerial elegance within the confines of a softball field or even a gymnasium. I’ve been an RC modeler for 30 years, and weaving this pretty little vintage bipe around the infield of a local softball field as I stood on the pitcher’s mound made me feel the excitement of the novice once again. I call it big-time fun with a tiny RC model.

As you can see from the kit contents, the parts count is low, and that means shorter building time.

While there’s there plenty of space in the radio compartment for the GWS flight pack—and I highly recommend it—other radio gear will fit just as well.

THE KIT AND CONSTRUCTION

When I hear the word “kit,” images of balsa and plywood bundles come to mind; I’m talking lots and lots of parts. As you can see from the photo, the Moth’s parts count amounts to a mere 35 or so. Low parts count notwithstanding, everything except the radio and speed controller is right there in the box—even glue! One of the kit’s nicest features is the well-written, full-color (that’s right; full color), 18-page instruction booklet.

Because most of its components are foam, for the moderately experienced modeler, building the Moth shouldn’t go past four to five hours. I have only one bit of advice that is not in the instructions: the struts are made of ABS plastic that has a very glossy finish. Before you glue the struts to the wings, I suggest you roughen 1/16 to 1/8 inch of both sides of both ends of the struts to ensure a better adhesion. If you use epoxy, as we did (a recommended option in the instruction booklet), this is particularly important, as epoxy doesn’t adhere well to high-gloss surfaces.

The GWS flight pack includes a GWR-4P 4-channel FM receiver, a CS50 speed control, a 150mAh battery pack and two GWS Pico (standard) servos. Packs are available for JR, Futaba, Hitec and Airtronics radios. Price is $95. The crystal must be purchased separately.

Just in front of the landing-gear wire is the battery-holding box. It is specially sized for a 7.2V 150mAh Ni-Cd pack.

The tailskid is simply glued into a precut slot in the fuselage. Vee-bends are put in both the rudder and elevator pushrods for shock-absorbing purposes.

FLIGHT PERFORMANCE

From the moment the Tiger Moth left my hand, I could tell it was one solid flyer. A few slow-flyer and park-flyer designs of just a year or so ago have given models of this type a reputation—undeserved, for the most part—of being under-powered, marginal flyers. This is not true of more recent releases in this market and is definitely not the case with the Tiger Moth. Though you should never expect anything approaching glow performance from any model in this class, the Moth does climb to altitude with authority, and with its gear-driven 9x7 prop, it has enough thrust to get you out of trouble if the need arises—and, sooner or later, you know it will. Using the 150mAh 6-cell Ni-Cd packs specifically designed for this model, I got 7 to 9 minutes of duration, depending on throttle use. With suitable NiMH cells, I’m sure 12- to 15-minute flights would be realized.

This little bipe can be maneuvered in small areas, doing high, banked tight turns, just as a biplane should, yet it has the rock-steady characteristics of a trainer and doesn’t show any tendency at all to snap; in fact, you could teach a beginner with this one or, with the controls set up at maximum, you can create your own aerial circus in the confines of a baseball diamond.

This little bipe is so much fun that I could fly it until I had a serious case of numb thumbs. It’s simply one of the best flying slow flyers I’ve come across to date.

CONCLUSION

GWS has really hit upon a successful combination with its airframes and drive systems, and the Tiger Moth, in my opinion, is its best yet. It has tremendous vintage beauty in the air, it flies fantastically and—here’s the best part I haven’t told you about yet—sells for only $55! What else can I say but go get one for your backyard or next family camping trip.