ThaFlyer

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Navy

I have a menz 22X8 on my fuji 50 and am getting 21 lbs of thrust.

NavyE6FE

How much time do you have on your Fuji and what rpm are you getting with the 22x8??

Steve

f2racer

You guys think an MVVS 35cc gas would be enough for this model? I've heard that this engine compares favorably to the Zenoah G-45 despite giving up 10ccs. Supposedly the engine is good for up to 20+ lbs of thrust given the right prop... Engine's currently onsale and in stock over at Morris Hobbies.

ThaFlyer

My Feedback: (16)

Steve

I don't have that much time on the Fuji. I might guess at 1-1.5 hours. When I first ran it I had the menz 22x8 on it turning around 7500. That is when I checked the thrust at 20-21 lbs. I am currently running the menz 20x8 only because I had a friend talk me into it b/c that is what the used in the MAN article. Its turning 8100 w/19 lbs.

Planning to try the 22x8 now that I am confident in the engine.

rfw1953

My Feedback: (2)

ThaFlyer,

I would be interested to hear how yours acted in a spin and how you recovered. As for mine, well, I'm a bit embarrassed to answer that one. :stupid:

We had our annual Big Bird event with radio in-pound. I checked my radio in and then got my airplane set up. I then checked out the radio, but didn't get the channel pin. Fortunately no one was flying on the channel at the time I turned on my radio, did a range check, started her up and took off. I had a great take off and had made one circle of the field to get the feel of her. This was my first flight during the event. Then the airplane wouldn't respond. I had lost it completely. I was using a PCM R'x and was fighting for control while in and out of fail safe. Another pilot, who had followed the proper in-pound procedures, by having the channel pin, had turned on his radio to check out his airplane. I never got control of her and she went in hard. The firewall held though, even with a hard glancing blow to the ground. The engine took a beating, but the firewall held solid. This was all my fault and I was so glad no one got hurt and that it was my airplane. O have already ordered a new Pitts and sent the engine in for repairs. I also sent the R'x in to be tested. Expensive lesson, but could have been worse.

The rcu thread below has pictures of the crash damage. Ugly.
http://rcuniverse.com/showthread.php...261&forumid=38

ThaFlyer

My Feedback: (16)

Roger I don't know what happened. It either stalled or I lost a battery connection. I had just taken off, made a pass by the pitts and proceeded to fly the pattern. When turning base to final she just kept turning and went in a right hand spin. I could not get it to respond to any control movement. Finaly I thrugh a hand up in discust and she straighten out. I had plenty of air speed and it was alot less of bank that I had pulled before at that speed. The only thing else that I can figure out was that I lost signal or have a intermitant prolem with my power circuit. I'm sure that I did not lose signal to my servos do to my redundant setup.

NavyE6FE

ThaFlyer

This is the wrong forum but what oil and what ratio did you use for break-in and what are you using now?? I put a Zinger 20x8-14 on it last night to see what it would do.... 5500 rpm and about 13 lbs would have thought it would have turned better... maybe after breaking in.

rfw1953

My Feedback: (2)

On my Fuji 50 I used 46-1 oil to gas ratio and used Sthil 2 cycle oil. Until the crash I had moved to a 40-1 ratio after break-in. I will eventually switch to amsoil with a 50-1 ratio once I get the new Pitts assembled. Just cam in this morning. The new kit looks as good as the old one did. Arrgh! here I go again. Hope this one doesn't take as long.

Modelman

My Feedback: (7)

Here are a couple of photos of my Pitts/Fuji 50 install.

I also purchased the onboard starter for the Fuji. This necessitated removing the firewall box completely. I made a new firewall out of 1/4 birch ply and glued/pegged it to the original. The engine/starter mounts perfectly to the new firewall with the included stand-off's. I also had to use the "Short" prop extension.

The Muffler is a Bisson Pitts unit for the Fuji. Very nice!

Front view

Modelman

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Top view

Modelman

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Right view

Modelman

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Left View

rfw1953

My Feedback: (2)

Modelman- Very nice work. Will be interested to hear how the starter works. How many batteries are you using and what size?

