z4racingjz

omg if you would have told me that before i bought mine yours would have been sold by now... i would have taken it in a heart beat.. let me see if i could afford another one... no engine right???

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Just a hint guys, you may want to take any discussion about buying the plane into PM's or email

z4racingjz

hey how long of servo arms did you guys go with on the ailerons and elevators,, im having a hard time finding some locally,,

thanks, josh

Barry Cazier

My Feedback: (17)

z4racingjz...

I went with Dubro Heavy Duty Plastic servo arms. I'm use 1" on the ailerons and 1 1/4" on the rudder and elevators. I just ordered Futaba aluminum servo arms in the same length. A couple of people recommended the aluminum arms for reliability, and I'm going to listen to them, because my engine fell off.

I used the stock/supplied servo horns. They are kinda funky but seem to work ok. You have to really shorten them up on the rudder because of the way the elevators are so close. I had to use the very first hole to get the throws without the length. I also had to fabricate a pushrod for the rudder for the above reasons.

Did you get one of these planes? They sure are nice.

thanks
Barry

z4racingjz

hey barry..
i found some 1 1/4" metal futaba arms from a friend for cheep... i have more then enough throw and the look beautiful.. now im trying to find me a mezjlik 20x8 prop so i can have a little prop weight and get a little flywheel effect on the motor so i can get it to idle in the 900- 1200 rpm range.. and hopefully it will tach out at high 7000... and i think im also gunna put an onboard glow starter on it so i can adjust the cg to the tail a little... so for now i got a 6v 1650mah pack for the reciever and a 4v pack for the glow... im trying to keep it as light as possible...

thanks,, josh

Barry Cazier

My Feedback: (17)

z4racingjz...

Glad you found the metal arms. Mine came today so I'll be putting them on soon.

Flew the CAP 4 times tonight. Flys much better with the engine attached. I really did have a great time. Had one dead stick landing (no problems) when I had a flame out while in a blender. This plane will do awesome blenders. Some of the best I've seen. But I couldn't get the engine to pick up the throttle while in a flat spin. Seemed like it was richening up or leaning out I'm not quite sure. And I'm new at gas so I'm still figuring it out. And the engine is a long way from being broken in yet.

Did some wonderful KE tonight. Wow what a feeling. High alpha and super slow right down on the runway. Well, for me anyways. Probably 10' high. It couples a bit to the wheels. I have a slight mix and it made it almost perfect. I think I'll have to add just a tad of aileron into the mix to get it with no stick movement. But it didn't take much mixing. I couldn't believe how slow the plane would KE. Very cool.

I had several nice hovers. This engine has PLENTY of power. It really does. Vertical is fast and unlimited. It picks up niceliy out of a hover. I'm a bit more used to the plane after just a couple of flights and the hovers were easy. I may end up adding spoileron to make them even easier. I also had one time when I had to punch the throttle a couple times pretty hard and that introduced severe torque rolls and fast. Kinda cool actually. Spun 3 times in the blink of an eye but I still was able to get it stopped and maintain the hover. Amazing.

So far all my antics have been on low or medium rates. I did try high rates on the rudder only for hovers but everything else was low/med rates. Including the flat spins. And I'm telling you they are flat. I got it to actually stop decending for 10 seconds or so a couple of times. If I could have got the engine to pick up I would have been able to do the illusive "rising flat spin". I'm certain this plane will do it. I'll get the engine figure out and get to offer more than half speed and it'll do the stunt.

I did a few rolling circles tonight as well. I really felt very comfortable with the plane. Especially after the problem I had with it. Rolling circles are easy with this plane and very flat and precise. I'm still getting comfortable with the rudder inputs on this stunt but seemed like I knew right when to introduce the sticks. Again very nice.

I didn't attempt waterfalls, stair steps, or hard snaps. Still a little nervous. But she flys good.

