Just wanted to know if anybody has tried a rcv engine in a seaplane. I purchased a seamaster a couple of years ago and it was originaly powered with an os .46 ax. The .46 was more then enough power for it but the oily mess was really getting to me. I tried routing a long piece silicone tubing to exhaust near the rear of the plane but this caused some engine tuning difficulties. I ended up with a very rich midrange and transition due to the exhaust restriction, from the silicone tubing, causing high fuel tank pressures. Anyway, I decided to try a 58cd from rcv.

So far I have run the plane off snow and I'm very happy with the performance. It really makes the plane enjoyable to fly. Fuel consumption dropped considerably with more than adequate power. I'm just wondering how vulnerable they might be to corrosion? Any thoughts?

Buy the way this is my first post but I've been reading rcu forums for almost a year.

RCV make wonderful engines! beautiful smoooth 4 strokes which are a cinch in scale cowls. Whilst I live only 10 miles from their plant I do NOT have any connection other than as a very satisfied customer. If you buy one, look at it, hold it, feeeel it, give it a good cuddle, pat it, put it on the bedside table so you see it first thing (you wont need an alarm clock) If you must you can then install this beautiful item in a model. I wish I had kept one of mine in the box!!
Dave.

If you are worried about corrosion, you can use CorrosionX as an after-run (and paricularly an after-dunk) oil.

Dave-yes they are very nice engines. Now put them away carefully, move out of your mum's house, and get a girlfriend for a while.

Fortunately, I have never experienced an "after dunk" situation! After enough time flying off water it's almost bound to happen sooner or later. I've had a few collisions with the water before,(and a tree, and the ground!) causing some damage to the wing, but luckily never dunked the engine itself. I also have some great pics that I'd love to share, but I'm not that computer literate. Any pointers on putting pics in a forum would be much appreciated.

Thanks Jim for the tip on corrosionx. I emailed RCV on it and they recommended gun oil if after-run oil isn't available. First time I've heard that.

Uploading images: In THIS forum, if the image is posted domewhere on the internet just click on the image block at the top pf your text entry block. it will prompt the computer to give you the HTML tools: {IMAGE} {/IMAGE} except the { characters are [ characters....but if I typed it that way, the computer would have thought >I< was imbedding an image and you would not have seen them. Insert the url of the internet image between the two html tools. so it will look almost like
{IMAGE} http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5347895/tm.jpg{/IMAGE} (don't click on the link, I just made it up)

If the image is just a picture in your computer, post a message, then edit it. "Upload more Files?" will appear as an edit choice at the bottom of the screen and you can browse to the pic in your computer and upload it from there. The file can't be too big, tho', but normal pics work fine.

Thanks for the info. So here it is. A plain Seamaster with the 58cd. The seamaster looks original but the front half has been completely redone. Eventually I would like to personalize it a little but for now I've just been patching it to match the original trim scheme. I've nicknamed it patches from all the repairs it's had.

Just a little info on the rcv if anybody is interested. I'm currently swinging a Master airscrew 12x6 @9600rpm with about two hours on the engine. Imediately after break in I was only getting about 9000 rpm on the same prop but rpms kept improving the more fuel I ran through it. Normal flight times on a 10oz tank is about 40-50 min. This engine sounds really good compared to the buzz of the .46ax. Power is excellent with lots of bottom end torque but doesn't quite have the top end that the ax had. I found that this engine is very close in weight to the AX. Also, the oily mess is almost non existent. I added a small oil tank for the vent line using a small advil bottle which collects the majority of the oil. The oil tank is about a third full after passing an entire tank of fuel through it. You can see the oil tank right underneith the engine. The engine mount is also homemade out of 1/4" aluminum.

Being all the way up here in Canada, I end up fying in fairly cold weather. This engine has no issues that I can see from the cold. I've come up with a couple of starting aids which has really helped. First I made my own choke flap to help prime the engine because I was having a tough time getting my finger between the firewall and the engine to prime the carb. That also helps keep the fuel off my fingers. That fuel is very cold on the hands especially in cold weather. The second tip is to richen your high speed needle one turn AND the low speed needle half a turn. I found that if you just open the high speed, it won't start at low speed settings or not at all.

This plane suffered a major crash awhile back which completely destroyed the fuse up to where the wing mounts. I posted a pic in the crashes section under "oh man" of the actual wreckage. I kept all the pieces, of course, glued them back together and copied them with light ply. Because it was so cold, and or the kind of glue that was used, every glue joint failed in the crash. Anyway, I bought this thing as an arf so I had no plans for reference so I used pics taken before the crash to get it as close as I could to the original. The first filght after rebuilding proved to be rather tough as it had a real hard time getting off the water and felt unstable in the air. After playing with the cg for an afternoon it was flying better but still wasn't like it used to be.

I ended up finding a set of plans on ebay and when I received them I realized what I had done. I had build the fuse too stright which in turn changed the incidence of the main wing to the fuse. Basically the stab was trying to pull the nose down. The easiest solution to my screw up was to cut the stab off and change its incidence. That's why there is still a bit of covering missing on the horizontal stab. I couldn't believe the difference it made. She went from hard to fly to a floater!

Mine is not a Seamaster - it`s an O/D and my first attempt at a floatplane. These pics from its first day out on floats. It had about six flights this day and no major incidents, apart from dropping my nice custon-made float rudder in the tide soon after its second takeoff!

The model has a span of around 70" and flies great with the RCV 58 - a real nice combo. The engine was new here - first runup on the beach and then onto the lake. It started very easily and didn`t miss a beat all day.

This model has had plenty of flying in standard tail dragger configuration and was powered with a tired old OS 48 Surpass for that. The model is fitted with flaps and although I played with them in the air on floatfly day, I never used them for any takeoffs or landings.

The RCV 58 is a real nice engine, a pity it isn`t mine! Nice to have a mate to lend it to me for my first attempt off water!

Alan W

Nice pics alfawhisky! That's the only other float plane I've seen with an RCV. Glad to hear things went well on the floats. Did the rcv have lots of jam for takeoff with the added weight of the floats? Would you buy 58cd for yourself?

I've been getting pretty itchy for a flight or two but it's just been too cold up here and just not enough snow. I went flying a couple of weeks ago but the little snow that was left was too hard and tore up the covering on the bottom of the fuse. I still managed to get one flight in though.

Yes, the RCV had plenty of power. I used all it could offer for takeoffs, but then cruised around on part throttle for most of the rest of it. The model will loop and roll easily too.

As a taildragger landplane it balanced just fine with the OS 48 Surpass and no additional weight. The extra weight of the RCV 58 must have compensatedwell as I didn`t need to add any weight anywhere when I added the floats. I don`t recall the weight details right now - it has been sitting out in the hangar under dustcover for 3 or 4 months now....

I`d go and buy an RCV 58 if I had to, it`s a nice engine. My mate also has one of the larger RCV 'horizontal' efforts. I`m not so keen on this one. It runs well enough, seemingly not over-endowed with power, but the bit that bugs me most is the rattling gear-clashing noise of it all - I wouldn`t buy this one for myself.

Alan W