It'll fly fine at 13 lbs. mine flies VERY scale even with the 1.60 up front. I do most of my flying at 1/2 throttle or less throughout most of the flight and only use full throttle on uplines.

Other than the engine thrust issues I touched on earlier I would recommend that you seal the control surface gaps, especially the ailerons. The ailerons are sort of small for such a large wing and need all of the help they can get, made a huge difference on mine.

I was thinking of using some of that clear medical tape you can get at WalMart. It sticks good, but I hear you can take it off without damaging the finish.

Unless of course you could recommend something better?

Patriot

Sounds like a great idea and it should work fine. That is the single biggest problem with painted finishes, the fragility of the finish doesn't allow for things that are modeling necessities at times.

I have all of the clear coating done now. So, I thought I would post some more pics showing how I am hooking up the linkages, radio gear etc.

-I used Hitec 475HB 60oz servos for the rudder and elevator, and used some heavy duty servo arms with new 10mm screws.
-I used a standard futaba servo for the throttle and a solid wire linkage to connect it with a clevice on the servo end, and a Z-bend on the carb. This way it is a direct connectin to the carb with absolutely no play.
-Also standard Futaba servos for the ailerons in the wing.

The Rx is the Futaba 9CAP PCM, and since I upgraded to the Hitec servos, I also went with a Hitec 1100 mah Nicd battery upgrade. I really don't need PCM but it came with the radio. I wanted just the regular 9C FM, but the store ran out, so he gave me the PCM system for the same price. Not a bad deal, I thought. My next plane will need a 9 channel Rx, so I will probably buy a cheaper FM Rx and swap out this one when the time arrives.

The Rx and battery are inside the little balsa box at the bottom of the pic (top of the fuse) with a lid held on with screws. Just aft of the radio gear box is my onboard glow driver held down with some rubber bands. The onboard glow driver is directly underneath the servos, kinda hard to see.

And lastly, is the engine. I am waiting for some parts in the mail, and will post an updated picture later. But, this one just shows how it is mounted inverted.

Patriot

Here is the finished wheel pants. The paint job turned out awesome. I did not use Bondo on the seam like I did with the cowl. I decided to try something I felt was easier to use. It is called "Plastic Wood", made by DAP. I used it for filling holes etc when making cabinets. It is heavy like Bondo, but it is easier to use. It really sticks, doesn't stink, and cleans up with water. After I was finished, the paint job turned out so well in fact, that I won't even bother using a clear coat for them.

Here is also a mod I made to the belly pan. As I built the pan according to instructions, I still ended up with it being bowed very badly, and was not too happy with the flimsiness of it. So, I added two strips of 1"x1/8" basswood down its length to straighten it out, and also added alot of structural integrity. I then glassed the outside with 0.75 cloth and epoxy. It is bullet proof now, and really doesn't seem all that much heavier than the original. It is a little heavier of course, but I think it was worth it.

Patriot

Thought I would throw this pic in as well. The first is of an airplane stand I made out of some PVC pipe at work. It sure is nicer to work on the plane with this. Not only does it bring it up closer to me, but also keeps my plane from sliding all over the workbench. It was especially nice for when I installed all of my radio gear. I made it extra large, so I can extend the base and use it for larger planes as well.

The next, is a picture of the tail and some hinge gap that I ended up with that is bugging me. It is 1/16" at the ends, but at the middle hinge, the covering pulled the edges inward and created a 1/8" gap. I will have to seal all the gaps anyway, but just hope it won't be a problem, as there is no way to fix it now, without rebuilding the whole tail.

Patriot

Actually, I just measured the gap by sliding some balsa wood through it. the 1/8" wouldn't go, but the 3/32" just barely fit into the hinge gap. So, I guess it isn't as bad as I thought, but I will seal all gaps with tape anyway.

Patriot

I wouldn't be too concerned about that gap. Mine is about the same as yours and since I don't do knife edge with the plane it doesn't seem tto be an issue. Don't try that with the ailerons though, seal them.

Looking dood, keep em' comming!

Will do.

Well, I gave up on the homemade muffler. It was kinda heavy, and also vibrated lose when I tested it, and it flew right off after a few minutes at high power.

So, I got me a J'tec muffler, and will try this. I cut my stock header down to 1/2" and slide it into the muffler hole. It was a pretty tight fit, so I am hoping it will not leak. If it does, I can take it apart and fill it with some high temp silicon. I then bolted the muffler directly to the side of the engine with the stock screws for the old muffler. It is aluminum, so hopefully it will take the vibration a little better than copper.

Anyone try one of these mufflers? Do they work ok? Did I hook it up right? Or is there some other method of hooking up J'tec mufflers that I need to know about?

