Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

I guess it's time to reveal my new toy. I bought a Miss Ashley II Q40 RTF with a Nelson SS off a guy on the NMPRA website. It was raced as recently as Phoenix 2008. The only thing I did to the plane was mount an OS 60L heli carb on the motor and hooked the fuel cut off servo to the carb. I don't plan on racing and I like having the ability to throttle back and cruise once in a while so I can catch my breath.

I spent a good hour carefully setting up the carb and throttle on my radio. For the first flight I used an APC 7.4x7.5 prop. I got a decent idle at around 7k and it would run up to 23.5k without any trouble. I think I can probably lean the low end out a bit, but I wanted to keep the engine on the rich side.

It rolled fairly hard to the left on launch and had a bit of down and left trim once it got up to speed. I got it in the air and flew one circuit at about 1/2 throttle before the motor suddenly died. I was able to fly another full circuit before I made my approach. It was a bit hot and I tried to force it down 2-3 times before I ran out of runway. I finally managed to plop it down in the long grass at the end of the runway. The plane is fine. I found out that the carb slid out of the sleeve I made for it. I was going to glue it to the sleeve with Locktite 609, but someone talked me out of it. I should have listened to my gut. :eek:

Overall I'm happy. I need to do a little bit of work and then it should be a boatload of fun.

I'll try to upload some pictures soon.


Chris

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

Congrats on the maiden!! Now ya gotta get rid of the throttle - they're for sissies! :)

You might want to prop it a little heavier too. 23.5k is pretty high for a Q40 motor on the ground. Most guys are getting closer to 21.5 on the ground.

Get some video for us when ya get back in the air!!

Tim
revver bro #216

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

Chris:

Don''t let the hot dogs shame you out of the throttle. Its a great learning tool and the best direction to go for other than actually racing the formula birds. This is only one of the reasons I love my Jett engines. With the Jett 60 LX or 50, idle is around a unbelieveable 2,000 and rock solid. Can taxi out and take off with confidence. The Jett carbs are available, and just may do the job for you. Ask Bobs 27, should know. Its a learning curve to cut the engine and slow things down prior to turning final, but you should catch on quickly. Another reason I love my Jetts, can idle down slowly for landing and still have power if I gotta go around for some reason. In years of use, can not recall any time any of my 5 Jett 35 to 90 engines quit while landing. The 35 and 90 are actually a pain in the butt, they just sit there and tic tic tic. ENJOY

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

Chris.....

sounds like you are off to a good start.

Your prop choice is good to start with. Better to underprop it a bit as you have .... easier to needle, and you are not racing it anyway.

The OS carb should work fine. Sounds like it does.

Dub offers his QM engines with a modified 90L carb on it for "practice" flying. In fact a lot of the "FAI practice engines" with carbs go over to europe, mideast and africa. They "idle" about like what you see there. Much lower and the plug tends to go out anyway.

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

I''m not worrying about anyone''s comments. This thing is a toy, plain and simple. No need to fly WOT for 2.5 minutes. I''ve owned ~125mph electric pylon and EDF planes in the past. I wanted something that was noticeably faster, smoothe flying, and didn''t need an army of support equipment. I think I''ve met all of those requirements.

The OS carb is fine. I talked to Dub, but I was able to buy this carb and do the machining myself for less than half of what he wanted for one of his carbs. I can''t think of anything that has more need for precision metering than a heli motor.

As for the prop, I think 175+ mph is fine for now. I''m not looking to break any records right now.

I tell you what, that bird got everybody''s attention. The pattern was fairly full the whole time I was there, but flight ops basically stopped from the time I fired it up until it was back on the ground.

Thanks to Bob, Roger, and a few others for your consistant help and wealth of knowledge,


Chris

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

Chris,

Hope you didn''t take my comments wrong - I was just jazzin'' ya. I''m thinking of doing the same thing when I make the jump from 428 to 422. Good luck and keep it screamin''!!

tim

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

Chris,

Upping pitch is not going make much of a noticeable difference, unless you are looking for a few seconds in a 10 lap race. The best Q40 SS motors were barely cracking 190 mph, and most were in the low to mid 180''s. These motors can last an awfully long time if taken care of.

As you go up in pitch, the needle will become more difficult to hit perfect. You will need to set it slightly richer than the smaller props to compensate for the additional unload.

Congrats on your flights, hope to see you at the races eventually :)

They are a blast to fly, but even funner when there are 4 of them all trying to fly in the same airspace.

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

That sounds like fun. Nice job Chris.

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

Well, I LockTited (609 Sleeve Retainer) the carb to the sleeve and then Locktited that assy into the motor. So, yesterday I got three more flights in. The first two were spent getting the trims perfected for a minute or two, doing a couple burner passes, and then shutting it down. The third flight I thought I had the mixture too lean and tried to shut it down. No luck, so I flew it around at 1/2 throttle until the tank was dry. When I went to fire it up for the forth flight the motor would not light. I decided to dump the fuel out of the carb and nothing came out. Turned the plane over and the carb was completely closed and the carb arm was off the carb and just sitting on the end of the linkage. Gee, guess which screw I forgot to LockTite? :eek:

The two flights I got in were nice once I got the trims set. The third flight was supposed to be my first full bore flight, but obviously that didn't work out. I guess I have something to look forward to next time I take it out.

I also got the take off worked out pretty well by the third flight. The first two left a bit to be desired. All three landings were nice and smoothe and only about 100' of rollout once the wheels touched.

Thanks for all of the encouragement. Tim, I took your comments in stride. Someday I hope to feel comfortable enough to put the venturi back on, but I don't know that I will as long as I'm not racing.


Chris

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

chris.....

look around for someone with a "used" nelson or Jett Q-500 engine... or a spent Sport Jett. Sometimes folks have a carb or airvalve hanging around. Of course, price would have to be right to make that change now.

The Q-500 airvalve wont idle, but it does provide some throttle capability down to about 50% power.

Might make a good intermediate step between your carb and the venturi.

For a while, a few of us used airvalves on the QM40 aircraft as a matter of course..... allowed us to pull back the engine a tad rich on the line ..... then let the dogs out right as the flag dropped ..... avoid overheating.

RE: Q40 Miss Ashley II first flight
 

Hey Bob,

Good info, I'll keep it in mind.


Chris