Greetings,
I'm experienced in electric flight, and now considering stepping up to a nitro trainer. My dad has a Hobbico Nexstar .46 trainer that he has offered to me. It has flown once or twice and it just wasn't convenient for him to go to the club and fly it. That was 10 years ago. It has sat since then. This brings me to my reason for posting. I can assume it needs a new receiver battery. I was going to put a new spektrum full size receiver in it to go with the DX6i transmitter I already have. It has the old school crystal radio in it. Anything else I should really check out before I attempt to fly this bird? The motor was left with fuel in it. I'm getting this plane for free and it is cosmetically in great shape. Just looking for advice on what you'd do with a plane that's been sitting so long. Thanks for helping this nitro "big-plane" noob.

You cant miss with that plane. Change out the batteries in the plane, put some oil in the engine, give everything a good once over and go fly her. Good Luck, Dave

Thanks for the reply. Would you recommend 4.8 volts for the battery? This usually isn't a concern on an electric model.

Hey Gonnut congratulations on " stepping up" an expression thats sure to induce a lot of ire with some of the electric enthusiasts

First things first it will serve you well. May i suggest since you are already operating a 2.4 system, yes yes do get a receiver and fly your ship with 2.4. The advantages are to plentiful to list and outside the scope of this thread.

The existing servos will be fine There may be some plug compatibility problems which are easy to fix unless they are old style Airtronics servos with black servo plugs.

I would definately not recommend using a 4.8 flight pack especially since you will be flying with a 2.4 system. I never use 4.8 packs with 2.4 , the advantages are many. For that airplane may I suggest a 6.0 (five cell) volt Nimh pack of 2000 mah. This will provide you many flight during the day and What I use on almost all my glow airplanes. The cell size of that pack is AA and its only slightly bigger than the old 4.8 Nicd of far less capacity. This pack is ideal in your trainer.

Another likely problem is the fuel system tanks tens years and older tend to have many problems that you can end up pulling your hair out over. its the conventional bung plug type that suffer the most and instead of fooling around trying to replace dried out and hardened bung plugs as well as leaky tank internal fuel line, I do myself on this stuff and urge those i mentor to just go ahead and replace the tank with a new one and even better replace it with a Hayes O ring type tank. Just as cheap if not cheaper in some cases and far superior to the old fashioned type agine a list to long to list in this thread.

How about the engine, you have not mentiioned it yet good to go?

John

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Thanks for the reply John, Sounds good I will get a 6v pack for the receiver.
You're right, I don't want to offend any electric flyers on here. I've flown electrics for years and still will. Time and place for both of them.

Just got home from work and I will be going over the plane tonight and see what I need to do. You're probably right about the fuel tank, I'll see what's what tonight. I appreciate the info!

Here's a couple pictures of the lucky bird. It's an OS .46 FXi. I don't know much about these engines. I put some oil thru it and she feels smooth with good compression. The only evidence she's even flown is some of the covering near the exhaust is separating. I'm also taking the auto-leveling gimmick off of there, not really interested in that. I'm pretty excited!

As an electric flier I am offended !

hahahaha,I would carefully grab the stab and fin and wiggle them to see if any hidden fractures or loose parts are hiding below the skin..sometimes things get bumped over the years..and glue does go bad sometimes.

I'd pull the carburetor off and soak it in fuel, then make sure the fuel passages are all clear. Old castor oil likes to harden up in those small spaces and can give you fits trying to make the engine run. And I'll second the other recommendations made already to go with a 6v battery and replace everything in the tank. You'll probably need a new glow plug too.

Judging by your photos, some fuel, prime the carb, glow ignitor, and a flip of the prop and I'll bet she would run.
For that type of plane with it's 44oz servos a 4.8 pack would be perfectly acceptable.

OK Gonnut I concur completely on removing the wing leveler. The problem is most of these types of devices require a competent pilot to test fly and adjust it for the student. In other words when this stuff and systems such as these are marketed to new folks as the magic learn all by your lonesome system then the new folks are normally in for some deep disappointment and a wreaked airplane anyway. The bottom line is find a mentor and get help if you really want to succeed, no pilot is an island.

Now lets talk about your engine. This engine is something that both OS and actually evolution dickered around with in an attempt to modify one model of their engines to be super simple for folks attempting to agine go it alone. What both did was to create a limiting device on the main needle valve that severely restricts its travel. The idea was promoted that both needles were factory preset to get the needles with in a close range and needle could only be turned for a slight adjustment. All sounds fine and dandy in theory however here goes that opinion thing agine (mine), Its an impossibility for a factory to preset the needles even closely for all the conditions (elevations and weather conditions that the engines will be sold and operated in around the world.

I have worked with the limiting device on the Evolution engine (which was too limiting) and on those I got into the habit of removing the limiting device which could be done with some effort. I have never worked with the OS FXi even though the others in the Fx series were formerly my favorite s before the AX series. Now perhaps the device works better with the OS and it well may so my recomendation to you is to also not start removing and cleaning things rather just like A70 above suggested just put fuel in it and start her up, it just might surprise you. But before you do that down load the manual at the OS website for the FXi and carefully read it. However please don,t run your glow airplane on a 2.4 system with a 4.8 pack especially the low capacity types that were common when these airplanes were formerly on 72.

Enjoy

John

With John all the way. All my packs are 6 volt on my receivers, works well for me. After you have the engine running be sure to run a tank or two thru it to make sure you wash the "crud' out, assuming there is any. Most engines
get better after a few tanks thru them after sitting for long periods. BTW you have a nice engine, I have had several over the years.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the great advice! I will be flying this with my local flying club after I move in a couple weeks. I will definitely have someone take a look at it or even test fly it for me before I give it a go. I know these fly a bit faster than the electric park flyers I usually mess with. I haven't pulled the tank out yet but I will be doing so after moving into our new house.
The limited adjustability on the needles had me a little worried too. The place we're moving too is about 4,000 feet higher than where I live now. I will keep posting as I make progress. Thanks again