antiquefer

I have put about a gallon of fuel through the Ys 63 in my Reactor. The plane is a good 3d platform. There is a misprint in the construction manual. In one place in the manual it says that the measurement from spinner backplate to firewall is 4-5/16 inches, when it is actualy 4-15/16. I butchered my cowel due to this error. oops. The plane sits on the ground at nearly flight attitude, consequently takeoffs are steep and abrupt. I made the tailwheel as short as possiable, and squeezed the main gear together to make it taller and this helped allot. I am useing futaba 3004s on the ailerons.hitec 225s on the tailfeathers and throttle on 6 volts. Sofar this is working well. Knifedge is easy, with no coupeling. Waterfalls with nect to no correction to keep it flat. Crazy stable in harrier, and elevator, upright as well as inverted.

antiquefer

YS63 in my reactor. Very good combo. Will do it all. Shorten tail gear and squeez mains together to rais nose to make rotation not so abrupt.

rclement

My Feedback: (1)

Well, After lots and lots of experimenting I've finally gotten this plane flying perfectly. Here's my set up for what it's worth. I'm using a Saito 82 and have .040" of shim behind the top of the engine mount for down thrust. I have taken out the original landing gear in favor of a set from a U Can Do. Just happen to have an extra set and found that they work great. Also I had the battery pack at about 15" forward of the very back of the fuse (measured from the hinge point of the fuse and rudder) but found that I still had to add 1 oz of tail weight to get it to balance right. Recently though I moved the battery to an area just forward of the fuse/rudder hinge point and put the battery in there and took off the 1 oz of tail weight. With some carefull cutting and some epoxy it fit in there good and is solid. Also since I had noticed a little bit of siphoning of fuel while it was sitting and some poor engine response I put a loop in the fuel line and that seems to have helped out a lot.

The CG is now 5 1/2" and the plane flies spectacular and the ground handling is great. It hovers good and it knife edges good with no coupling at all. Also when I roll it inverted it doesn't dive like it used to. It just stays relatively level. This has become one of my favorite planes to fly. Here's the pics.........

Ernie Misner

Nice work Rob! Work is right, Iknow you have really stuck with it on this plane. Thanks a lot for sharing cuz that will save us some time!

Ernie

rclement

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks Ernie and thanks for the idea of putting a loop in the fuel line.

Ricky Blade

for what its worth, i also have a saito82a installed inverted in my reactor. spectrum dx7 stock dig servos. my first 4stroke and with not too much experience on 2cycle i followed manual to the letter. after break in on the bench things seemed ok. finished installing it on the plane and test running ready to fly. the drenching of fuel oils that took place was incredible! it was dripping from everywhere. i was never really satisfied with the tuning of the engine (high speed seemed to hunt and vari too much and the idle wasnt very smooth or low) i was repeatedly told "DONT TOUCH THE LOW MIXTURE SCREW! ITS SET AT THE FACTORY!" OK, I WONT TOUCH IT. ...So having to scratch this insatiable weekly itch i went flying and wiping, flying and wiping, flying and wiping, you get the picture... by now oil soaked all the covering is peeling off and its looking rough from all the patch work. (by the by, wheel pants off and 3" soft foam wheels i dont have major nose over issues if the grass isnt too tall). running omega 15% blend in both my 2 & 4 cycles and really enjoying the plane i was willing to try anything, so....i removed the cowling and with thin blade screwdriver in hand i fired it up. i just was going to adjust it a little and also see if i could find out the hunting high speed problem. OK during high speed you can see air bubbles moving thru the fuel line (full tank of fuel) and causing fluctuations in the high speed running. OK problem identified. i can fix that! now on to the oil bath and the taboo idle mix screw! while at idle trim setting i turned the mixture lean little by little, the engine started to respond nicely, you could hear it running less laborously, less smoke, oil, smoother, calmer ect. i continued adjusting and lowering the throttle servo setting till this saito82 was just purring soooo low it was hard to beleive! i let it idle for what seemed to be 10 min to see if it would stall or load up. nope, it just sat there putt putt putt putt with no complaints. next time i'll grab my mini tach just to see how low. now on to the air bubbles during open throttle. any ideas out there? ricky.

