donnyman

I have a O.S 60SF installed.

donnyman

The first plane from this group I had was the kougar, that was given to me by a friend that wiped out a plane I scratched up from two crashes, great flyer, the Kougar was powered by a Enya 40 which I thought was going to be a real dog but both the plane and the engine performed admirably. I eventually wacked it and went on to assemble my sons kobra from a kit (I still have the original components) my sons plane was a copy then I built him a king Kobra which lead to the ones on my bench now. all good flying birds. come to think of IT I have the plans for all these birds and some parts.

jollyroger

My Feedback: (6)

I found a King Kobra at the Toledo Show priced at $85.00....shoulda bought it. Someone else running a booth in the mezzanine bought it and marked it up to $125.00. You can buy a new one for just under 130.00.

thailazer

Curious as to what kind of contact cement you used. I've used photograph spray adhesive in the past with foam which works pretty well.

Love seeing all these classic planes. Sig has put out some great kits.

Stickslammer

It`s a 3 oz. bottle of DAP with a little round fuzzy applicator on the end of a wand attached to the cap. It was thin enough so an even coat was pretty easy over the whole thing. I let it get tacky, then laid the Monokote flat on the table and then pressed the turtledeck firmly down the middle and rolled it down lttle by little left and right. It got a couple wrinkles but looks pretty good on the whole. It saved a lot of trouble trying to get a close enough shade of blue.

Stickslammer

She`s finally done. I got a new NiMh battery at the hobby shop yesterday. Pretty nose heavy so I`ll have to work on that.

thailazer

Looks great! Did you get a flight in? I would imagine a nose-heavy Kobra would have a rocket approach speed.

Stickslammer

I haven`t flown it yet. Way nose heavy. donnyman said on #67 that he had to fly his sans muffler because it was too nose heavy. I don`t want to do that, so will have to put some weight in the tail.

donnyman

Yes ....... you may have to use a smaller engine if you need a muffler, a good .25 would be a my choice. and the power will be just fine. The idea of adding weight to the tail turns me off.

your bird is looking good!

buzzard bait

Man, do I agree! The TT 36 is a terrific engine, but most of us would have all the power we could possibly want with a good 25, or a plain bearing Enya 30SS that weighs 9 oz w muffler. Even an OS 25 FP or LA would haul it pretty well if it's reasonably light. An ASP 21 is as strong as the old OS 25 FSR and weighs 8 oz w muffler. My old Irvine 25 is just under 9 oz and a very strong runner; they come up frequently on ebay in good condition which is how I got mine.

Very pretty plane, hope you enjoy it however you do it.

Stickslammer

Thanks for the tips, guys. Yeah, Donny, the idea really doesn`t appeal to me either, despite what they always say in the instruction books. We`re supposed to get the lead OUT, right?

Mrotar

Stickslammer, your Kobra looks great. I used an OS .35 AX on mine and had to add some tail weight. It ended up weighing 3pounds 11ounces. It flew great at that weight. No snap rolling at lower speeds unless you tried to. It had great vertical performance and would do huge loops. Dont be afraid to add a little tail weight.

Stickslammer

Well, I finally got her in the air yesterday. It flew nice and I was able to do a couple rolls and loops. I didn`t keep it up very long as I didn`t want to run out of gas. The next time I tried to take her up the engine quit on climb-out. If it hadn`t been for the 2 ft. high grass there would have been some damage. I checked it out, refueled, ran it up ( held it at a good steep angle), all good. Next attempt, same thing, the tall grass saved it. Not having good luck with my glow engines this season. I`m just happy she flew around at least once and doesn`t have a scratch.

donnyman

Without know anything about your engine, I tell you about mine, It was rather new and would not run for long and quit on take off I solved it by using 5% or lower nitro fuel, made sure it was not run lean, checked the fuel pickup in the tank to assure it wasn't flipped forward. the higher than 5% fuel caused overheating and it seized. Hope this helps.

Stickslammer

Thanks Donny,
I have been using Morgan Cool Power. I always thought the green stuff was 10%, but I just went down and looked at the gallon I just bought and the sticker says 15%. I always thought the higher percentage ran cooler. Someone told me that you should run at least 20% in cars and trucks because there was not enough airflow around the cylinder. Sounds like I need to educate myself on glow engines and fuel. I have been pretty careful about not running my engines too lean after I burned one up a long time ago.

donnyman

Many people get the fuel info confused (ask me how I know) the twenty percent your friend mentioned pertains to the castor oil content (lubricant) it is the excess lubricant that carries away a lot of heat.
The lower the nitro content the cooler your engine will run, most of us don't need any nitro, but it does make for easier starting in cold weather, I try not to use anything above 5% because the benefits of higher nitro is to small to give the average flyer any real benefit. the fuel you chose (morgan) is good, I used it a lot, but you gotta read the label as to the nitro and lube content not the color.

You will find a engine that has been run on high nitro fuels usually will not do well with less nitro because of the excess wear on it due to swelling of the piston and sleeve from heat friction. .................... I think you will find the engine will not quit with the lower nitro fuel............................................Ha ppy flying!

Stickslammer

I went down to the LHS and bought a gallon of 10% nitro. It was the lowest they had. But so far I have flown the P-51 a half a dozen times with no more cutting out. It does tend to load up during taxi maneuvers but I`m satisfied with it just staying running for now.

donnyman

It is good your cut out problems have reduced, now the load up during taxi is a indication your IDLE fuel is set to rich, Lean it down a bit and see if it helps, that is if when you throttle up after idleing for a while the engine kinda blubbers and stumbles then catches. it should rev up almost instantly from idle.

Try to get the hobbyshop to get some 5% or FAI 0% fuel and mix it in the twenty to reduce it's high nitro content so the fuel isn't wasted. If the fuel is all synthetic be very careful of lean running, synthetic fuel wont lube the engine as well as castor oil based fuel at high temps because it burns up, castor wont.

Mrotar

Stickslammer, here are some are bones pictures of my new kobra. AX .35 with Jett tuned muffler

thailazer

Kobra looks great in its bare form! BTW, I had a 35AX that I flew for many years on a Tiger 2. Indestructable engine from my experience.

Mrotar

Stickslammer

She`s a beauty, Mrotar!
So, is the fuse and tail assembled temporarily or do you cover it after? Also it looks like you did the turtledeck with balsa.

Mrotar

Stickslammer

Yes , it would make more sense to assemble the tail structure prior to covering so you have good strong joints with proper alignment. All the kits I`ve done call for covering first, then trimming away for glue joints, which I don`t like to do. I guess "thinking outside the box" in some cases makes for a better build.

Mrotar