And Saitos DO seem to "fit in" NICELY when scale appearance is needed...
Dear SigMan:
The PIPE Here once more...haven't had a Saito yet that I DIDN'T like!
I've got a new-style .30, a VERY old .45 with the separate cylinder head, and a .56 right now...after a likely left hip replacement operation over this coming winter, a 150 is in the plans for a Dave Platt 1/4th scale Jungmeister, and for what will be
a GROWING squadron of WW I aircraft...one of the KEY powerplants will be that HUGE new 220 mill...possibly as many as SIX of them in the coming years!
One thing I LOVE about the Saito singles is that, IF you have to use one of the singles on a multi-cylinder radial powered subject aircraft...Saitos are about the "easiest to disguise" single jug four stroker mills in existence !
Just do a search for the RCU member with the handle of "thrushdust"...Top Gun RC Scale flier DAVE HAYES...as his low wing cropduster, with the 'bare round engine" on its nose, actually HAS a Saito 150 hiding amongst the dummy cylinders!
And even my own 1/6th scale OLD RHINEBECK Fleet Finch benifits fron this nice feature...
...there's a CLOSEUP of my Rhinebeck Fleet's nose attached to really check it all out !
My Fleet hasn't flown in just over twenty years now, and needs SERIOUS tail work to get it ready for flight once more (all new elevator, re-attachment of the "floating" vertical tail, etc.)...and also, since the early 1980s vintage Saito 45 just BARELY flew my seven pound Fleet, all those years ago, the Saito 56 I've got is going in there for its next flying time.
The 45 IS, admittedly, a bit SHORT on cylinder height to look more like the dummy cylinders on my Fleet's nose..but checking the 56 last weekend DOES reveal that its "about 3 mm higher" cylinder height SHOULD help address that little issue. Also, since I made up a custom exhaust elbow for the 45, that even incorporates a engine priming nipple on it, to make engine starting a bit easier on the Fleet, the stuff I've seen on the Internet that indicated the 45's exhaust threading would be indentical to the 56's was "music to my ears"...and, trying my 45's stock cylinder head (it's got one from a 90 twin's cylinder on there now) out with my 56's muffler last weekend CLEARLY showed me it WILL work...so there's ONE less part to make up for the 56's installation in my dear old Fleet...!
The 56 is capable of spinning a 12 x 6 quite easily around 9800 rpm on 10% nitro, 17% all synthetic Red Max 4-stroke fuel, while fininshing up its first "break-in" gallon of fuel on my test stand, and trying out a VERY old Rev-Up 13x6 gave a 9300 RPM figure...and the same "rev figure" held true for a SCALE size 14x4 Zinger wood prop...with the top RPM number slowly increasing the more I've run the engine!
Right now I've got to get my dear old Balsa USA Swizzle Stick 40 (sorry, it DOES have an OS "pre-Surpass" FS-40 on it) ready for flight once more...haven't flown in nearly TWO years now...and if I can still get a Saito FA-50 crankcase from Horizon this autumn, I'll have John Sepe in Florida rebuild my 45 into a new crankcase (the old one has been hacked up on the mounting lugs) to use that VETERAN Saito 45 mill in in my dear old Swizzler...!
Let's hear some MORE great Saito stories...!
Yours Sincerely,
The PIPE!