JustErik

Ricky,

Good job on the idle adjustment. The needles are there to make adjustments. If the needs of the engine were not variable, the manufacturer wouldn't spend the money to design and manufacture them that way. As far as the bubbles, it sounds like an air leak somewhere or perhaps foaming fuel. I'd be inclined to install all new fuel line, check the tightness of the carb mounting bolts and give it another shot. I haven't heard of too many issues with foaming on this bird.

Just my thoughts,

Erik

malcolmm

I agree, the low speed mixture often needs adjustment. I only fly 2 strokes, so I don't know about 4 strokes - but on my OS engines, the low speed almost always needs a lot of adjustment (leaner). I have also been told to not touch the low speed. My 55 AX and 120 AX required quite a lot of leaning of the low speed mixture.

Malcolm

Ernie Misner

The needle story just got twisted (no pun intended a bit)...... the low speed needle IS set at the factory, but set for BEAK IN only. After that you are supposed to lean it out. It should say that in the directions as well.

Good that you got it purring. How does she fly?

Ernie

Ricky Blade

well after the monster change in the 4cyc i'm sure going to try a little adjustment on my 2 strokes too... as to how she flys, i believe it's the easyest flying plane i've ever had. i'm the only limited link in the equation. apc 14x4w on the saito82 is the ticket for the reactor its just too much fun to fly every aspect envelope it is well suited for even beginners with only a little alieron training. slow, fast, vertical, nuts.... i do think after removing the fuel tank and finding nothing wrong with fuel lines it must be foaming the fuel. thinking using one of those clunks that look like a bunch of tiny brass beeds stuck together, maybe that might work better than just a clunk. ideas? ricky.

jmehl

Just writing in to let everyone know I lost my reactor yesterday due to some sort of radio failure/glitch...make a long story short it was shot down. went nose first into ground at 60 mph+ and smashed into a million peices. Enjoyed this plane so much that I just ordered another. SO much fun to fly. I had a 72 and could of used a little more so I putting in my saito 82 and moving 72 to another bird. I installed a sullivan smoker on my last Reactor which was really cool.....can't wait for it to come in.

JustErik

Sorry to hear about your loss, jmehl. I've noticed an occasional glitch with mine as well, and have read that others experienced the same thing. Before I fly mine again, I'm relocating the RX antenna to the outside of the plane. Something tells me being surrounded by three extra long servo leads is not good for reception.

jmehl

JustErik

I lost so much confidence because of this I had to order the 2.4 GHz Radio....I did everything in my power to ellinate the glitches....but I would get them every so often randomly....I hope this helps.

JustErik

jmehl,

I'd love to take the 2.4 plunge, but I'm not convinced it's a mature technology yet for our uses. Not to mention the fact that switching over everything I have would cost WAY more than I could possibly justify right now. I imagine that within 5 years or so, that will all change, but for now I'll just have to stick with 72 mhz.

Just out of curiosity, where was your RX antenna placed?

Erik

jmehl

I had it in several different locations incl outisde the fuse and along the servo wires in tube like you mentioned. Did not matter...still had very random glitches.

JustErik

Well, I guess you did everything you could. I'm sure the 2.4 wil serve you well. Other than the move to a bigger engine, do you anticipate doing anything different on the second one?

jmehl

THis time I will have landing gear forward, which in my opinion work really well in that position, will install a 6.0V pack, in rear of fuse (no extra lead needed), i hate extenions so I solder all connections, gonna use the new 2.4 Ghz rx & rx, new 82 saito, 5-3650 futaba digital HT servos, use stiff music wire for Rudder as the "normal" rudder rod bent slightly on hard knife edges, gonna seal all monokote trouble spots with clear nail polish expecially around the bottom bay doors near the rear magents as monokote started to peel before it takes off.

