YakMad

I have the older 50 size p-51 which I added flaps to and have flown for years and the newer ME-109 and FW-190, they all require down trim. I did play around with the CG on the P-51 to correct this but reverted to the recommened CG as it landed to fast. My solution now on all the models is to set up a down elevator mix on a switch so that I can take off with zero down trim , helps stop nose overs and once airbourne at about 50 feet I switch the down mix in and leave it in for landings as well. On take off if you just slam the throttle open they will all roll left remember these are warbirds and the rudder area is small and they should be flown off the deck. The trick is to open the throttle smoothly, the tail should lift at about half throttle at which point you smoothly open the throttle fully and gently apply some up elevator and the model will take off with out any roll as the model is now at flying speed.

Peter,     It was in an Extreme Flight Yak-54 72 inch (I am keen on Yak's hence YakMad), I can't remember the weight as I have since sold it but I think it was around 11 lbs, vertical performance was good but not ballistic, it would hover with the 180 but there was not alot of power to pull out if you got it wrong, it would pull out slowly. After using an APC 18x6, 18x4W and 17x6 props I found that an APC 16x10 suited it the best and it ran the smoothest with this prop. I have since given up on four-strokes larger than 125 for aerobatic models and now use large OS two-strokes instead as the OS 1.60 produces alot more power than the Saito 180 and the OS 120 AX produces more power than my now expired Saito 150 (conrod came out of the bottom of the crankcase, another known problem with the Saito 150), don't get me wrong I am a very big fan of Saito engines and have years of service from current collection of my smaller one's from 1.25, .91, .82, several .72's and an old .65, just not very keen on larger four-strokes in aerobatic models.

Peter,     Sorry to hear you had to return your engine to MacGregor's, my Saito 180 suffered from a sticky exhaust valve, polishing the valve stem sorts it out and returned the engine to full power.

Phil,     I liked the look of the new GP Waco, £575 is far too expensive athough the shop price is usually less. How can they charge this much?, when Tower Hobbies have it listed for 480 dollars which at today's exchange rate is £299.00 or 333 euro, it does not cost £275 to ship a kit from China which is were I am sure Ripmax source them from thru Great Planes of course.

You could have a point Steve about the breather pipe, a buddy of mine had a split in the breather pipe on his ASP 120 and it took us ages to realise it was the problem, just be sure to use the same internal diameter pipe to replace it. Just Engines do have ASP needle valve 'O' rings, I bought a few a couple of weeks ago as I always like to keep a few in stock.

Sounds like its running lean or drawing air through the main or idle needle or both, I have posted comments about SC engines before to do with poor quality 'O' rings on the main and idle needles, I would suggest replacing both if you can or at least putting a piece of fuel tubing on the main needle and see if this helps, also 1.8hrs running may not be enough time to break this engine in. I have a few ASP fourstrokes and have found that the break-in period varied alot between engines athough when its done the engines run well and give long life. I did have a few SC's in my time, 52 fourstrokes and 52 twostrokes but gave up buying them as although SC and ASP are made in the same factory, the ASP engines seem to be made to a slightly higher standard and gave me far less trouble compared to the SC engines.

Peter,     The Saito 120 is a much smoother running engine compared to the 180 so a standard good quality mount should be fine with it, a clubmate has been running one in a warbird for years and it always annoyed me how smooth the 120 runs compared to the 180. The high levels of vibration are not unique to large Saito's, I ran an ASP 180 for a short while and unless I used 20% nitro it would almost shake the model apart. A clubmate has an OS 200 FS which is very good at throwing spinners and props and always sounds very rough plus his exhaust came loose on a regular basis until he used high temp silcone.

I have several of their models including the original Addiction, all have excellent flight performance and very strong and light.

I will keep an eye on the news for any reports of any council depots going up in flames

You should a set of buy low and high new needle valves or the 'O' rings to suit as if the tubing improved the performance of the engine then the main needle valve is leaking air, as I said Just Engines stock all the ASP parts which are the same as SC and the parts are fairly cheap. I would not give up on the engine as once they are sorted they run well.

Peter,     Sorry to hear you are still having exhaust problems as I have'nt checked this thread for awhile, to reduce airframe noise I always use Dubro quiet engine mounts with my larger fourstrokes as alot of modern airframes act like sound boxes. I found that the Saito 180 did not like low pitch propellers like the wider props used for 3D and eventually found that an APC 16x10 suited it best, I used to use Graupner G-Sonics in the larger sizes but found that they did not suit the 180 as it always felt under propped on them, although my smaller Saito 72's run very well on G-Sonics 13x6 props. Have you tried fuels with higher nitro content? I used to use between 12 and 20% which does give much smoother running and may help with the exhaust coming loose.

I bought an Overlander 5000mah sub C 4.8 volt pack and had to give it a 4 charge/discharge cycle before it would hold a full charge, this seems to be a common trait with NiMHs that have not been used for a while. I use alot of 2000mah ENELOOPS in smaller models and so far they are performing as advertised, I just wish they would launch a higher capacity ENELOOP battery.

