Reactor Bipe w/ DLE 20

[Doozer]

The only thing that would have made the maiden better would have been at least 10 more minutes in the air. I've learned my lesson and I've bought some spare props. I've also learned my lesson with those adhesive lead weights... doana trusta them.

I am considering reworking the tank plumbing. I'm thinking a 10oz tank is overkill, and that my clunks are way too stiff. I could really get away with 6oz., and I'd have better clearance for the throttle push rod. Now that I've built it... I kind of want to re-build it, and make it better/cleaner. The transporting with the wings on is getting old, but building at the field doesn't sit well with me either.

Going to fly again today. My son wont be with me, but my dad will and he said he'd video. That's always an experience. He's a lot like my son, only with more commentary

[19000rpm]

You're not the first guy to have a flying session cut short for lack of a new prop.

If you get that trailer you'll probably avoid a lot of assembly and dis assembly.

Looking forward to your next vid.

[Doozer]

Flew again this afternoon. 2nd Flight. I WAS using a 16X8 prop... not anymore. That prop is too long. Took the tips off on landing. I'm going to try the 15 X 10 but I doubt it works. The 14 X 10 will the ones I buy from now on. I changed the oil ratio to 30:1 from 32:1. Spat out oil like a mother yesterday, that's why I didn't fly yesterday. I wanted to get the needles close so I didn't have a flame out. It's still a bit rich which you'll be able to hear, but I'm closing the needles slowly now.

I did some stall turns with my heart in my throat (didn't want the engine to die) and got in a few loops and rolls. The wind was fairly steady at 15mph and heavier gusts. I took off and landed crosswind because I figured I needed the practice.

Here's a video from today. There were many spots that the plane would go out of focus and the wind would blow hard in the mic. So I cut those out and the result is what you see below:

[19000rpm]

That's looking pretty smooth for a windy day.

Getting the prop the right size usually takes a few flights.

[Doozer]

Before I came to the field I leaned up the low end and the high end. But before I cranked it up, I got cold feet and opened the high end back up. The result is what you hear. There's no real power on the high end. When i get off the high needle the there's too much fuel and it starts burbling and missing in the mid range.

The landing wasn't great. I was using a 15 inch prop... and clipped the tips. That dragging sound you hear is the foam wheels scraping the wheel pants. Gotta fix that too. $40 worth of props. Going back to the 14 X 10's.

I'm going to dial the low rates back too. They feel like high rates.

[Doozer]

Well I figured out why I was breaking so many props. There's a couple of guys that are using a DLE 20 in this plane, and I read and re-read that they were using 16 X 8 props. I thought to myself, "wtf." So I put the bipe on the table and flipped it over and just stared at it and thinking....


This is what lead me to make this change. I've gone through $40+ dollars worth of props due to prop strikes on landings.



Because of the way the struts are made, it is possible to put the landing gear on sweeping backward or forward. And because I used images from an EP build thread @ RC Universe, instead of paying attention to the manual, I had the landing gear backwards (swept back instead of forward). This created a lower profile and caused the struts to flex more than they should. In the picture above you can see how much further forward the wheels are now.


Again showing the difference between backward and the right way. I'm pointing to the correct position.


When removing the original bolts from the blind nuts mounted by Great Planes, I sheared the cap of one of the kit bolts. I pushed the bolt through and found the kit bolt damaged. So I went into my trusty stock of RTL Fasteners and got a bolt and blind not from there. As you can see, the threads are the same, but the RTL nut is beefier.


Big difference. Great Planes really cheaped out here.


So I went ahead and changed out the bolts as well. Again, same size threads, just a better bolt. I'm holding the stock bolt. The RTL bolt is mounted.


Done with one side.

So... I had the gear on backwards.... DOH!

[Doozer]

That was the ticket. I didn't have a camera man tonight or I'd post a video, but that was the problem. Could have saved myself some money... oh well, ya live and learn. Good Times.

I leaned up both needles and it ran like a champ. I'm sure I could go even more lean, but I'm really still pretty early in the break-in process. Many people say @ two gallons this engine hits its stride. I've got a long way to go for that. This engine sips fuel.

This plane tracks like an arrow, and I am afraid to test the high rates. I've got 50% expo in the elevator and rudder

[19000rpm]

It doesn't take much of a difference in the angle of a landing gear to contribute to, or eliminate, nose overs with tail dragers. I've experienced that often enough and read about it all the time on the forums. Like you say, "Lesson learned."

I say go with your comfort level with dual rates and expo. I learned to fly with non computer radios and find it a real advantage to make those settings what ever I like for a particular plane and set up.

[Doozer]

Added a video to the Build post....

Well that's it for this bird. I'm going to continue to fly it and video it, but I've done about as much in this thread as I can. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with an 8 oz tank, and I'd try to cut as much weight as I can while keeping a good CG. I'm not so sure now that smaller servos wouldn't have worked. I'm also not so sure that I needed to reinforce the firewall as heavily as I did. I'm pretty sure a smaller ply and less glue would have done the trick. You can see the weight of this plane in a dive.

