Lomcevak Duck

My Feedback: (14)

Just joined up with a new club down here today (GAMA) and met a great bunch of guys. Unfortunately, I left my Diamond Dust at the field. It was flying great after a new covering job, and the engine was screaming. My eight year old OS .32SX was spinning a 9x7 apc cut down to 7x7 at 17,400 on 15% cool power, and having a blast. High speed inverted pass and somthing comes off the plane. Looked like the fuel tank, and since I had just done some repair my first thought was that it had come unglued and I was about to have a neat dead stick since I was that low and fast. That was my first thought, and quite brief I might add, because when I hit the aileron to roll it bck over and set up for a landing, she wouldn't roll[:-]
Throttle won't comeback, no elevator, nothing. I give a quick yell to look out and the plane climbs (inverted), does a couple of circles and went straight in at full bore. All I can figure is that the battery pack busted through the monokote. I know it isn't a likely thing to happen, but something left the plane and took all control with it. I've so far been unable to find the departed item, and spent most of the afternoon wading through shoulder high kudzu looking for my Dust to no avail. I've a terrible feeling that all that will be found when I go back to look in the morning is a busted engine (got my use out of it years ago thankfully) splinters of carbon fibre, three destructed servos and maybe, just maybe, a receiver that can be reused. Although, it may be done too. She was hauling can when fate came and got her. Maybe if I can find the plane I'll at least know for sure what fell off.

But onward and upward, I had a lot of fun out of that little plane, and were it not for the kit being out of production, I'd build another. I have a NIB OS .46FX and I'm musing over different airframe possibilities.
1) A Viper or Predator. I've had two quikees in the past, one with a .46FX on the nose and had a blast with it.
2) I like the looks of the Phenom, and Razor loves his, but after reading of some troubles with one not flying at all, I'm wondering if I'd better look elsewhere. Of curiosity, is Razor the only person to get his to actually fly?
3) ?
Comments or suggestions of a new sport speed plane?
My wallet can't see its way around a Jett engine at the moment, but I'd most likely be able to find a Jettstream muffler for that FX to open her up a bit.

Mike Connor

My Feedback: (5)

You could try my Screamin Demon for $69.95. No one else has gotten it in the air yet so you may want to wait for a few flight reports other then just mine. I feel good about it though. Just a thought. Seems like it would be right up your alley. I have one complete kit left ready to ship Monday. www.mikesrc.us

Edit - I just saw anglercdesign online. Maybe he still has an ARC rifle. That looks like a nice plane.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

LD, on the very first flight of my .32 powered DD, the ailerons seemed sluggish half way through the flight. It ran out of fuel a few minutes later and landed nicely.........then I discovered that the battery pack had escaped a hatch and wedged itself between a pushrod and an elevon flap at 130 mph. My lucky day! Hope you find the remains and build another one.

Razor-RCU

My Feedback: (50)

Definitely sounds like the battery pack "exited" [X(]

I have had it happen, I think it was a SIG Somethin' Extra and I had secured (I thought) the RX Batt. to the hatch----well the hatch came off in flight and I thought crap I will never find that thing but I should be fine- However I QUICKLY noticed that the hatch was falling WAY TOO FAST, right then I remembered attaching the batt to the hatch while getting it ready.

TORPEDO- I actually had time to laugh before it hit the ground!

As for the Phenom, it is fully molded so there should be no real difference between "kits" except for the build and mechanical set-up. ChuckL never got his going and he is an expert builder and pilot so I dunno--- There is another gentelman that said his Phenom is flying, cannot remember his name but he is on the Phenom thread-

I love mine and I just have a OS-50SX and Tower muffler, if you Jett-Stream your 46FX it'd be about the same as my set-up performance-wise I would think...

I have to recommend the Phenom because it rocks for me, but Mike's Demon looks awesome and is lighter for your FX.

Cheers!

Lomcevak Duck

My Feedback: (14)

I do like your SD Mike. Looks to me like a revised, better Diamond Dust, and that appeals to me since I had so much fun with the other. I like the idea of a built up delta over composite because I've witnessed first hand what a difference a pound makes in the way a delta launches. On the other hand, I like that the composite deltas are more rugged, but from what I read in your thread I think you may have addressed some of the weaknesses of the DDust. I can't tell you the times I rebuilt the belly pan of my dust after finding a rock on landing. (flew it at some rough fields)
I'm gonna think on it some more and hopefully find my dust in the morning.

