Here she is! This is my newest plane. Its a 71" generic brand Sukhoi 31 that I picked up new at a swap meet the other day. And man I love Sukhoi's. It is pretty cheaply made and covered though,but oh well. Its got a brand new ryoby 31(pulled from a troy-bilt actually) with ignition in it. I currently have an 18x6W prop on it,but I think it could actually handle something bigger because its likes to swing it at over 7500 rpms which seems high for my conversion tastes for this engine. I have to richen it up a bit much to get it to not go any higher,so I'm kinda wasting power. Its almost like this plane was meant for a conversion engine because the cowl compartment is the perfect size and its a well made cowl. And I even cut out the cowl loovers for cooling. I did have to cut about 66mm off the front to move the firewall back far enough to accommodate the sharf length. I couldnt figure out a good way to choke this engine that I liked,so I hooked up the primer bulb and mounted it on the fuse which you can see in the pics. It seems to work great,but not sure if this is a good idea or not becuase I hate extra plumbing to go wrong. The motor mount was just kinda chopped out square and I wish I would have at least rounded the corners to make it look nicer,but it does the job. Had to drill out a hole it it to make room for the throttle arm throw. I made the hubs,stand offs,and muffler. Its a RCEXL(maybe mispelled,lol) ignition. I was going to use an XYZ,but figured I play it safe with the rcexl. She seems to balance about right with no extra weight maybe because of moving the firewall back and mounting the rx battery behind the wing. The plane weighed in at 13lbs give or take a pound dry. Yep,kinda proud of it and I hope it lasts awhile and runs good once I get it in the air and test it more.......

Now,I'm just afraid to fly it....think I'll let it take on the role of hanger queen for a week or two,lol.

that is just awesome looking

I hope you enjoy it to the fullest [8D]

Looks great and congratulations, but hey, go fly it!! Let us know how it goes.

My brother has a Ryobi on a "Ryans Rebel" that weighs about 15 lbs. and it flies quite nicely. I have one on a 78" wingspan Tiger Moth and it also flies quite well. Have at it....

AV8TOR

It sounds and looks like you're using an APC prop. Going from an 18x6W to 18x8W APC prop will drop your prop speed about 500 rpm but won't change your thrust much if at all. See thread/post http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_84...C%23195/tm.htm post #195

diceco

Go fly it and see how it handles. Sure lighter than the 16lbls spad that my Ryobi pulled around.

Looks like tomarrow will be the maiden. I'll let you know.....lol.

Well,I maidened it today and had some issues that need to be worked out. It barely cleared the trees as it seemed a bit underpowered with it 18x6W prop which was made worse by its being too tail heavy. I think I know why it seems a bit underpowered though. I know while testing the engine it seemed under prop'd with its 18x6W APC. I was turning 7500+ rpms too easily and had to run it overly rich to keep it under 7500(any more and its screaming too much for my taste for this engine). .....to the point that any more rich and it starts to hit 4-cycle mode. Wish it had a walbro instead of a Zama now too. So I was just wasting power. So,were gonna try an 18x10 wood prop and shift the rx battery from behind the wing to under the cowl. I handed the controls to our club instructor after the first turn after I took off because I didnt want to take any chances. He said it didnt seem too underpowered,but the elevators were VERY sensitive(tail heavy) which might have made the take off harder then it should have been. So,we'll make some changes and go from there when the weather cooperates again.

Make one change at a time, or as close as is practical, and make small changes at that.

In your case, I would get the c.g. adjusted, (maybe add some expo to the elevator too?), and lean the engine to peak power. If it is well over 7500 rpms static, then yes, you should prop up. Go to an 18 x 8 in that case, not an 18 x 10. If you go to an 18 x 10, you might have problems getting it slowed down for landing, among other things. Get the airplane dialed in a little better, get to know it, and then continue making changes if necessary.

Enjoy it!

AV8TOR

I tested the 18x10 today to see what kind of rpms it would pull and was surprised to see I could only get about 6240 rpms with it. I will say it ran much better though becuase I was able to tune it better,but I still wouldnt have expected that much difference. I'm going to definetly have to get an 18x8. That should put me right about were I want to be. I think some of the big difference was caused by going from the 18x6w APC to the 18x10 WOOD prop. I think the apc's swing higher rpms then wood to begin with. I do like woods on gassers.