raptureboy

Looking good there Bob. I get my batteries from Hangtimes also. I really like the liFe batteries charge up and forget. They are like lipo's in that the self discharge rate is so minimal you can charge them today and not fly for 2 weeks and they are still full.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay RaptureBoy,
Yes, Hangtime Hobbies do sell some go batteries and the only reason I've not gone over to liFe batteries is that I'll need to buy new chargers for these batteries. I just received the last of the fuel system items I needed to finish the fuel system and I will be finishing this today. Then finish the electronic installation and I'll be ready to fire the bird up. I'll forward the pictures latter.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha,
I finished the fuselage and its ready to fly. All the electrics are in and properly set up with my 10G. The battery eliminator unit works and the light comes on when the mag is hot. The fuel system was a simple task...it was a trip lining up all the tubing properly. I've two filters in the system-one on the fill port and one inline with the carb delivery line. I also received a new spinner from Dave Brown.

I had the spinner cut for a Xore 17x6, with a standard back plate. You can order a lightened back plat for your spinner, but when I tried to screw down the holding allen head bolt, the back plate flexed. So I made sure I ordered the non-modified back plate (the thicker one) and with this one, I can attach the spinner so it will not come off.

I pulled the wing and tested all the servo's. I've a one flap servo that needs to be changed out and didn't test good. The other three are fine and my Lado retracts worked flawlessly. These are the original Lado retracts I installed years ago...and work like a charm. I did used my Robart struts I had on this model for my "B" model. I totaled my "B"...boy did she come apart and the struts were toast...with every thing else too. So I purchased a set from Hobby King and though not as scale looking as Robarts...the price was half as much. They look solid...but the proof will be when I fly the model. I'm really hard on landing gear and always wheel land with a bit of speed. We always have cross winds at our field and you can also ware out Robart tires. My "B" in eight years wore out three sets and the third set was almost ready for change...when it met the ground with a bit more force then I would have liked to see.

I've the main retract wheel doors to refinish dark red, and install them onto the struts. After that...a bit of Su[per Monokote work, and she will be ready to test run the engine. I've yet to do the C.G. check...but that's the last thing I'll do, then go fly it.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha,
I managed to finish the model, but ran into a few issues along the way. First...the model balanced at the 5-5/8"...or just a little nose down. The first time I flew the model, my balance was set at 5-3/8" and if flew like a dream.

The battery needed to be placed aft of the wing, so I cut out the air scoop and made access to the rear of the airframe manageable. The balsa on my kit was really thin in the bottom of the air scoop aft of the wings trailing edge. I made up some 30 minute epoxy and liberally coated the aft two bulk head fuselage sides. I needed to punch out a cross piece on the first half bulkhead and the battery had easy access, for instillation. After the epoxy dried, I laid in some foam and then placed the battery in the fuselage. I was surprised to see a 11 oz. battery needed to be placed that far aft, to get a good C.G.

After this I assembled the model and tested out the controls. I needed to adjust the push rods and flipped the model over and began the work. The first link I touched broke in my hands...not a good thing in my book. The model is over six years old and the tropics took its toll. So I changed out every clevis and push rod on the wing and all was back flyable. I needed to replace one flap servo, but that issue was resolved and the flaps are flight ready.

I will be taking the model out to the field tomorrow and before I will fly this model, I will run a full two tanks full through the new engine and make sure I have an idle...for landing. If all is well and I have a good transition from idle to full power...and I am blessed with low winds...I fly her. I've yet finished or installed the main landing gear-gear doors...but I will get them mounted.

Soft Landings Always,

Bobby of Maui

KaP2011

My Feedback: (17)

Looking good Bobby, good luck with the re-maiden.

radfordc

My Feedback: (14)

"re-maiden"....interesting term. I associate the term "maiden flight" with the concept of a young maiden losing her virginity. Can you lose virginity twice?

acdii

You can with some surgery.

raptureboy

No need to run 2 tanks on the DLE, just run it in for 5 min set the needles and go. They used to have an issue with the timing hanging up the idle for a few seconds but not with the new ignition units.

acdii

Thats true, they break in break in better in the air. It takes more than a couple tanks to break in too, try a couple gallons. My DLE20 has a few gallons and it is still breaking in.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay RaptureBoy,
I wasn't able to fly today...it rained and we had winds with gusts up to 25+ kts. So I'll try on Tuesday of this coming week. I've not flown her in five years and really looking to get her back into the air. I worked on the gear doors today and will have them mounted tomorrow. I made wood supports for the gear doors and used JB Weld (4 hour set-it gets the hardest) to mount the supports on the struts and then I'll screw in the gear doors onto the hard wood supports. They are bright red in color and will show up rather nice.

