Propellers
 

I finally flew my Mustang PTS with an .46 Evolution engine with a three blade prop. The power of this trainer seemed really slow, don't get me wrong, the plane will move alone when given full throttle, however, for its class it didn't seem right. Does anyone have any experience with this motor and I guess the question I am getting at is what are some other reccommended props for this size engine?

RE: Propellers
 

joecoward,
I'm not quite sure what you want out of this plane. Remember that is designed to train people. It's not supposed to be super fast, as that is usually not what you want when learning to fly. If you're just now learning to fly than I'd suggest to keep the plane as it is until you get some more experience flying with it. Once you've soloed and are comfortable with the plane you can start making adjustments in the flying characteristics of it.

Hope this helps

Ken

RE: Propellers
 

This plane came with the engine and prop from the factory, didn't it? It also has speed brakes on the landingear, the flaps are in the lowered position and there are droop leading edges at the tips, to help with stall. The plane is configured to fly slow for beginners.

This is how it was designed!

RE: Propellers
 

If you remove all the training stuff and adjust all your throw It will be a lot faster, I would remove the speed break I did and is was better, I also install the flaps servo, and only use the flaps in no wind conditions for landing and take off only, when in the air I keep the flaps up. other blade would be a 2 blade 11x6 and 11x7, but unless your experienced wait till you get use to this
P 51

roltech

RE: Propellers
 

This IS supposed to be a trainer, so it will be slow unless:

Raise the flaps and gear.
Take the droop out of the leading edge.
Lose the 3 blade prop. It's probably too small and too inefficient to fly the plane at a decent speed. Change to a larger 2 blade.

Dr.1

RE: Propellers
 

I know all that I have one too (P 51 PTS) I have done some Mod, but (joecoward) was asking this question below.

(I finally flew my Mustang PTS with an .46 Evolution engine with a three blade prop. The power of this trainer seemed really slow, don't get me wrong, the plane will move alone when given full throttle, however, for its class it didn't seem right. Does anyone have any experience with this motor and I guess the question I am getting at is what are some other reccommended props for this size engine? )

roltech

RE: Propellers
 

Thank you so much for that clarification, roltech. I noticed you also made the same recommendations I did. OK, for that engine on a "trainer", I'd go with an 11-4 or 12-4 2 blade.

Not that I believe for a moment that it's a true "trainer". I don't believe you can make a good, real trainer out of a P-51, no matter how many gimmicks you put on it.

Dr.1

RE: Propellers
 

There are some that made different mod changes and it seem to work, including retracts and engine changes. But they sure had made this PTS to slow it down with some of the stuff on and made it sort of hard to fly.
link to a thread below.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_31...49/key_/tm.htm

roltech

RE: Propellers
 

I have flewn for a total of 3 years, i am not a beginner, i was just trying to make the plane faster. I realize it was designed for a trainer,however i took the droops off and the airbrakes, a nd a funtional flap, just needed to know if a better prop would give the engine more speed. thanks
joe
ama 854418

RE: Propellers
 

Yes, joe, a prop change will belp a LOT! 3 blade props are not as efficient as 2 blade ones, and I suspect yours is cavitating a lot. If you're looking for speed with that engine, go with a 10-6 or 9.5-8. Caution: The plane will not acellerate as quickly a swith a larger diameter/flatter pitch prop like the 11-4. GIVEN THE SAME RPM: Larger diameter/less pitch = pulling power. Smaller diameter/more pitch = speed.

Seems like, if you wanted more scale-type flight characteristics, and given your 3 year experience, you'd have bought a more scale-like model of that plane. ???

Dr.1

RE: Propellers
 

Roltech, Could this conflaguration between yourself and Dr1 have been caused by the fact that you don't understand; per S.O.P. for the R/CU forum, the next post is always automatically in reply to the previous, unless specifically set-up differently. This is a stupid feature for R/CU to use, but, it's how it is. In otherwords, DR's response was not in response to you, but, was in response to the original question.

This feature has given me grief at times, also!

RE: Propellers
 

That's right, Mode. To respond to the original poster, you have to go back to that post and reply specifically to it. Otherwise the posts simply go down the line. Most of us can't be bothered and simply add our replies to the end of the thread.

Dr.1

RE: Propellers
 

Yup, it can lead to confusion. I almost never use the "Post reply" button at the top or bottom of the thread. Instead, I use the reply button in the individual post. This way, there's a field within my post that says who I was answering. Unfortunately, people sometimes miss this subtle clue, so if I think there's any question what my reply applies to, I use quote to make it obvious. When I do this I frequently reduce the size of the quoted text to just the portion to which I am replying. This keeps the length of my post down, and makes it very clear what I'm commenting on.

RE: Propellers
 

Getting back to the original question ---yes you can improve its performance noticeably with a different prop.

Try an APC 11-5, or 11-6 -- either one is a good all-around choice. An APC 12-4 is also good -- you will get very good acceleration & climb & still get decent top speed.

An 11-7 is a bit too much for that engine to give peak performance, an 11-4 will give spectacular acceleration but you will need to run at part throttle in level flight, a 10-6 or 9.5-8 will give good speed but are much too small to give decent all-around performance (DR-1 noted that). The 9.5-8 is a particularly poor all-around choice -- while it will make the model go fast, it will make take-off very sluggish, give very poor emergency throttle response & raise the landing speed substantially.


My starting choice would be an APC 11-5 -- good speed, good climb & acceleration, reasonable deceleration & slow idle-discharge-velocity, which translates to an acceptable touch-down speed.

RE: Propellers
 

The APC 11-5 would be my choice. I have found it to be the best choice for all around performance when used with 46 sized engines. [8D]

RE: Propellers
 

I love how people who havent flown this plane (and probably havent even seen it in person) keep saying "Its a p51, its not a trainer, no matter what"

I think 4 guys at my field have soloed in under 10 flights and are flying great now...

It flys like a dream, and its not a scale p51 anyways, its closer to a 4-star than a warbird..

RE: Propellers
 

Exactly! after looking at other post! kind of stup. but maybe too hard to change ??
Thanks for the info> it will save a lot of grief.
roltech

RE: Propellers
 

wow.i was wondering how everybody pasted that on there.you truly do learn something everyday