I have to admit that it brings back memories of mine before the crash. Got the new one Firday. Already working on another model so will have to wait for a while. Also, my Fuji 50 appears to be more damaged than I had expected. The crash actually stretched the hole where the fly-wheel slides on to the crank shaft. Can you believe that? And the firewall held........ The impact pushed the fly wheel in and the soft metal in the fly-wheel actually stretched at the hole so it now has to be replaced. Having the crank shaft checked to see if it's bent. Hope not. Now thinking of converting to electronic ignition. If the shaft is bent I most likely am looking at a new engine. Arrgh! this should be fun.

flyster63

My Feedback: (3)

I have been flying one of the Pitts for almost a year now. At first I had a US41 on it, nice combo for scale flying. The plane was lite and we could do tail wheel first landings at very low speeds. The engine was giving me trouble and I had a Quadra 52 laying around so I put that one in. The plane still lands tail wheel first and has no I repeat NO bad stall habits. The new combo has fantastic vertical performance. I do only scale flying and no 3D. The plane does not have the power to hover and then pull out, but that is not my style.

All-in-all the Pitts is one of the best performing planes I have ever flown. Roll it up on a knife edge on take off and climb out and watch the crowd go wild. No other plane looks as good as a Pitts on a knife edge.

Just my opinion.

Mark

GSNut

My Feedback: (8)

Been following along on the Pitts/Fuji 50 thing..But as I have a G62 with out a home.
Decided to do my own thing and scratch out a S2A and use the Zenogh for it.

Now I know that some think that the GP arf is a copy of the old Pilot BIY Kit and some how I seem to agree..So here it is so far.. A scratched up copy of a Pilot with GP Parts.

The white gelcoated cowl is from an old Pilot Kit but the rest of the red stuff is from GP.

Scuse Me while I reduce the size of the photo..duh

R/CDragonfly-RCU

I've been flying a Pilot Pitts with a Fuji 50 for some time now and have never been able to get it to hold much less climb out of a knife edge. I have hovered it however.
Yesterday I got it into a very fast flat spin a despite alot of altitude and desparate tries it wouldn't stop spinning. It went in. I was amazed to find it intact in the swamp. Two small monocote tears and a cracked wheel pant.
Now I'm afraid to spin it. I have done and recovered from many inverted flat spins. This was the first upright truly flat spins I have been able to do.
Should I increase my rudder size? What can I do to never have this happen again.

GSNut

My Feedback: (8)

Ouch.. not nice! Though am sure that Doc Scholl asked the same thing at the time.

As the Pitts is designed as a fully aerobatic aircraft and should be able to recover from most any situation (with the correct control input). Though you didn't say it does sound like you had either full throttle or plenty of power to be able to hold it in the f. spin as the rotation was "fast".

A possible change? A bit more forward C/G and a slight enlargement of rudder and elevators might be called for. On the Pilot Pitts I have increased the vertical fin, rudder, the horizontal stabilizer and the elevators by adding 3/4 inch or 3/8th on each side of the hinge line of each. Will have to let you know how effective this is when it is complete and the test flights are made. ????????

Am glad you escaped with only the minor damage you mentioned.

Personally, I'm not an expert on aerobatics and only do those stunts that depend on forward motion to maintain control of the aircraft. If Possible!

Cheers
Doug in Denver altitude 5,240 ft.

Don Perry

My Feedback: (51)

I have been flying mine with a 3-w-60 and 3-blade mej 22-10 prop.

I just upgraded to a new 3w-75!!

the 60 did not have unlimited vertical.

Don

www.rnlinc.com

jc4me2

Acually, the GP Pitts was based off a set of plans some guy put together over 15 years ago, it's not a Pilot copy. Here are some pictures of the original plane before GP bought the plans. Rats! my pics are too big.

rfw1953

My Feedback: (2)

dragonfly, can;'t believe you actually got the airplane back in one piece. Good for you.

Modelman, did you install the engine into the stock firewall after removing the mounting box. Or, did you replace with a good piece of ply? The model really looks great.

I'm making progress on Pitts II. Mounted the DA-50 tonight. Now trying to figure out where to mount the ignition and battery. Any suggestions?

GSNut

My Feedback: (8)

Would be interesting to compare the two sets of plans..maybe just a coincidence that the GP parts fit so well. (Of which I am happy about.)

