British Warlord

Ken Cook Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:05 am

This is one that Ian would enjoy. My son and I have a good bit of involvement with combat but this is something entirely new to me. A friend of mine was in a hobby shop that was recently closing. He called me due to stumbling onto this combat kit. I figured why not pick it up and I'll build it. So I get the kit and I will say never building a British kit before this was nothing like I ever experienced. The bellcrank supplied is a piece of sheet brass you cut and file to shape, the tank supplied is a bunch of pre bent parts that need to be soldered together. The leading edge is just a piece of square stock that requires extensive planing and shaping. The ribs were just rectangular pieces of 3/32" stock that requires all ribs to be sanded to shape. All in all it was a neat build and now it needs to be covered. This plane is built like a tank and weighs about the same. 10 oz's as it sits now, the engine is 8 oz's and I'm still without covering.

Yesterday, I assembled the entire wing completing the engine nacelle last evening. I drilled for the dowels and epoxied and glassed the nose in last night. Other than that the entire model was assembled with carpenters glue and rubber bands. My engine choice will be the Enya MK II 2.5 diesel. I added the phenolic pads to the nacelle due to the case being so deep.

My tank of choice wouldn't fit without a lot of rework to the plane so I decided to just offer a open bay for the tank.

Engine nacelle awaiting a bit of sanding. and microballoon fillets

ian1954 Wed Mar 25, 2020 8:59 am

A prime entry for Vintage combat over here!

Ken Cook Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:29 am

I got a crack at getting some fly time on it yesterday. It was drizzling and cold so I wasn't exactly feeling it. The diesel experience is new to me in terms of flying them. I can run them on the bench all day long but flying them is totally different. The next problem is that unlike glow, who are you going to ask when you need advice? My main concern is not running the engine over compressed which I didn't. This flight was under compressed. Sneaking up on it is tough. I felt the need to turn the Tommy bar in slightly on restarts losing my prior setting. When I did fly it, my flight was quickly ended due to not tightening the lock on the Tommy bar and it moved. My second flight was real enjoyable. This plane shocked me as it's very stable and it does maneuver pretty well.

https://www.facebook.com/PhillyFliersCL/

ian1954 Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:18 pm

I am glad that you enjoyed the flight. At take off in the video - the engine sounded just right - a slight misfiring ready for launch.

If the motor is overcompressed - the exhaust residue will be very black. Diesels can be tricky to set as you will keep finding but once the starting and running settings are mastered don't be tempted to fiddle. Another sign is the motor sagging in flight - it will sound tired and there will often be a very smoky exhaust.

Although the needle setting is quite forgiving - it does play a part in compression. A rich setting increases the compression and the flow tends to lean out in flight reducing compression. Lean and over compressed will kill the engine in short time.

Err towards slightly rich and undercompressed until your ear tunes in. This is an old sports engine and eminently suited to the Warlord.

Which propeller are you using?

Ken Cook Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:17 pm

Ian, that was the first flight. The later flights were greatly improved. A few things I should've done. The tank was a used tank but it came from a reliable source. The tank is a uniflow tank and I ran it in the video on uniflow. I should've capped it and tried standard vent to see if a difference was noted. Nonetheless, against my experience I installed it without taking it apart first. I need to lower the tank a little because that seems to be the main problem when the plane goes inverted. The prop I'm using is a black Magnum Tornado 8x6. I might step it up to a APC 8x7. The other thing that may have also played a bit of a factor is the fuel filter, I really should've cleaned it prior to flying. I cleaned it prior to going to the field but I installed it to catch any debris while running it. I ran several tanks out on the ground prior to flying and I never checked it yet. What I need is someone like yourself at my field. I truly enjoyed flying this plane, it was real fun, it presented well at the top of the circle and everyone was impressed with it. The kit was very unorthodox to me. Everything was essentially square blocks all requiring shaping and sanding. This was a true kit. It was a lot of work but it paid off in the end. I'd build another given the chance if I ever find one again.

ian1954 Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:28 am

The plans are available

https://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_plans/details.php?image_id=4657

The typical propellers used on these old timers with a 2.5cc diesel is 8x4, 8x5 and 8x6. 8 x 4 being most often used in combat,

An 8x4 should take this engine to approaching peak power at around 14k, It is probably doing between 10 and 11k on the 8x6.

A typical stunt prop for this would be a 9x6 at about 9k.

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