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Sundowner 50 Racing? - 2/29/2008 12:53:56 AM   
DonStegall


 

Posts: 544
Joined: 8/8/2005
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		The larger Sundowner by Hanger 9 has been pretty popular for almost-giant scale racing.

Has anyone in this crowd tried the Sundowner 50 ARF by Hangar 9 and if so, how does it fly? What engines are in use?

It says that it can take an .82 four stroke, and the SAITO 82 is a great engine.

One thing that concerns me is that it says it is pre-hinged. This makes re-covering a chore. What kind of hinges does it have and how much trouble would it be to recover and customize the color scheme?

One thing that has helped make Club 40 work is the variety of color schemes. The original 4 color schemes gave some variety, but in my opinion, the solid colors with CA hinges helped get some people in that didn't like the original color schemes.

Has anybody got pull with Hanger 9 in possibly getting the Sundowner 50 available in solid colors and not pre-hinged?

_____________________________

Don Stegall
RCPRO - http://www.rcpro.org - http://www.rcpylon.com
       Post #: 1

RE: Sundowner 50 Racing? - 2/29/2008 1:52:11 AM   
tsawyer148



Posts: 302
Joined: 3/13/2003
From: Southern, UT, USA
Status: offline 		Don,
We have actually started a class with the Sundowner 50. We have not yet had an "official" race as of yet, but there are 11 of them being readied and possibly at least another 3 more. Our first scheduled race is in April. So far we have stated that the only engine we will use is the Thunder Tiger Pro .46. We have not completely settled on a prop or fuel, but are leaning toward 15% and a 10 X 7 prop. With that combination the planes are no speed demon, but they are fast enough, (the speed gun showed one going just over 90 mph straight and level on a not yet broken in motor).

I really wish we could get them in solid colors, it is a pain to figure out a decent color scheme without having to peel all the orange and black off or getting another color to compliment them. They are a very nice plane in the air and with 3 or 4 of them running around the sticks, it is very entertaining.

And yes, they are already hinged, (CA hinges). Everything exept for the rudder that is. All the control horns are also installed, the guide tubes are in and the holes for mounting the cowl are also there, as well as the blocks and blind nuts to to mount the cowl to the fuse. The holes and blind nuts are also in for the motor mount. There are six total holes in the firewall with blind nuts for mounting either a 2 or 4 stroke engine or even an electric set-up.

More info here: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6936713/tm.htm

T.

< Message edited by tsawyer148 -- 2/29/2008 1:53:45 AM >

_____________________________

I Love the smell of glow fuel in the morning....And lately, the smell of epoxy in the evening...

(in reply to DonStegall)
       Post #: 2

RE: Sundowner 50 Racing? - 3/2/2008 8:59:10 PM   
tsawyer148



Posts: 302
Joined: 3/13/2003
From: Southern, UT, USA
Status: offline 		I Posted this in the beginners forum as well...
________________________________________________

We had another "Just for Fun" race yesterday in Mesquite, Nevada, and some of the flyers used that as a good test bed for the Sundowner. One of the heats pitted two very aggressive racers with their Sundowners together and I gotta tell ya it was one of the most entertaining and exciting races I have seen. Very closely matched and, even though they may not be as fast as some of the Q-500 sport planes we were racing, they looked plenty fast when they are wingtip to wingtip over the length of 10 laps. It was an absolute blast and the weather was very cooperative.

One thing I have found out with the Sundowners is that they are a very robust model. With the many test flights that myself and others have done trying to find the best fuel/prop combination, suffice to say many of the flights and especially the landings have been less than spectacular. However, even with the many bouncy landings, hot landings and skidding runs into the weeds and off the runway, there have been very few that have had any sort of damage. Yesterday, one of the pilots was putting a trim flight on his and the way the field is set-up, there a few trees sitting to the one end of the runway which, if you have to land from that direction, causes you to have to come in a little high to set up for landing. The pilot was doing his approach and got a little crossed up and ended up clipping the top of one of the trees. The plane went into a violent spin and came down hard. We expected to find a mangled mess when we got to it, yet the only problem it had was the motor mount was a little loose. The firewall was in tact, there were no holes in the covering and the other than a little dirt and weeds stuck to it, no other real damage to speak of. It is a great flying plane and stands up to alot of abuse.

T.

_____________________________

I Love the smell of glow fuel in the morning....And lately, the smell of epoxy in the evening...

