DHC Otter [Unionville?] - Suggestions for Prop ground clearance
10-27-2008, 10:31 AM
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DHC Otter [Unionville?] - Suggestions for Prop ground clearance
A few weeks ago a friend , at the RC club I belong to, gave me a very nice 96" wingspan Otter, [vintage unknown]. He had picked it up at a "Swap Meet" a couple of years ago and had flown it only a few times but seems quickly to have lost interest in it. It was gathering dust in his basement.
Now it is in my basement workshop to get it ready to fly. In the meantime, I have installed a new Thor 45CDI, 5" Dubro pneumatic tires and all the electronics. [The Thor is mounted in the location where it should be and I have no leeway here.]
Then it struck me [no pun intended] that the propeller a MAS 20x8 [size as per Thor break-in instructions] has a ground clearance of 3" when sitting idle, but when the fuselage datum is parallel to the ground there's only about 1" and you can guess that that's not enough margin. Short of changing the landing gear, which I really do not like to do, what options do I have?
Since I will use an electric starter [will not risk my fingers] , I can have the prop parallel with the ground,against compression to prevent a possible ground strike when coming in a with a "deadstick", but that does not take care of normal operation.
Any comments you have are welcome.
Now it is in my basement workshop to get it ready to fly. In the meantime, I have installed a new Thor 45CDI, 5" Dubro pneumatic tires and all the electronics. [The Thor is mounted in the location where it should be and I have no leeway here.]
Then it struck me [no pun intended] that the propeller a MAS 20x8 [size as per Thor break-in instructions] has a ground clearance of 3" when sitting idle, but when the fuselage datum is parallel to the ground there's only about 1" and you can guess that that's not enough margin. Short of changing the landing gear, which I really do not like to do, what options do I have?
Since I will use an electric starter [will not risk my fingers] , I can have the prop parallel with the ground,against compression to prevent a possible ground strike when coming in a with a "deadstick", but that does not take care of normal operation.
Any comments you have are welcome.
10-27-2008, 07:15 PM
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RE: DHC Otter [Unionville?] - Suggestions for Prop ground clearance
Mike,
3 blades is indeed the first thing that comes to mind, so I had searched for comments on 2-blades vs 3 -blades before posting. From comments I read, it appears that a third blade may be not as effective... This Otter is a rather heavy aircraft [have not weighed it yet], so I need all the power I can get out of the Thor. My friend had flown it originally with an old 35 Quadra and that was marginal.
3 blades is indeed the first thing that comes to mind, so I had searched for comments on 2-blades vs 3 -blades before posting. From comments I read, it appears that a third blade may be not as effective... This Otter is a rather heavy aircraft [have not weighed it yet], so I need all the power I can get out of the Thor. My friend had flown it originally with an old 35 Quadra and that was marginal.
