hi, i am setting up a smoke system on a .46tt. i have already read the how to do smoke on rcunvierse. By the way thanks to whoever did that, it helped me out alot. Im going to use [link=http://sonictronics.com/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=16406&cat=414&page=1]this smoke pump.[/link] However i am not sure to go with this pump, does anyone have anysugestions? for the part of heating the oil, i am goign to wrap coper tubing around the cooling head of the engine, this will heat the smoke however it will not take away any heat from the muffler. (Like the smoke article said)for the tank i think i am going to use wither a 6oz or 8 oz tank. This is mainly because my fuel tank is 10oz so i think i should be under that. the oil will be MDW Aviation Super Dri Smoke Oil Gallon. ( i have heard good things about it). I know in the smoke ariticle it suggested using a flow resrictor. I am thinking, i have an extra fuel adjuster from my nexstar so is it possible to use that. any suggestions on the pump would be great, also the plane that i am putting this in is a four star. one last question do balance the plane with fuel smoke fuel along with normal fuel or do u just balnce it with the normal fule tank fuel. thanks.

I don't know if a .46 sized 2 stroke is capable of producing enough heat to burn the oil itself. I have seen cases of OS 91 4 stroke that can't keep the engine running at idle with the smoke on. With that being said you balance the plane with both tanks in it dry(meaning no gas or oil in the the plane).

i have heard that u can run smoke on almost any engine as long as u can heat the smoke by using the cooling head. the key to the whole thiing is the flow resrictor that would be the reson the engine could not handle the smoke. here is the link to the smoke article.[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=455]click here[/link]

You might want to read the part in that articles called "The Basics" which states several of the reasons why smoke is not ment for .40 sized planes and engines.

true but its says weight would be the issue.

Do you have the room in the 4 Star for the smoke tank to be located on the cg ? I thought that was the servo tray location.
A couple of local pilots tried the small 2 stroke smoke trick and I wasn't impressed. For all the expense and trouble, they would have had the same results be simply running the engine rich for the same smoke trail. I don't know if there is a small 2 stoke muffler offered now that has the coil inside like the ones for the 4 strokes.
You seem to be locked in on this one, so goffer it.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=++&search3=Go

You could try these...the others are right a .40 engine wont make more than a rich set vapor trail from smoke oil,if you can plumb it into the plane...it might work better if you could fashion a small shield for the muffler to keep it hotter while its flying....I have a couple of smoke riters but havent tried them yet...Rog

I can't speak to the 4* personally but I really think you are going to be pressed for room. I gathered up all the components for Minn's smoke system to put in my Dragon Lady with a Saito 100 in it. After hours of trying to place everything in every location possible I finally gave up on the idea. There just wasn't enough room for it all without becoming a cluttered up mess & getting in the way of all the components that were neccessary. A lot of the problem for me seemed to be the fact that the Dragon Lady has that rounded fuse making it hard to mount extra stuff in there, but you are talking about a fuse that is a good deal smaller than the one I was trying to set it up in. Good luck, I do hope you can find a way to fit it all in & get it to work effectively for you. I decided to just scratch the idea for now & save all the components for when I get my 1st gasser. Something like a 27%er or better!

ya ur probably right, however for the smoke riters i have tried them and they produce a tremendous amount of smoke, however its a 1 time use type of thing and i would like to be able to light it when in the air i havent really figured out how to do that, but that will probably be the best bet.

You could light one with an Estes Model Rocket Igniter taped to the fuse (That's fuse, as in "Light the fuse" - Not Fuse like in "Fuselage)

does anyone have any details of how to do that?

If you find out just how little battery you need to ignite one ie. 1 d-cell for example you could tape the ignitor to the fuse. wire up the 2 leads to a battery box (radio shack) and either join the wires with a servo or use a servo to turn an inline switch...do you have an open channel you can use for this on your radio?..flap knob or retract switch...not sure its worth all the trouble though..Rog

ya i have, i belive 3 open channels,1 being the flap knob

o also i have a rocket starter unit available to use, this takes 3 aa batteries.

that should work and the switch only has to go one way. ie turned on, because once it ignites the igniter the wires burn in two and the voltage is cut off so you dont need to turn it back off to save the batteries...Rog

Stunner, Check out this link before you go any further. PiperChuck just put this link up in another thread & it just might be the solution you're looking for.


http://www.macspro.com/tuning.asp

Check out their pumpless smoke system for $29.99. It looks like it works fine on small 2-cycle engines as well as 4-strokes. They even have a short video of it on an Avistar with an OS 70 Surpass engine. Anyhow there are a lot less parts involved so finding room in smaller fuses isn't so difficult & it needs no pump. It all works on back pressure, & apparently works pretty good too. Take a look & judge for yourself. I'm definitely going to give it a try on my next plane If I can.