(in reply to tsawyer148)
       Post #: 3

RE: Sundowner 50 Racing? - 3/3/2008 12:04:14 AM   
MFLOOD3800


 

Posts: 238
Joined: 4/7/2004
From: beaver, UT, USA
Status: offline 		The SD is a great club racer for most all intermediate pilots and inspite of our landing issues, it does land ever so nicely for a scale racer. This filed was a very short 300' X 50' pad and caused some issues. (most were psychological)
I did an all white color scheme on mine by removing (with heat gun) everything that wasnt white. It removed very easily and just a little 3M adhesive remover was needed to clean up left over residue. I then painted the cowl and canopy and whala... a totally white scheme allowing me to put my colors and graphics on.
With the TT Pro 46 and and Futaba micr HT servos I came in at 5.8 lbs.
I am running an APC 9X6.5 and it was running fast enough to out run everything but that darn tree!!!
Even still the tree couldnt take it out. These are tough.
I had an APC 8.75X8.5 and it easily turned 15,900, but had no real air speed, so I switched to the 9x6.5 and it seems to push enough air and keep the rpms up near 15,300. My motor only has 2 tanks thru it, so it will loosen up even more. Soon a 9X7 will be installed and should give speeds and rpms I need.
Im running a Tru-turn 2" spinner to allow all of the blade to be maximized.

I mounted the RX on top of my Btty as far forward as the tank would allow and added no weight. My Btty is a NIMH 1450 6 volt.
I normally like the CG as far back as I can get for better turning with minimal elev input, but this one turns so well the CG forward and low rate elev at 5/16", I wll just leave it.
I fly in USRA with a 42% GR7 and this lil Sundowner is similar in many ways and is a blast to fly and race.

One tank of nitro might just yield you 3 -10 lap races. Which is nice if you are running more than one class and pit time is limited.
This plane is definately an 8 out of 10 for Handling, a 9 out of 10 for building, and a 10 out of 10 for appearance and appeal in the air.
I built mine (with total color removal and painting down time) in 2 days. Most time was spent on the cowling at muffler area

I will try blocking off the left side intake as well as the scale air scoop to keep turbulance out of the inside cowl area. I had started the race day with this mod done, but thought I leaned it out in round one. come to find out I was sucking air thru my new Fuel filler. By passed that and I was back in business. I will again block these off and see if it produces even faster lap times w/o heating up engine too much. I should be ok as the muffler area is cut out very spaciously right below the head and should suffice.
Oh and buy the way, I dont work for Hangar 9, Horizon Hobby or anyone else- no compensation for my critique.

(in reply to tsawyer148)
       Post #: 4

RE: Sundowner 50 Racing? - 4/5/2008 5:52:02 PM   
Nathan King



Posts: 1272
Joined: 5/29/2007
From: Omaha, NE, USA
Status: offline 		Wow, the TT 46 and 10x7 had this thing breaking 90? I can't wait to get out with mine then!

_____________________________

Nate,
WACO Brotherhood #99

(in reply to DonStegall)
       Post #: 5

RE: Sundowner 50 Racing? - 5/29/2008 6:18:15 AM   
jrb1


 

Posts: 6
Joined: 2/6/2004
From: Edina, MN,
Status: offline 		Just finishing mine guys; looks like 6# - 10oz RTF w/Higley heavy weight nut under the spinner too.

And, the CG is still ¼” aft of suggested.

Is that close enough/what’s the best CG from your folks experience?

I’m set up with A123-6S (1# - 2oz) and a geared Aveox; here’s my arming and charging point. Just like my Cubs I’ll be able to re-charge very fats at 20amps!


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(in reply to Nathan King)
       Post #: 6

RE: Sundowner 50 Racing? - 6/9/2008 2:43:24 PM   
jrb1


 

Posts: 6
Joined: 2/6/2004
From: Edina, MN,
Status: offline 		Maiden and 3 other flights yesterday; very smooth!

Pretty quick; we'll see next weekend hopefully, my buddy maidened his yesterday – two in the air together.

His per stock set-up; I did the BL 60, A123-6S and APC 14x14 Pattern prop, about 42amps hot off the charger.

Back in the air quick since I use my MasTech and recharge at 20amps.

5 minute flights are using just around 1800mah.

She's fast on landing, gotta be "nose heavy" lots of down needed when inverted!

Based on my buds flight yesterday I had mine ever so slightly droop the tail; rather than the nose.

(in reply to DonStegall)
       Post #: 7

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