I have a Senior Telemaster arf on order and was looking for some advise on what engine to use. I have a .61 super tigre and a .90 super tigre on the self. Which would be the better choice. This plane may be used to tow up 2 meter gliders once in a while. Was also thinking about a weed wacker moter maybe 21cc-25cc im getting tired of the cost and mess of glow fuel
Electric is too expensive on this big of a plane .
Thanks for any advise Craig

disqgolfer......I have a MAGNUM 120 four stroke in mine. It's a perfect combination for my type flying. I am sure that any of the engines you mentioned will be fine. However, if you intend to use it for occasional towing, I'd go with the 90, or even better.......a smaller gas engine. The Telemaster, has a very broad engine range. Good luck. Bob Laine

I'm using a converted STE.90, converted to gasoline by BME. This is at about 5,000 feet elevation.

We will be building ours soon and will be using either a OS .61 or RCV.91CD. We will have about 1 gallon of fuel with camera and GPS system on board as well as cargo to be dropped from the belly via bomb bay doors. Given the lift produced by the wing and tail this will be sufficent for this plane. It can and does get flown safely in stock form with 40-50 sized 2 strokes. We are estimating it to be around 15lbs. flight ready depending on gear aboard.

Shane

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How are you and the BME G90 getting along? I have one NIB, but haven't had a chance to get to it yet.

Hi All
I have a partially built Senior Telemaster that was given to me. I was wondering if the new Zenoah G20EI would work in the ST? I plan on using it for candy, califlower, tomatoe, etc. dropping and maybe piggy backing gliders and wondering if the new Zenoah would work?
Thanks in advance

John
Independence, OR

My money would say yes it should work great considering this plane flies good with about 2-3lbs cargo with a .40-.50 2 stroke motor.


Shane

The more I think about it I might go with a Saito 82 4 cycle. That should give me more than enough power.
I have a Saito 50 on a 15 year old Midwest Aerostar [X(] and only adjusted the valves once and ran who knows how many gallons of fuel through it and it is still performing well. A little tired but still works.

Should be an excellent combo.. keep us posted. Email me a pic when you are done as we are getting ready to do our ST Mod. Amazing how much room these things have inside. Will do the same as we get going..

Later Shane

flying mine with a saito 72-it only needs that size engine if you are going to be flying downwind and need to get your kite back-I mean your airplane back

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I bought the electric set up for my Sr. Tele, but I just can't get enthusiastic about getting it going that way. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool IC engine man.

I do have a NIB BME .90 gas engine and have been thinking of flying it with that.

Please tell me your impressions of this engine and how it handles the Sr. Tele. TIA

I recently got my Senior Telemaster ARF. I am also still unsure about power. I initially decided to use an OS FS .91 and tow the occasional glider and drop candy, some night flying also with some kind of nav lighting system. Upon getting and inspecting, the fuselage is way way flimsy.....the preinstalled beam engine mount does not reach back into the framing far enough, to hold much of a larger engine. Looks like this thing may shake apart unless I do my usual ARF-beefing procedure with balsa and epoxy. Seemingly, Hobby Lobby is going for electric conversion in all their products. May be why the Telemaster is so frail....to save the weight for the $500.00 + worth of motor, batteries and speed control. Too expensive for me.
Going for the balsa and epoxy... gotta engineize this thing. That BME ST 91 gasser sounds like something worth looking into.

I am flying a Sr. Telemaster ARF with a Zenoah G20 EI engine / APC 16x4W prop. Fantastic Combination. "Easy like Sunday Morning" about sums it up in all aspects. Caution, once you go gasoline, youll never go back to nitro or electric unless you want a small airplane.

steelie, maybe you should build one from a kit and then you would think the ARF is a tank.

Ed M.

Ed,

Have flown my friend's kit-built Senior Telemaster several times. Structurally, it shames the ARF, especially in the aft fuse section. The ARF suffers from wobbling it's tailfeathers when the engine comes to life. The wing is no where near as strong as the kit-built. The ARF is still a pleasure and worth the cost, but I would rather have built it. Next one. Thanks for the advice on building one though.....

I been flying mine with an OS FL 70, the model was desighned for a .60 2 stroke like your ST, but for the gliders I would Install the ST .90, it will pull their pants off!

I had a 91FS TT on my SR Telemaster it flew great with plenty of power for tow planes or gliders.

I put a Saito 125 in mine.........added some hardwood blocks in the cabin area so I could bolt the wings on........and installed a glider tow release.
If your gonna pull or haul I think the 125 is perfect. I'm still running it rich and the rpm isn't topped out yet..................it will hang on the prop so I guess it has a little better than 1:1 power to weight ratio................and it balanced perfectly with the 125 up front.

I got my ARF ST together this past week with the intention of going electric....however the price to do so and the power I want is a little nutty.

Can someone point me in the right direction on how to install a Zenoah G20EI? I know I'd need to bolt it straight to the firewall and cut off the nose. Anyone make a cowl to keep a scale look? Would the stock fuel tank work?

Or would I be better off going with the BME .90 conversion?

I love how simple gas is... and with a few rx packs I could stay in the air all day if needed. However I plan on doing aerial video and photography.... would a gas engine be too much vibration?

Not sure how you would mount it but you can try these guys for a cowl, may find something to fit your needs.

[link]http://www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com/default.htm[/link]

You could try a Hyde soft mount as well if vibration is too much although I don't think the G20ei is that bad.


Shane

I have a Zenoah 20ccEI on mine. I was toying with the idea of putting a generator on it, a brushless with 2 voltage regulators to run the ignition and the flight pack. I thought if I could carry 200 ounces of fuel we could stay up around 6 hours. I'm not sure if I could get a 25 lb gross weight bird in the air though. I'm sure we could carry 5 lbs of fuel for a gross weight of around 14 or 15 lbs. The ignition on the Zenoah uses 2,700 mAh per 70 minutes per the manual.

We just started flying my plane, that is my son and test pilot Tom (aka 38) in the picture. He no sooner got the plane airborne and was hovering it. 16x4w. I'm overall please with the Zenoah engines, we have 2 of the 20ccEI's and I also have 5 of the BCMA 26's as well. The Zenoah’s were easier to get running, the BCMA's are stronger and lighter. The EI's take less energy too.

Thanks guys... I do love the price of the Zenoah.... and Ive had Zenoah engines before... only on surfaces rc's though.

n0kjf... did you just center it on the firewall?

I used a sawsall and cut the front side panels off and mounted the backplate directly to the firewall. We put covering over the firewall and called it a plane. No fuel buttons, inaccessable needles, etc. I hate, wheel pants, canopies and cowls in that order. This plane is nearly perfect, load it with fuel and fly for an hour. Is it Saturday yet?

We did not quite get it centered per the thrust lines on the firewall so it was down a little. We did add washers for a little right thrust.

One more question for you....are you using the stock fuel tank?

Yes, I think so, we got mine from the LHS assembled, it was hanging from the ceiling, we did move it to the cg. It is a 16 oz Dubro I believe.