Posts: 1647
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
AT the field.
pic 1: I tested diesel fuel and kerosene (separately) in my Balsa USA 1/3 Nieuport (on the ground test only: too windy and cross wind for WW I). I've been using smoke oil and thought I'd try some alternatives. To me the diesel and kerosene, individually tested, appeared to me to produce the same amount of smoke as the smoke oil. (My buddy thought the diesel produced more white smoke than the kerosene.) I only ran a few ounces so I don't know if there's any more residue on the plane than what's produced with smoke oil. The diesel fuel is green but it still produced white smoke. The kerosene is crystal clear like the smoke oil. Their flash points seem to be about the same as the smoke oil. Nothing scientific but these are my crude observations.
pic 2: I took the Yellow AT-6 Texan out to maiden but the engine would not stay running and would only burn the fuel pumped into the carb. I took it home and took the carb apart: took both needle valves out, cleaned out some 'junk' in the screen, air blew out all the orifices and fixed what looked like a backwards installed gasket (opposite side of the diaphram). All seems to be working now. I'm getting around 1900 RPM's on idle and around 5800 RPM's full throttle on a Zinger 24X10 prop. 3W said 5500-6100 is ideal. I started the 'H' and 'L' end at one turn out and had to lean the 'H' end to get from 5100 to 5800 RPM's. The needles only needed a very minor adjustment to get dramatic changes. I'm glad that I tested the engine on the ground: the fuel line touched the muffler and was fused shut. I routed the line over the top of the crankcase plus put a tough plastic sheathing over it. Here's a video of the engine running after adjustments:
Posts: 1647
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
pic 1: Unable to run the engine multiple times and hard to start so I sent it to Bobby at 3W and let him fix it.
pic 2: Decided to work on the Ziroli C-45 beechcraft. I checked the prop nut and it needed an extra 1/2 turn to tighten the nut up on the wood prop after sitting all winter. Took the cowls off and adjusted the engines. Low RPM around 2100 and max out at 6300 on 18X10's. Left engine on Aux 3 (right side lever on JR 2.4 X9303) mixed into right engine on throttle.
Posts: 1647
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
The weather was perfect so I went out at 7 this morning to maiden the Ziroli Beechcraft C-45. I checked all the controls again and found I had the ailerons reversed (that would have been bad news). Started to take off and she started to the left and then ground looped at a very slow speed. Found the tail wheel control had just failed. I figure I might as well take a bunch of pictures since no body is out that early on a Wednesday morning. The only safe way to put this baby on her back is with lots of foam. A clevis came off so I put some fuel tubing over them for the tail wheel control servo.
Posts: 1647
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
I figure I'll post some pictures of the club's field since we don't see that too often! Besides our shelter, we just added and fenced off an area for control line. Someone had the cool idea of covering the set up tables with tarps which should make them last a lot longer. I believe the runway is 500 feet long plus about 100 yards of grass to the right and about 200 yards of grass to the left plus about another 50' of grass runway parallel to the paved runway. We also just added a perpendicular grass runway to the far left end. It was my turn to cut the grass so I cut it in a spiral pattern to keep pushing the grass clippings away from the runway.
< Message edited by samparfitt -- 6/11/2008 10:05:07 PM >
Posts: 1647
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
thanks, I really enjoy all the 'green' when flying.
C-45 Beechcraft maiden: I got the maiden in this morning at 7:30 AM. She tracked straight down the runway and took off at a nice easy climb. She's no 'speed demon' and really just lumbers along. A couple click right aileron was needed. I left the gear down on the maiden. I used 30 degrees flaps instead of full on the landing. I also brought her in hot to make sure I didn't float her in. Once she set down, she stayed down. Virtually no wind at that time of the morning. I'll now check everything to insure all's OK. I'm getting 2500 RPM on the low and 6400 on the high side. I need to get the low end around 2000 as she doesn't quite want to stop when taxi'ing and I'd like to get around 6900 for a little more top speed.
pic 1/2/3: No videos since I was the only one out there. I usually transport the planes in my pop-up camper (gutted) but the C-45 fits and is easier to get into the back of the pickup truck. I just grab both sides of the center wing by the spars and lift her in. Two bungee cords connected to the retracts keep the plane from moving and the tail from smashing into the front bed on any fast stops. A blanket on top to protect the paint and a soft top cover on the pickup keeps her safe.
Posts: 1647
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
All looked good after the maiden except the air lines are loosing about 30 lbs after an hour. I replaced all the lines and quick disconnects to the mains and now the pressure the has been holding at 100 lbs after a half hour. The originals to the mains were pretty brittle. I used up 1 1/2 packages of robart air lines.
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RE: YELLOW AT-6 TEXAN BUILD THREAD - 
