Cool.........I hear is supposed to rain tomorrow......sorry, had to mention that....

lol, thats probably good. It will force me to take more time to go back over and make sure everything is perfect.

Mark or anyone who has a good method,
I have access to Buddys leveling table to set incidence, but how do you guys setup the plane to be able to get it level and stable for setting incidence without a fancy jig to put it in? I would like to just do it on my table if there is a way to do it accurately.

Assembly Complete!

All I have to do is set the incidence and it will be ready to go.

Excuse the ugly piece of foam under the battery. It will be replaced with a nice clean cut piece once I make a trip to the LHS.

Hey Mike

Good luck taking the Genesis off the ground. I would not secure the half kilo fueltank with some velcro. It needs to be held in place with a firm grip, since the 160 can shake up any airframe pretty good. Especially a Genesis, that comes with very few if any bulkheads to give torsional stability......

Best regards Eggert

Hmm, thanks guy..
I have always secured my tanks with velcro without any problems. I have already considered tying some fuel tubing to the tank support and using it for a little extra tiedown support. That being said I dont intend to abuse this plane, it wont be treated any more roughly than a 1.40 would. I just want the 1.60 so that I can have vertical authority.

One of the things that has always been the most frustrating to me is having to wait on a airplane to get over the top of the maneuver. I can do it, but it just doesnt look as nice and I think it can give a judge the sense that the maneuver is assymetrical if the plane sloooooooows down and just barely makes it over the top of a maneuver like a vertical square 8 or sometimes even a simple humpty bump or tophat.

The closest thing I have ever used on a pattern plane was a 1.40L that Bryan Hebert used to own. Thats what I want and Im hoping thats what the DZ will give me.

Mike: How much does it weight?

I will find out tomorrow. Im either going to go buy a set of scales or go weigh it at a friends house.

By the way, the plane is ready to fly. Incidence in the stabs was a little difficult to set with the digital meter because the bottom of the fuse is so soft the weight of the digital level and the GP incidence tool would flatten the bottom out and threw the meter off by about .2 degrees. Once I supported the weight of the fuselage right at the tailwheel it was no problem.


I think I am going to shoot some clearcoat on the lower colored portion of the plane before I run the engine out. Im scared of the fuel damaging the paint. I have been warned by about 4 different people.

Mike

I concur with the comment about securing the fuel tank better. I've had them slide forward and backward even when secured much better than yours appears to be.

One trick I've used is to secure a strip of adhesive backed Velcro onto the tank and then use the Velcro straps across the Velcro on the tank. This helps remedy the dilemma between having to get the straps so tight they break something vs. loose enough for the tank to slide. I would definitely consider a better securing method before flying it.

In the attached photo the tank continually would slide forward even with the Velcro strip on the tank until I added the green Velcro anchoring strip.

Keith B

Mike,

What’s going to prevent oil residue from coming through the false floor and getting on your RX? Do you have it sealed in some way? Am I seeing that correctly that the Velcro goes through the false floor?

Keith B

How is this?? IT doesnt budge now....

As far as the little airgap around the velcro support. I can use a little clear silicone and it shouldnt add any weight at all.. Thanks for the tips, that is exactly what I need.

Weight
Wings are 15.6oz each
Fuselage is 8lbs 2 oz or 130oz
wing tube 1.6oz

130+(15.6x2)=1.6
130+31.2+1.6= 162.8oz
162.8/16 =

10.175 lbs or 10 lbs 2.8oz WOW!!

10.175lb=4.615kg. That's very good. Chad's Enigma with the Xtra 30 (pretty much identical weight to the C50XL), 5300s, 21x12WE, and 1000mAh RX lipo pack was in the 4.5-4.6kg range. My Mantis with Xtra 25 (16-17oz), 6000s, 19x12WE, and 730RXlipo was about 4.7kg (glow version with 140DZ was 4.6kg).

OK, today I added some insurance to the paint and about 1 ounce to the plane.

I clearcoated the lower portion of the plane with PPG DC3000.. I actually sprayed it myself and it went on thick but I had no problems. Only thing is, the "expert" at the paint store said that it could not be thinned or it would lose its shine, so we didnt thin it. It went on like molasses so there was no fear of a run whatsoever and it looks nice. Due to the thickness there is a very slight overspray that I can buff out tomorrow and it will look totally like glass,

Then we played,,,, We tested the clearcoat and thinned it with almost half DT885 thinner. We sprayed an old chin cowl and WOW it flowed beautifully and went on like glass. There was no blushing effect whatsoever, so yes,,, it can be thinned to get a lighter coat and less weight gain and it will actaully flow a lot better. I gained just under 1ounce with what I did to the chin cowl and belly of the plane. Big deal, Im still under 10lbs 4oz. [8D]

Looking good Mike, I'll bet you’re anxious to get that baby in the air!

One more thing I thought I'd mention. Did you fuel proof the inside of the pipe tunnel and the engine compartment, or does it come already fuel proofed?

The reason I ask is that sometimes the fuel can soak through the fiberglass and start eating the paint from the backside, depending on the type of paint. If they used a fuel proof paint this isn't a concern, however, I've heard people mention the paint becoming damaged around the pipe tunnel cutouts which suggests that the paint may not be fuel proof, but the clear coat over the paint is fuel proof.

If the pipe tunnel and engine compartment are not fuel proofed this can be done very weight economically by using 30-minute epoxy and cutting it 50/50 with acetone or denatured alcohol. This thins the epoxy significantly and makes it very runny. You can then brush the mixture on and the alcohol or acetone will evaporate off and you're left with a very very thin layer of epoxy that will fuel proof your fiberglass.