Patriot

This new muffler seems really nice, but has one drawback. I have to cut a hole in the bottom of the cowl for the exhaust pipe. I was hoping I could get it to exit along the aft end of the cowl so it would exhaust without having to cut a hole, but I guess it won't be too bad. I guess it is better than cutting a big hole in the side of the cowl for the valve cover when the engine is mounted sideways.

Patriot

I was reading an interesting thread about another fella who is also building a C-Pro, and he said he wanted to modify it so he could remove the center cabane struts.

I have to admit, mine are removable, and fit so tight, I never bothered to glue them into place, since I thought that is the way they were supposed to be. Have any of you guys glued them into place with epoxy to keep the from sliding out when the wing is detached?

Patriot

Mine aren't glued in and fit pretty tightly in the holes, the front mounts are tight but the rear are loose enough to rotate. Once the wing is bolted in place they don't move at all so there are no issues with them comming out while in the air. The only thing I have an issue with is that the back mounts will rotate around with the wing off the plane which can be annoying when it comes time to mount the wing.

Mine are not glued either, nor do I want to. I like the idea of pulling them out for convenience. They fit so tight, I really have to give them a good yank to get them out.

UPDATE

I just joined the local club and found a guy who is an instructor, and has done tons of first flights over the years. He said he would be willing to reinstruct me since it has been so long for me. I am just finishing a couple of items. I am installing a fuel filter, and putting on some longer aileron servo arms. Programmed the Tx today. And that is it.

I will assemble and take some pics of it when the weather is nicer in a couple days (before the maiden flight). Hopefully I will get someone to take some pics of it in the air as well.

When I went to my first meeting, I took along the C-Pro for show and tell, and there was lots of guys rolling out their new planes for the summer.

Guess who won the "Best Model" for show and tell? Best built, and best paint job. WooHoo!!! I even got a prize.

Not bad for my first day. Now I fell special.

Patriot

Outstanding! That has to be the best thing I have read all day, thanks for the report and congrats.

All the C-Pro talk lately got me to pull mine out and wax it up in prep for the first flights of this year, possibly tomorrow. The guys love it when the old 1.60 starts up and kicks out a sound like a real aircraft on a low fly-by.

For set up get as much upward aileron travel as possible without giving away servo torque by moving the clevis too far out on the servo arms or too far in on the horns. I have mine with about 1.5" of up travel and they deflect downward about 3/4"(differential), this may sound extreme but it's not at all. The plane rolls pretty slow with the high wing and small ailerons and if you set it up as I described it will fly a lot like most any other plane with nice control feel, not sluggish but not by any means lightning fast.

Get all of the throw on the rudder you can, mine come within 1/16" of the elevator. Elevator is the only touchy control and will depend on your tastes and CG as to where it winds up. A good starting point is what's in the book. I think my low rates for the elevator are a bit less that what the book calls for and are plenty. I hardly ever use high rate on the elevator because it will snap the plane hard if I even think about flipping the switch into that position!

The only other thing to be aware of is to NOT slam the throttle on take off. You MUST ease into it and get the tail up and flying before lift off or it's going to be a wild ride. Landings are a non event if a bit of power is left in on approach. This is perhaps my favorite aspect of this plane since the gear springs a bit and the whole thing bobbles a little as it lands on the mains first followed by the tail. You really have to see it landing to appreciate what I am talking about, it looks like a real plane setting down.

You'll see......

I am installing a set of Dubro heavy duty servo arms for the ailerons, because the ones that came with the radio are short. The new ones are 1" long so I should get the rated torque of the standard servo for them. It seems I can get almost 2" up travel and a good 1" down travel. The pinned hinges really give it lots of movement.

My elevator High Rate is about 1 3/4" each direction, and about 1" on the Low rate setting. I can program it a little lower if that is even too much. I hope this will suffice. I will use low rates of course.

I am kinda bummed out about the rudder. I got it to travel within 1/4" of the elevator, but any closer and it starts to rub a little with the center dowel of the elevator. I should have made the rudder hole a little bigger. Oh well, too late now.

Hoping to tune it up tomorrow. Now the weather, and my schedule is not looking good for a maiden flight this week.[]

Patriot

Patriot,

You have done a beautiful job on your plane!

I would like to give you a few heads up on the Enya. The carb throat is very short and will blow fuel back out if you don't install a homemade stack which will require opening up the angle bracket. I ground the bracket to open up the area around the intake, removed the material between the engine mounting screws and made a stack out of K&S 5/8" brass tube with a brass strap soldered to it that bolts up under the angle bracket to give extra clearence to the stack from the engine.

I found that Jtec sells 3/8" high temp silicone tube that will fit over the exhaust stub and will make a good coupler to a home made muffler

Also the throttle barrel will have a tendency to bind if you any side pressure on the arm. On three engines at my club the carbs were massaged to work a little better. I am going to try a Cline regulator to see how it will work with this engine.

