The Refried Bean Build-It flies

Rusty, that was great. I love hearing that slow lumbering engine in the background and then you have this zippy little 1/2A. Reading your post and seeing your picture, it appears that your using the muffler. I would certainly opt for losing that if that field allows for it. If not, the stinger can certainly be opened up more. The stingers are pressed into the muffler body so step the bits up rather than go for the gusto and one large drill bit. You can hear the prop loading the engine through the maneuvers. This can be deceiving due to the muffler holding back the engine. This can also be the situation if your flying with short lines. If the muffler can be removed in combination with a 5x3 prop,it would give the engine some breathing room. This would allow it to run in it's happy state throughout the maneuver. It would also send your cg rearward not to mention improve the overall turning rate of the plane. Ken

Fantastic Rusty, that looks like you may have been having just a little too much fun there.

BTW I thought it sounded great.

Ken Cook wrote: Rusty, that was great. I love hearing that slow lumbering engine in the background and then you have this zippy little 1/2A. Reading your post and seeing your picture, it appears that your using the muffler. I would certainly opt for losing that if that field allows for it. If not, the stinger can certainly be opened up more. The stingers are pressed into the muffler body so step the bits up rather than go for the gusto and one large drill bit. You can hear the prop loading the engine through the maneuvers. This can be deceiving due to the muffler holding back the engine. This can also be the situation if your flying with short lines. If the muffler can be removed in combination with a 5x3 prop,it would give the engine some breathing room. This would allow it to run in it's happy state throughout the maneuver. It would also send your cg rearward not to mention improve the overall turning rate of the plane. Ken

I have thought of all of that, Ken, but you just said it more eloquently. The muffler's coming off. It will make handling the hemostats easier too.

John...I ain't never had too much fun!

Very cool wild flight! What line length are you running with this?

Phil

pkrankow wrote:Very cool wild flight! What line length are you running with this?

Phil

Thanks Phil, definitely a fun flyer. It makes that two months of work worth the effort. That was on 40' lines. It was not as fast as I expected, so as recommended I'm going try different props to get that engine running like it should. If it moves a lot faster I'll have to rig up a 45' or 50' handle. As I found when I first flew my Baby Streak, an extra 5' makes a world of difference. Since the whole thing only weighs about 6.7 ounces, I'm thinking there's no speed limit.

I wish I could have done a better landing. But sometimes I still manage to find a way to run dry while it's upside down. I had no glide speed. Thinking back, it was high enough that if I had dove straight down and pulled up at 10', maybe I could have set it down more softly, or at least right side up. And not bent the needle, and scraped up the canopy. Oh well, that's control line flying. It doesn't take much time to knock some of the pretty off.

RknRusty wrote:
Oh well, that's control line flying. It doesn't take much time to knock some of the pretty off.

Pretty is as pretty does. You can't see any scrapes when you're doing the doo-dahs --- and it does those "pretty well".

I suddenly feel lucky that I open the garage door, walk to the other side of the drive way and set up usually with a pint of fuel, battery, and lines.

...or does that mean I bring my entire house with me?

Phil

There were two things I think needed adjusting. It was more stable in the flat laps than necessary, and the loops were slightly larger than I thought they should be.
My other concern was the engine was laboring more than it should in the loops.

I removed the muffler and swapped the wheel for a smaller one, and removed the dime tail weight. That shifted the CG rearward about 1/8". I'll adjust it a little bit at a time until I find the sweet spot. Right now I have no added weight anywhere on the plane and I think it's pretty close. Hopefully that will tighten up the loops.

With the 6x3 prop, it ran somewhere around 18,500 to 19,000 RPM on the ground(I don't remember exactly). I went down on the prop to a 5.5x3. It now peaks on the ground at 22,300 RPM and still runs steady rich at 21,000. I could not run it rich at all with the 6" prop. Not knowing Norvels yet, I don't know if that will be enough to keep the engine happy. I'm guessing it will, since before I sprung a venturi leak with the 6x3, it was really not as boggy in the loops as you saw in the video, but possibly running too lean. It will be faster, for sure.

I also got the venturi sealed up so now it's tight and there is no air leaking.

I expect I can get out to test it again this weekend, so I'll report back on how it flies this time around.