Had a great evening, flying!
I had a great evening flying my Four Star today!
It is kit built with an OS .46LA. This is about my 10th time at the field with it. I replaced the stock tail gear with a bracketed tail gear two weeks ago, had worked through some fuel line issues last week, and finished all the major control adjustments over the weekend. Yesterday, I found and replaced a failing glow plug, and got the engine running nice and smooth. I had been flying with Master Airscrew 11 X 7 prop.
Today, with everything running well, I decided to try an APC 11 X 5 prop. Wow! what a difference!! I have been disappointed with my .46LA, but with the APC prop, it's about a 20% boost in engine performance. The top speed is better. The vibration and noise is at least half of what it was, and the plane will hang at just short of full throttle. If my skills were better, I'm sure it would hover.
I had 3 flights Each better than the previous. It was pretty windy on my first two flights, but the wind started to die down on the last flight and the plane performed so well. After my last flight, another four star flier came over and talked with me for a bit. He said he liked the way my plane was performing. This was very generous of him. I saw him fly, and he is a smooth, experienced pilot. Guess that's why he was there flying his 14 year old four star.
I am so glad to have read so many threads about the Four Star. I am glad I chose it as my second plane, and can really see and appreciate just how nice of a plane it is. I look forward to flying this plane for a long long time.
Scott