Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
It's fairly common for a plain bearing engine to require a bit more prime for starting then a BB engine. If it has sat for a while it will need the additional fuel to establish a film seal between the crankshaft and the bushing/crankcase. Once the seal is established it will draw fuel up into the combustion chamber more efficiently. Great score though, one thing I have not had around for a while is a small trainer, I miss having something to just take out and fly for the heck of it. Enjoy.
Hehe, glad to hear it's gonna fly great. 3 for 3 on smooth flying planes in my fleet, it seems. My NexSTAR is the same way, as is my FT Commuter 049. The Commuter, sporting a choketube throttle equipped Cox 0.049 reedie, solo'd me for the first time!
Originally Posted by
JohnBuckner
Indeed, maukaonyx is correct although it is the Midwest Aerostar 40. Built in two sizes forty and twenty all were kits that I am aware of . It is a fine trainer and my second choice only to the Sig Senior Kaydet Long ago I used one with fifty ounces of fuel for my personal best cross country along seventyfive miles of Route 66.
No modifications at all are required so do not get caught up in that game. FP's along with the later FX.s and the more recent AX,' s are absolutely at the top of my favorite glow engines and yes even over the Four strokes.
The carb on all sizes of the FP's is a bleeder type, An example of simplicity. Very easy to set midrange but is backward from the double needle types ( Leaning midrange is done by opening the screw, not closing). I would be pleased to explain a very simple method if interested?
John
The only modification I'd ever make to this engine would be getting the crankcase and cylinder head anodized to match the livery. A nice cherry red would look
amazing I think, so would having a flat black crankcase with a gold head. As far as operation is concerned, it's a gem right as it is. Figured out getting the low-speed dialed in pretty quick, as the videos can tell.
I'm impressed with how broad the needle settings are, too. I can go half a turn on the high speed before the thing reacts! Great plume of blue out the back(I fumigated my mailbox with this thing from across the street hahahaha), no missed cycles, and a needle that practically sets itself. Gotta love it. And the LSN...I gave it a half-turn-in from where I had set it when I cleaned the carb and that was dead nuts on. Thing idles down to 2750RPM like it's nothing and transitions flawlessly even after burbling over for a minute or two.
Always have loved OS power. My 18 CV-RX is an absolute brute, my 46AX is boss, and now this 40FP goes from 'siezed solid' to 'fine runner' with a bit of 3'n'1 oil chased by 1/2a fuel and 2hrs of wiggling.
And yeah, I definitely buy the 'plain bearing film seal' angle, because my Cox engines are the same exact way. They tend to not start at all unless they're literally puking out the exhaust slits.
Originally Posted by
JohnBuckner
Now onto the RC system This receiver is most definitely an early Futaba AM type not an FM, Which is Very wideband which makes it illegal to use as such. It cannot be convertible to any modern (legal) standards
The battery packs are: an early futaba 4.8v 500mah Nicd. get rid of it.
Oh trust me I'm not using either of those. They're going on the collectible shelf as antiques. I'm putting a modern S-FHSS 2.4ghz receiver and a 2s 2200 Li-FE Rx pack in this thing and I'll be flying it on my Futaba 6J transmitter. Servos I may keep if they work properly, though. They have modern plugs on them(You can see the adapter cables still in the old Rx in my pic).
The other pack is not for the RC system, Perhaps it was intended as some sort of fulltime/switched glow booster. That's rubbish. The FP's are the most reliable and least in need of any glow boost, Ever.
The other pack is my 1/2A glow clip, which is there purely for scale purposes. Incidentally, it will also start 40 size plane engines.
This thing.
It's astonishing how enormous that receiver is for only being 4 channels. Something that footprint from the last 3 or 4 years would have 20+ channels, two-way comms, built-in 6-axis gyrostabilization, rudimentary autopilot capabilities, telemetry feedback, the works.
As for my Aerostar 40...in all likelihood, itt'l get the same Rx I have in my NexSTAR, an R2006GS. I don't need anything fancy in here, just a dependable S-FHSS full-range receiver. The servos in the plane currently use standard J connectors, and if they don't work, I have four brand new S3004s sitting here waiting to go into something.
The Servo Plugs are the Futaba (G) which were last used in 1986, They are not compatible with anything due to uneven pin spacing. As one of the fellows stated the adapters (G plug to J plug) have been out there but at what price for what you end up with? There is a "Cheat" which involves cutting the lead and replacing with an old/new J plug being very careful to get the power polarity right. If done wrong this will let the smoke out of the Rx.
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Yeah, puts a decent datestamp on the airplane. I found a manual for the 40FP; copyright 1987, and the receiver that was in it uses depreciated servo connectors that were obsoleted earlier than that. Plane was prolly built in the early 80s. Makes it older than I am!
One last though I would heed Hydro's suggestion to trash that spinner it is so damaged (starter cone burned) as well as aged (lost to much moisture) that is just waiting to explode wheather when starting or as sometime happens in flight.
John
Given that, and the amount of nose weight this thing will need, I'll probably ditch the spinner entirely and replace it with a brass prop nut. This one had a pound or so of brad nails bundled up in foam beneath the fuel tank alongside that nicd pack and the Rx, and a few other guys I've talked to about this thing that have one of their own report needing a TON of nose weight. One guy cast two lead blocks and put 'em in the cheeks right behind the prop to get his balanced.
I'd rather use less weight with more leverage to get the CG right, yanno? If 5oz of brass on the end of the crankshaft balances it as well as 16oz of nails under the back end of the fuel tank does, I'm saving 11oz of weight!