Good evening Gentlemen,

I am now the proud owner of a Dalotel..... The plane appears to be very well built. It has a built-up fuse with fully sheeted foam core wings. The plane only has very minor hangar rash which is a miracle since it was built approximately 10-15 years ago. Most of it can probably be fixed by injecting small amounts of water in the dented areas under the covering and using my covering iron to heat up the balsa so it can expand back into shape. I will make my repairs before I fly it. If it turns out that I like how it flies and decide to keep it, I will strip the covering off and do a frame up restoration on it next winter. The plane has the following dimensions;

Wingspan - 68"
Wing Area - +/- 816 square inches
Fuselage length - 58" (Including the rudder)

The plane does have retracts. I'm not sure what kind they are, but my friend who used to fly competition pattern years ago that went with me said they looked like Pro Line retracts. The retracts have painted black mounting brackets with a machined metal mechanism and they are servo actuated. The retracts also have a shiny metal cover that screws into the black mounting frame and extends inward with a hole and slot for the gear legs and coil spring.

I was also surprised to see that the motor was indeed a piped Rossi FIRE either 60 or 61. The motor also has an in-flight adjustable needle valve. The neat thing is, the builder concealed the pipe inside the fuse by dividing the inside of the fuse lengthwise with a piece of plywood that runs from the firewall to the former at the trailing edge of the wing. He then mounted the radio gear on one side of the plywood and the pipe on the other side with the exhaust exit behind the wing. There is also a plate with air exit holes where the pipe turns down through the bottom of the fuse so air can escape to help keep the pipe cooler (I'm assuming).

I do have a few questions to start with for all you guy's, especially those of you who are familiar with older Futaba servo's. My questions are as follows;

What are the recommended throws for the control surfaces?

Where is the recommended CG for the plane.

The aileron servos are Futaba FP-S28's and the elevator and rudder servos are Futaba FP-S48's. What are the torgue values for these servos & can they be operated at 6 volts? The reason for the last question is that the plane has a 6 volt 1100 ma NiCad battery in it.

Since this will by my first plane with a piped motor. Can anyone give me an idea where I can learn more about using tuned pipes and how exactly they work. I'd like to learn what I can about them and how to set them up correctly to get the most out of them.

I am planning on charging the receiver battery tonight and taking the plane to the field tomorrow to see if I can get the engine running. I will need to stop by the LHS and pick up some 5% nitro fuel for the motor because I doubt the Rossi will appreciate Powermaster 20/20 fuel which is what I currently have. I will also take my camera and get some pictures to help you guys assist me in the future. I will post my pictures here on Monday.

Have a good weekend everyone, and I hope the weather will be nice enough for everyone to get some flying in tomorrow and Sunday...