RE: Better Landings For The Great Planes 1/3 Pitts
Fly's scale. Mine came in at 18.5 lbs with the spring starter. A DA 50 would drop a lot of the weight and make it handle more like a sport plane. Prop selection is important for getting the best performance with the Fuji 50. I have read quite a bit here about props for this engine and using a fish scale I got the most thrust out of a MA 19x8, but it exceeded 11,000 RPM and would turn even faster when it unloads the prop in the air. Too fast in my opinion for an engine that makes max power at 10,000. I also tried a 20x8 and 22x8. Neither generated as much thrust as the 19x8. The 22X8 required considerable mixture adjustment to the rich side before it would turn the prop at full throttle. RPM was around 5700. After a few minutes at full throttle the engine started to bog down from overheating.
The prop I fly with is a 20x10 Zinger Pro. Thrust is 19lbs and RPM is around 7000. Compared to the 19x8 thrust of 19.5 lbs. It sounds much better then the smaller prop and because of the much lower RPM, should help the engine to last longer. Never flew it with the 19x8, I was too concerned about the RPM it might reach.