wja

I’m in a middle of building the Royal F8F Bearcat kit and I’m looking for suggestions in regards to a suitable engine for this plane. This kit has a wingspan of 62.2” and I’m guessing that it will probably weigh around 11 pounds. Looking at previous posts I noticed that some people have suggested an RCV 1.20 engine with a 4-bladed prop either for this kit or similarly sized Bearcats and I was wondering what others think about that combination? Would the torque associated with that engine be too much in this kit?
Also I’m wondering if anyone knows what is the size of the tailwheel in a full scale Bearcat? I can’t seem to find that information anywhere and the kit suggested 2” scale wheel just seems a bit large compared to the pictures I have.
Anyway, thank you in advance for all and any comments and suggestions.
Waldemar

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Scale tailwheel on this 62.2" span Bearcat would be 1.533" or rounded down to 1.5" in diameter.

This plane will require tons of lead in the nose to balance, and the RCV 120SP happens to be the heaviest 1.20 size four stroke engine available. We are building a couple of Top Flite 60" span F8F Bearcats, and I will be using an RCV 1.20 in mine, swinging a 4-bladed prop. My second engine choice would be a YS 110FZ since it fits nicely inside the cowl with just half of the black valve cover sticking out.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

By the way, I believe the tailwheel on the full scale is 10.5" in diameter. I have three different 1/48th scale plastic F8F Bearcat kits, and the tailwheel in each one is exactly 7/32" in diameter. If you scale this up, you will get 10.5".

daw

My Feedback: (6)

I've got one with an OS 91 surpass turning an APC 15-6 @ 9000RPMS. Flies great and lands gently with full flaps.

wja

Thanks for your suggestions guys. I’m tempted to use either the RCV90 or 120 engine primarily because their design fits nicely within the cowl and supposedly has enough torque to spin a 4-blade propeller. However, reading various posts in regards to these engines it appears that some people have raised at least some concern over difficulty of starting these engines and higher idle speeds. I actually asked this question on another forum and someone there said they have such a problem with their RCV90 engine (here’s the link to that post: [link=http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2324&PN=1.]link[/link] ) Anyway Richard I’m wondering if you, or anyone else, have experienced any unusual problems with the RCV engines?

As far as the Bearcat tail wheel size, I also measured the wheel on an old Testors kit and got same result. The Royal kit plans though, state that a 2” wheel is the correct scale size and unfortunately I could not find the size of the tail wheel listed in any of my reference material in order to verify if the plans are correct or not.

jaka

Hi!
Don't want to be rude but ...Is a geared 20cc (1.20) fourstroke really suitable for this fairly small airplane....I would think not from my own experience but ...please convince me that I'm wrong.
I think a more appropriate engine would be either a 15cc two-stroke or a 15cc four-stroke like a MVVS 15cc or the OS Pumped FS.91 which is a really nice, reliable engine.
To me it all seems wrong to have a geared engine swinging a large fourblade prop at low revolutions on such a small fighter, instead of having a ordinary 15cc engine swinging ...lets say a 14x6 prop at 10000rpm.
I seriuosly doubt that a geared engine will fly this airplane like an ordinary engine would.