TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

I pulled the fuel tank out of the plane yesterday morning. First thing I noticed was the vent tube inside the tank was touching to the tank. It looks like I can rotate the tank so that the carb fuel line will be more in line with the carb itself when installed. At the moment it sets about an inch above the carb with the engine mounted inverted. So I'm thinking what I need to do is make some longer fuel hoses, not too much longer and cut away some of the tank mount balsa to make the tank sit lower. I may also get an new tank setup. Tubing in the tank plug are all plastic. The engine turns easily with all the lines disconnected, so I know it's just a problem with too much fuel dumping into the engine when I try to start it. And another problem, this morning I attempted to hook up the Jr 1500 NiMh battery to charge it, and my charger is not picking up the connection. Hooked the charger up to another plane I have and it works fine. So I'm thinking bad battery. Beginning to think this plane is cursed!! HA! I love the plane, but it will be some time before I'm experienced enough to fly it. So I have time to get it right before it's maiden flight.

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

What engine are you putting in your Tucano? My son and I both have PC9's and it took us a while to get the engine right. We started with Magnum 52FS which went ok, then tried Thunder Tiger 54 FS which are a good motor but mine didn't like being inverted. They both died after a couple offlights and ended up with Saito 72 FS motors which are brilliant. We didn't have any problems with the tank position with any of the engines but ours are Seagull models. Just make sure you fit a remote glo to the engine. They only cost $10 and save a lot of messing around with glo drivers. The plane looks very good, if I didn't have the PC9 I would consider one of them

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

Thanks for the info. I bought the plane from a friend of mine, it has never been flown. Has a new fox 45 bb engine. When I took the cowl off, I noticed that the fuel tank plug was close to a inch higher than the crab throat. When I was running the break in. fuel continously dumped from the carb, and while starting too much fuel would get in the engine cylinder and you couldn't get the prop to spin at all. If I turned the plane upside down, it would spin easily. I have to either lower the tank or rotate the engine to either 90 degrees or upright. However: once I had it started I could turn it over and it would keep running. There's not alot of room inside the fuse for cutting to lower the tank. I like the looks of the cowl, but not sure I want to hassle with starting the inverted engine everytime I want to fly. Also thinking about updating to the Saito engine and using the 45 BB in a different plane. If for nothing else, it gives me an excuse to buy another plane[sm=wink_smile.gif]

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

The Saito engines are good gear and ours have not presented a problem, we didn't adjust anything inside the plane just slotted everything in to place, hooked it up and away it went. We just found that the 52 Magnum and the TT 54 were ok but there was only just enough power. With the 72 Saito it has plenty of power and will do anything you want it to. I don't know why the TT motors would not function in the PC9. We had about 6 flights with them and they failed. We had them fixed under warranty and now have them the right way up in other planes and they seem to be ok.

My son is a much better pilot than me. He can do just about anything with the plane and really enjoys flying it with the bigger motor. The only difficulty I find with the inverted motor is with glow drivers. We have fitted remote glo drivers to our aircraft to ensure we don't have to mess around trying to fit the glo driver with the starting procedure. We only used cheap ones that cost about $10 each. They work well and keep fingers well away from spinning props.

You will enjoy the aircraft they are fun to fly. Either the 61 FS or 72 FS will fly the plane very well. We just used the 72 because we had a couple of them in the drawer.

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

All sounds good, the plane is equipped with a remote glow driver, but it certainly sounds like I should get a bigger engine. Still haven't made up my mind about the engine position. One thing is certain, the fuel hose plug is way above the carb throat when the tank is mounted. There is a hole in the firewall and the fuel tank plug fits in the hole when the tank is mounted all the way forward. Don't even need to measure to see that it is mounted way to high in that configuration. Might be as simple as attaching longer fuel line and moving the tank back a little, keeping the tank plug out of the hole, which would lower it significantly. Will just have toi experiment with it. What % of nitro fuel are you using? I'm using 10%.

