apalsson

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I have just received the RCM plans for the 76" Lazy Ace from Chuch Cunningham.
I was wondering if the .61 motor suggested in the design will be sufficient.
What motor should I use?
Can the plane handle the bigger motors, such as the SupreTigres?
Any recommendations would be welcomed

Jim Schwagle

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The designer recommends now (years later) a 90 2-stroke or 120 4-stroke. He says the larger engines are definitely ok but to make sure to use the spruce where indicated and not substitute something else that is lighter but weaker. (When the plane was designed a 60 2-stroke was the most powerful engine widely available and the plane was designed for stately flying, not 3-D.)

apalsson

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Hi Jim,

Yes, I thought a .61 was pretty small for such a big plane with so much inherent drag.
I would imagine a 4 stroke would probably suit the plane well.

Rodney

I have a Magnum 91 4 stroke on mine, flys well but not enough power to hang on the prop.

jessiej

I first flew my Lazy Ace with a blue head Super Tigre .60. I t flew but was pretty marginal. I put in an O.S. 1.08 and the big bipe really came to life.

Antique

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Our group has three Lazy Aces flying. Two are using G23's one using a G26. Either of these engines make a great combination. Beatuiful flyers, do everything Chuck C. designed them to do.

markdam

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heres mine before resto with supertigre 2500 gonna maiden it this SAT!!!!!!!!!!! whooo hoo

markdam

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the covering is really darker the flas made it look lighter

apalsson

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Markdam,

I like that pilot figure in your Lazy Ace.
I see you have built it with the wings rubber band mounted?

markdam

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was builit in the late 70';s met the grandson of the owner and he agreeed to sell it to me if i kept it as original as possible so i went on a 6 month restoration and update of her.... hope to fly her on sat. i left the upper wing rubber band but updated the interplane strut connections and made the lower wing bolt on. cant see a way to make the upper bolt-on with the stock cabane.... no biggie... bolted bottom bolted interplane.... its not a 3-d machine rubberbands will handle spins and she went on a diet and lost bout 4 lbs so she ought to fly well my numbers show bout 18lbs of thrust from my big tigre and the plane weighs 13 so it should (crosses fingers) fly great!!! Chuck's design has been around a long time pick good wood or send the plans to a kit cutter or look around for and older kit on ebay. skymaster is still around somwhere, just dont know wher. maybey they have some kits left... id put a 1.20 range engine in her you can always throttle back

apalsson

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Markdam,

I can see why you restored the plane the way you did. Looks like avery nice job.
I remember reading up on Lazy Ace when it was first introduced in RCM. I have long been a fan of the Chuck Cunningham designs and a couple of weeks back, I purchased the plans for the 76" version and for Miss Texas.

I am planning to build them as close to the original design as I can, but I might modify the wing mounts to use nylon bolts.

I think I can see a way to bolt the upper wing on by adding hardwood blocks to the cabane blocks and use them to bolt through.

I jope you thoroughly enjoy flying the Ace on the weekend.

Best regards

Ari Palsson
Australia

markdam

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ill post pics and maybey a movie saturday

jessiej

[updated the interplane strut connections ]

How did you do the interplane connections?

markdam

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they were origiginally held on with rubber bands and pins i removed the pins and used 6/32 bolts i found some big 6/32 nuts at a local surplus so the fingers have mnore to hold lol

jessiej

I had mine pop loose once and as I did a tight turn back toward myself I saw that the left wingtips were touching! A clear sign that it was time to land!

causeitflies

Have any of you guys flown your Aces with one wing? I used to fly mine this way (low wing) sometimes just for a change. Of course it was nose heavy in this condition but it was fun. I often thought it would be fun at an air show to set it up to deliberately eject the top wing in flight and continue to fly like nothing happened Mine had an ASP 91 for power and would just barely hover.

