matchlessaero

Excitement today!!!!!

After a 6 hour building/finishing session this morning, my 1/2 A Unlimited pylon racer was covered, charged and ready to fly.

I drove to the field, and got ready to go. Engine started without a hitch. After topping of the fuel, and bolting on the wing, I started it and had a buddy of mine launch.
WOWOWOWWOW. No up or down trim, 2 clicks of aileron trim and she was streaking away at a very high rate of speed. I began to fly it around the field in a racetrack pattern to see how she reacted. Other than a slow aileron rate, the thing was flying perfectly.
I brought her in and bumped up the aileron throw up, and she was off again.
The high aspect ratio wing tracks perfectly through the turns, and the plane appears to lose no speed at all. Just smooth and groovy. Everyone out there stated that it was easily the fastest half-A they had ever seen.
Other good thing was the power-off flight characteristics. The thing glides like a sailplane, and does not slow down.

I will put pictures up tomorrow night if I can get them developed.

Final stats:

-155square inch wing area.
-Root chord 6"
-Tip chord 3.25"
-Airfoil is a modified NACA 64 series at 6% thick
-Wing is fiberglass reinforced foam core(cut it myself) sheeted with 1/32" balsa
-weight is 12oz's
-wing loading is 11oz's per square foot (I hope I did that math right)
-fuel tank is homemade 2oz (soldered together brass stock)

2fast4u

My Feedback: (5)

Sounds like a lot of fun!!! Looking forward to seeing the pics.

PAINLESS

My Feedback: (19)

I have the same problem with my little plane that I scratch built, it floats like a glider when coming in dead stick, makes landing interesting on a short grass runway.

My plane has 187 sq in and weighs about 14 oz, thats 10.25 oz/sq ft. Thats in the 2 meter glider range.

A Q500 plane is 16-17 oz/sq ft, to get that with my little plane I would need a 23 in wing span (125 sq in), its 34 in now. I'm going to cut it down to 30 which should give a glide slope that I'm more acustomed to. That should increase speed due to less frontal area too.

matchlessaero

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matchlessaero

I hope you enjoy the pics.

As you can see above, I was trying to eliminate as much frontal area as possible. The fuselage rounds right down to the engine mount, and the wing is impossibly thin. Makes approaches real interesting. Most of my friends lost sight of it on approach each time I flew!

With a little more time, I may work on a method to cowl in the bottom half of the motor and mount. That will take a little more work than I have time for now.

By the end of the evening, the wings will have my race number on one, and 'Caliente' on the other in monokote yellow.

mynameisAARON

Very nice...

Jeff Leavitt

Matchless,

Yeah, wow is right! very nice job dude.... Great job on the T tail... You've inspired me to try to build one. How much does she weigh?
There is a radial mount for the norvel that the engine screws on to in place of the crankcase cover. (Drilled for pressure) Gets you away from the Dave Brown draggy style mount. Mount is 1 1/8" in diameter so lets you bring the front of the fuse down to the minimum and screws on to the firewall. Pretty slick deal. Look at Toadsrc.com I think he has a picture of an engine with the radial mount on it.
Put that baby in your suitcase and come on out to our race this sat. it's our annual 50 lapper. Double points! should be a hoot.... Rgds, Jeff.....

2fast4u

My Feedback: (5)

There is also a streamlined mount that covers the bottom of the engine all the way up to the prop hub. I have one at home, but I can't remember the mfg name. I will let you know. I even know where to get them. Sizes in 1/2A and 40 for sure. I have 2 of each at the house. I think they are "FORMOST" mounts, but don't hold me to that till I check.

PAINLESS

My Feedback: (19)

Yes they are made by "Foremost", I think that is how its spelled. Tower used to carry them, they came in .049 and .40 size only. The .40 size was popular with the q500 crowd a few years ago.

Troy-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

Congrats! Now that's what a 1/2A racer should look like Good job!

matchlessaero

Thanks for all the nice comments guys!

I need to do a little engine work (replumbing the fuel tank in an effort to get the engien runs a little more consistent), but I plan to enter it in a RunWhatchaBrung pylon race this weekend.

I will also be flying a 428 q500 racer in the race, so this will be an interesting weekend.

My engine runs with the little engine are still kinda inconsistent. Will just take some more practice runs and development, but as I mentioned above, I think I have almost got it down. (I had it running perfectly in my GLH for engine testing). Just in case I cannot get it done before the first heat Saturday, I have a backup TEEDEE that is strong and very consistent to run instead.

Jeff, it weighed in at approx 12 oz's, so I am pretty happy with the weight. I could have saved a lot of weight by using another covering material than Monokote, but I am used to the stuff now. The T-tail was pretty easy to build. I used a half-A throttle cable as the pushrod. It is mounted to pull the elevator up, so there is no binding or flexing. GOOD LUCK THIS WEEKEND AT THE 50 LAPPER!

I may build the next with a backplate mount. I love the fourmost mounts, but they are so heavy. Does anyone know where to get the little backplate mount for a Norvel type .049 (with a pressure tap)?

Jeff Leavitt

Matchless,

Hey! You sure your not just puttin' us on about Nitro Woman? You've got the boy's all steamed up.... I hear from usually reliable sources that Fastlash has cleaned up his workbench, and, 2fast moved his bath nite up to friday! Things haven't been this exciting around here for a long time....

O.K., the business at hand... Backplate mounts by the way these are made by a outfit called "Texas Timers" Larry Driskill has them for both the VA's and Norvels. If you asked him real nice, he may even tap it for the pressure fitting. theire about $7.00. You will love that mount... It weighs nothing..... You can get Larry at:806-796-3747. email is [email protected]. larr's company name is "Kitting it Together" Rgds, Jeff......

