Originally posted by rwh
Well, I spent the whole day flying my 46 UCD. Tried to find a good hovering prop for my OS 61FX. I ordered every prop in the book last week. Tried a 13X4, 13X5, 12.5X6, 14X4, 14X5, 14X6, 13X8. I got calluses on the palm of my hand from reaming out all those props at the field.
Then I tried removing the baffle from the muffler, and cycled through all those props again. The result? Tailslides out of a hover with every one. The 12.5X6 came closest to holding a hover.
I had four people at the field who got interested in my project, and one of them suggested a 12.25X3.75, and sure enough, it was able to slowly pull itself up and out of a hover. With that prop, it turned 13,800 on the ground, unloaded quite a bit more in the air. With no baffle it was a real screamer!
I've had it! Out with the 61FX, and in with a Saito 91. I don't know if I'll buy another, or haul the one I have out of another plane.
... I also had quite a few mixture problems with the inverted setup resulting in a few deadsticks .... and we had some heavy weather at the field, with a gusty crosswind during most of the day. I've pancaked the UCD into the dirt, stalled and slammed it onto the field (resulting in totally flattened gear), and dumped it down into the tall grass behind the apple trees. Not a crack or a mark in the plane after all this abuse.
I know I'm gonna like this plane, but Scotty, get those dilithium crystals glowing white, we need more power!
I hovered one yesterday with a OS 50SX and it had unlimited vertical as well. I don't know why your 61fx isn't holding it unless it is not tuned correctly, worn out or severely propped wrong. Also, the one I flew had 3/4lb or so of lead up front and still had unlimited vertical and would hold hover and pull out.