dlcole

Has anyone tried replacing the recommended glow motors with a gas motor?

carrellh

I'm sure it can be, or has been, done.

The gas engines appear to be physically bigger than glow engines. You might have to cut the nose cheeks off. Having a hobby shop with the plane and engine in stock, so you can check the physical size of everything, would be ideal.

Assuming you can mount it, the next challenge is going to be engine weight.
The small gas engines weigh a lot
Zenoah G20 weighs 41.6 ounces with muffler and ignition (engine only is 33 ounces)
FPE 1.3 (21cc) weighs 40 ounces with muffler (not sure if ignition weight is included)

A glow engine commonly used on this plane is the OS 91 Four stroke, which weighs 24.2 ounces with muffler.

The 4*60 ARF does tend to be tail heavy, but it is not extreme. Mine balanced (with no added weight), with OS 91 four stroke, by placing the receiver battery against the firewall. You might get lucky. Moving the receiver, and ignition, batteries somewhere behind the CG might get it balanced without adding a lot of lead.

No matter what, the total weight of the plane with gas engine will be about a pound more than it would be with a glow engine.

jetmech05

not a whole lot of room between the cheeks on a 60 size

RichM

My Feedback: (1)

Not the same, but I've converted a Sig 4 Star 40 to electric. Had to rework the area where the 4S1P, 4800 mAh LiPo went, because of it being a tight fit, and add an ounce of tail weight, but it works great.

dlcole

How is this plane for a first low wing model? I've been flying a mini telemaster with aeilerons as my starter plane..

jetmech05

the 4 star was my second airplane..I liked it alot I flew it over 2 years kept a log on it. Had over 150 flights from the pits, back to the pits, no telling how many touch and go's..even had a stripped aileron servo that caused flutter, reduced power and landed normally due to dual aileron servos. No damage I caught it quick enough.
My suggestion for this airplane learn to fly it as it is, then program dual rates with as much aileron as she'll take..when i first set mine up this way I had 140 per cent on ailerons but this wasn't compatable with the rest of the throws (ailerons took to long to return to center when compaired to the rudder and elevators)
Nah the increased throws didn't cause the servo to strip. I didn't set it up with dual rates until I changed the servo.
I have considered getting the kit and and chopping the wings 2 ribs a side and adding winglets..making it open cockpit and reducing the area of the vertical stab.Increasing the area on the ailerons.
Have fun...
Oh a side note I chased a hawk with my 4* he went right I stayed on his 6, he went right again and was so far inside me I couldn't compete. I turned back to my orginal downwind course he went right again and was on my 6. I dove he he tucked his wings and came after me. I got lower to the ground than he was comfortable with and he broke it off. I landed for a while to make sure that ace was gone....

RichM

My Feedback: (1)

Sounds like he thougth *** for tat was a good thing.

I had been out of r/c planes for years, so I thought the 4* would be a good choice after the high wing I used to get back into flying planes. My choice was between a Kaos and the 4*. Since I had never flown a tail dragger, I went with the Sig. I'd really like to find a P39 Cobra like the DeBolt Aerocobra that I had in the 60's.

Dual Aileron servos -- ya, I've considered changing the setup, too. But, with the ARF, it looked like more work than value. Still...

How did you find the rudder authority? With more than suggested, I find it a little lame.

jetmech05

still wouldn't hold a nice knief edge but better than the recommended throws would.. like I said I loved the plane