I am a complete noob to this sport. I recently got the H9 P-51 PTS and took it out to start the engine and taxi it around for a while. It went really well. I followed all the different posts check engine mount, servos, ... After the first start (the engine started remarkebly well by the way) I taxied round the local school parking lot for bout 40 mins. I had a blast and I can't wai for its first flight with the instructor. I live in Denver so the engine ran real rich but it pointed out an issue. The exhaust on this thing points right to the side of this beautiful aircraft and directly to the top of the wing. I did take the muffler apart to blue loc-tite the thing.

So after all this I was thinking...can I rotate the hole downward so it does not spray all over the aircraft?

Any help would be appreciated.

Yes you can turn it anyway you want. but the truth of this muffler is even if you lock tite, it can still come loose, keep an eye on it after every flight. You can over tighten and the screw will break at the head when over heated and you better get ready for a dead stick landing.

roltech

Rotate it down and attach one of these [8D] .

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXL378

To assure that the oil only comes out the exhaust tube, you might add a touch of RTV(blue liquid gasket) in the bolt holes, the muffler half seam and where the engine connects to the block. It only takes a small amount to seal these joints/holes. I had oil seeping out these areas and as a result got more on my plane from the propwash. Getting the oil to just come out of the end of the tube cut down on the amount of oil that was deposited on my plane.

Check this thread out

I also rotated my back muffler half so the exhaust hole pointed downwards.

somegeek

csshawke,
First of all, welcome to the hobby.... or should I say addiction instead?? No matter what you call it, welcome. I wouldn't worry too much about the exhaust from the engine. It's just part of flying glow powered models to have the exhaust on the plane. It's not going to hurt anything being there. Just clean it up at the end of the flying day and you'll be just fine.

Ken

Thanks guys. You are right, it is an addiction. I will look into the deflector in the future. I understand that some oil on the plane is a part of the action. With the muffler pointed down it might reduce the amount.

Don't get it running to clean --- you may have to call it an electric instead of a SLIMMER. ENJOY !!! RED

[:'(][:'(]



Ken

Is there such a thing as a clean plane that actually flies?[&:]

The dirt and oil on my Extra seems to improve lift by making the airfoil thicker

This is what I have done to my Nexstar to minimize the slime effect. I used RTV sealant in the muffler to eliminate the rouge exhaust leaks. Works pretty well, but I still get some slime toward the rear of the fusalage. I'm learning to live with it.

You could replace that deflector with a long piece of tubing and attach it to the tail so all the exhaust will go behind the plane but you might loose some power

When you are adding on to your exhaust remember that nothing is free. What I mean by this is that when you add on to the exhaust you are creating more pressure inside of the exhaust system. This increased pressure will cause a loss in power of the engine. How much loss? That's hard to tell, it could be so small that you may not notice or it could be quite a lot of power lost. All I can say is to try it and then see how the plane performs. If it's still acceptable power levels to you then keep the exhaust extension. If not, remove it.

IMHO I don't mind cleaning the plane at the end of the day. I just consider it part of the hobby. In fact, cleaning your plane should be an important part of your maintenance routine at the end of the day. As you clean make it your habit to start checking the condition of your plane. Holes in the covering, hinges secure and tight, clevises tight and secure, wheel collars tight, cowl and canopy screws tight, all hatches tight, etc...... The hands on time you take cleaning your plane could well save the plane by noticing anything that is wrong and correcting it before you fly. I've seen pilots do a quick wipe down and not check anything thing on their planes. In fact, we have a guy that seems to ALWAYS be crashing a plane at the field. The reason why he is always crashing is because he never does any preventative maintenance and check for things like this. He wipes down the plane and throws it in his car. He won't check anything and then pull it out next time and fly it. This lack of checking is what causes his crashes. Sorry for getting so off track here, but I'm just trying to point out that the time you spend cleaning your plane can be more productive to you than just cleaning the plane. It can help you find problems that could lead to a crash.

Hope this helps

Ken

Amen Señor Ken [X(]

RCKen - Thanks for the insight. I am a pilot and pre and post flight inspections are very important to safety of flight. I also like to look over the plane (r/c) to make sure there is nothing wrong with it. It is also a time to take pride in your a/c and enjoy the feeling. This is where the H-9 P-51 Mustang PTS is nice, this plane looks cool just sitting there.

That oily slime is actually good for the aircraft. It keeps the balsa and covering from rusting.

ccshawke, this plane flys awesome i have flow it for a person a couple of times,but what we did do is remove the front panels mounted to the landing gear it seams to slow it down to much on flying and landing.....its to bad they look good on though.. with that 3 blade prop it just seems to be fighting it self while flying... to slow it down on landings just drop the flaps and it lands as smooth as can be and works great for short take offs as well. as far as clean up well thats part of flying glow just carry denatured alcohol with you for clean up its cheap, just dont take the wifes what ever you do.
and as RCKen says its a good time for inspection as well!