Wow!
Boy, everyone's been busy with their planes. I'm just catching up with everything. Man Rich, I'm sorry about the tree. Grrrrr.. At least it's in repairable condition...
Thanks again in advance for everyone's feedback and help with this plane!!!!
I think a lot of initial problems I thought I had with this plane was my inexperience with flying fast planes. It totally took me off guard on how to land this. I remember one of my first landing attempts and I was trying to bring it in too slow, tip stalled, etc... That seems like ages ago. After all, I was going from a Twist 60 to a Revolver. Anyhow, Let me bring you guys up to date.
I was the fastest plane at the field all weekend! "Man, that's the fastest 4-stroke I've seen." "That thing is a Rocket." "Oooooh, Awwwwww, Wowwwww!" Lots of compliments all day on the plane. To top it off, I raced one of the speed freaks and smoke him. Him and a couple other guys have identical planes, I think they are Tiger 60's?, anyhow... They race those planes round and round, jet pipes, tricked out, etc.. The twos stokes on them are all out screaming... He WAS top dog with that plane.... Until today. I want to say he had a 90 2 stroke with a Jett exhaust (I can verify, It may have been a 60 or 75..) and I was able to overtake him with the Saito 100 spinning the 13x11 !!! He had me on vertical, (I had unlimited with the 13x10, but not the 11.) I had him on speed flats and all out! We went at it a couple of tanks worth and it was really fun to race someone with this plane where it is neck and neck and you can just pull away. :-) This plane flies like its on rails the whole time and it's precision is dead on.
I picked up a howfast
http://www.wingedshadow.com/ at the Toledo show this past Friday. I tried it out Yesterday and today. I was getting consistent 107 - 109 mph, with an occasional 127. But it would show a funky 178, 189 which must be totally bogus because there's no way. I'm thinking the 107 is probably just right. But I still want to understand the speed indicator better as it is advertised to be accurate to +/- 1MPH. Even at 107 - that is still pretty darn fast. I tried to get some video on my digital camera, but the guy took a video of blue sky with just noise. :-( I'll have to try later when the weather breaks to get something better.
Thanks for the tip on taping the wings. That's on my to do list before next flight. I talked in depth with the guys at the field on how and why to do it and have some good ideas. And in regards to the Velocity stack on the Saitos, they make a difference in cleanliness under the cowl, overall running and efficiency in regards to the intake. You just have to search the Club Saito threads and they'll tell you better than I can. But to have a Saito 100 on this thing, hauling butt the whole time and leaving plenty to spare in the tank after 10 minutes, I'm happy as heck.
Right now there is one other revolver at our field and he has a 55AX on it. No Jett pipe, but we have to meet up yet. The guys who've seen him say I'm much faster, but we'll see. One of the guys at the field today was checking my plane out pretty good because he's in the process of building one. And 2 other guys are dead set on buying one. :-) The plane with that beautiful Saito 100 just turns heads. And when you hear it run... Ewwwww. A old timer made my day today when he came over, looked down at the plane, shook his head, looked, shook his head again, "What motor do you have on that?" He got all grumpy, threw his hands down and walked away :-) I think in his heart he thought something was wrong with the world! hehehe. But I'm telling you, this plane loves the power!!!!
I can't imagine this thing with a 90 - 2 stroke stock or with a tuned exhaust! My God man. I'm jealous, but also comfortable with what I've got going. I can go all out throttle in a dive or what ever and the wings have stayed on and the fuselage is solid so far! I've gotten used to landing this thing as it just takes up all the runway. With the Dubro gear I'm not afraid to put it in the grass, and in fact I like to, to help bleed off speed! I don't like killing power on a landing, so I try to get the idle down as low as possible, but again, with the 13x11, it screws itself all the way down the runway. I typically get a couple small bounces, but its "under control.." I'm comfortable with this plane now with 35 + flights on it now..
Sorry for the long post and I'll try like hell to get some video. It may be a few weeks with vacation, work travel and weather, but eventually I'll get some up.
What a great hobby, great thread, great people, great plane, I love Saito (I'm going to kiss and rub my plane and engine a few times before bed), etc. etc... I've got the bug with this plane bad!!!
Everyone who's cartwheeled or has a few scratches - get them fixed and polished and get back out there. This plane is just too addictive. I would just love to see this thing with a 90 2 stroke on it. My God man, that will be something. "I wonder if I can get a 125 or 150 4 stroke in there?" Hmmmm
Take care all and thanks again,
(Cavandish, I just read your last post... My heart goes out Bro... But that's the spirit! Wishing you and the rest with scratches and dents the best RC Recovery has to offer...)
See you all at the field soon...
Phil