Other than that not much to change. This plane is a rush to fly as it can do so many things well IMHO. I can't wait for #2.

Cheers

outacntrl

i just wanted to say thanx...i've been reading & assembling my reactor for about a cpl.weeks now ..i fell in love w/ it aftr flying a buds little one w/ elec. power so i had to have one..i must be slow cause it took awhile to put it together, not the 5-6 hrs like it says on the box gonna take her out hopefully this friday .. as far as mods go i installed the gear facing forwards, 2.5" wheels, pinned hinges, some metal clevices.. used standard futaba servos , o.s 55ax for power.. auw was 5.55 lbs w/ 1 oz on the fuse @ back to balance it @ 4 7/8 " i know its says 4 3/4 in the book. its nice to be able to ck out what people say about a plane and tips on it..i'll post a cpl pics on her maiden voyage..thanx again... tim

Ricky Blade

i'm new at this site and realize i shouldnt have waited so long to try it out! so much info availible. THANKS GUYS! i have another reactor in the box and i would like to learn more about fuel proofing it before building it. clear finger nail polish, is it the best choice? i was considering using a os55ax but i have this new love afair with a sweet purring saito82 in my oil soaked bird and i did such a great job with the cowling (so nice i've been asked to make more for others) having a template make things much easyer. oh i forgot to say that i sealed all hinge areas with clear monocote and no glitches with my DX7. not that its a big deal but it might be one reason it flys so well. you know what would be cool? maybe a red white and blue Reactor or one with Gold dabloons and Pirates on it like the Katana on my G3.5 sim. hey, if i strip off all the covering on the oil soaked bird, cant i clean it (with what?) and recover it. will it stick? thanks ricky.

Ernie Misner

Ricky and others, I've taken the Saito 82 breather tube and hooked it to a little aluminum tube that runs down one landing gear leg. Should get some of that oil off of the covering and plane.

You guys that are reversing the landing gear..... anyone flying off of a grass field? I couldn't make that stock gear work any way, shape, or form! Let me know how you do it.

5+ inches back seems to work well for inverted and aerobatic flight. Wow, 5.5 lb is really light for this plane. Good work.

Best of luck,

Ernie

jmehl

Ricky Blade

I had heard that if you use baking soda or baby powder or something like that on the oil soaked lumber and use the heat gun to make the oil hot and more liquid the powder will soak it up.

I have never tried so if you do let me know how it works.



Oh and another mod I did was add large wheels....we take off on the grass and I do have landing gear forward.

cheers

rclement

My Feedback: (1)

I got a chance to fly mine quite a bit yesterday and really like it but I'm to go with a Perry pump to see if I can get it to smooth out the engine some.

outacntrl

well the madien is in the books it was sunny, a slight breez...aka... perfect. fired up the 55ax and hit the runway,its grass..tracks great on the ground and w/ the gear facing forward and 2.5" wheels, there's no way it would nose over on take off or landing..it's not possible..period.. took 3 clicks up elev and 1 click right oh it was inspiring before i could make the first circle i went to high rates it is by far the best flying plane i've ever flown..had zero bad habits ..go ahead pull bck on that elevator, only thing it will do is a sweet wall...knife edge is great i mean great..i rung it out, blenders,waterfalls,harriers , flat spins, its all good..ok great . and the springy landing gear makes it stick to the runway on landings like a magnet.. i never greased so many in a row ever i give it 10 1/2 stars.. thanx great planes..and no i dont work for them... also the 55ax plenty of pwr.. unlimited vertical thanx tim

Ernie Misner

Wow, great maiden flight! You must be a good 3D pilot! Your landing gear is from a different planet than mine was though....:-) Don't think the CG needs to be shifted any more?

Ernie

joshjonesjammin

whats up guys??? i was wondering what is the best 6 volt battery (lightest) to get about 5-6 flights out of a charge? please give details. Also, has anybody found any carbon for this bird yet???
Thanks, Josh Jones