I recently finished a Unionville Hobby 8' radial Beaver. Checking the balance on it, I have to install 15 oz. of lead on the firewall. Has anyone had to put almost a pound of nose weight on one of their models? The enigne is an Enya 120 4C so that it would fit in the cowling without being exposed and I have oversized heavier tires than what is called for. Battery, receiver and onboard glow are sitting against the inside of the firewall. I have never had to add so much weight to balance a plane before. Maybe because of the short nose and narrow wing chord this is the norm for this specific model? Any comments?

Ron

Most all round engine planes had a short nose to handle the massive weight of the radial engine. Ihave had to add 9 oz on a much smaller plane. One trick to get the weight as far forward a possible is to hang it under the engine. I've use the Galvanized U shaped condut straps as a base, get them to fit the bolt pattern of the engine, the make a wood moldand position the strap so the lead will not interfer with the bottom of the engine, and will cover both sides of the strap as well as around the edge. Use long engine mounting screws and some washer and some thread lock on the nuts and they hold up quite well. Iwould use two straps and one pour of lead for that much weight.

Don

On my last two large models (Green Tigermoth and BUSA E-III/90) I've match drilled fishing weights to the front of the fiberglass engine mount then tapped the holes in the mount and screw the fishing weights to the mount. Minimizes the amount of weight needed by getting it as far forward as possible.

You may look in to a heavey hub too.

Wish I could put a nose weight on the engine shaft, but being the older style Enya, the prop nut goes through the prop and into a much shorter threaded shaft. The top of the engine mount was one of my first thoughts. The engine is inverted so attaching the weight should be easy. It just seemed like a lot of weight that I had to add, and I was very weight consious while building.

I had to put 3 lbs into the nose of my Balsa USA 1/4 scale Fokker DVII. I built two boxes of balsa, poured in a mix of 2 1/2 lbs of lead shot and 8 oz. of epoxy. ( 4 oz of each of course ) When the epoxy set I had two weights that I could put anywhere I needed to get the CG just right. The lead shot I got at the local gun shop. I think the plane you are building is going to handle the weight just fine.

5.5 pounds in a TBM Zero.

That must have been a tight fit, how and where did you mount all of that? What size plane was it?

4-5 pounds is normal for a Top Flight 85 inch corsair

I scratch built a 80 inch wing version of a ME 109, based on the guillows rubber band kit. The all up weight was 9 pounds, it took 3 pounds of lead to balance it! thats right ..1/4 of the planes weight was lead ! It flew like a glider though. Later I pulled the 75 glow motor and added a 3 pound McCulloch 25cc weedie engine. Perfect balance

You've already gotten some suggestions for how to do it, and I'll add mine by saying that make use of wheel weights.

But my main comment is that you seem to be a bit hesitant about adding weight, but I'd like to get you over that by pointing out that it's whole lot easier to fly a "heavy" balanced model than a lighter, tail heavy one.

The balanced but heavier model is easy to fly and land, just interesting.

The tail heavy model, although lighter, is often a one-flight proposition.

Didn't use wheel weights, but I did put some larger wheels on it than what was called for, so that did help a little but was not far enough forward to do the job. Thanks to all of you for your ideas and comments. I have added the necessary weight by attaching it to the bottom of the engine mount. I took an old iron railroad spike and cut and ground it to the weight I needed, drilled it and screwed it to the MM. Now I'll go to fly it and probably spike the damn thing!

I built this same aircraft several years ago . I sheeted and glassed mine. I had to add at least 20oz of lead to the nose ( can't remember exact amount) and flew it with an OS 91 four stroke. The plane doesn't even notice the weight, it just wants to fly. I usually cruise around at 1/4 throttle.

Tiger, anything to be careful of while flying this plane?

Just one, although you can fly it fairly slow, if you get it too slow it will drop a wing, but it recovers real easy as long as you have the altitude. I stalled mine on landing approach during my maiden. Luckily I was only a foot off the ground, almost to the runway when it happened so no damage other than a bent landing gear. So now I just carry a click or two of power on landing approach. I really enjoy mine. I'm currently converting mine over to electric power.

2 lbs. to the front of my TM PC6 Porter. Used sand. Took 2 sealable sandwich bags, weighed a pound into each. Press all the air out, seal into another baggie then wrap the whole thing up with duct tape. Tie-wrapped one on left side and one on right to a former between front of battery tray and firewall. (Porter has a long nose..). Working great.. out of sight and can be removed quickly if need be.