Now to the break the engine...you folks state that its better to do it on the airframe...flying. Ok...I'll see what kind of an idle I have and if the transition is good, with a solid idle, I'll refill the fuel tank...and let her fly. I will pull off the cowl for the fist flight and if all goes well and if the engine or airframe has no issues...I'll cowl the engine and let her rip.

I want to thank all you guys for your help and kind words. I know I did things a bit different then some of you...but she came out right nice.

I have a kit built Top Flight P-51D I built 15+ years ago and I'm going to pull her down, pull the S.T. .75, install a DLE 20R and with the "B" kit...remake the model into a P-51B. It will need a good rebuild and hanger rash to remove, plus do the conversion. I love the Mustang and I've built a couple dozen over the years and all flew quite well. My first T.F. P-51 was a old red box kit, and it was a "B" model too. I flew that model with a K&B .61 and it flew really great, even with this engine. The old red box kits made you do a good bit of carving...but I'll tell you one thing...the model really flew great.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

raptureboy

Bob you are more than welcome. It's nice to actually have someone using this site for what it was intended for rather than a place to @itch about drones and the AMA. I plan on remaking my damaged one into a B also since I have a brand new one in the box. I use 32:1 mix like the instructions say and keep it a little on the rich side for the first gallon and then lean it a little more. They have all started right up out of the box for me and idled well. Too much ground running and they overheat. Fair winds and blue skies buddy.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha Gentlemen,
Well...today was a non event. The engine would fire on prime...then quite. It seems to be a fuel delivery problem and I'll tell you what it did. I would prime the engine and it would fire right up...then quite. It did this a couple dozen times and I gave up. So I pulled the engine and then checked the fuel line and fuel tank to see how the fuel would flow. The fuel line was not plugged up and both filters were snug and no air leaks. The fuel would acutely syphon out if I turned the fuselage upside down and both filters were clean...nothing to slow down the fuel flow. I then pulled the carburetor plate to check the carb. filter screen and it had some small stuff on it, and not enough to implead the fuel flow at all. I was surprised to see anything in the screen as it was, and my fuel is filtered twice out of the fuel can, and twice from the Roto fuel tank, going into the engine carburetor.

Do anyone of you have any idea what my problem may be?????

This is my first DLE 20 and I did check to see what the carb mixture screws were set at. My manual states to use 1-1/2 turn for both idle and high speed needle valves for a basic setting. Another club member told me it was most probably the carburetor. I'm stumped...any suggestions out there...?

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha Gentlemen,
Well...today was a non event. The engine would fire on prime...then quite. It seems to be a fuel delivery problem and I'll tell you what it did. I would prime the engine and it would fire right up...then quite. It did this a couple dozen times and I gave up. So I pulled the engine and then checked the fuel line and fuel tank to see how the fuel would flow. The fuel line was not plugged up and both filters were snug and no air leaks. The fuel would actually syphon out if I turned the fuselage upside down, both filters were checked and were clean and I could find nothing to slow down the fuel flow. I then pulled the carburetor plate to check the carb. filter screen and it had some small stuff on it, and not enough to implead the fuel flow at all. I was surprised to see anything in the screen as it was, and my fuel is filtered twice out of the fuel can, and twice from the Roto fuel tank, going into the engine carburetor.

Do anyone of you have any idea what my problem may be?????

This is my first DLE 20 and I did check to see what the carb mixture screws were set at. My manual states to use 1-1/2 turn for both idle and high speed needle valves for a basic setting. Another club member told me it was most probably the carburetor. I'm stumped...any suggestions out there...?

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

raptureboy

The first one I bought had a small piece of metal from machining sitting under the metering (float) needle. Remove the cover plate over the diaphragm and carefully remove the needle under the arm and see if anything is in there. You should be able to blow air through the fuel inlet when the needle is removed. Check to be sure the throttle plate is centered and tight as well as the choke plate. choke until it fires then choke off and 1/4 throttle and start. Do you see any air bubbles in the line going to the carb?

RBean

I have 4 DLE 20s and they all run good. However, the carb is not a real Walbro and sometimes there is manufacturing debre. Try carb cleaner in spray can, with the small plastic tube. Take out one needle at a time, incert tube in hole and spray. Some times this is all that is needed to clean it out.

acdii

My DLE20 was exactly the same on first start, would not pump fuel. Once I got the carb wet though it started to pump. I wound up soaking the carb in gas for a few minutes until it stopped bubbling, then put it back on, and it primed and ran. It too had gunk on the screen.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha Guys,
I purchased the engine from Red Wing, and I've been communicating with them over the issue with this engine. They sent me a questionnaire to fill out and I did...and now waiting for a response from them. I know how to tune an engine...at least It worked on my PTE 36R. But I'm unable to get this engine to run past the prime. So I'll do as suggested and remove the carb and soak it in fuel until all the bubbles stop coming out and see if this will work.

