Bobby Folsom

Yes, I've had a chance to practice all of the individual maneuvors between rain and wind storms - not totally pretty but better than at Mt. Pleasant. I got tired of having to rebend the landing gear on the WH 260 - which folded back even on a glass smooth landing. So I replaced the gear with one I had from my Carden Edge. Maybae a little more weight but so what?

Todd and I may go to an IMAC contest over in Prattville, AL which is about 4.5 hours from me and 3.5 from Todd. It's not too much farther away than Shreveport is. Since Alamaba borders Mississippi any points we earn should count in the SC region according to Dan's criteria. I'll keep you posted. We do plan to go to Little Rock but not to the Houston contest.


Bobby

Yak_54_flyer

My Feedback: (2)

OK

Little Rock should be a fun contest this year. I wish I could have made Allans also. Sorry to hear about your landng gear problems, maybe the new one will hold up better. Well if you go to Alabama have fun!!!!!!

Eddie

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Bobby,

No good news. The low end continues to be FUBAR, and seems to have gotten worse. It acts like it is sucking air somewhere. I did the usual checks for that sort of thing, with nothing immediately apparent. Again, my inexperience with gas engines is probably in play here. Tobe is still unavailable; but he tried what he knew last time we flew together, with no luck.

I'm pretty well tired of fooling with this airplane. It seems as if nothing I do with it is right. Its hanging on the wall right now, and will stay there for a while. I just don't need the aggravation. My plan is, once I get over being pissed , to get with Steve Reinke and take him up on his offer of help he made at Mt. Pleasant. Last resort is pulling the engine and sending it back to Keith; looks like its going to come to that. In fact, I'm thinking about just hauling the airplane over there and letting him check it out as is; if he'll do that. Could be it doesn't like the white gas; if that's the case, so much for "gassers" for me, since gasoline use is a non-issue in my situation.

Bottom line: no IMAC for me this year. Tobe has too many other commitments as well. We discussed it, and plan to practice well into the fall (if I can ever get the Extra going), with the idea of making a few contests next year. In the meantime, I'm back flying my slimers, and actually enjoying myself again. Normally, when something gives me this much grief, its sold and forgotten. But I've got so much invested in the airplane now, I have to go the extra distance to try and make it work.

I did buy myself a "depression present" the other day; a GP Matt Chapman CAP 580.... the little one with the paint-splat finish. I had an OS 91 Surpass lying around begging for a job; this little sucker ought to be a hoot.

BTW; Tobe scored a WH Extra like yours; his is blue. He's working on it sporadically in the evenings, using the gear from his Edge and his ZDZ 80. His Comp-ARF Yak came in too; he'll jump on that when he gets off the turn-around.

I devoutly hope I can make this BME do right. I love the concept of non-glow (remember, I'm running white gas/camp fuel) and the larger planes. But this is supposed to be fun, and all I've gotten so far is aggravation.

Anyway, all that is probably more information than you wanted to hear. But thanks for asking...

.

Dangerous Dan

My Feedback: (1)

Steve Curiously what motor did you get and why do you choose to use camp fuel?

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

BME 50.

I store my models in the house. I've heard all the lore about draining the tank, capping off the system, etc., etc., yielding no odor. That simply was NOT my experience with a gasser helicopter some years back, and the basic plumbing is no different on these planks.

My gracious wife would have my stuff in the back yard if "my" room (and soon after, the whole house) suddenly began to smell like the utility room where we store the weed-eater, blower, etc.

A conversation with an experienced gas guy last night suggested I might have a pin hole in the carb diaphragm. Again, I simply do not know enough about these things, right now anyway, to do any more than look for the obvious. And I simply do not have the patience right now to do a serious trouble-shooting job, guided by telephone/e-mail conversations. I imagine that the intelligent thing to do is pull the engine out of the airframe and send it to Keith. But I've BTDT with a YS; it ran perfectly for them, ON THE BENCH, and while they were diplomatic about it the attitude was I simply did not know how to handle an engine. Well, it ran great on the bench for me too. It was in the air where it displayed bizarre behavior.

IOW, I don't want to be told 'it ran fine for me', when my conditions are not being duplicated. Hence, the option of taking the thing to him, still mounted in the model, with my fuel mix.

When my main flying buddy gets back into circulation, I'll be motivated to to fix the problem. Right now, I just don't even want to look at the thing.

Dangerous Dan

My Feedback: (1)

Steve,
I see that you are frustrated and don't want to mess with it right now, but If and when you do decide to mess with it I would like to offer two suggestions.

1. Call CH ignitions at 307-857-6897. I believe to optimize the flashpoint and Ignition timing for camp fuel vs pump gas might require a slightly different ignition timing. If you have a CH ignition the timing for Gas is set at 28deg BTDC, for a falcon ignition it is set at 2deg BTDC(one advances one retards). I have a timing wheel and Indicator I made for MY BME 50 and If you decide to check the timing I would be happy to ship it to you. CH can give you all the details on how to accomplish this. I also Have a compression guage you can borrow.

2. After 230 flights my BME 50 started acting just like what you yours is. When I do maintenance I clean the Carb with automotive Carb Cleaner. I sound out the hard way that if you use this cleaner and don't run fuel through the carb shortly thereafter the cleaner can harden the carberator diaframs. I got a new set of diaframs from the local lawn mower repair shop and It ran like a new engine. The old Diafram was rubber, the new diafram was a milar type of plastic and I was told that the plastic one works better and lasts longer. If you can get your hands on a new rubber diafram(the one with the metal peace embeded into it) and a new plastic diafram(other side of carb, It has the flapper/valves). It might and should help at the least it won't hirt.

Good Luck and I feel your Pain I lost 5 1/4 scale os-160 glow planes before I went to a gasser. 30% due to lack of skill at the time and 70% due to friek accidents like somebody putting a picnic table where I was planning to land while I was flying, mid-air, wing snap in flight etc...

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Thanks; I might take you up on that offer.

I'm not having any problems with the airframe or the "transition" to the larger size mode; all my grief has been power plant related. And when you've been dealing successfully with model airplane engines for almost 20 years, problems like this are damned frustrating.

What's worse is the knowledge that so many folks are NOT having problems... heck, watching my pal fuel & fly his gassers is what prodded me to get one. I LOVE these larger planes, and you just can't do it right with glow power.

Whatever; we'll see what shakes out. I suppose the time I need to get over being pissed would be better spent yanking this thing out of the airplane and sending it back to Keith. I'm just worried that he'll tell me there is nothing wrong with it, and then I'm back to Square One...[&o]