Gonzo,   You should make sure that the lipos are discharged before 'recycling', discharge them and put them into a (plastic) bucket of salt water for a few days to completly and safely discharge them. (Lipo's can't be recycled anyway....... can they?)

That never worked for me Eric, a local model shop used to let me bring the model home and pay the next time I was in, my only solution was to stop going to that model shop

Just push a short piece of tubing from the needle end up over and past the threads on the needle valve, the idea is to compress the tubing when you screw the valve back in. Just Engines now stock 'O' rings for all the ASP Engines which as Martin says are the same as SC.

The Kyosho Spitfire 90 only needs a little down elevator mix with flaps/speed brakes deployed, the 50 size Spit I don't know about but I also have a Kyosho FW-190 and Me-190 (both 50 size) there is no attitude change with flaps deployed on either.

Do as Bob suggested and put a small piece of silicone tubing on the main needle, I do this with all my ASP's even from new as the only fault I have with these engines (ASP and SC) is the poor quality 'O' rings on the main and idle needles which wear out quickly. I recently replaced the main needle on an old ASP .61 FS (4 years old) which never gave me any trouble until suddenly it became very unreliable, normal service was resumed once a new main needle valve was installed.

Lipos I store in a couple of fireproof safes in the garage which I bought in Argos. Fuel I keep in a shed seperate to the workshop with no ignition sources, I have to buy my fuel by the box , (no good local source) and usually buy 2 to 3 boxes twice a year, I always date the fuel the day I get it, I am currently using fuel with 20% nitro which I purchased last August with no lack of performance from my engines.

I tried to order a few spares for a Venom GPV-1 motorcycle from CML (something to do when it's too windy and cold to fly), their site listed the parts as available which I took as in stock so I went ahead and ordered, a day later I get an email similar to James, there will be a slight delay in shipping your order, 5 to 8 weeks!! are they joking!!!. Canceled the order straight away and went onto Tower Hobbies, even allowing for import duties and vat I reckon I will get the parts for slightly less cost than CML and they have all the spares in stock plus I got $20 off the total order and reduced shipping costs, in fact half what CML were charging for P&P.

Steve, The twin Otter does not require this amount of power, I fly mine on two ASP .36's and I think it is overpowered with these engines as I only use half throttle for the entire flight, it's a very slippery model, with a high lift wing. Peter, The suggested servos are probably overkill, I used Hi-tec analogue 4kg torque metal servos all round except for the rudder which has a 6kg metal geared servo and seems fine, I am sorry I did not go the EP route as I've had one engine cut which was not pleasant, you need to get on the rudder immediately as mine turned into the dead engine very quickly even with such a large rudder area. It has no vices apart from this and flys like a big trainer, but needs flaps to slow the approach.

Stuey,     Sounds like the 'O' rings are leaking air, best to change the high and idle needle if you have ones available, it's also worth putting a small piece of fuel tubing on the main needle as well as I found this helps improve the high end tuning on my ASP's, it creates a second seal to prevent air leaks.

The smaller Saito's run smoother than the larger sizes and don't appear to loosen the exhaust. I have five 72's and one 82a and the exhaust never comes loose, but on my 100's, 125, 150 and 180 (now sold), the exhaust's always came loose until I did the silicone fix, in fact on the 100's, two manifolds sheered off at the the end of the threads, the manifolds on Saito are made of a lighter grade metal than OS which I persume is done to save weight but may contribute to the problem. Still I am very keen on my Saito's, they can't be beat for the amount of power they produce unless you want to buy YS (I could'nt afford the fuel bill, 30% nitro only)

Peter,     The solution I use is to clean the oil from the manifold threads and apply high temp silicone gasket seal, put it on the manifold threads before inserting into the head or the exhaust and tighten the lock nuts, it works best if you apply enough silcone that it squeezes out under the lock nut, allow it to cure and the exhaust should stay in place. All my larger Saito 100, 125 and 150 suffered from the exhaust coming loose until I did this, but the exhausts on my smaller Saito's, 72's and 82's have never come loose without the fix. Hope this helps

Try replacing the idle needle or just the "O" ring if you can source one, the ASP parts are the same and cheap from Just Engines, I have run ASP .61 FS engines for years and keep a small stock of main and idle needles as the "O" rings get hard and leak air causing the mixture to go lean at idle hence the very fast idle. in fact I only replaced an idle needle in one of my ASP 61's last week with was running fine for the last two years but suddenly started to run very rough at idle, now running like a clock again after the needle change.

Steve,     I have a DSX9, I think the radio has a couple of programming issues as I have managed to disable the throttle cut when using an Offset mix on the Elevator and have to switch the mix off to restore throttle cut, I gave up trying to solve it. Have you tried binding to a blank model memory to see if full travel is restored?