I will next remove the needle valves and blow air and fuel through the holes...though I do have carb cleaner on hand...I'm not sure if its proper to spray this into the carb. Will it void the warrantee? Red Wing specifically asked me this question about spraying carb cleaner into the carb-I hadn't done this yet, but not sure if it will void the warrantee.

Is the plate on the carb with four screws, the plate I need to remove to get access to the float?

Is there a Walbro carb I cab buy that is perfect for this engine? If so what is its number and where can I buy it.

Thanks guys,
Bob Paris

acdii

No float on these, just a chamber that stores a small amount of fuel. The diaphragm is the part that needed soaking as it was too stiff to pump fuel. The pump in the carb works off the crank case pulses, and with the stiff diaphragm, the engine couldnt turn fast enough to pull from the tank in my case. Once it got soaked long enough, it softened up and worked fine. You could probably accomplish this just by removing the diaphragm cover, and soak the diaphragm in fuel for a while.

raptureboy

Yes that is true they don't have a float like a traditional carb just didn't know how else to explain it. I wonder if the junk that many are finding on the screen is left over from the factory test running?

raptureboy

"Is the plate on the carb with four screws, the plate I need to remove to get access to the float?" Yes, there you will find the metering needle that is operated by the diaphragm. You will not be able to blow air or cleaner through the inlet nipple with the needle in place. But I would give the soaking a try first . I know that after winter storage mine a little hard to start with out using a starter. I run mine on a 4 cell lipo and it spins that puppy almost at idle speed

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha Guys,
I've pulled the carb and set it into a cup of fuel...and I'm going to let it soak for day or two. Then I'm going to pull the back plate and take a look inside and try to flush this area as best as I can...then I'm going to remount the engine and see if she runs.

Red Wing, the company I purchased the engine from sent me a list of a dozen or so questions about the engine and I answered them all and returned the answers by e-mail to them. I was informed that the engine guy will look over my questions and if he deemed so, I'll be issued a return number and they will fix my engine. If not...guess what? I was also informed it may take...are you ready for this...two, to four months to get it back... : ( Aint' that sweet. I should have bought the engine from Tower...I saved a few bucks through Red Wing...but their customer service is no where near what I've received from Tower in the past. !@#$%&* I've had great customer service from Tower, Horizon and with Tomas at V.Q. Warbirds...but Red Wing...needs to pick it up a bit.

I have two RGC carbs on hand off of my older engines and a new spare. I may just try to swap out Carbs and see what happens. If RGC had a rear exhaust engine, I would have purchased one from them. Both my RGC and RGCF 20cc gas engines run like a champ and was very surprised at the power output. They are good engines...and for the higher cost of the DLE 20...at this point, I'm not sure I'm overly thrilled by my purchase.

Thanks for all your input...and one way or another...I'll get this thing fired and running.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha Gentlemen,
I pulled the carburetor off the engine, marked everything and removed the both needle valves. I then set the carburetor in a sonic cleaner and let it do its thing for 20 minutes. I set the sonic cleaner temp to 50 deg. C. and set the carb in a bag of gasoline, pulled the air out of the gallon baggie, then filled the rest of the sonic cleaner with water. After 20 minutes I pulled the carb out of the sonic cleaner and set the carb in a small container of gasoline and it still there now. I'll pull the carburetor tomorrow out of the gasoline and pull the plate with the four screws and blow it out. I'll then reassemble the carb to the engine and reinstall the engine onto the airframe and see what happens.

I notices black marks on my carb...if you look closely you can see them in the first picture. This is how the engine came to me...interesting, has anyone else had these markings on their new engines?

Thank you guys for all your help...and lets pray this fixes the running issues.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

raptureboy

WOW ! serious carb cleaning. Not sure what the black marks are, looks like magic marker?

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Raptureboy,
Thanks...I did my best. The sonic cleaner I have I purchased in Shanghai and cost me just under $125.00 there. It lists for over $850.00 here and found it on a walk sniffing out any hobby shops I could find. Perfect for cleaning engines...for its large enough to fit most 20~34cc gas engines and all two stroke glow I have.

Yes...there were markings on the carb I received from Red Wing...new. I questioned this too and I wonder why the markings. It could be nothing...but then again...who knows.

I need to pull the four screws and remove the plate and check if there is any problems in this part of the carb. Then I'll mount the engine and see what happens. I hope I found the cure...

I'll keep you posted on how it runs.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Tailwheel Pilot

My Feedback: (2)

I'm picking mine up Saturday and it looks like I need to do a lot of reading before I start building. We have four at our field and they all had the gear mounts fail so of course that's my biggest concern. I'll be using a OS91 for power.