markdam

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well Im glad thats over now i get to enjoy her!!!!!!! Maiden flights take it out of me! well i weighed her and shes still a bit piggy at 15lbs 5 OZ no fuel........ but she flew well not the zing i wanted initially with the motor but it got better as the 2nd and 3rd tank was flown whew is she thirsty!!!! had a scare on the fourth flight throttle stuck in the wide open position and had to fly her out of fuel NO FUN anyway she deadsticked middle of runway like a trainer NICE!!!!!!! cant wait to fix the bugs and go fly for fun!!!!!!!ill post pics when i download them the best prop i found for the ST 2000 was a 16X8 but im gonna look for a 17" 18 was too much and dragged her down sorry didnt write down the tach numbers

markdam

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pretty girl

markdam

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sweet!!!!!

althepal88

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I just bought a Lazy Ace bipe from a friend of mine and have been working to get her airborne again. So, here I am surfing for some more info on this bird when I come across a whole bunch of pics of her on the forum! Yes, she is still alive and well. Had to buy a new muffler for her and I hope to have her flying again in the next couple of weeks. Any special tips would be appreciated.

markdam

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Yea dont crash her!!!!!!!!!! [X(] we must have pics`!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

althepal88

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I fired her up today, and got her to run up and idle just fine. I may replace the rcvr pak as I don't trust old batteries but I also need to rebalance her. The dude in the cockpit fell apart and the leather cockpit padding had to go. I'll take pics at the field (we fly Sundays at Fisherman's Retreat in San Timeteo Canyon). It was good to read a little about her and to know that she wasn't really built to do anything extreme and that a gasser attatched to the nose wouldn't prolong the airframe any. She will have to stay as she is.

althepal88

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Well, after a couple of trips to the flying field, I finally was comfortable enough to take her up. First trip I wasn't really into taking her up, I wasn't really sure of the CG and a couple of other little things (plus, my favorite aircraft has a structural failure and became a lawn dart). Second trip found a broken attachment point for the wing struts, so we epoxied her at the field, but it didn't set by the time we were finished flying. Finally, trip three. A double check of the CG (seems like a big spread for a cg point), a run up of the engine and check all of the servos and we decided to get her done. Pointed her straight down the runway, kept the tailwheel planted and she picked up speed and then the engine coughed, so we shut down the throttle and brought her back for another adjustment on the top end. Once again, point her down the runway and bring up the throttle and tried to keep the tail planted but she came up anyway. At last the rudder became a little more effective and she finally broke ground for the first time in years. A slow climb out and a little rudder made a nice turn and then looked for altitude so we could set the trims. Once we were in a hands off mode, we had to see what she was capable of. Loops were slow and easy, aileron rolls were smooth (and slow) and both manuevers were aided with a slight dive and a pull up into the move. She will do a stall, but she will also go into a spin with very little effort, so I kept that in the back of my mind. I was already thinking of bringing the cg forward a little. The engine ran flawlessly and quiet thanks to the big new JTec muffler that I got off EBay. When I went to bring her around for a landing, I set her up for a long approach, as I wanted to see how much she was going to float. As it turned out, a flyby and a shorter approach and a beautiful sink rate brought about a perfect three point landing with very little roll out. She really does fly nice and she does everything in slow motion. We are looking for a little more out of the Supertigre 2500, so we mounted an OS muffler from a big 160 and we may go a little different prop. Maybe in the future we will go with a gasser, as that Supertigre is a fuel guzzler. But, right now I am pleased with my new baby!

markdam

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is the one u bought this the green one shown above? who did you buy it from?

Rodney

allthepal88, glad you have it up and flying. What do you have your wing incidence set at? I have built the same size as you have plus two of the larger versions and on all of them, I found they flew best with the upper wing set at minus 1.5 degrees relative to the lower wing. On mine, the lower wing and elevator were used as reference (the 0 degree point) and I also had to have about 2 to 3 degrees right thrust and about 5 degrees down thrust for it to fly like I liked it to. Just curious to see if you have the same results.