rrragmanliam

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Has anyone seen this plan yet from the December 04 model Airplane News. It's a Nick Ziroli designed AT-6 Texan. Span 30" length 19-1/2". Do you think a .049 would be too big for this?

Darren

rrragmanliam

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Ok, Heres some more info. Designend as an electric speed 400, four channel. Heres some pics of the plan , sory for the quality.

jboy381-RCU

i'd put a .061-.074 in it...it looks like a heavy build...

john

rrragmanliam

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I agree that it has alot of structure and might be a touch heavy, but it's designed around a speed 400 with 7 cells though so I don't think it would even come close to needing the power of a .074. I'm thinking .020 - .049 but don't really know. Opinions?

Darren

fireman7875

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If memory serves me correctly that plane is supposed to come out to about 18 oz according to the article. That is with electric gear! So it should be even lighter on glow power which would make it just right right for an .049. That's what I thought about doing with it. Looks like a good project. Heck it's a free Ziroli plan...I would hate for it to go to waste!

Brian

WRX

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I have a Herr AT-6 and it has a similar design. 31" span. Aprox 14-18 oz. Plans show it with a norvel big mig .061
I am putting a norvel .15 on it because I added seperate servos for the flaperons, a 6 oz fuel cell, and a full size 7 ch receiver. I am sure I could have gotten by with an .074, but its a texan, it is supposed to be fast.

meowy84

I got that plan too! As a sidenote I was wondering if MAN does the free plan fold-out every December issue? If so then maybe I should pick up some back issues.

Also, oh yeah, would .020 be too small for that plane? What if you geared the .020 down to spin a bigger prop slower to look more scale?

meowy84

In MAN it says the span of that AT-6 is 32".

rrragmanliam

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Meowy, you are right. I called Nick Ziroli today about the cowl and canopy. Nick told me not to start cutting wood as MAN screwed up and printed the plan about 5% too small. He suggested the plan be blown up to 106% of origional size to make it right. The cowl and canopy can be purchased for $16.00 from Nick including S&H.

Nick Ziroli SR.
4417 Lords Ave.
Sarasota, FL 34231

By the way there is no side scoop, cowl and canopy only.

Darren

meowy84

rrragmanliam, AHA, that's good to know before you start cutting. LOL Just another plan too good to be true...no wonder it was free. heh I wonder if they'll have a correction notice about this in next months MAN issue or if people will start writing and letting them know about the error.

Speaking of the cowl and canopy have you thought of making your own? I have this plane detailing book that shows you how to make these things from 2 liter Coca-Cola (pick your favorite soda/pop) bottles. The cowl is easy assuming your model is not too large (I think the nose of the 2liter and the cowl of that AT-6 should be a match made in heaven). Anyways, a little heat (like from steaming hot tap wateror even hot hair dryer) and you'll be surprised how well that bottle plastic conforms to shape. The only problem, or at least the most time consuming is making the formers/bucks for the cowl and canopy so the plastic would have something to drape over to give it the desired shape while you're heating it.

rrragmanliam

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Yea I hear ya man. Fabricating plastic parts is on my learn to do list. I've seen guys do it wqith a simple home made vacum box and plugs. I guess I'm lazy and usualy go for the prefabricated parts.

Darren

meowy84

Anyone know if the center of gravity you need to strive for should still be in the same place if you adapt that AT-6 to 1/2A power instead of electric?

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

If it was me I would get the best of both worlds. Order the cowl and canopy from Ziroli, then use the originals as a mold to form your blanks for replacements if you need them. Supports the designer and you learn a new skill all in one.

Duke

rrragmanliam

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Yes the CG would be the same.

Good idea Duke. I've a DB throttled TD I want to put in somthing. I think this will be it.

Darren

meowy84

I've tried putting some engines (.020 and .049) right on the plan in the cowl area and the .020 fits completely (off set of course) while the .049 will most likely have it's plug slightly exposed. Anywho, what I'm trying to get at is I wonder if a geared down .020 would be able to pull this Texan in scale-like manner while being completely concealed in the cowl for scale effect.

