Here are the usual garden shots of the Tempest during yesterdays engine - Mintor 170- break in session . . . the neighbours are away :-)

Looks fantastic, I can't wait ot hear how it flies at that altitude [8D]

-Mike

I put a gallon through the Mintor (10% nitro, 20% oil, 17X12), another gallon tomorrow, set the low end and we should be ready for Sunday. Below shows the remote glow setup which, as I learnt later, will not work on a Mintor due to the metal treatment they use. As stated right there on the Mintor instruction sheet, if I had chosen to read it. Ah well. . .
The Mintor runs fine, with power to spare, even at the very rich break in settings.

That looks great! A good friend of mine is running the M170 w/ a 17x12 and although the rpm's are not extremely high when tached on the ground, it just has enormous grunt in the air....hard to quantify...

Rodney,
I had the same remote glow starter problem with my 3M 1.70. This can be solved by running a separate ground wire and connect it to a circular connector. You can get a circular connector with an inside and outside diameter very close to that of a glow plug washer. These appear to be tin plated copper and will substitute for the washer on the other plug. It's a tight fit, but mine works just fine.

Larry
NSRCA 3885

Thanks Larry,
I will give that a try.

Flyintexan: I was getting 7,750 on the 17x12 and 7,500 on a 17x13. I have the pipe set long (23.5" plug to first baffle) on 10% nitro, so I was´nt expecting much more.

Rodney, I have a similar remote glow setup as you have. You can make it work.

Aluminum is a good conductor, you only need to scratch the surface a little.
I tightened the plug once without a copper washer, then scratched surface under one bolt in cylinder/crank joint and under one engine fastening bolt.
After that it worked


ini

Thanks ini,
Now that is an intelligent, well thought out solution!!! or in other words - Why the hell did´nt I think of that! :-)

Tempest first flights.
Basic set up: JR servos 8411SA-rudder; 9411SAs-airolons;3421SAs-elevators and a 341 mini on the throttle. MK and Rocket City hardware. Bolly LG, F3A-large. Fished weight - 9.10 # . . . . had to put 2.5 oz on the tail to balance :-(
I won´t go through the whole first flight report thing. Mike has already gone through the flight characteristics in detail, so I would just be repeating.
Suffice to say this plane flies as advertised!! I put 8 flights on it today and really love the way it rolls, snaps, point rolls in the verticals, everything inverted and everything else you need for the Advanced schedule, as Mike intended when he designed it. It´s a definite improvement on what I have been flying. All I have to do now is work a bit on the rudder mixes and burn a lot of fuel!!!
After two gallons through it, the Mintor ended up very close to the factory recommended settings (main needle at 1 - 1/4 open, low end at 1/16 lean from centre). ES piepe at 23.5" from plug to FB. Power Master 15%-18% plus 2% additional Klotz. Plugs X2 OS-Fs. 17x13 APC - 7,640 RPM. Grunt City!!! It took some time to get the mid range right. It will idle for 5 mins and transition perfectly. I did that before the first flight. :-)

Sorry, FINISHED weight. . .

Whew. I was waiting for someone else "out there" to finish one up and give an opinion.

2.5 ozs on the tail???? Where did you put your battery and radio? I had to add a bit of tail weight as well. About an ounce, but I could have moved the battery. You may even find it flies better even more tail heavy yet. But be careful, behind the tube it gets to where a little bit goes a LONG way, it's right in the area of the aft limit. But BOY does it snap clean back there!

Well I'm glad you like it. The rudder mix is not much, but it is a little odd from what I found. My guess is the counter balance has something to do with it. I'd love to hear your numbers and compare, I have settled at 4%. 5 is too much, and 3 isn't enough.

Let me know how it does in up and down lines, tracking, etc after you put about a case through it and really start to get the feel. Curiousity is killing me to compare notes down the road.

Wait till you try masters with it [8D]

Have fun and burn some fuel,
-Mike

That´s one extremely light Tempest!

/Erik

Boy, do I feel dumb not thinking of scratching the anodize off the aluminum. However, the bolts connecting the cylinder to the crank case should be properly torqued. It requires a 3MM hexhead socket and an in/lb torque wrench. I got the torque specs from Lance at Aeroslave. It was in Newton meters. I think it converted to 39 in/lb but I could be wrong. Better check with him.

Larry

Larry,
Come to think of it, I don´t really want to fool around with those bolts either. I have heard that the torque has to be just right, or the motor will not run. What is your current pipe, prop, plug set up?

Eric,
It has to be. We are over 8,000 ft. ASL here in Mexico City.

Mike,
All on the shelf behind the conopy, as far back as it will go. The problem is that the Speedmax soft mount takes the engine one inch forward. I should have taken the fire wall back to compensate. Or I could move the wing forward?

I think it´s great! As I will run electric power, I am interested in ways to shave weight. I will use contest grade balsa (less than 100 grams / cubic decimeter, equivalent to 6.24 lbs / cubic foot) but any other info would be great. Are your wings foam or built-up? If they are built-up, what thickness did you use for the wing sheeting? Any information would be great.

Your built up front-end looks great too.

/Erik