quote:

ORIGINAL: trevtt600

Hello All. I am just about done with my Nitro 421. I will post some pictures when i get home. I am glad that more people are seeing the potential of this model. They did a very good job modeling it. I have flown the real airplane many times, and has come to be my favorite GA twin engine plane. I am using twin GMS .47 with inverted pitts mufflers, Robart 700 series retracts, LED light kit, and have added deice boots to the plane. After seeing the last few posted, i think i will be adding some static wicks, and a few other details. I did the first engine run this weekend, and boy what a great sound. I look forward to seeing everyones build!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bob Paris

Hay P-Diddy,
Break-in, with the Sportser series engines is critical to good reliable running. It may take up to an hour to break-in each engine, and I would suggest that you run them for no longer then 10 minutes, let them cool down until you can place your fingers on the head of the engine...then run them again. I usually do this six to ten times until I can hold a flight needle valve setting in the vertical placement. Becareful and do not over heat the engines on break in...or have them seaze up on break-in. So keep them rich at first...and slowly lean them out. I also used an 11 x 6 on break-in and switched to a 10 x 6 for flight. Using a larger prop on break-in seems to me to give me a more reliable engine after the break-in is complete.

I like all castor fuel, with 15% nitro. I'll use a 50/50 mix if all castor is out of stock...but I believe all castor is best for K & B engines.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

quote:

ORIGINAL: cjtyped

Simple interesting additions to a 421...a 1/8" dark red dot between the left engine and fuselage ( this is a sight glass that the pilot looks at to determine if sufficient hydraulic fluid is present), 1/16" dots, one on top of the other, near where the pilot and copilot sit ( looks like a : ), this is for the static system and drainage.
You can amaze your friends when they ask what these are!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jimmy Bananas


Got mine when they were available....Really can't say too much good stuff about the Cessna 421..first of all, the horizontal lines on the firewall are way off...nothing lines up...had to add 3/8" ply to the firewall to make the back prop washer stick out of the nacelle...after two or three trys,finally got it right and now it's off to the left wing and get it set up...also noticed that my parts bag with the nuts and bolts is missing....haven't even started on the fuse yet...lord only knows what I'll find wrong with that..will work on it until I get my KMP SBD Dauntless,hopefully by the first of April..then the 421 goes into the corner and maybe sometime this summer ,I might start to work on it again....One thing for sure..no more planes from Nitro...going to stick with the good stuff...................

quote:

ORIGINAL: P-Diddy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jimmy Bananas


Got mine when they were available....Really can't say too much good stuff about the Cessna 421..first of all, the horizontal lines on the firewall are way off...nothing lines up...had to add 3/8" ply to the firewall to make the back prop washer stick out of the nacelle...after two or three trys,finally got it right and now it's off to the left wing and get it set up...also noticed that my parts bag with the nuts and bolts is missing....haven't even started on the fuse yet...lord only knows what I'll find wrong with that..will work on it until I get my KMP SBD Dauntless,hopefully by the first of April..then the 421 goes into the corner and maybe sometime this summer ,I might start to work on it again....One thing for sure..no more planes from Nitro...going to stick with the good stuff...................

I have had very similar problems with mounting the engines!! Oh, it was so frustrating trying to get them to match up with the cowl. The horizontal lines were way too low for where the cowl ends up. I had to drill it three different times trying to get it right, so I feel your pain.

The parts bags were all present in my kit, although some of the screws for the wheel collars were missing, and the pushrods were almost all useless since they were not threaded. On a plane this size, using EZ-connectors would not be a good option. Not to mention, the rods weren't all long enough for the elevators and the rudder. There were some short threaded rods for the ailerons and flaps, but none for the throttles or nose steering. I needed to use a pull-pull since I'm doing retracts anyway, so the last part didn't bother me, but I had to buy new pushrods for the elevators, rudder, and throttle controls.


I have now installed the nose retract and all of the gear to make it work and steer. Unfortunately, the plastic well for the nosegear was not deep enough for the wheel to fully retract and it interfered with the steering cables, so I had to butcher it quite a bit. I may end up taking it out completely.

I ran into a bit of a problem with the cables in that when the nose gear retracts, the cables go slack and end up falling out the bottom of the fuse or just flop around inside the fuse. Anyone have a good solution for that? I thought about running a rubber band under it and attach the band to the fuse sides above the nose-steering servo to take the slack out. I would have to put a plastic tube or something similar over the rubber band to keep it from getting ripped up by the cables, but I think it may eliminate this problem.

Thanks for the info. on the static ports!

-Pat

quote:

ORIGINAL: P-Diddy

I don't have pictures of it yet, but I finished installing all the retracts and I've fitted the wings to the fuse. Seeing as I would have a lot of wires to disconnect along with the air lines, I'm going to TRY and keep it one piece unless I have work to do on it. The nylon bolts for the wings did not fit the blind nuts inside the wings, but a set of metal bolts were included as well, so I used those with a small amount of thread lock. The retracts were a pain to get installed and working happily together. I also found that unless they are fully charged up, they don't like to lock in place. The PSI has to be above 80 for them to work really well, so they can cycle twice, maybe three times before they are needing more air.

I have not yet installed throttle linkages, but that's next on my to-do list. I had to cut the heck out of the cowl, (one done so far) to get the engine and muffler to clear. It's not nearly as pretty as I had hoped for. I don't think I'll post any pictures that show my handywork on the cowls in any great detail...

The nylon bolts included for mounting the cowls/nacelles are too short. I can go buy new ones or drill into the wing a little bit to have them recessed and then they will have enough bite to get into the blind nuts, although I'll check to make sure they actually FIT the blind nuts before going to all that trouble, of course.

After finishing with the throttle linkages and the other cowl, I'll be fitting the canopy. After that, there is some clean-up and organization of the wires and receiver. Then, balancing....

The manual says the CG is at 3.5" behind the leading edge of the wing. Has anyone flown it with that CG yet and, if so, how did it turn out?

-Pat