Bashedit

My Feedback: (35)

The option I chose for mine was to use the standard muffler and rotate the engine 15 degrees. That way I don't have to cut out the side of the cowl. Might have it ready to test fly next weekend. Keep the reports coming in guys.

Ed

Mrawls

Vacaman,

on the wing rock during high alpha I set my alirons to 3/4" up spoiler during this manuever and there is no rocking the plane locks into a harrier and is quite impressive in its manueverability.
Have you done the Elevator with the large reactor? it has to be one of my favorite moves. I personally love this plane and think about it all week long just waiting for the weekend. For me I just can't find anything about the planes characteristics I don't like.

Vacaman

Thanks for the tip Mrawls. I will try that mix and see what happens. With no wind I have 0 wing rock, but we are having windy days on summer, and is not constant, so the reactor struggles a little, anyway is not bad at all, I can pass over the field very low while harrier with confidence. I think becouse the big wing and side area and low weight, makes the plane a little sensitive to the wind when flying 3d stuff. I have tried hovering with wind and its very hard, but with no wind, it just stays there.
The elevator is just great, rock solid.
I just ended the break inn period and haven´t got the chance to make too much inverted stuff, becouse the engine going very rich, so I have to figure out this before making inverted moves. have you tried them???

Mrawls

Vacaman,

I haven't done much of the low stuff with my 50cc Reactor as I do with my 40 size reactor. The investment is too great to risk the plane for me. I have sunk a fortune in mine and want to keep it in the air for a while. I have done inverted Harriers and flat spins with it and am comfortable with its ability to recover quickly. Mixers are no trouble, FYI I have my CG @ 7&3/8" as I like a slightly tail heavy plane.
Knife edges tend to drift toward the landing gear slightly so I am thinking of adding some elevator mix with the rudder.
One thing I noticed is I am destroyed my wheelpants after a few landings, we operate off a grass field and so it is somewhat rough, I ordered a replacement set from Tower and on the replacement set I added some Sig wheelpant hardware. I used the mounting holes provided on the inside edge of the pants and added the sig hardware to the outside edge and used a longer axle. This seems to have stopped the wheel pants from bouncing around and cracking.

Vacaman

I reinforced the wheel pants with fiberglass, and there are ok now. You can add some fiberglass where the mounting ply ends, so they don´t crack with vibrations.
This plane is a real joy to fly, so I treat it with care, no risky moves. But it makes things very easy, so I have more confidence than with other planes.
One advice, my wing tube dowel came off, so is not glued very well. If it moves when flying, the wing tube could fail in a hard maneuver. So check it!!

Mrawls

Vacaman,

great tip I will surely check mine!! I have a hole drilled in mine and install a Hairclip for safety. I lost a wing on my 40size reactor from the wing bolts vibrating out and after that little experience I started using a hair pin in the dowel pin on all my planes. The little reactor did survive the ordeal, I knifedged it down and although I broke one elevator on the landing and damaged the wing a little the plane was easily fixed and flying again the next weekend.

Vacaman

Same thing happened to a friend, when he was landing the reacto 40 and the wing came off.
But I mean the dowel inside the wingtube.

Mrawls

Have you done any research on Ethanol in the fuel and its effects on two stroke engines? I have been doing some research and find it quite surprising and alarming. I have a Zenoah 26ei that lost its mid range and I read about the effects of ethanol and tore my walbro carb down and found the diaphrams distorted and warped, I went to a local lawnmower shop and purchased a rebuild kit. while I was there the tech told me that the ethonal does more than that to the engines, he said that the alcohol attracts water and in doing so it does not mix right with the oil and so you can burn an engine up quickly? I have done some reading and verified this through a few sources. Now I am concerned about DA50 in my reactor! I also read that you can use coleman fuel as it is just white unleaded gas. I went today and bought some for trials. It is $6 a gallon but still better than frying an engine. Have you heard of this before and if so what are you doing about it?

Vacaman

Why use ethanol on a gas engine? I just use 93 octane gas and the engine have great power. Don´t have a clue about ethanol

go vertical

My Feedback: (1)

vacaman
in some parts of the U.S. they are mixing ethanol in the gas I haven't had any problem with my fuel here in the state of PA.