This is what I have so far.
1. Evo 45 is plenty of engine, even at my elevation
2. The plane literally jumps into the air after about 12-30 take off run
3. Blender/flat spin are excellent
4. KE needs some coupling to the wheels mixed out. Probably about 5-8%
5. Hover is about average or easier than average slightly.
6. Torque rolls can be amazingly fast. Too fast if you're not careful. But with full ailerons on medium rates I could stop it and just hover in place
7. Rolling circles are very easy, some of the easiest I've ever done.
8. The plane instills confidence.
9. Weight was 13lbs 5ozs. Manual stated 12.5 - 14 lbs. I'm running a gas engine so I expect to be on the upper end of the scale. Yet it still comes out within specs
10. Kit is very complete. It even comes with a spinner that I was able to use on the EVO 45
11. Kit is very well thought out and easy to build. I used virtually all the stock stuff. I was very pleased with the quality. This new Performance Series line is truly the best out there. Excellent stuff.
12. I balanced right where I was supposed to without any weight added
13. Landing the plane is super easy. Slightly tail heavy but for a moderate and up pilot it's no problem at all
14. The fiberglass landing gear is very nice. It bounces just enough and yet is stiff enough. I really liked it
15. The visibility was awkward for me sometimes. I can see it fine, yet during hovers it was difficult to see the minute changes that happen. I usually stare at the canopy and just watch what happens and make the small quick adjustments. This plane will take some getting used to. I felt like I was ever so slightly "behind" on the sticks. I just couldn't really pick up the movements as fast as I wanted to. Maybe it was just the day. I'll keep up on this any let you know what I think
16. I noticed some coupling to the wheels (very slight) on fast uplines. I may need to add a slight amount of upthrust. But I want to finish trimming the plane out first
17. Wing loading is nice on this airplane 26.25 ozs. I thought that might be heavy but it flys very easy and light
18. I notice some quick snaps when you let this plane do it. If you get out of shape you have to fly it back. You can't just let go of the sticks. I would call it snappy in a good way
19. I like this plane.

As I fly it more I'll do a critical review and let you know what I really think.

Thanks
Barry

z4racingjz

berry,,,

sound excellent but if your doing a hover and you have it at full ailerons,,, you need to get rid of the prop wash thats causing the plane to torque like that,,, i went with a 20x8 wood prop... i will soon have a 20x8 mezjlik prop cuz when i put the on board glow starter on its gunna be a little tail heavy and the mezjlik carbon fiber prop will add a light nose weight without adding extra weight to the plane.. im not to sure about the motor your running,,, it sounds nice but there are a few things you can do to make run a little better. what kind of fuel and oil are you running? what ratio? and you can start from there.. im mixing my own glow fuel for my moki 2.10 that im running in my cap... it also has the perry pump on it so i dont have a problem with tuning it... i can peak the high end out on the ground and it wont lean out in the air as much or at all.. i have alot of pull on my plane right now at idle,,, its idling around 11-1200 rpm and i had to put some fuel tubing against the wheels and the collars to add a little bit of a break to it. that gas engine still and about 3lbs more than my plane cuz you have the extra servo and ignition and kill and eveything else so that changes a bit... im gunna put mine on the scale tonight and see what it weights... i should be around 12-13 lbs.... the maiden flight is this weekend coming up so ill be sure to give you a report on how it does... i want know were you fly up there in idaho... ill be up there soon..


thanks,,
Josh

z4racingjz

and ya iv had this plane since may.. i just finally had time to get around and work on it and see what people are putting in them.. i like to here peoples Opinions on there planes before i start putting mine together...
josh

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

Glad to hear you are getting some more time on it Barry. Keep checking those bolts. Gas eningine do go a little funky some times at the bottom of a blender. I usually run a couple clicks of throtle just as I enter the inverted flat spin to keep the engine running good. Where your motor is rear carberated, Im not sure how it is effected. I've always run side or bottom carbs.

Barry Cazier

My Feedback: (17)

Steve...

Yeah, this was the 2nd time I flew it. Was fun. And much better with the engine attached. I checked everything over last night and it all seems tight and good. So maybe I have that problem solved.

The boggy engine in inverted flat spin does bother me a bit. Now I'm wondering about the fuel tank vent. Maybe you can (or someone else) explain it to me. I have the vent in the regular place in the tank with a hose going down the landing gear to the outside. When I'm right side up everything seems good and the tank would be vented. But...when inverted the fuel would cover the vent line. Correct? So...is the tank vented? Could this be part of the boggy feel? Any way to change/correct this? Does anyone think that would be a problem.

Just thinking. Sometimes you can overthink a problem. Another solution...just break the engine in and lean it down and go to the leaner oil mix.

Thanks
Barry

chuck l

My Feedback: (17)

Barry,

I'm interested in responses to your question also. Last week, my G26 died twice while doing inverted flat spins, at about 1/3 throttle. I think I have an airflow problem over the velocity stack on the plane, because if I pull sudden, harsh, up or down movements with the plane, there is a momentary loss of power. I posted a question in the Gas Engine forum, but haven't had a chance to try anything yet.

