Hi.

I'm trying to play around with my trainer's capabilities. I have a Hobbico Hobbistar 60 MKIII plane and a 7 channel transmitter. Is there a way to add smoke to this plane? So when I flip one of the other channels a stream of smoke will trail the plane?

Yes, but don't bother...again.

You could modify the muffler, run a smoke-pump and a seperate tank for smoke oil. It would be an anemic stream of smoke at best. Glow engines in that size range are barely hot enough for smoke oil to burn effectively, but is is and has been done. You just need the smoke-oil to remain in contact with the muffler long enough to burn.


This may be worth a try since it's not too expensive and....it's your plane anyway....keep us posted.[8D]

thanks agexpert for the replies. (and shooting down all my dreams)

There is also a link: http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=455 with instructions.

I may give it a try.

Man, I live for just this kind of thing....and give-up on your singing career too! ...and that house you wanted...the one you dreamed about for the last decade...the one that would make your life complete and finally worthwhile...

I just bought it and I'm building a Starbucks and a Chiropractic clinic there!

So you wanna put brakes and smoke on your trainer or have I missed a topic?

Go nuts just make sure that you post a video of your trainer revving up with the brakes on and smoke billowing out the back then ill be happy! You could also put retracts, cameras, flaps, spoilers, canards, extra wheels, engines etc... then that'll be a pimped trainer!

Football, can you? Sure. But as you have seen, the replies so far have been in line with "why?". I know you want to play with your trainer and add bells and whistles - we all went through that.

Basically a trainer was designed to teach you to fly. Some can be modified for certain things as you know, just be cautious and get tips from someone that has done it. Check with your local club and instructor before you do anything. If you are not skilled in this and are not familiar with the physics you may make mods that negatively affect flight, creating a dangerous environment for anyone and anything around you.

In my opinion, just use the trainer to learn to fly well. Then, get a larger plane to modify, but learn to fly it well first.

Good luck with whatever you choose and keep us informed.

if you want to add bells and whistles by all means do it. like i said in the other thread, get you a set of BVM brakes, they are a bit pricey but you'll defiantly have fun with them and it's not like you can't use them on a jet some day.

if you want to go smoke, then it being a 60 sized trainer it'll hold the G20 gasser about perfect and that'll defiantly let you put out the smoke.

I've been flying for 18 yrs now and I've had dozens of planes with smoke and jets with brakes but i still find a trainer to be allot of fun to play with so there is no reason that you shouldn't continue having FUN with yours, after all that is what this hobby is supposed to be all about.

kc

Just run the engine on the rich side!!!

I don't know anything about putting brakes on a Trainer, or why. I do know of a fairly inexpensive yet effective pumpless smoke set up you can by for $30.00 that does work well with smaller glow engines.

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


Here's the link of the installation, (note that they have it mounted in an Avistar 40)


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


Finally here is the link of the smoke system in action. Not too bad really for a $30 smoke system.

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


I hope this answers your question for ya. Good Luck.


P.S. If you add this pipe, it is allready drilled & tapped in the right place & ready to accept their pumpless smoke system. You can do it this way with their pipe & smoke system for just under a $80.


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

@elenasgrumpy

unfortunately in the air the smoke produced by a small glow engine is very lacking and you can hardly notice it. they just don't have the heat to vaporize the smoke oil so you end up with minimal smoke (like in the link you posted) and ALLOT of mess on the side of your plane. if you want smoke that you can see and smoke that sticks around a little bit a gasser (or a turbine) is the way to go and there is no comparison.........pic one is of the avistar w/ glow and Macs smoke......pic two is a gasser.

kc

I think the second one is trying to fool you by showing the smoke from the truck engine!! [8D]

if you'll look close the truck is just there to tie the plane to with a rope to hold the tail, i also had to put a few 30mm ammo cans on the rope to keep the tail from lifting up.

kc

Thanks elenasgrumpy!

Now we're talking. Looks fairly simple and not too expensive.

Another quick question... why would a small gasser like the G20 produce more smoke than a glow? Does it run hotter and therefore can vaporize the smoke oil better?

Oh yeah, Don't get me wrong. There's no question that a good pumped smoke system on a gasser is hands down the way to go!! I was just trying to amswer the question that was posted, which was how could he put smoke on his Trainer? So I answer his question the best I could with the only system I know of that will produce some smoke with a small glow engine & still fit in the smaller size fuses of the Trainers. Obviously not the top of the line smoke system, just an inexpensive alternative that can be used in a Trainer, that's all. Personally I never bothered to try to smoke any of my Trainers. I used them for what they were designed to do, teach me to fly RC.

foosball, I believe that is the general concensus, however since I don't own a gasser I will let those with more experience in that field answer that question. I don't want to mis-inform you with incorrect information.

yes a gasser has an EGT (exhaust gas temp) of around 800-900 F, a glow is about half that and a turbine twice that. also the G20 will fit your 60 size trainer and will also fit allot of the Hanger 9 60 sized ARF warbirds as well as allot of the 60-90 sized kits

kc

EDIT: trainer planes aren't just for training, they are allot of fun to just Sunday fly and everyone i know has put bells and whistles on them at one time or another, we even had a guy who put a Rossi w/ tuned pipe on an avistar, smoke and breaks are nothing new either but to get a cheap system that isn't up to what you really want out of it is just going to be a disappointment. make wise purchases that you can use later on in your RC career, the G20 would be something that'll fit allot of later applications and will last many many yrs, plus the added benefit of they get better fuel economy and fuel is 3 bucks a gallon.