I started building this 6 months ago from a set of the 1968 plans and just finished it today. It's glassed and then painted with Klass-Kote paints. Can't wait to fly it!

Excellent!!

Have Fun...

Chuck

Looks nice. What engine did you put in it?

Thanks, it's got an SK .90 in it.

Beautiful! Nice paint scheme Waiting for the flight report!!

Wow, that's beautiful! It's great to see a well executed painted finish. I understand the SK's are timed to turn big props at low rpms. What prop do you have on it?

David

I broke it in with the recommended 15x6 but that prop had about a half inch of ground clearance so I went with a 14x7 3 -blade. I haven't run it with that prop yet but I'm hoping it works out. Always open for suggestions though!

Please keep us posted on that airframe/engine combo. You truly do nice work. Thanks for sharing with us.


Ed Cregger

Thanks, I'll certainly let everybody know how the maiden flight goes.

Dan

Danh4,

Awesome Looking plane!! Can't wait to here about how it flies.

Fly safe and have fun!!
David

It flies great! I took it out this afternoon for its maiden flight and it flew like it was on rails. I had what I think is a fuel draw problem that caused the engine to cut out for a second or two, 2 or 3 times every circuit but the SK never quit on me and made lots of power when it got fuel. Can anybody tell me how an engine would run if the fuel tank was too low in relation to the carb? Would it show up as an intermittant problem or would it be a constant symptom? I'm wondering if that's my problem or if it's a problem with foaming in the tank due to vibration, there's no padding between the tank and the wood engine bearers that run through the tank compartment.

Another problem was that the plane would pitch up every time the engine lost power, is that an indication of too much down thrust in the engine setup or is it an incidence thing?

I think it will be a real winner once the problems are figured out, I'm really happy with the SK .90 and I was surprised how fast the plane was.

Congrats!!!

Here is a neat little doc I found that may help whilst setting your Daddy Rabbit up?
http://www.warrixflyinggroup.co.uk/A...ng%20Chart.doc

I have something similar to this I got out of K-Factor (I Think) years ago...Comes in handy IMHO...

I laminated a copy to carry out to the field...I also carry a grease pencil to make notes and check off items as I go...Normally a several flight process so I like to "Remember" what I've done..he he

Have Fun...

Chuck

That is neat, thanks! I see there's a test to do to check up/down thrust, I'll try that before I start shimming the engine. I'm definitely going to print a copy for the flight box.

Nice looking plane!! Just a rumor i heard once about foaming fuel, put a drop or two of Armor-All in a gallon of fuel. Like I said, that's just a rumor I heard but this fellow swears by it.

I'm not sure if foaming was my problem anymore, I made room for 1/4" of foam around the tank and put a felt clunk in it and those changes made absolutely no difference at all. I'm thinking now that it may be some type of interference or radio problem within the plane. Whatever is happening affects both the throttle and elevator channels at the same time and only lasts for a few seconds. Aileron and rudder channels never seem to be affected. I did another range check last night with the engine running and had no problems and the engine runs great on the ground, no bubbles in the lines or anything like that. I guess my first move will be to try a different receiver even though the one in it is a brand new Futaba. Frustrating!

To really eliminate the foaming fuel problem, you need to have someone holding each wingtip of the model while the engine is running and while you are visually examining the fuel line. Most times, the fuel foaming won't manifest itself with the landing gear sitting on the ground. This is what is so tricky about diagnosing fuel foaming.

I agree, with a 1/4" of uncompressed foam around the tank and without the brass tubing touching any part of the firewall solidly, you shouldn't have fuel foaming, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen. If you're running larger than a 12 oz. tank, consider dropping back to a 12 oz. tank to increase the amount of isolating foam. Most pattern flights can be completed with an unpiped engine with just 12 oz of fuel. If you find yourself running short and are running nitro higher than 5%, drop back to 5%. The 100 to 200 rpm you'll lose off the top end won't be missed, but the extra minute or so of run time can make all of the difference.

Learn how to balance spinners, if you are not balancing spinners now. That too can add a few hundred rpm to the top end and will naturally reduce fuel foaming tendencies.

Don't mind me if you already know this stuff. <G>


Ed Cregger

Thanks Ed, I guess I shouldn't give up on the foaming theory until I test it with a couple guys holding the wingtips like you say. Luckily I made a removable hatch under the tank so we should be able to observe what's going on. The tank in it now is 12 oz., it's one of those Sullivan slant/oval tanks that's like a hip flask on it's side, tall and narrow. The plane currently has no spinner on it and the 3-blade prop is balanced. I've moved away from the foaming theory after installing the foam and the felt clunk, they made absolutely no difference and you would think that if foaming were really the problem, those changes would make a slight difference at least. I'm starting to think it may be more along the lines of a bad receiver or antenna routing, I'm going to put a different receiver in it tonight and hopefully try it again tomorrow. There's definitely something going on with the elevator at the same time the engine is going to idle, on my last test flight I was chopping the throttle on purpose and didn't have any of the ballooning like I get when it "glitches." Plus it pitched up like that once while I was on approach with the engine already at idle. I think I have an electronics problem somewhere. I just wish it would show up on the ground so I could troubleshoot it without having to fly it!

I really appreciate your thoughts and suggestions, it's a big help!

Dan

I found my problem- it was a bad receiver. It had a brand-new Futaba but after replacing it with an Airtronics receiver last night, I flew it this morning with no problems at all.

What model of receiver is it? I almost lost a Cessna 172 to a brand new R168DF on its maiden flight. I've also recently seen two students at our flight club have issues with their receivers, one had a brand new R168DF. I am not sure what the other student had.

I'm glad you didn't loose your beautiful new model to it. Great work! [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

It's an R168DF. I wonder what the problem is with them? I've been doing a slow burn over the fact that mine was bad, I could have very easily lost a plane I spent 6 months building and if it had happened on the first flight I would have blamed my building skills before questioning the receiver. I'm not real happy with Futaba at the moment!

I was irritated with Futaba because after my new Cessna almost plowed vertically into the runway immediately after takeoff (regained control and literally pulled up a foot from the ground) and after narrowing down the problem to the receiver I sent the new receiver in. They sent it back saying it was within their margin of error. [:@]

The REALLY SCARY thing is that it passed a thorough range check. [X(]

It's still sitting on my worktable since I haven't figured out what to do with it but have resorted to getting out some of my older 7 channel R127DF's. I haven't heard of any official issues with them, but I am scared off enough to start using other Futaba models.

PS: I wouldn't have blamed your building skills. The airplane is impressive and I'd bet it turns heads at the field (at least among people with fine taste )

I thought it was odd that mine passed every range check, including engine running, and never once glitched while on the ground. But as soon as it got in the air it would start acting up, 2 or 3 times every lap. There must be a certain frequency of vibration that causes it to fail. Ironically, I had the receiver wrapped in much more foam than I usually use!

I've only recently started using Futaba's stuff so I don't have enough personal experience with it to totally condemn it (I like my 7CAP TX a lot) but this receiver looks like it has some serious flaws and their response to you is really lame. I don't think buying Futaba receivers is within my "margin of error" anymore!

Thanks for the nice comments about the plane, now that it has survived the Futaba experience, the guys at the field will get to see it fly.