Yesterday we went to Tibenham to a local closed meeting for a mixed Warbirds and jets event that are held regularly there. It is fortunately close to my home.


I took the Arado to try out the new retracts I had fitted in an attempt to get the legs to retract. For those that have not followed this plane it has 6 engines, all home built Sprite engines of same size as the P20 and putting out 3.2 Kg each. For simplicity I went for a hand start operation with this plane. This reduces the requirement for a ridiculous number of wires to connect each time we fly. As it is there are 6 computer plugs to connect the engine pod to the plane and 6 pipes. It is a large plane with 3.35M wingspan and weighs 31 Kg. The centre section only just fits in my car and my long suffering wife has to be co-opted to get the centre section in.


After a number of outings we have learned to number everything. Again for simplicity I have 6 ecu’s 6 tanks 6 pumps etc. Believe me this does make for complications and is much more than 6 times the aggravation getting them all running. Everything was checked out and I had all engine ecus reading revs and temperature correctly.


This time I fairly quickly got the plane assembled at the field and to fuel it up and demonstrated the retracts working. We then went to start the engines about mid day.


Start no 1 went ok till I reached engine number 3 and the ecu display refused to show its information, which is vital when starting manually. After a rethink I managed to bypass the single display for this engine and added a second display for engine 3.


Start no 2 was a real problem as engine no 1 ecu temp probe had failed (my first one ever) a quick drive home and I brought a spare to the field and bypassed the wiring loom withe the new thermocouple.


Start no 3 we started engine 1-3 quickly but engine no 4 refused to come up to idle. There was fuel flowing to it but not enough. We stopped engines and I checked ecu settings and they seemed ok and I could get fuel flow manually from the ecu. Eventually we wondered if a pipe had got kinked. A quick examination of the engine pod revealed the fuel line was pinched when we assembled the engine pod.


Start no 4 was successful and all engines were running so we were in a position to go flying!


Until now we had all 6 engines running the whole flight but flight no 1 of the day was to prove different! The takeoff run had just reached lift off point and one engine flamed out and then a second as the plane staggered into the air. We really had reached the point of no return and I could see we were nearly airborne. A few circuits later Dave landed safely much to our relief. We were pleased to have discovered that the plane would fly on 4 out of the 6 engines.


Although there didn't appear to to be much wrong with the 2 engines I replaced them anyway with spares.


The next start had to be aborted when we had 4 engines running as the starter fan batteries had died on me with all the aborted starts.


Finally we had all engines running again and went for the second flight. This was a bit of a repeat as the first flight and 2 engines died on us. Despite this Dave managed to gain some height and relax a bit and we were able to try the retracts which needless to say didn’t work as I did not have quite enough air pressure. We flew about for 4 minuits or so and then landed with a second nice landing. We were amazed when we landed to find that we had flown most of the flight on only 3 engines although the poor little things had been flat out most of the time. Astonishing that a big heavy plane of 31 Kg can be flown on just 9.6 Kg thrust.


After landing only 1 engine had mechanical issues so I am not sure why the others failed. All this took most of a very stressful day and I hope that I was not too short with anyone. When I get back after flying complicated planes like this I vow not to fly them again and go back to simple one engine planes, but there is no doubt people love to see them.


John

For those that have not seen the plane here is an earlier shot taken in my garden.

Admire your stamina John!



marcs

John, I too went through a 'multi engine' stage with prop driven models.

Eventually (about 20 years ago) electric power matured to the point where I could fly the models
I wanted with none of the frustration.

My hat off to you for doing it the hard way, magnificent! - John.

[QUOTE=Jgwright;11626270]

Hi John, I think you are reaching the point of diminishing returns. The more you put in the less you get out. Trouble is in a few days time the fervor returns and off you go again. Not just six engines but an orthodox airframe. If you gave up you would not know what to do with your mind.
It is guys like you who make the progress and advances that the rest of us are inspired by and benefit from. Please post results of next flight, WELL DONE!. Ron.

[QUOTE=ron Sweeney;11626864]
Echo that! Your models are certainly inspirational John...and you know same as we do, you couldn't stop even if you wanted to!

See you at Gaydon.

Cheers,

Dick

Thanks for the support guys. At the moment I am still stiff from bending over the model most of the day and suffered cramps in the back of my legs. The funny thing about the various rather unusual planes we have had is that they all have flown quite well. The Arado flies in a docile manner and as it is a bomber there is no way that we will be doing any aerobatics. My next project is to finish a final batch of 18 engines to use up most of the parts I had left. Hopefully having incorporated all the various mods I have made over the last 2 years will ensure they run more reliably. When they are tested I shall have to think about what the next model will be...

John

Arado Ar 234 c!!

Conventional, but still x4 engines

Thanks

dave

Dave

Yes a friend in Germany has made a very nice 234 4 engine Arado with 4 engines. It flies well and has the same size nacelle that I have on the 555.

I was just looking on Youtube and spotted the Arado 581 now that is weird looking but flies well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3GTy7MvpoM

John

Maybe you can take out 3 engines , paint it white and put a "Boeing" sticker on it?



Anyway, the Arado looks great and its well worth the pain of making the 6 engines work at the same time.

I really enjoy watching your projects progress John! I took this while watching you during the start sequence, I think it was taken a a couple of Classic Jets ago.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94933938@N02/10007196905/" title="_DSC3263 by TheLittleJetCompany, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2892/10007196905_0ca487960f_c.jpg" width="800" height="500" alt="_DSC3263"></a>

Cheers, Alex