Mrawls

Check your gas pump at your local station. I am not sure where you are but most fuels in the US have atleast 10% ethanol in it as a government mandate. I am in Dallas and have looked all over the place for a station that does not have the ethanol added. I bought a kit from the lawnmower shop to test the gasoline for ethanol and the amounts found in most fuels is quite surprising.

Mrawls

lucky you!!!! Happy Flying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me know if learn anything interesting with your plane and I will do the same!!

go vertical

My Feedback: (1)

we have aguy in our club who has tryed the colman gas there was a decrease in power because it only has around 78 octane but it does smell good

Mrawls

go vertical,

thanks I did not know the octane was so low, bummer!! Well I guess the only thing to do is run the 93oct out of the pump and hope for the best.

kochj

I read about that in the latest MAN ... and that to use colemen fuel....
That octane is too low for my zdz's as they have higher compresion and need the high octane ran in them..
Not for sure, but that is what I heard..

I too am a bit concerned about ethenal added to gas...
Isn't the gas station suppost to have that labeled visually? Soyou can see if it has it in it or not???

wyo69cowboy

My Feedback: (2)

I don't know this for sure, but I don't believe most race gas has any ethanol. As a bonus, it smells great! Buddy used to use some of his Trick 105 octane race gas in his weedeater and it sure smelled great!

jbarnes

I just picked up one of these planes and have started to put it together. Using a DL50. Reading this thread I couldn't figure out if the DL50 causes the bird to end up nose heavy or not. Wondering just where to mount the batteries. No sense in putting the ignition battery up front if the bird comes out nose heavy. Also regarding the muffler. Not sure if you know this or not but Jtec just recently came out with a pitts muffler for the DA/DL which allows the muffler to fit in the cowl of the TFP51. This muffler is very narrow up front at the header. If you are looking for the most narrow foot print pitts muffler this is the one to buy. Thanks, Jerry.

Mrawls

Jbarnes

congrats on you purchase. The Reactor is an awesome plane. To answer your question the plane will be nose heavy unless you place the batteries aft of the reciever compartment. I put all three of my batteries back there and the plane only needed 2oz in the tail. So if you want to avoid this place your batteries in the 2nd bay back from the reciever tray. This can be easily done by opening the tunel cover behind the canopy, but keep in mind you will have to add that piece back. The balsa in the tunel cover also stabilizes the tunel. I found this to be very easy to remove the panel and build a battery tray in the tail. then put the panel back.

My plane is using 2 2600mah Li-ion batteries for the recieve and a 1500mah Nimh for the ignition.

stealdesk

My Feedback: (4)

Well I picked a camera to mount on the plane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgLs9GQKMB4

Mrawls

Stealdesk,

looks good nice flight.

Mrawls

after my landing gear mount failing on a reasonable landing I added some reinforcements to the new fuselage. First off during my inspection of the broken parts I discovered that the interlocked joints are not glued in place this is probally one of the biggest problems. Next concern was the rotational forces from the two piece gear. to counter these two things first off
1. Thin CA is applied to all interlocked joints in the landing gear box
2. three layers of fiberglass added to the ends of the bulkheads
3. built a 2" by 1/8" reinforcement plate to lock the two piece gear together.

On the reinforcement plate I slid it into the cavity first then the gear under it. then bolted it down using the 6 mounting screws for the gear. I also added two additional shorter screws 6-32 X3/8 which went through the top plate and into threaded holes in the gear. This ensured a positive connection between the three pieces.

anyone flying the big reactor off of grass fields I would highly recommend this mod to. This is the only negative thing I can say about the plane beyond this weak structure and two piece landing gear it is a fabilous plane that has no limits.

SportFlyer3

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wyo69cowboy

My Feedback: (2)

Great video! Love the in-plane stuff! Sounded cool at startup with the audio quality: made it sound a little like a Top Fuel dragster, all crackly and lumpy.

jbarnes

Thanks for the update on the landing gear mod. GP has some great aircraft but all of them seem to suffer from landing gear issues. They could use a lesson from AeroWorks on landing gear design. I was also noticing that a 23" prop appears to limit the ground clearance. Haven't mounted the engine yet to see if in fact I've got a issue. Maybe a three blade will be necessary running a DL50 on this bird. Jerry.

go vertical

My Feedback: (1)

jerry
I am flying with a 3 blade a mejzlik 20x10 also a zxoar 22x8 2 blade pull out of a hover is better with the 2 blade other than that the 3bl does well and reduces noise eather choice I don't have ground clearance issues