Is your carb hanging outside the cowl, do you have a velocity stack?

Chuck

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

On the one side of the carb you have a plate with a small hole in it. On Da50's it is usually to the side of the "bump" in that plate. The reason for the change in engine response during certain maneuvers is airflow within the cowl. This little hole senses air pressure both positive and negative and tells the carb to adjust accordingly.

The easist fix for this is to remove the cover, solder a small piece of brass tubing directly over the hole being careful not to allow anything to get into the hole and plug is or even worse have it tear a hole in the diaphram right below it once you replace the cover. Now replace the cover, attach a piece of fuel line to the brass tube and run it into the fuselage. This will help equalize the air pressure and it will stop the engine from changing settings in the air

Troybuilt models sells a nice CF plate for this and others have used a cut up soda can. It's important not to plug the little hole, just block air from directly hitting it.

Personal on the DA engines it's easier to use a cover than try to solder a tube over the hole do to the location of the hole. On most other engines that hole is right in the middle of the plate and it's a simple matter to do the soldering

http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/EngDesert.htm (about 1/3rd the way down the page. Look for "Carb Plate for all engines")

Also, head over to the gas engine forums and do a search, there has been a rash of discussions about this lately over there. Someone even went as far as building a nice little balsa box and running the end of the fuel tube into it to guarantee even pressure no matter what

chuck l

My Feedback: (17)

Bubbagates,

I already have the tubing running into the fuselage, it was the only way to be able to get the engine to run reliably in the air, made a day and night difference. That was done over a year ago. In my case, I've just learned how to do a flat spin, or should I say, kill the engine at 1/3 throttle.

Chuck

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

My apologies. Chuck

I went to using the clunks with the foam around them just recently and since then I have not had that problem . Something else that maybe happening is during the transition to inverted the clunk is being pulled away from the full. I read that someone was having a similiar problem and they cut the clunk line and installed a very short piece of brass tube with the narbs and ties in it na dthey have not had a problem since.

Mine was solved with the different style clunks. Everyone says you can go to a Lawn and garden store to get them, but where I live, nothing like that exists unless I order them and Aircraft International sells them so I just ordered a bunch and went and replaced all of mine the last time I ordered a new emgine from them.

If none of them work, setup an idle up switch to increase your idle, hit the switch right as you enter the transition. I use an idle up switch that gives me about 300 more rpm and hit it right after takeoff. It helped a lot with every maneuver but the blender. This little thing kept me have having to worry about deadsticks but on downlines I do have to remember to flick it off or depending on the plane, it will gain lots of speed

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

Barry,
Your vent line is fine. The only thing I do with mine is wrap it around the back of the tank once to keep fuel from flowing out the vent line when I am inverted or on a downline. The vent is only to keep the tank from developing a negative presure and it works even if its upsidedown. You may want to try the pump plate hose like bubbagates suggested. I always do that myself also and see a difference in the planes performance.

Barry Cazier

My Feedback: (17)

Steve...

I'll wrap mine around the tank also. Tonight. Thanks for the tip.

Another question although a bit premature for me. When I change from my break in fuel (mixed at 30:1) to my "flying fuel" probably Azoil mixed at 50:1, will I have to richen or lean or leave alone my engine.

My mind has been wraping around this for some time now and I just can't quite get a handle on it. It seems like the final mixture will have less oil, so conversely I'll have more gas. So it stands to reason that the leaner mixture will actually be richer?!?!??!?!?!? Can you see why I'm confused? To me...I think I'll probably end up leaning the high end on the engine some. Is that right? Or wrong?

Thanks
Barry

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

You will adjust the needles but not much. Maybe an eighth to quarter turn at most. The varying temperatures we have from spring to fall affect the motors more at our altitude with fuel mixture.

chuck l

My Feedback: (17)

bubbagates,

Not sure what the apology was for, if I sounded harsh, I hadn't meant to. BTW, all my gas engines have the line running into the fuselage. I don't think it is a clunk problem because of what I experience with the sudden, harsh, up or down movement. The engine hasn't had a chance to run low on fuel because it happens both upright and inverted. I'm going to switch back to Zenoah's straight velocity stack that came with the engine, replacing the beveled one, and see what happens. If that doesn't solve it, I'll replace the clunk as you described.