However, once I get this plane going in one direction, I can take my hands off the sticks and it wont budge off course. It does what I ask it to unless I'm in a dive. Low rate rolls are fast and true (no corkscrew). It isn't all that fast yet, but that's because the engine is new. Give it a gallon or so more and we will see.

Enjoyed it!
Robby

[Doozer]

Thought I had done all I could do ;D

Since I first put that big white spinner on I've felt like it destroyed the nice long lines of this plane. I thought of calling the plane Durante or Mayim Bialik (well known actors with big noses). The big white spinner just looked awful to me. So today was new spinner Tuesday. I got new spinners for the Gee Bee and the Reactor...


I put a Dubro 8mm X 1 Aluminum Spinner Prop nut on it.


Of course I had to fly it to make sure it worked:

[19000rpm]

Nice flying! That plane is a beauty...Especially with the nose job.

[Doozer]

I got the idea from a video of a guy flying the plane with a Saito 125 in it. Man... that really made me want a four stroke too. But it made me realize how silly that big spinner looked on this plane. The other thing the prop nut does is open up that hole in the cowl where the shaft sticks out. Air can now get in there. Not that it really needed it, but the engine temp was fairly low for how hot it was yesterday.

About the flying... I'm working on it. I'm sure it wasn't noticeable but there were a couple of times I was trying to hover it way up high. The prop is a pattern prop though (like it's really the props fault I couldn't do it ) . I kept it in low rates. In the sim I can hover with low rates but it's easier with high rates. I'm a little worried about using the high rates though. The switches for elevator and rudder very close to the ones for choke and engine kill. I'd like to tie all three to one switch, but I haven't figured that out yet.

[19000rpm]

The prop really does make a difference on the hover.

You might want to consider a gyro too. It may sound like cheating, but mostly it takes the wind out of the equation.

[akent]

Great job Doozer!
Kent

[Doozer]

Hello All,
I finally finished changing electronics in my reactor. I've changed my radio equipment to FrSky equipment. If you haven't been following my FrSky thread in the Radios forum, you can find out about why I decided to change here: www.rchelitalk.proboards.com/post/41025/thread

I also changed out the tail servos from Hitec 645MG's to Hitec 5625MG's. I believe I had a servo dying, but the switch to digital servos was a better choice, IMO. Here are some images from the change.

This is a "Before" image



This are JR Matchboxes. With the FrSky radio system, I am able to eliminate them (x2 @ $80 a piece) 



These are the old HS 645 servos. I use a split elevator so I have one servo on each half. When I switched rx's I noticed a difference in throw and in travel speed on one of the elevator servos. That's why I changed. 



This is a "Before" image of ignition placement. I had the ignition just behind the head on the engine side of the firewall. In retrospect, this is not a good idea because of heat. Even though, in this case, the cowl is wide open and most of the heat dissipates into open air, I thought a better place would be on the inside of the firewall since I'm removing the WIKE IBEF. The IBEF started blinking after I changed receivers and that's a big red flag. Whether the IBEF was bad or not, I have no clue, but after two loss of signals, and subsequently two crashes, I'm not risking a third. So out it goes.

Also, the plug cap should rest comfortably on the plug. As you can see here, I had to force it to sit the way it was, and eventually, this could have caused an issue. 




Installing the FrSky X8R



I used two 6" servo extensions on the bottom wing servos, since I would have to remove/install every time I break it down for travel. With the extensions, this becomes a non-issue.



Installing S-bus decoder for the extra channels. Including power, I'm using 10 channels. 



After removing the IBEF, I also removed the old 4100 mAh battery. I went with two, 1700 mAh Power Edge batteries. The two Power Edge batteries together weighed 6.5 oz. The weight of the Team Orion 4100 was 9.3 oz. So I'm shaving some weight.  Also, I moving away from Velcro. I have found the 3M "Dual Lock" works much better in most applications where hook and loop can be used. The down side to "Dual lock" is that it's exponentially more expensive. Why? I have no clue, but what I do know is that whatever I use it on sits rock solid. 



To go with the two battery system, I had to install a dual switch with charge ports. 



Change Complete



Hitec 5625's installed on all three tail control surfaces. The difference in feel of movement is extreme. I'm happy with the change. 

Forgot to get an image of the new placement of the ignition box. I'll put it here when I have time. However, It does fit nicely behind the firewall where the IBEF used to be, and the the plug cap now rests unrestricted on the plug. 

Since this is more of a radio related change, I'm going to put a flight video, and an EEPROM walk through in the FrSky thread. I have no doubt that this was an upgrade from my JR system. I now have 16 channels, telemetry, voice alarms, 17 point curves, and the freedom of complete customization, all for a fraction of the cost.