harleydoberman

Here are some pictures of the engine on the Texan Eric is building for me.

harleydoberman

Ready and waiting for the Prop and Prop Hub.

Tony in Shamong

waldo

Hi Harley & Eric, I've just fitted my 620s to the T6 wing pretty much as you guys did . I'm having some problems with the locks binding when the units are bolted down in the mounts but work fine on the bench. It appears that the black plastic block may be distorting slightly when bolted down making the sliding locks bind. Any thoughts?

Meschmidt

My Feedback: (15)

Waldo, It is important that the mounting area be considerably flat and level on all four mounting holes. Use small washers under any "soft feet" to prevent binding or twisting of the retract during tightening of the mounting screws. Hope this makes sense. Paul

ElectRick

My Feedback: (2)

You could also use a thick epoxy and microballoon mixture on the rails to 'shim' the surfaces level. Lightly grease the retract's mating surface to the rails with petroleum jelly or similar (or use plastic wrap), and sit the retract in place after applying a medium light coat of the epoxy to the rails. Sit the retracts in place, weight or clamp them down in place LIGHTLY so as not to distort them, then pop them loose after curing. Clean up any squeeze out, and you're good to go.

Rick

waldo

Thanks guys. I was thinking along the lines of using an epoxy of some kind as a levelling compound as suggested. Maybe Plastic Padding Chemical Metal. I was surprised to find retracts of this price and apparent quality would distort so easily. Appreciate the help.

RCPILOT78

I am getting ready to maiden my AT-6 in the next two weeks...I have already run my G-26 and let me say it is a sweet engine..starts every time I had to add approx 12 oz of led in the nose to ballance...probably because I added flaps which changed the CG. will keep you informed on the maiden RCPILOT78

waldo

Good to hear from you again. The thread had gone a bit dead. I look forward to hearing how the first flight goes. What do you reckon the weight is now with the mods. The problem with my 620 retracts is solved. The mounting flanges were not at 90 deg. to the body resulting in some strain when bolted down. BTW what I thought was binding in the lock mechanism was actually movement of the cylinder mounting frames. This small movement was changing the angle between the piston rod and the retract crank resulting in some small reduction in force appllied to the lock. While the 620s are nice looking mechanisms the fabrication could do with heavier guage material.

RCPILOT78

Waldo..she weighs in at 16lbs....with the retrects and the added flaps and flap gear it came out heavier than the 12.37lbs

waldo

I think some of the Midwest Texans came out at this weight or even heavier and that kit was designed witout flaps so your model shoul do fine. Let us know how the first flight goes. Did you mount the G26 soft or hard and what did you do for glitch suppression. I'm using the same engine but its my first gas plane so I'm learning as I go.

Eric.Henderson

The Nitro AT-6 Texan was given a test fight yesterday.

The OS BGX started first spin and was flawless through the whole thing.

Take-off required no rudder. The tail was held a little low beause the 20 x 8 Mezjlik had very little ground clearance. My 10X24 guided the R7000 and felt very tight.

The flight was very easy on the sticks. The gear was pulled up as soon as it passed the end of the runway. Trim, was about two beeps of down-trim.

The airplane tracks well and looks wondefull in the air. The wings are very visible. She rolls smoothly and will do really big loops with the humongous OS on the front. The BGX made me put the 3600 mAh pack towards the rear of the wing-seat opening.

This is one of the better planes that I have seen from "Nitro" and the finish is very pleasing to the eye. The BGX is fully cowled so I made a vent behind the head. The cowl was kept clear of the fuselge to also assist in getting air out of the cowl. The BGX never threatened to get hot. And this was after only one ground run.

Slow speed was stable and a little power was priudent when you went into the turn (when flying slow). High speed was throaty and super to watch and fly. It was not my plane by the time it was flown so I put on my "baby" hat and was very conservative.

Landing was, line-up--throttle back--skim and land. (always keeping that prop clear of the ground) - It will be changed to an 18 x 10 or 12 ASAP).

Glad we went BGX.

Regards and thanks for the hint - - Eric.

Meschmidt

My Feedback: (15)

Eric, good job on the maiden flight. It went alot like mine, smooth and uneventful. Put a couple more flights on my AT6 Saturday. I installed a Dub Jett in cowl muffler on the Moki 1.8. Now it runs a lot quieter than most 40 size engines and can only hear the prop noise. Picked up 500-600 more rpms too. This plane flies like a Cadillac and the owner will enjoy it a lot! Paul

Eric.Henderson

I can't say we are quiet. The BGX with an OS "F" runs at almost all needle settings and keeps idling. Runing slightly rich it has a gas engine gurgle sound with the Bisson Pitts muffler.

The retract modifications worked out pretty good as well. You can see them working as you go up on the mains. The full size version must have been a blast for the pilots. This is a big trainer!

Regards,

Eric.

