Hi All,
after finishing off our first season of pattern last year flying a 48" Vanquish we decided to step up to something bigger.
We obtained a Comp ARF Integral from one of the local competitors (we are in Adelaide, South Australia) and inspired in part by MTK's posts on gas engines in pattern planes and keen to try out our first petrol plane we decided to pair it with the DLE35RA, mostly due to thinking it would be easier to work with the rear exit exhaust.
we got an Aeroslave carbon pipe with the plane and hooked that up with a custom manifold. We followed MTK's guide on the diy soft mount which seems to be doing the job so far (after two attempts to build it right
). Also made an exhaust joiner similar to MTK's after blowing through a couple of silicon hoses again this looks to be holding up well, couldn't find the ceramic sleeve so instead used exhaust header wrap with the permatex ultra copper silicone.
currently we are running a 19x10 Sail prop (think this might be the same as a Xoar). RPM on the ground is about 6900 but according to the telemetry this is heading up to 9000 in the air (not sure how accurate this is, seems a big jump to me). Not sure if this is a bit high and if a prop change is needed and is quiet at low revs but gets a bit noisy at the high end. Its probably only had around 3 litres through it so far though I think we are getting close on the needle settings.
Its a bit overweight at the moment at 5.5kgs but we have over-engineered a bit as there are a number of 'first times' for us on this plane plus the telemetry gear so I think theres potential to make weight. At this point given that we fly sportsman and (in Australia) the weight limit does not apply we haven't worried about it so far.
So far its meeting my design goal of allowing us to get in longer flights for more practice time with two sportsman sequences done with less than half a tank of fuel (500cc again bigger than needed). Now I just need to get a heap of time on the sticks and prove the move up was worth it!
cheers,
Dave