To get down the pipe tunnel I use a dowel with an epoxy brush taped to the end.


Keith Black

Hey Mike,
how much elevator throw did you put in yours?

Thanks!

Thanks Keith,
Im really excited about it. You know Buddy and I looked it over yesterday and Im just not sure if the areas you mentioned are fuel proof, it looks like it may be but I dont want to chance it. Therefore I am going to fuelproof it this morning. Should be easy. Ray and I will test run it tomorrow and I MIGHT fly it if I can get a few tanks thorugh it on the ground without any problems.


Stek, here are the throws that Todd gave me to start out with.

Low High
Elevator 14 deg. 20 deg.
Ail. 14 deg. 20 deg.
Yes they are the same I don't know why but they are
Rudder, just leave the ATV at 100% and put the low rate at 65%

Hey Mike,
If everyone who is building a Genesis in District 6 shows up at the same contest next
year you guys are going to need numbers on the tail, or something, to tell them apart.
I count 9, maybe 10, that I know of.

tommy s

Tommy I know, It should be interesting. Mine should be pretty easy to pick out

By the way, Keith I took your advice and fuelproofed the inside of the pipe tunnel, chin cowl and cowl. Probably didnt add another 1/2 oz. Looks nice too...
Thanks friend for your helpful input, you probably have saved the paint job.

Weighed it out, weighs another 1/2 ounce. Weight well spent at a little over 10lbs 3 oz.

Engine Run out and Maiden Flight

Engine
OK, learned something. Once you pre lube everything up including the little bit in the carb as suggested, you need to pull the glow plug and blow all of the excess oil out of the cylinder. The engine wont run on 5W20. I literally almost burned up a starter trying to get it to fire off until I realized what was wrong. When I pulled the glow plug it was soaking wet with motor oil.

During this time I had a lot of trouble and undoubtly put a lot of stress on the engine parts I assume bacause the engine was so darn hard to turn over. Apparently the sudden stops as the engine would hit TDC slightly loosened the header which eventually came loose in flight. Once it came loose the vibration very quickly broke the header support bracket.. This was my fault and fortunately the engine is ok
.
Again, PULL THE PLUG AND BLOW OUT THE PRELUBE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO START. and you will avoid this problem altogether.

Once I blew out the oil, I followed Earl Haurys starting technique and it fired very gently immediately as I energized the glow plug. This engine is UNBELIEVEABLE!!! It would idle right out of the box as slow as I cared to go and have asolutely seamless transition to high throttle through 2 full tanks and infinite idle times. I ran it super rich for 2 tanks and it ran rich like a sewing machine (2+ rounds open on the needle.) I cannot see the need to adjust the low end, it seems perfect. IT has ridiculous power even brand new and sloppy rich.

It performed equally as well in flight even as sloppy rich as I had it. Magnificent power and really quiet with the 15x11 4B. I cant wait to see what it will do leaned out... This plane should hover at 1/4 throttle and accelerate vertically like a rocket.

Maiden Flight

Well after I got the engine running right I decided to see if I had followed Mr. Bloses assembly and setup instructions correctly.
Fortunately I did, and it flew beautifully.[8D]
It needed 2 clicks of down elevator and it was hands off level flight.


It definitely flies very well, the wind laid down and so I tried a few things.

No noticeable knife edge coupling and it tracks well for the initial flight..

It was arrow straight in the yawaxis on a horizontal line, but in a vertical upline i had to give a good bit of right rudder to keep it straight, I may need to increase the throttle>rudder mix a bit .

I even got brave and tried a couple of reverse avalances and the snap. Snaps beautifully and stops on a dime, I have never snapped any plane that will snap so hard and then stop where you want it with so little effort. You let off the sticks and it just stops.. Very nice.

Bad news was that the header came loose so I had to cut it short. Im glad I took Keiths advice and fuelproofed the pipe tunnel, chin cowl and engine compartment....

Last, even with the header loose and the pipe off the header while landing, the engine STILL would not die for me at rock bottom idle on the slider. I had to open the canopy and pinch the fuel line to kill it on the ground. Nothing a little linkage correction wont fix,,,, but I cant get over how slow the engine will idle and not load up. Unbelieveable!

Now I can relax and start the trimming process..

Mike

Mike,
If you're using petroleum based oil as an afterrun, you may want reconsider. This type of oil can degrade/swell the internal rubber parts. Consider using an afterrun oil approved by YS, or just use a fuel with high quality lubricant (Wildcat, for example) and don't bother with afterrun at all.
--Derek

Congrats Mike, I'm glad things went well (other than the header issue) !

I watched Earl's Partner fly with the 160 DZ and the four blader in Houston and I was extremely impressed.

Sound like you've got a winner there, now the fun really begins!

Keith B

That's great news Mike. The 160dz is a horse isn't it. These pattern planes have way more thrust to weight than even the good 3-d birds. I need to get started on Brett's Genesis. All our time lately has been concentrated on getting a 40% Carden airborn, it's been about a nine month project. Jetero Big Bird next weekend and two IMAC contests in Houston early next spring. Pattern will win out in any conflicts though.

Mike

Checksix, its Mobil 1, a synthetic oil. Thats why I used it.


Yes it is Keith, I cant wait!

Thanks Mike, it is definitely a brute, what impresses me more than anything though is the extremely slow idle and perfect transition straight out of the box. I didnt touch the low end and had the needled so open that it was dribbling liquid out if the pipe and it still turned 8000+ rpms and would NOT load up.... I hope it continues to run that well once I lean it out a bit.
Bret is really going to like this plane I think...

Congrats Mike!

Now.....you are flying Masters next season right?