MadDog35

My Feedback: (77)

I had a lot of trouble with my O.S. 1.08 and dead sticked my pitts several times before I got it all worked out. This plane is not a glider but I had not trouble at all getting mine back in one piece. I even lost power on take off, the worst possible time and was able to flip it over and get it back on the runway and still had enought lift to land it gently. I would not get too worked up about a dead stick landing. All biplanes have extra drag, that is the nature of the beast but this one is no worse or better than any others. I have many biplanes and this one is not the heaviest nor the one with the most drag. If you get into bigger planes you will have much more weight to contend with and if you dead stick a larger biplane it will have even more drag and weight then this one does. Having said all this I would not try to stop anyone from buying this plane, if you are looking for a pitts this is a very nice plane for the money. ( and I see deals on them all the time. ) but if you want a nice flying and looking biplane then you have to get an ultimate. These are the best. Good luck, Mike.

dingawing

I have the same set-up as MadDog with an O.S. 1.08, and I also had the same experiences with dead-stick landings. I think if you do not over-power with a heavy large bore engine, your wing loading remains well within the limits as designed and the plane does glide well enough to remain under control. Just keep the nose down and the airspeed up.
This is a good looking, nice flying and well made airplane. If you are an intermediate flier you shouldn't have any trouble with it.

Jerry

MadDog35

My Feedback: (77)

Dingawing, what problems did you have with your engine. I bought mine used and had to replace the needle valve. Good news is I figured this out on the test stand. The problems I had in the plane are my engine runs great on the ground, and when you hold it straight up but the first couple flights it died then it worked for a few and started dying again. I since changed to a larger fuel line like I have had to do on my moki's and other larger 2 strokes. I have test run the engine on the ground and it runs great but of course it ran great before on the ground. The weather here is horrible and I got side tracked with some larger planes so never got to fly it again. Let me know what you did to work yours out. And you are correct about the wing loading, my plane was fine with no power as long as you keep the nose down but I went with the recomended engine, a heavy gas or large glow might be a different story. My plane seems to have plenty of power with the 1.08 also. I only have about 6 good flights on it but it flys great. No 3D obviously but otherwise it does anything I want, how does yours go with the 1.08?

dingawing

MadDog, the 1.08 is the perfect engine for this plane. My problem was that the engine was brand new ( I think I got the last one that Tower had in stock), and possibly the run-in I did wasn't quite long enough. That and trying to find the right needle valve setting resulted in about three dead-sticks. I did have one crash when the pitts lifted off before I had sufficient airspeed and I had to rebuild the cowl, motor box and landing gear mount. The plane is much stronger now as a result of the re-build. I was lucky that it came down flat and there was no other damage.

The 1.08 is running fine now, and when taking off I try to keep the wheels planted on the runway till I see the speed that I want. You have to put in a little down elevator to do this and try not to let it get too nose down. ( lots of fun with the sticks!!)

Good luck with yours when the weather breaks.

Jerry

bkrfrmhell

My Feedback: (4)

How far back is your cg? I see with the test report in flyrc they had to mount the reciever battery on top of the motor mount to get an acceptable cg with the 108. Seems kinda funny that you would have to hold the plane down on takeoff to avoid a stall.

dingawing

The Pitts balanced slightly nose down with the cg set at the foward measurement as recommended in the book. I have a 2200 ma nicad battery under the tank. I tried to keep it on the ground longer because at full throttle it seems to get airborne too soon. It tracks very well and does not fly as if it was tail-heavy.

I weighed my cowl after I repaired it and it weighed 9 oz. I re-balanced the plane with the cowl installed and had to move the battery back behind the first former to get the balance right after the repair with the cowl on.

I havn't flown it yet with the repaired cowl on. Will have to wait for a warm day.

Jerry

mancha

for YS users to be, remember it drinks around 2oz. per minute therefore a larger tank shall be intall; this combo adds weight and as any plane the lighter the better !

I am replacing my YS 120.
I am not sure yet if a SAITO 125 or a Zenoah 20 will be installed since I have both engines brand new in my shop.
I know some posted using a SAITO125, I wonder if you can give me some feedback on how are you flying with it.

Regarding gliding, I own 7 biplanes and the only one that gide less than this CG Pitts is a a BALSA USA Fokker Dr.1 which is a triplane !!

MadDog35

My Feedback: (77)

MY pitts ballanced perfectly with the 1.08 on the first try with the battery tucked in the space above the landing gear.

MadDog35

My Feedback: (77)

My ultimate profile has a lot more drag than this plane. It's the sig I believe I built it years ago and still have a blast with it.

plane Guy

Could some of you post some pics of how you vented your cowls? I'm toying with a few ideas and can't decide. I thought of louvered vents ala Sukoi,but that would be a lot of work. Look pretty cool though, and theres a lot of winter left.

bkrfrmhell

My Feedback: (4)

Heres a few. Pretty close to the 2 to 1, exhaust to inlet rule. Probably exceeded a bit.

MadDog35

My Feedback: (77)

I think this is a pic of the underside of my pitts.

gjeffers

i used a black plastic trash can for the cutout for the airblock in the front of the cowl to direct air directly over the engine head.overall i think it looks better than the picture of cylinders[X(] but that is my opinion

bkrfrmhell

My Feedback: (4)

What kind of price and who makes the pitts muffler you used? Can the muffler be rotated for a horizontal mounted engine?

gjeffers

slimline makes it, and you can order either invert mount or sidemount.

here is the link:

http://www.slimlineproducts.com/onli...er_service.htm

bkrfrmhell

My Feedback: (4)

Have any of you guys weighed your planes? I hung mine on my dial fishing scale and it says exactly 10 pounds. Seems kind of light with a 150. I would think this scale should be relatively accurate to within half a pound or less. Bounced it on the scale, 10 pounds exactly.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

You know how those 'fishy' guys measure things....[sm=75_75.gif]

bkrfrmhell

My Feedback: (4)

Ya ya...I know not very aeronautical...I just figured it would be more accurate than holding the plane and standing on the bathroom scale.....

gjeffers

mine was 11lbs 2 oz on a digital fish scale

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Which when translated to reality means it was 9 lbs 5 oz and/or less [&:]

dingawing

If it weighs less than 11 lbs, it sounds like a fluke to me.

gjeffers

actually its a lot closer than that, itss off about 4 oz at 10 lbs and with me accounting for that, its still 11lbs 3 oz

cleonard

My Feedback: (1)

Using the stand on the bathroom scales method, mine came in at 11 lbs. 15 ozs. with a YS 140 sport and some old heavy muffler I bought years ago at Central Hobbies.

bkrfrmhell

My Feedback: (4)

Now thats how "light" everyone is. Now who is flying heavy, with smoke system etc. I have a smoke system I would like to install, but am worried about the added weight. I have a sullivan skywriter system with 8 ounce tank, plus the additional battery pack. With a full smoke tank, i am guessing almost an extra pound of weight maybe?

mikerc

My Feedback: (11)

I weighed mine this evening with an Evolution 26GT. 2-2 cell Li-Ion packs for receiver and ignition. 12 OZ. tank. No pilot, and no prop. I did have the spinner on it. It came in at 11lbs. 3 oz. I was pretty happy with this. How are yours flying at this weight?

Thanks,
Mike