Skypilot,

I don't think the short carb throat will be much of a problem with throwing fuel back out, since the engine is mounted inverted, and all the fuel stays in the carb. I had problems with lots of fuel leaking out of the carb while choking it and starting it upright on the test stand. But, since it is inverted on the plane, I probably won't need to choke it at all. The fuel will just run down the intake into the engine. If anything, I now need to be careful not to flood it.

That is why I have already installed a Cline regulator with a brand new diaphragm. I will be testing Monday or Teusday. I also have an onboard glow driver for the inverted installation, and also for ease of starting.

The new J'tec muffler I have is a newer design I think. The older ones had short exhaust stacks. But, the newer one I have has a stack about 2 1/2" long and actually clears the bottom of the rear end of the cowl, so I don't think it will get too messy. See the pic of it above. The plane is upside down on the stand. If there is too much goo build-up, then I have a Hobbico silicon exhaust extension which fits perfectly for this muffler. I will use it if needed.

Skypilot, I also agree with the carb barrel binding. That has happened to me several times now. But, after runnning over a gallon throught it on the bench, cycling the carb barrel and the choke about a hundred times now, it appears to be nice and smooth. I have it hooked up as straight as I could get the servo to it with a solid 2-56 steel pushrod. One end with an adjustable steel clevice, the other with a Z-bend. It is a nice straight connection with no play at all.

Thanks for all the tips, the stack idea sounds like a good one if this setup doesn't seem to work for me.

Patriot

Patriot,

The problem I seem to have is the valve timing is a little overlapped and the fuel spits out when side mounted. It makes as much mess from the spray out of carb as from the exhaust. I have one on an Ultra Stick and another is going into an Ohio R/C Chipmunk.

I have taken apart three of the carbs, the ball detent setting is critical, if loose it allows too much play side to side or if too tight will apply too much side force to the barrel. The barrel will act smooth when the methanol has evaporated and all thats left is oil. Some of the carbs have had the offset throttle arm replaced with a standard servo arm, this seemed to work very well.

Is the Jtec muffler any quieter than the stock muffler? It will definately hold up better.

The Cline regulator should help it idle better inverted and prevent it from flooding. Hopefully the golw driver
will only be needed to start the engine.

Hopefully I will be testing the engine sometime today or tomorrow, I need to install the fuel filter and servo arms I ordered. It should be here by now, but since Ronald Reagans funeral on Friday, I think UPS is a little behind or something.

Patriot

Hi,

Just checking to see how things are going.

Actually, the parts I need to finish this thing off have not arrived. I called the shop I ordered from and waiting to see if it got lost in shipping. I am on pins and needles, I really want to get this done. All I need is a pair of servo arms for the ailerons.[:@]

Patriot

I'm really sorry guys, I have been waiting forever for the last few parts I need to get this thing finished and into the air. I am thinking I may just go ahead and take the long drive to the hobby shop to get what I need. All I need is a fuel filter, and some longer servo arms for the ailerons. Other than that, it is ready to tune up, and go. Which, in fact, really irks me because the weather has been beautiful all week, and I am really missing out some good flying weather.

Anyway, since I am waiting, I thought I would post some more pics of the fuel system arrangement. I have installed a Cline Regulator since my fuel tank is further back directly beneath the CG. So, that is really the only way to get good constant fuel pressure in my case. I think a Perry pump would also work, but they weigh a bit more and use battery power. I like how this setup will prevent fuel from flooding the engine. Also in the pics, are the wires going the engine for the onboard glow system. It is all programmed, ready to go.

Patriot

Some more pics of the fuel tank mounted in place.

Patriot

What ever happened to this project ? Did you just quit working on it ?

No, I have not quit at all. I ordered some parts from the mail that got lost on the way here. (FedEx). So, I had to pay a little more for the prop I need and some servo arms, and ordered them from Tower Hobbies.
I ordered some longer servo arms for the ailerons, since I want better travel than the stock arms I got. The stock arms only gave about 3/4" travel which I know with such a small aileron, it will not be enough, and I really need a bigger prop as well. The 16x6 Zinger I was using to break in the engine just isn't big enough. The engine really over revvs with such a small load, and I can here some knocking and such at full throttle even when set slobbering rich, so I want to load it up some more. I just installed a new Zinger 17x6 to try next. A hard prop to find, but Tower and Horizon does carry them, and Zinger still makes a few.
I am sorry I haven't updated guys, but I am getting ready for some vacation in a week, so I will try to get it assembled and get some good pics of it fully complete for the thread. When I get back off vacation, I will be flying it for sure. I am kinda bummed out, the June flight test looks more like July now.[]

I installed the new muffler and it leaked a bit while test running, so I removed and cleaned the whole area, and reinstalled with some copper high temp RTV silicon, and then it held up fine for my latest test run.

Patriot