Chuck

z4racingjz

berry...
i would run your engine with 91 octane and get the amz oil 100:1 oil that they carry... works well in all 2 stroke engines... mostly in the winter like were your located.. what happens is with most oils when the temperature drops to below 60's the oil in your gas can will seperate and it will also do so in your tank on the plane.. and it will gum up the carb... you'll notice on cold starts in the winter that it will take a while to fire up... thats why... running 91 octane in all engines will make it run cooler and will give you more power also... running your engine with that will make it run strong for a long time with out giving the motor any premature wear on the rings... look into the oil and read about it on the amz oil website... i sell all different tips of oils at my shop including amz oil and for me and running it personally it has been the best..

Josh

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Chuck,

Nope, I did not take it as harsh, I apologized for making suggestions that you had already done. I thought maybe you might have been slightly offended by me suggesting the obvious, it's just the desire of me to help people out and sometimes certain people take offense to that even though I meant well. I can see that is not the case here so as far as I am concerned, it's a done deal

Have you tried just removing the stack or did that make it worse? The g-26 I have in my Super Stearman hates having the stack installed no matter which type.

chuck l

My Feedback: (17)

Bubbagates,

I haven't tried anything yet, but will do so in the next couple of days and post the results. This will include no stack.

Chuck

Barry Cazier

My Feedback: (17)

Flew the CAP 4 more times last evening. Flew almost till dark. Had a great time. I routed my vent line as Steve suggested and that seemed to help. I had no deadsticks and I did a dozen or so inverted flat spins (my personal favorite maneuver). Anyways, It seemed to be picking up the throttle quite a bit better but still not quite the same as in level flight.

I did my first waterfall series with this plane. Wow! This thing will just snap on the wind tube. It's a big plane but it waterfalls beautifully. Hardly any elevation loss. I got the KE down low tonight again. Man, for as little time on this plane as I have I'm amazed at how confident I am taking it low.

I have noticed that when you fly out of a blender you better start flying out pretty high up. It doesn't want to come out of the spin willingly. Usually this means you come out in a stalled condition going straight down. You have to allow time to build up enough speed to start pulling up. This is complicated because with the elevator set on med rates there is a real tendency to snap. I dialed in a bunch more expo to make it come out a bit softer. But man...this plane will get very flat. As soon as I throttle up it wants to roll out of the flat spin. So I've got to work on that to get the rising flat spin down.

I'm trying to avoid the "inverted flat spin landing" that I'm so famous, make that infamous, for.

I did some Harriers also. They were pretty good into the wind. But I had a tendency to have the plane blow sideways and then out of the harrier. I'm still working on that. But I didn't experience much wing rock at all.

When I come in for landings, just about at the stall speed the tail drops. If you keep just a tad more speed that doesn't happen. Still, not hard to land, but a little nerve racking if you're not watching right to the ground.

I also noticed a tendency to lift the nose in turns if you don't apply a little rudder. With rudder it appears very scale or normal. No problem, just an observation.

The snap spins on this plane are amazing. It's like you just spin and there is no forward motion till you get it level again. Pretty cool.

Set up time at the field is super easy thanks to the one piece wing. Hauling the plane to the field is awkward thanks to the one piece wing.

I'm still very green to the gas engines but I'm learning fast. Too fast. I already got my second gas plane. This hobby.....


Thanks
Barry

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

What did you buy now???

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Barry,

Wait until you get this thing into a fast KE spin. It winds up really tight.

A hint about coming out of a any type of spin on a Cap. Give it a quick blip of opposite rudder. It will feel unusual at first but rotation stops almost instantly (about 1/4 turn). You can then power out inverted one you get the timing right so that you can stop the rotation right where you want it

Did you try an inverted harrier. I did my first one on this plane the other night and have seen whaturi do them on his. Inverted is super stable.

I think one of the best things about landing this thing on grass is watching the mains touch down and absorb the little bumps while keeping it planted on the ground, looks so cool

Barry Cazier

My Feedback: (17)

bubbagates...

I haven't tried inverted harriers yet. But I will the next time I fly. Sounds fun.

Thanks for the tip on coming out of flat spins. I'll try that. With a little time I'm sure I can overcome the big drop I'm experiencing as I pull out.

You are right. Landings are beautiful. I really like the fiberglass landing gear. I wish all my planes had it.

Steve...

I've purchased and received a Airwild 29% Extra 260. I have a DA50R to use as an engine. I have all the servos, receiver etc. I just need to build it. I'm gonna start next week. I estimate mid Oct to be done. Hopefully I can fly a few flights before winter.

http://www.airwildhobbies.com/MoreIn...&level=2&id=43

Thanks
Barry