Cody-RCU

Looks *****in! What engine ya runnin, Norvel AME 049?

KCFlyBoy

My Feedback: (12)

I can't believe the light wing loading.

matchlessaero

The engine on the airplane is not a Norvel. It was however made in the AME factory. I purchased it here in the states, but so far, I have not gotten this engine running quite like a VA. I would not suggest this engine to anyone wanting to go fast (without a H#$ of a lot of work).

The wing loading is pretty light. I have always thought that lighter wing loadings will make a racer turn better, land better, and fly better in general. This plane seems to have proven that once again. I guess there are other ways to go though.

I flew in a pylon race with it yesterday. Was going to fly my Q500 and my half-A. (it was a runwhatchabrung race). Q500 broke (throttle retainer screw $.05 part) so I only flew the Caliente. The airplane flew great. During practice, I turned a sub 1:30 on the 500 foot course with the engine on song. (I can't wait to see what this thing will turn on the 300ft course)
In the first heat, the weather changed, the engine sagged and that was that. It never came up on the power band during that heat, and my day was over. I need to spend more time (and fuel) learning how to make it run right in all conditions.........

This thing is an absolute blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DICKEYBIRD

1/2A racers: I saw Jeremy's Caliente fly Sunday AM.... It is VERY, VERY fast! You would do well to emulate Jeremy's design.

The Zeus really howled early on but as the day heated up, it got "saggy." He added 1st 1 head shim then 2 and it seemed to stabilize somewhat but it didn't come up to where it was earlier that morning. I'm thinking the Zeus needs a reshaped combustion chamber with more volume. Anybody else out there run these engines and get them to perform consistently?

Jeff Leavitt

Hi guy's,

Glad to hear Jeremy's racer is going great. Our club ahd a fifty lap event this weekend and it was good....My time was 10:42 for 50 laps on a 300' course with a mandantory pit stop. The 10:42 wasn't pretty but it was good enough to win... Really should have been in the 9:30's, oh well, next year.....

Zeus's. The std. head that comes with the Zeus is done for no or low nitro. Not good for our uses. The good Norvel plug, or the Galbreath head with the Nelson plug seem to work out pretty good. I don't think that the problem is with the head, it's the Venturi. The engine won't (in my experience) maintain the needle setting in the air. Mine will go rich. I think that the needle is too near the top of the venturi and the engine is getting a lot more ram air in flight due to the angle of the air intake. I opened up the plastic insert and tried that and it seemed to help, but I haven't flown the engine since I tried that on the bench. I think that the motor will come around, but it will take some more work. I have three of these motors so I'll probably try to get them figured out. I probably would have been better off with a couple of the new style AME's..... Rgds, Jeff

matchlessaero

Congrats on your race Jeff, I hope my next is half as successful.
50 Laps! WooHoo, now that would be a challenge.

Thanks for the nice comments Milton (DickeyBird) and thanks for the help at the field. That early morning run was a real blast. Now I gotta get it to run that way everytime.

This evening, I got to thinkin' about the head changes and where I could go with them. I may see if I can change the combustion chamber shape and size on a head and run it to verify what kind of difference it makes.

I thought about the intake restrictor that Jeff mentioned. I figured that it is a pretty easy change to verify. With that in mind, I pulled the needle valve ass'y, and found a goldmine of problems (or should I say a trash pile! ). After removing the ass'y, and the needle from the spraybar, I peeked through as a matter of habit. I was surprised by the fact that I could not see through. Poking the end of a guitarstring down the barrel (where the needle threads in) pushed out a load of trash. Everything from small dirt/grit to a small piece of grass!!!!

I don't think that this has completely solved my problem, but I think it does explain some of the inconsistency. When running the engine on Saturday, I could launch with a good needle, and it would bog down part way through the flight. Or I could launch, the airplane would 'sag', and then all of a sudden run perfectly for the rest of the flight. I think this would suggest that the weather is affecting the plane, but not as much as I thought.

Jeff, your suggestion of straining the fuel is an excellent one. I have been using it, but not since the first run. I am guessing that somewhere along the line, trash got in my fuel, and I pumped it into the tank. I now use a filter on my syringe when filling it, and I have strained my entire supply.

'Til next weekend...............

Jeff Leavitt

Matchless,

The fact that you did have a good run says that the engine is right. Go back to the head/compression set up that you had for the first run. Now that you have cleaned the needle, you should be in the ball park. When you get the fuel system setup right, you will only have to set the needle for the first flight. After that you won't have to touch the needle for subsequent runs. Changes in the weather won't bother you at all.
Don't fill your tank all the way full. If you do, there is no room for the pressure in the tank to stabilize. So, you'll set the needle, launch the airplane, as soon as the tank level drops a bit, the needle will change usually going lean as we now have more pressure, and your engine has sagged. Use a graduated syringe to fill your tank. Test the tank beforehand so you know how much it will hold. A 1 oz. Sullivan will not hold 1 oz! Try it. You'll see what I mean. If I'm running a 1oz. sullivan, I fill with slightly more than 3/4 oz on my syringe, never more. And, using this method, I never get floods. Just make sure your tank IS EMPTY when you fill it. Be sure your fuel tubing on the fuel side of the tank is not the stuff with the teeny I.D.

Fuel filters are problematic. I don't use them. Just filter the fuel through the coffee filter every time before you head out. And clean the bottle before you put the fuel back in. In a short time your entire system will be clean and trouble free..... Rgds, Jeff