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Meowy, if your talking about a peewee .020, the answer is no way! If you gear it down you won't get enough airspeed. It's just not enough power unless you want to build a glider or some similiar slow flying aircraft. I've never had a teedee .020 so I can't answer for that. How are you planning to vent the exhaust if you don't cut a hole in the cowl?

meowy84

Oh there would be a hole in the cowl (in the back...maybe dummy exhaust stacks) but I would just like to avoid having the glow head stick out ruining the scale effect.

Ok, so the .020 won't have enough power for the r/c version. But what about freeflight with no servos or any electronics weighing it down?

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

uhhh.... dunno.... How would you control it?

All I can really say is that unlike electric motors, you don't gain effiency(as much) with an IC engine. So a PeeWee .020 will only fly so much airplane. Probably less than 8oz, although it could vary with airplane design. I'm not sure this AT-6 would make a good free flight conversion. Try it! It'd be interesting at the very least! Or just invert the engine so it sticks out the bottom.

meowy84

yes, yes, i know that control thing bothers me...it's just a half-*****ed thing if i can't stick a radio in it (no offense to anyone)...plus someone said that that Texan is built fairly heavy in those plans....having the engine stick out the bottom is possible although I really hate seeing that...i prefer to have it completely concealed....i dunno, maybe i'm just weird []

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

How do you attach the glow plug wire to the glow head if its completly enclosed?..Rog

nekked_man_2000

About the weight, the magazine says ready to fly 18oz. That's not bad for electric with 8cells/4channel/and landing gear...yes he says he used landing gear and flew it ROG, I didn't even know you could do that with a speed 400 direct drive. So, with a Tee Dee .049 and no landing gear I would think 14 or 15oz wouldn't be hard, besides for the price of a magazine it's about the right size to frame and hang on the wall above the desk.

Austin

rrragmanliam

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You can run wire leads off the head and cylinder to a remote lacation on the plane. I'm going to ues a TD.049 ,inverted, so I think the head will be pokin out the cowl on the bottom and I'll be able to get the clip on.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Rog,

For super cheapo glow clip, I use small quick links like you put on a servo arm that let you slide the pushrod in and out and clamp down with a screw. Rough up the pin that usually goes into the servo arm and solder a lead to it. Then enlarge the pushrod hole to accept the glow plug tip. Doesn't work well on plugs with short tips as you have to start worrying about incidental contact with the head. I usually wrap a small piece of furnace duct tape around the bottom side when its low clearance. Make sure you use the furnace kind as its high temp.

I've also seen a guy who had some small springs use them. He cut a short piece of spring, soldered a lead to one end and just kind of screwed it on the tip of the glow plug. Seems to work fine, but I never find good springs that small.

On a side note, the revlite cylinders with their ceramic coating don't conduct very well, so if you do it with a Norvel, you'll need to tie a wire to the aluminum glow head to make the circuit.

On the supply end, I use the small 1/8 inch audio jacks from radio shack for powering the plug.

Duke

meowy84

ROG, I'd do a combination of what the guys mentioned. Run the leads of a regular Cox clip to a remote place on the plane. But the hard part of course would be securing the clip permanently to the head...what I was thinking of actually was to drill 2 tiny holes in the lower wider forks of the clip and matching holes in the fins (making sure I don't drill right thru the head) of the glow plug and use some tiny screws (like they have on sunglasses or eyeglasses with a little threadlock to guard against the vibration. Of course this is just a thought as I haven't done this (yet! ) although I don't see why you couldn't do this if you work slow and have the patience.

Anyways, so are any of you guys thinking of building this Texan for 1/2A? I definitely am but I admit this might be just a phase since I have a habit of starting but never finishing projects and I have more than a few that are half done although none are planes (mostly r/c boats).

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

BTW, I also succumbed to the draw and went ahead and picked up a copy of this plan. Maybe we can get a whole group to build em and post their finished models.

Duke