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

We use 10% in most of our fuels the only exception being with pylon planes which have zero nitro in the fuel. We also use Cool Power oil. Mix it up in small batches of 2.4 litres which is just over half a gallon in US terms. We have found it to be a good mix for all planes. The Saito engines seem to like it and even the TT engines fly well on it as long as they are side mounted or upright.

I have been looking around the net for the 120 size PC9. Apparently CM Pro make them and they have retracts. Will keep an eye out for them. My son enjoys his PC9 very much and does all sorts of things that seem a bit wild to me but he is young and fearless and has a much better reaction time than I do. You will enjoy your Tucano they fly very well and can be made as a "Mild Thing or Wild Thing" to suit your flying style and capabilities. They also look good in the sky.

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

interesting fuel mix. I haven't had the chance to start mine since I relocated the tank. If it starts easily and doesn't flood, I think I 'll leave it inverted. Still need to run the Rx Antenna. I'm thiniking through and tube back through the fuse, exiting some where near the tail fo the aircraft. I've seen some pics online, but it's hard to see how the owners have the antenna set up. What are your suggestions for the antenna? I did see where one person that had it coming out just behind the canopy (where the fake plastic one normally goes). Also think I will stick with the Fox 45 BB engine for now and see how it flys. I'm a rookie pilot, so slow flight, without too much power may be okay for me at the moment.

Thanks,

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

We have tried to use a fuel mix that is good for everything and most of my flying associates use the 10 / 20 / 70 mix. Thats 10% nitro, 20% oil and 70% methanol. We don't fly alot a the moment so we don't mix up any more than we have to. The racing planes are not allowed to have nitro in the mix over in Oz so we try and keep everything as simple as possible. These planes can skip along at some fairly high speeds but once you have the plane trimmed in by a qualified instructor it should be ok. When you set it up make sure your control throws are set up in terms of the instructions. For the first couple of flights you have see if you can set up a buddy box so if you get into trouble you have a very experienced pilot to help you out. I fly with fairly conservative movements on the control surfaces, my son has everything set as wide open as he can and I find his plane very twitchy. Nothing wrong with either set up just depends on how you fly. If you set up dual rates on your radio you have the ability to transform your plane from a mild thing to a wild thing just by flicking a couple of switches. We found that the plane is very stable in the air and will perform all the moves without any drama. My son regularly takes off and inverts the plane about 10 feet off the ground and then flys circuits with it upside down. Scares the living daylights out of me but then I have a few years on him and don't react as quickly.

As for your antenae I usually bring it out of the side of the plane (opposite side to the muffler) and then run out to the vertical stabilizer. Have never had a problem with this method, just make sure you have a piece of plastic tubing about 3 inches from your receiver to aviod having the antenae ripped from the receiver in an accident. I always run a small piece of plasting tubing out the side of the plane to help protect it as well. I am swithching ever so slowly to 2.4ghz radio so the arial is no longer an issue.

I haven't seen a Tucano at the hobby shop in Oz, I will ask next time I am down there

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

We mix our own fuel because it comes in at about half the cost of premixed varieties. The premix is about $15 per litre (about $60 per gallon) whereas we mix our own for about $25 per gallon. Have tried a couple of oils but find coolpower works the best and once again that isonly personal preference there is nothing wrong with the other oils. We just went to a chemical shop and purchased some measuring jugs for about $20 so we could be as accurate as possible and have never had a problem.

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

I am in the process of scratch building 2 x Tucano 86" span, 1/5 scale i have currently have a 1/5 PC9 84" span supertigre 3000 inverted fuel 12 % oil (50/50 cool power and castor ) the PC9 Fly scale speed. about inverted motors most of my planes have the motor inverted never any problems if set up right . Barry

RE: TUCANO INVERTED ENGINE UPDATE
 

The magnum motors went fine inverted and the Saito motors are still in the aircraft. The TT 54 FS just didn't want to to the job, they both failed for some reason or another. We are happy with the Saitos and will leave them in there. The TT motors are reliable either straight up or at 90 degrees but didn't like being up side down. Good luck with your plane I hope you get a lot of flying pleasure out of it.