Lomcevak Duck

My Feedback: (14)

A few more thoughts:
Is 17,400 on the ground and audibly a good unload in the air with a stock muffler normal for the .32 SX from your experience CP? That's always been one of my favorite engines, and IMO one of the best OS has ever built.

With the Jett-Stream muffler on the .46FX what could I expect as far as the RPM range? I'm leaning toward the Q-500 idea, and if I do I think I'll clip the wings a little. I'm also not sure what prop would be best on that combination, but my gut tells me to try a 9x7 or 8x8. Years ago when I did the .46FX/Viper combo I didn't know beans about speed setups or prop selection so I ran a 10x4 Maybe Bob will read this and give me a few hints about opening up my engine a little.

Edit: I did some more searching as it dawned on me that this question has probably been asked and answered a thousand times, so I found 9x7 and 16,000 RPM on the FX. I guess I should search then ask next time.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

LD, with a Macs pipe and either a 8x8 or 7.2x8.6 APC my OS .32 will tach 18,000 all day on my $30 tach. Your number sounds within the ball park, maybe you just need to switch brands of tachometer?

Mike Connor

My Feedback: (5)

My 46FX with a UT muffler was turning a 9x7 APC about 16,500. I thought that was OK until my new TT Pro 46 (pure stock) turned the same prop at 16,200 on the first tank of fuel a couple weeks ago. Your FX may do better then mine with a tuned muffler

I am not pushing my SD kit on anyone at this time. I am more interested in flight reports on the ones already sold and that will happen in time. I did sell one today that has a Nelson Q40 engine going in it so there are enough kits out there for a wide variety of testing. I have no doubt they will hold together and fly well if built right and the people that have them now are both good builders and pilots.

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

Looks like a very clean design. How would a rear exhaust work here? Looks like you took the center section idea froma Shrike??? I like it. I still have that OPS 60 rear exhaust and pipe NIB in a closet for 4 years.

Lomcevak Duck

My Feedback: (14)

That's most likely right. Mine was running stock ehaust and blowing as much out from under the head as it did out the exhaust! It would lose so much compression after a hard run that the prop would sometimes windmill when it was deadstick. I'm definately going to find another .32SX. To get that kind of mileage out of a $100 engine (that's what they used to be when I bought it) and that kind of performance out of a well-worn engine and it starts the first time every time says something about OS. I don't know- maybe it's just me, but that wasn't an engine I just bought and put in storage for eight years. It was run a lot, in less than perfect conditions, and [b]always[b] ran.

Mike Connor

My Feedback: (5)

ChuckL is putting a Jett 60LX FIRE on his and has pictures in my Delta build thread. Check it out, don't want to hijack this thread.

Lomcevak Duck

My Feedback: (14)

Well, after several more hours of searching the kudzu, no Dust. No battery found either. (give me a break, the battery fell out in a 60 acre field at full throttle and, at that very moment, where the battery landed was not my biggest concern. ) I've resigned to the idea that I'll have to wait until fall when the kudzu dies back to find the remains of my plane. My girlfriend does try to help by saying "don't worry about it, it wasn't a nice plane at least" he he. Oh well, I'm really glad that it didn't fly itself through the pits. For a moment no one was sure.

I'll most likely see if I can find a Viper arf on ebay or scratch and dent from Tower in the next few weeks. Next question: I've never flown a quickee from grass before. How do those racing wheels do in the grass? And how hard would it be to hand-launch a Q-500 were I to leave the gear off?

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

LD, I "pasturized" a Lanier Predator Arf for my mole hill infested hay field. It required that I peel all the covering off the fuselage and glass it with a layer of 4 oz cloth, move the engine to the upright position, and leave off the landing gear. Before I wised up and glassed the fuse, the fuselage would occasionally snap. This is all that lousy ARF is good for, dodging cow paddies. IMO, they aren't as much fun or as impressive to watch as a delta, have basically the same flat out speed, and don't slow up half as well for landings. To top that off, the ARFS are garbage that you have to practically rebuild, true up and re-cover before they are airworthy.

Lomcevak Duck

My Feedback: (14)

Well, I agree with you that deltas look cooler and these arfs are most likely every bit of the junk that I read they are. However, I really enjoyed my last Viper/.46FX combo. All the way up until the wings blew off and turned it into a balistic missile I hate the idea of buying an Almost Ready to Fly airplane that needs more work than a kit, so I'll keep my eyes open for one of those as well, but I really enjoyed the last one, and I think my hangar has been without one for long enough now.

Did you have any trouble hand launching yours?