Didier

No. I bought only the struts and wheels.
I modified the brakes to electric and installed the electron retracts.

DUCMOZ

Thank you. You did great with the doors. I cut the doors and made them un-operational as we fly off grass fields and gear doors are only last for couple of flights.

Didier

I fly from grass as well but our field is very wel maintained. Let’s hope for the best. 😉
I am more worried about the prop hitting the ground. 😬

Neil Guildford

It is looking like the AUW will be 14kg as I am going to need larger batteries up front and 600g of lead to balance the model.

Didier

It look really really nice Neil!! 👍👍👍
Th AUW is this with or without fuel? So it has a tendency to be tail heavy? Good to know as I have to arrange all the equipment in the fuselage still.
Do you have a picture of you’re installation inside the fuselage?

didiwatt

My Feedback: (38)

Neil,
Why did you have to change the brakes on the Simone main struts and wheels. Are the not already electric?

didiwatt

My Feedback: (38)

Ducmoz,
could you please send a picture of how the nose gear retracts are installed on a 50cc version.
Thinking about converting mine from TP to DLE55
To many TP planes and not enough TP's
Paul

Didier

Hello Paul.

I don’t know if Neil changed the brakes but I have changed the brakes on mine. The original brakes are air operated. In my humble opinion it doesn’t make any sense to operate the gear electric and the brakes on air. 😂

Didier

Paul,
I should seriously consider to go electric instead of a noisy 2-stroke engine.
Electric with a good prop sounds more like a TP then a 2 stroke

Neil Guildford

The scale wheels and legs came as electric retracts but with air brakes. This isn't how I would have designed it but not too much of an issue using a Jetronic brake valve.
I'll post a photo of the install soon.

didiwatt

My Feedback: (38)

I assumed that when Simone went to electric, that included the brakes. Seems stupid not to.

Neil Guildford

Didier

Looks awesome Neil! 👍
very nice install. You have seriously big battery’s for the RX. Did you still needed 600 gram of lead in the nose?

Neil Guildford

Yes, even with these batteries I added 575g to the front.

Neil Guildford

I’ve also changed the wing bolts to access from inside the fuz.

Didier

Nice modification. You did a paint job on the inside as well I suppose? I am going to install the aft tank for later smoke installation, so I have to install the wing bolts via the wheel wells. So I guess almost finished? Did you already started the TP?

Neil Guildford

After a couple of test runs of the turbine I decided to fly the Tucano today. The take off was very short and climb out positive. Full flap required all of the down trim I had, but I do have considerably more flap than in the manual.
With the gear up and surfaces clean, the model flew straight with very little trim. The recommended CG also seemed good. After 4 minutes a full flap landing ended well.

My second flight ended with a slight bounce by landing short of the smooth part of our runway and unfortunately broke the gear mount to one wing.

The plane flew well and landed reasonably slowly, I’m very happy with it. 👍👍👍

One thing I will look to change is the fuel capacity, 1.7ltr isn’t enough for me as after 4 minutes of mostly half power I was down to 1/4 tank.

I had my video camera with me, but what I didn’t know, it had been dropped at home a week earlier...so no video I’m afraid!

didiwatt

My Feedback: (38)

Stock fuel tank will give you 6 to 7 minutes with a 2 minute reserve.

Didier

Congratulations Neil!! 👍👍
It is a shame that one gear mount broke. Hopefully not to many damage. Do you think the bounce was due to to much Flaps? I had it once with an other model as well. Bleeded the airspeed to quick.

Strange about the fuel consumption? I’ve heard of a guy in Seattle he fly’s the hell out of the airplane and fly’s it 6-7 minutes full power?

Neil Guildford

I think I’d be happier with another litre of fuel but will do a ground run to setup my telemetry more accurately first. The default 600 pump value decreases the fuel value too quickly.

I’ll measure the flap travel later but I think this was due to me cutting the power to idle too early and over flaring trying to miss a lump on our runway.

14kg is no problem for this plane.

Didier

Could it be that there is going to much fuel to the gearbox? I don’t know how it is restricted or metered.
I have a jet (Wizard S 5.2 kilo’s) with a K70 and 1.1 liter fueltank. I can fly 6 minutes easily with about 90% half throttle. I assume a K45 (with GB lub) use less fuel then a K70 on the same throttle stick (half power)

Neil Guildford

That’s an interesting thought as I have noticed splash marks on the right exhaust. I will investigate.

Didier

It seems the fuel go’s via an orifice to the GB.

Didier

Neil, did you already fixed the gear and made some more flights?

Neil Guildford

I have fixed the structure and painted it last night.
I would recommend laminating some carbon in the wheel wells to avoid damaging the top of the wing in the event something similar happens.
I won’t be able to fly it for a few months as we are on a Tier 4 lock down which has meant all the flying sites have closed.