Thanks for the great post Minn!

I almost forgot I had a perfectly good .46LA sitting around!
Been so busy trying to find something for a .61FX
that I didn't realize that this little motor could still
provide some cheap fun.

Love the suggestion on the Model-Tech Extra! Good price
and I wouldn't be too nervous to fly it although I'm
sure it's a little touchier than its' larger siblings.

The only thing I don't like about these motors from
what I can remember is they are a little leaky at the
front bushing. Anyone else experience this or should
I replace the bushings altogether? BTW, haven't run
it since I crashed my Eagle2 five years ago but,
have cleaned and stored it well.

I have a .46LA in my Four Star 40, and it is my favorite engine and my favorite plane. It will not go unlimited vertical, but will do anything else I want it to. It is my only engine that I can start up and fly without tinkering with. I use 11x7 Zinger props. I don't know why, but I seem to get more power from the wood props then I did from the APC. It could just be my imagination. Once I stopped breaking props every few landings, I switched to wood and have been happy with them.

I also have a .25LA on a SPAD and love that engine as well. I got tired of replacing the plastic backplate every time I crashed, so I gave up and just let the needle valve float loose. I think the plastic backplate is the only downside to these engines.

I'm looking at my .46 LA
and was wondering if there
is suppose to be some play
at the shaft when you push/pull
on the prop?

I really want to do this ModelTech Extra thing
as I've been reading it is a very neat model
but, don't want to get it if the motor is bad.

I'm pretty sure it had the same kind
of play on my trainer and ran good.
You hear sort of a clicking when you
flip the prop like a bad connecting
rod but, it's the play at the shaft.
Could the motor be missing a washer
somewhere between the drive plate
and front bushing?

Yup perfectly normal.


The clicking is normal too.

Thanks that's comforting.
The thin washer was in there
when I removed the old prop
that was on it.

So the only investment on this motor
is a new set of screws for the head and muffler.
They tend to soften up and strip easily when
removing them.

I put the .40 LA on a Great Planes Taylorcraft and modeled it to look like my H9 version. The plans call for a 25 but the 40 fits and flies it perfectly. I fly a little under 1/2 throttle and will carry the plane vertical for quite some distance. It can hover for a couple of seconds and makes the flat spins very fun. Being that barely throttle is used I usually get 25 minute flights with alot of touch and goes until its empty.

Octane,

The T-craft that is in my avatar had a .25 Magnum in it. Flew okay but got into a bad situation and it couldn't pull it out. I'd thought of doing another and putting my LA in it for that purpose. I would imagine that it pulls it around great. They look great side by side.

It is a little over kill but the plane really likes it. I make alot of missed approaches by over shooting the runway. It flies very light as well. I need to run a 10x4 on this thing. I am thinking of building another.
Adam

VIDEO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVFutNnDOUE

Ok, so here's my second flight with the Model Tech Extra 300. I love this motor and this plane is a blast! My only advice is to epoxy every joint on the plane before flying. I think they used some sort of crap Elmers glue or something to put it together. You'll see I didn't have too hard of a landing but it still took the gear right off. I epoxied it over Saturday night and flew it again Sunday. There wasn't really any wood broken, the gear joint just came right out! Now that I've epoxied everything, I think it will hold together just fine.

I also have a Revolver (see Jethro450 on youtube for videos) and we've clocked it around 110 on flat fly-bys. This plane isn't quite that fast but I bet it's around 90-100 though. It'll snap roll unbelievably fast, fast enough that I thought I was going to rip it in half - it scared me so I landed - which was a perfect landing might I add.

Anyways, there's my 2 cents worth on what to do with a 46 sized motor. I like this plane a lot.

RCFAN450:

Yup I have the same setup as you do, and I had the same problem with the gear, until I re-inforced the gear mounting area too.

I'd recommend to anyone purchasing this plane to insert a couple of hard ply blocks over the gear mount points within the fuselage, and expoxy them in place both to the wooden bottom and the fuse sides. After doing this I haven't ripped the gear out again.


It is indeed a blast to fly.

It will fly surprisingly well with the 40LA engine too, though I prefer the .46LA on it.

It's a great combination!

octane who is the manufacture of your T-Craft? I have a 25 la that is in need of a new motor mount attached to a fuse.

Its a Great Planes kit. Highly recommended for your .25
Adam

Adam Thanks sounds like a winter project!!!!