Need Advice: Smoke System
08-29-2002, 08:33 AM
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Need Advice: Smoke System
Smoke systems will take some power from your engine. The smoke fluid expanding adds backpressure in the muffler. At maximum smoke output, I had up to 50% power loss with my O.S. .91 FS. (reducing smoke fluid flow just a LITTLE helped regain a LOT of power.)
Due to the added weight of a pump type smoke system (several ounces because of pump and battery and smoke tank and the fluid n the tank... might come up over 1 lb.) and due to the potential power loss, going up one engine size is a good idea. such as, the recommende max engine for my plane was a .72 4-stroke and I used a .91.
Depending on what fluid you use... it can be more expensive than glow fuel, or not much more than gasoline. "Super Dri" is about $20 a gallon. Good smoke fluid though, and leaves very little mess on the plane. You can mix "Corvis" oil with a bit of kerosene to make a smoke fluid, which leaves a lot more mess on the plane, but is cheap.
The hardest part of setting up the smoke system is getting the correct fluid flow rate. Too much fluid gives much less smoke than too little. Start with the flow stopped down to near nothing, and open it up slowly with the engine at about 1/2 throttle. Find max smoke for there and you won't have the power robbing problem of setting for max smoke at full throttle. (more heat at full throttle will vaporize more fluid... making much more backpressure.)
Due to the added weight of a pump type smoke system (several ounces because of pump and battery and smoke tank and the fluid n the tank... might come up over 1 lb.) and due to the potential power loss, going up one engine size is a good idea. such as, the recommende max engine for my plane was a .72 4-stroke and I used a .91.
Depending on what fluid you use... it can be more expensive than glow fuel, or not much more than gasoline. "Super Dri" is about $20 a gallon. Good smoke fluid though, and leaves very little mess on the plane. You can mix "Corvis" oil with a bit of kerosene to make a smoke fluid, which leaves a lot more mess on the plane, but is cheap.
The hardest part of setting up the smoke system is getting the correct fluid flow rate. Too much fluid gives much less smoke than too little. Start with the flow stopped down to near nothing, and open it up slowly with the engine at about 1/2 throttle. Find max smoke for there and you won't have the power robbing problem of setting for max smoke at full throttle. (more heat at full throttle will vaporize more fluid... making much more backpressure.)
01-07-2003, 12:07 AM
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INSTALLING
Do a search for "Super Dri Smoke Oil" and "TME smoke pump" You'll get all kinds of neat info on setting up smoke.
You'll definitely want a pump. If using the TMS system... power the pump with a 5 cell pack (separate from RX pack... it can drain your RX power too fast to risk using just one battery)
Look at my review of the Fokker Dr1 ARF by GP. I posted a fair amount of info on adding smoke to the O.S. .91 FS I used. (the Magnum should be very similar for adding smoke)
You'll definitely want a pump. If using the TMS system... power the pump with a 5 cell pack (separate from RX pack... it can drain your RX power too fast to risk using just one battery)
Look at my review of the Fokker Dr1 ARF by GP. I posted a fair amount of info on adding smoke to the O.S. .91 FS I used. (the Magnum should be very similar for adding smoke)
