Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

We're at 4500' ASL here...[]

My Patty had a ZDZ-50NG on it with a Slimline Pitts type muffler. She was on the heavy side at 17lbs, but with that little ZDZ spinning a 22x8 Mejzlik at 7200 RPM it performed pretty well. Of course it did much better in the Spring/Fall when the ambient air temps were lower than our normal summertime stuff of 90's and the occasional 100 degree days.

Like I said earlier, you need to figure out what you want. You're getting into the area where folks are going to suggest their favorite model/engine for whatever reason.

Patty won't perform like other lighter models, but she's a lot harder to hurt as well and it does fly really nice with no noticeable bad habits, just the roll coupling you find with any of the Extras. Some folks swear by Caps and they ruled the roost for quite some time, but they've also got some of the nastiest coupling you'll run across in a model. That's why you see a lot of Yaks running around and most of the Extra/Edge type models going midwing these days, to more closely line up the thrust line, wing and horizontal stab to get rid of the coupling.

Since you're at only 700' ASL, you'll have a lot more choices than what we do up here, but finding any 50cc class model with 1400" or so of wing area is an ideal, but there has to be some concession to weight in order to get it that large and still light enough for 50cc power. That means it's easier to break with a say, less than desirable landing?

As for engines, the purpose built stuff is really the better choice IMHO since they are lighter. The Evolution 45, the DA-50 and the ZDZ-50 are all within a few ounces of each other, then there are those who love their Taurus, Birelli, lightened Zenoah and so on. That's really kind of a Ford/Chevy/Dodge type discussion.

Spend some time doing your research and decide what you want as you'll not find a concensous of opinion here on the best setup, particularly in this size range...