ORIGINAL: mobyal
Hey Wally
Have you all completed balancing yours yet? Wondering how much lead you had to put up front. I'm just about ready to install the engine on mine and was going to use the OS160 2stroke w/ the OS metal mount, but depending on your answer may go w/ the heavier Saito 180 w/ the Saito metal mount. Did you have any clearance/installation issues?
I agree with what you said about kit quality. Mine was also one of the first available and so far has been an absolute pleasure. Everything fitsd and lines up!
I really do like your leading egde trim, and think I could paint it on without a lot of trouble. but wonder about visibility on final?
Let us know how the test flights come out.
Al
Hi Moby,
I know that some/most/all of the S.W.'s didn't have the painted LE's, but I was at Hobby Airport here in Houston a while back and saw Howard Pardues S.W. at the HawkerBeech FBO. His has the painted LE's and it just REALLY stands out from the others. I'm glad we did it - it was worth the two hours it took to do it!
No fit or clearance issues with the 1.80 unless you consider the two small oval that we made in the cowl to clear the rocker arms an "issue"? Take a look at that Keleo Creations Muffler - REALLY NICE!
Yes, I just finished balancing it at the recommended 5.5" from the LE of the lower wing.
It took an additional 2lb 3oz of lead weight to bring that number in!
Originally I was going to use a 4000 5-cell NiMh battery (wieghing 11.8oz), but after realizing that I REALLY need an on-board glow system for easy starting and reliability (plus the additional battery pack) I decided to down-size the main pack to a 5-cell 2700 and then have a 4-cell 2500 on-board glow battery (12.2oz total).
As you can see I made an aluminum shelf to mount the batteries and the lead brick.
The lead brick is UNDERNEATH the aluminum shelf, mounted with 4ea #12 self-tapping screws, and then the batteries are stacked on top and velcro'd into place.
With the shelf there would not have been room to mount the second pack on top of the main one, so down-sizing helped save room and overall weight, too.
I'm just about finished with the dummy radial and will see how much the balance changes with that installed. I may go to a wood prop to offset the extra couple of oz's.
I hate it that I needed to mount the switch and glow system in the forward stripes, but I really didn't want to run any more long extensions just for that.