Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

I have a Alpha 40 RTF that I bought my wife for xmas...............it conked out about 10 ft up on its maiden flight and broke the nose gear. I had to remove the engine to properly repair it and am not sure it it goes in centered or cocked at an angle? The manual says nothing of this in the ARF or RTF versions......................

Any help would be appreciated. The engine is clamped between two bars that let it move in all directions (before its tightened down), so how do I know which way to angle it? It looks like the mount is angled down, and its a 3 blade prop if that matters.

Thanks!

RE: Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

When standing behind the plane you want it cocked just slightly to the right, about 1°-2°. Although with a trainer you could have the engine straight on the fuselage and it probably won't make much of a difference in the way it flies.

Ken</p>

RE: Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

Ken's correct here, just the slightest nudge to the right should do it. I would put theoffset in a trainer because I see too many new flyers try to lift these planes off too soon and wind up torque rolling them, sometimes pretty badly.

I have this plane and have found that their LSN needs to be cut back to pretty lean to avoid the kind of deadsticking problem you had, assuming the engine has already been broken in a little bit and the high speed setting is slightly rich.

RE: Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

I think the flameout was an air bubble....................I have been tuning nitro engines for 10 years, and flying helis for a year or so.............I ran it a while and it seemed to be well in tune. Maybe just a fluke................I'll be more thorough before I lift off again, but I think its OK..............Most seem to suggest a hotter plug and two blade prop for that engine. Maybe the stock one vibrates badly and aerates the fuel.........................

I put the offset in it, and have a slight gap on the backplate between the mounts. Cant do much more without it hitting on either side, so it must be close. Windy here, but we may try again tomorrow and see how it does.

I am having issues with e-flite and Hangar 9 plastic clevices....................The standard and mini dubros both are too large. Am I missing something? The rod measures 1.8mm, or .071". Is this 2-56?

Thanks for the help!

RE: Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

Just looked at a chart and it looks like .071" is 1-72 or 1-64.........................does that seem right?

RE: Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

When I wanted to replace the clevis, I just bought the whole rod and ends at the same time, I don't mind building the rods, piece of cake, and you know the clevis will fit. I always save the old stuff, you will always find a use for it later, sometimes not even RC related.. I had 2 of the Alpha's, I have trained a number of people on them, they hold up well, and when things get really rough, I have still managed to put them back together again with a minimum of new wood. I have gone through more covering. I did switch out the evolution engine for a Magnum 52 four stroke, which seems to give a really great pull from low speed, and with the low pitch prop on it, it slows down well for landing. I will admit the Evolution engine did last for years, after moving to the 4 stroke engine, I don't miss the slime, and as a trainer, I didn't need the speed, the Evolution could scoot right along when it was tuned well.

RE: Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

You will find a lot of included push rod hardware on many ARF's is metric and undersized from US based hardware and where it is dangerous is when one uses a threaded metal clevis from a US supplier on an undersized metric rod. They can and will slip.

Much better in that situation to use self threading plastic clevis in that situation which will in most cases work ok on the undersized rods. The oft repeated advice to always replace plastic clevis with metal is frequently very bad advice.

John

RE: Alpha 40 (RTF) Engine placement angle?
 

As others mentioned, there's probably not an exact replacement for the clevis. Replacing the complete pushrod might be the best approach.

I have used the Great Planes wire pushrods quite a bit. The Dubro equivalent works just as well but I do not have that link handy. These are 36 inches long http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXK059&P=0