My Pilot plans shows that a gentleman by the name of Y. Matsumoto did their version. And is the S2A version campained by Marion Cole with his N20MC registration in place.

Hope you can get your pics down to size as I would love to see them.

Cheers
Doug in Denver

RCJake-rcu

My Feedback: (7)

Hi All,
I recently finished for another club member a GP 1/3 scale Pitts ARF powered with the OS 300 Super Gemini Twin. It has 7 digital servos, a matchbox for the 4 aileron servos, a Futaba 3003 servo for the throttle, a McDaniel onboard glow driver, battery backup system, Slimline Pitts Muffler, Slimline Excel Fueler System, and graphics for Charlie Hilliard's Pitts with all of his sponsor decals. The engine fit completely inside of the cowl and the only holes in the cowl are the ones for the cowl mounting screws.
It took over 65 hours to get the Pitts ready for flight and it was well worth it. The take offs are straight, it flies great at 1/2 throttle and landings are a breeze. The sound of the OS twin when the Pitts flies over has to be heard to be believed. Some of the other pilots say it sounds like the full size going over. Another bonus of the twin is the lack of vibration.
Does this Pitts hover? I don't know...when I want to hover, I take out the chopper...
Jake

rfw1953

My Feedback: (2)

Just plain beautiful !!!! This is why I am on Pitts II. I love the looks of this airplane. I see you used the four servo aileron configuration with what look like Dubros single post control horns. I am doing the same on mine. Do you have any pictures to show how you hid the wiring for the upper wing servos? What hinges did you use? Like where you mounted the switches. Great prop. I have decided to mount the Pitts Slimline muffler as well after mounting the stock DA- 50 muffler. After looking at it and then looking again, I just don't like how the single pipe looks, and for this model you have to grind out a place in the cowling for for muffler clearance. If anyone else goes with this combo make sure to order the Pitts style muffler. There is an RPM loss of about 300 rpm's but shouldn't be a problem with this engine and the weight of the airplane. First class job..............[sm=sunsmiley.gif]

RCJake-rcu

My Feedback: (7)

Hi Roger,
I did use the Dubro control horns, after they were installed, I removed them and hardened the area with thin ca, then installed the control horns again and covered the ehads with Monokote. They seem to be holding up just fine. I do have photos of the upper aileron extention connections and can e-mail them to you later along with instructions. You will need two small aileron extentions and four Ernst charge jack recepticals. I also used heavy duty ca hinges on all control surfaces. The Pitts balanced perfectly with this engine and radio gear, so no weight was needed. In my humble opinion, the OS 300 Super Gemini Twin is the perfect engine for this Pitts. It has plenty of power and the sound is great.
Flying this Pitts is a big thrill. The response to control input is crisp and it has no bad habits. It always gets attention at the field, both on the ground and in the air.
On one final note, Great Planes recommends this engine for their Pitts, but would not offer any help with the installation of it. They said they had put the OS 300 Super Gemini twin in one of their Pitts, but would not say what mods were needed, how it flew, etc. I contacted OS to order a muffler for the twin, but was told that they did not offer one! They also did not know of anyone that made a muffler for it.
I contacted Slimline and they manufactured a muffler that fits the engine and Pitts perfectly. They now have it available to anyone that would like to order one.
If anyone else would like to build a great Planes 1/3 scale Pitts ARf with the OS 300 Super Gemini Twin engine, drop me a line and I can send photo of the firewall mods, engine installation, Slimline Excel Fueler installation, etc.
Smooth Landings,
Jake

booker-RCU

My Feedback: (43)

I found a unique way of threading the servo wire throught the cabane struts so the servo wire is completely hidden. The Cabane it'self is hollow so just by grinding a small rectangle hole in the top and bottom of the strut it is very easy to thread a servo wire through it. It must not have a plug on one end and the wire will go through fine. In my case I used a plug-less wire and will put my own plugs on with a crimper but a person could solder short leads if prefered. As you can see the hole in the wing is big enough to acomadate a female plug but is completly hidden by the Cabane strut. Using a Y the servo wire can be routed to the opposite servo. I have built servo boxes to mount the servo on its side so only the servo arm extends out of the wing. You can get at the servo extension that is run through the Cabane by lifting out the servo and disconecting the extension so the wing can be separated from cabane.
Galen