RCPILOT78

I also maidened my at-6 yesterday...flight went well the G26 ran well plenty of power used 1/2 throttle and it was a rocket...I had to remove some nose weight it was a bit nose heavy...I ballanced it at 122mm from the leading edge thats about mid range between the published 117-125mm....and it was perfect..am pleased with the plane as mentioned in the prior post it tracked straight down the runway with little rudder input and that was on asphalt runway.. I did put in the 2degrees of right thrust but no down thrust as suggested in the plans no noticable problems with no down thrust...did some minor adjusting and tweeking for the next flight..I did use soft mounts but mine were scratch built I obtained the rubber grommets from ACE hardware store and made my own...they are firm.. the model manufactured ones are too soft .all you want to do is isolate the high frequency vibs from your air frame...when you use too soft a rubber mount you create more vibration..will have some pictures later RCPILOT78

RCPILOT78

WALDO..yes I used soft mounts as mentioned in my prior post...the MIDWEST at-6 was a bit heavier than this one...so yes I am OK with 16 lbs...I always use the ElectroDynamics EDR-111 isolator..and for the ailerons I use their extensions with the chokes whenever I fly with a gasser..especially the Zenoa engines with the magneto ignition..never had problem with this setup...the G26 is more than enough power for this bird and it fits perfect..

waldo

Eric/RCPILOT, Thanks a lot for the flight reports, I'm a few weeks behind you with the completion of my model. I am just about to bolt up the G26, thanks for the tips RCPILOT. My supplier provided a complete new wing folowing the discovery of the misaligned wing tube. I have used robart 620s installed as Eric and Harley did but with Du-Bro 4.25 in. wheels. These completely fill the wheel well help with the scale appearance.

riat

Hi guys


I have gone throught his thread and am now much more interested in getting one for myself and maybe putting in a small gas engine in it.

A bit disappointing is that It seems that the kit does not include the option of fitting flaps. The full size airplane had split flaps the whole length of the wing betweeen the ailerons including the centre section. I know that most probably the model does not really need flaps for take off and landings , but it does make the model look more real.

I wonder if any of you have considered to modify the kit with this option and if you consider this to be feasible .

Meschmidt

My Feedback: (15)

I have flown my CMP 82" AT6 about a dozen times and have never felt the need for flaps on this plane. It slows down nicely like a sport plane and shows no tendency to tip stall. Adding flaps would be for scale cosmetics only in my opinion. I considered this too, and changed my mind after flying it a few times. Paul

RCPILOT78

I have added flaps and they do work well on landing it takes a bit of modifications but they work well

RCPILOT78

Hey guys whats going on no one is talking...everybody stop building....I have been having fun with my at-6 how is it going with youall ?

AlphaWhisky

I see it`s been about 18 months since my first post here. I`ve now moved the box from the attic to the workshop and am getting mentally prepared to start. I`ve bought the Eurokit retracts, a couple of those well-priced pilots ex Tower and also sat the G-26 next to a 30cc Homelite conversion on the bench to compare them.

It looks like the G-26 will be the winner. It`s more compact than the Homelite, and getting on for a pound lighter. My AT-6 is the unpainted version, and it`s still winter down here and thus not exactly painting weather, but I`ll make a start soon. Also crawled all over '96' and taken a bunch of doco pics.

I've also built six other r/c models over that 18 months and so haven`t exactly been sitting on my hands....

Alan W

theradioflyer

AlphaWhiskey, that will be a great looking model. I haven't pulled the trigger yet and order the T-6. I have too many planes already but I really want to build the T-6. Two weeks ago I had a dream come true. My wife bought me a flight in a SNJ-4. I went up for and hour doing at least a half hour of aerobatics and some formation flight with another T-6. It was incredible. I'm still trying to figure out retacts and motor but I think I'm going to get the CMP. Here's some pics of the SNJ I'll be recreating.

God Bless Everyone!

Jay

RCPILOT78

The best retracts for this bird are the Eurokit ones they fit right in no hassle...the only thing is the price.. but the robart ones take too much cutting up of the bottom of the wing to get them in...and they are not that cheap eighter...the best engine for this bird is the Zenoa g26 it also fits right in no mods required and it is well over powered with that engine....

AlphaWhisky

If it's well overpowered with the G-26, how do you reckon it would go with a G-23? I was given one of them a couple of months back and not quite sure what to do with it.

I haven`t much experience with Zenoahs - I had one in an overweight Midwest Extra 300 a while ago and it didn`t cope as well as I would have liked.....

Someone told me ages ago that the G-26 was miles better than the G-23. When you put one alongside the other they seem to be the same apart from the cylinder barrel. The paperwork quotes the same stroke so I guess the bottom end is the same. Can the G-23 be upgraded to G-26 spec easily? Is it worth it?

Maybe this is posted in the wrong place....?

Alan W

RCPILOT78

the g26 is basically an updated version of the g23 the 26 gets 800 more rpms than the g23..I think it would work just fine