Another WM 300S has been finished and flown... this one powered by an FPE 52. I'm going to post a half dozen pictures, including the one in this post. The pics will have some text imbedded (pasted), hopefully they will be helpful if you're thinking about putting a gas engine in this plane. This was my first large model and my first gas engine, and I want to thank everyone in this forum (and others here on RCU), for their posts that have helped make this project a success.

The plane ended up at a dry weight of 16 lbs 6 oz, measured on calibrated digital scales. Thankfully, due to some forethought with respect to component location, the plane is dead nuts on the recommended CG with NO ballast. I should also point out that I made no weight-saving modifications whatsoever. For those of you considering/comparing gasoline engines, be aware the FPE 52 weighs exactly 68 ounces with muffler and ignition but without the ignition battery. Be careful when you compare your favorite brand... for instance, some websites and other sources show the FPE 52 weighing 58 ounces. Wrong! Obviously the muffler and ignition box were not on the scales at the time. I'm sure there are other similar mistakes, unintentional or otherwise, out there on other brands.

I've taken some static thrust measurements, and I am getting at least 23 lbs of thrust, so yes... the 17 lbs (wet) plane will accelerate nicely, straight up out of a hover. For the prop/rpm crowd, the relatively new FPE is turning a Mezjlik 21/10 at 6900 rpm while running comfortably rich. (60 deg F, 1250 ft elevation).

If you see something in one of the photos that yanks your crank, great. If you see something that might be a stupid gasser-rookie mistake, for Pete's sake let me know before I go flying the next time!

Gary