John Hickson Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Maybe a stupid question but my only other IC plane had a visible fuel tank. My Seafire does not, it's buried away in the fuz. This got me thinking, how do you know when it's full? Fill it now and count have many revolutions of my fuel pump it takes from empty? Likewise, how do you know how long to fly for before it runs out, fly for a bit, bring it in, take the wing off and keep checking? Edited By John Hickson on 20/12/2012 17:19:32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Clive Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 When fuel comes out the breather pipe, its full. Fly till engine cuts then you know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reno Racer Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 What engine are you using: I presume a 120 FS if its the eRC/Seagull Seafire. A 120 FS generally uses about 1.75 to 2oz per minute at full throttle. So a 20oz tank would give 10 mins at full throttle, perhaps realistically, 13 mins of normal warbird flight, assuming the tank was full to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly boy3 Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Take the pressure pipe off the exhaust when you fill the tank. When fuel comes out of said pipe, your tank is full. Time your flight until engine stops, land dead stick.. then take a few mins. of the time, and away you go. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Hickson Posted December 22, 2012 Author Share Posted December 22, 2012 Cheers guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marsh Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 My seafire has a large 20oz tank, and have flown it for 16 mins on a OS 120 FS MkIII Pump, and still had 1/4 tank left, but the OS is so powerful, I only need 1/2 power, max as it goes too fast and risk VNE the airplane. So the OS120 at 1/2 power will use less than a 91 at full chat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 This might help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devcon1 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Hi I'm also curious as to how, with a typical tank shown above, does the engine keep running when say in a vertical dive with half a tank of fuel. With the model static but nose down vertically and half a tank full the clunk will be poking up into thin air. Where does the fuel come from in this situation whilst in flight? Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 The fuel will either fall at the same rate as the plane and therefore doesn't go to front of the tank, or if you could throttle back and slow the plane down so the fuel will fall the the "bottom" of the tank, you'd probably "meet" the ground before the engine stopped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devcon1 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Thanks Frank, That makes sense, I guess you'd only start possibly having fuel problems when hitting the 1/4 tank position with much more chance of pulling air through instead of fuel. It's got me thinking though about maybe fitting some sort of small header tank that stays full as it's replenished from the main tank. Kind Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Hickson Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 VNE? Got the answer from another post Edited By John Hickson on 23/12/2012 04:04:24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marsh Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I've never had any problems with the engine stopping in a dive. Usually the G-forces are sufficient to create positive 'G' in a dive (acceleration of the airplane in the dive : Therefore + G-Forces) to keep the fuel feeding the carb. A pint can not hold a quart . If it holds the pint. it's doing the best it can. Vincent from "Black Hole" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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