David Davis Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 Thank you for the advice gentlemen. I'll see if my local motor factors have gum gum in stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 - Moderator Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 Correction, its called "Gun gum" made by Holts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 I had a good afternoon flying both Boris and Bertie. I had no trouble at all with the exhaust pipes on both models. They remained in place with no further tightening. The Loctite was not necessary! However, I had a problem with the Magnum in the British Baron., the carburetor cylinder kept coming undone. I will either have to replace the caburetter or the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 16 Author Share Posted May 16 I have been practising for La Coupe whenever I can. I have decided to use the Ukrainian Baron in the competition as it's slightly easier to fly than the British one. Unfortunately the threads in the cylinder head of the Thunder Tiger 54 let go this afternoon so I have some decisions to make. There's a new cylinder head for sale on eBay but the bloke wants 119€ for it. I have two OS 48FS Surpasses either of which should drop straight in and I have a box of OS 52 Surpass spares which might make up an engine but I would have to run it with open rockers because I know that I don't have a rocker cover. I could use one from one of the 48s I suppose. Deacisions, decisions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 Not enough meat and space in the head to install a brass insert for the plug ,. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis 2 Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 10 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said: Not enough meat and space in the head to install a brass insert for the plug ,. I'm not an engineer but I don't think so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 No one in the club with a lathe ?, or a local steam 'locomotive' club. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 17 Author Share Posted May 17 I found a sound OS carburettor among my souvenirs and fitted it to my Magnum 52 FS which used to be in the British Baron. The engine ran well enough but the original carburettor insisted on falling apart in flight. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 22 Author Share Posted May 22 I have sent off the Thunder Tiger's cylinder head to an engineer called Mike Phillips who bought a kit from me last year. Let's hope he can repair it for otherwise it's a very sound engine. With all of the swapping around, I now have an OS FS Surpass 52 in the British Baron and a Magnum 52 FS with an OS carburettor in the Ukrainian Baron. I have recently bought a Laser 50. I plan to fly a Baron in British markings with a British engine next year, but the engine is much heavier than its Chinese or Japanese equivalents so I'll have to make a Baron with a shorter nose. It arrived without a slow running needle but I managed to track one down to a model shop in Athens of all places.https://www.bestrcshops.com/. Mike plans to fly in the competition next year and may use a PAW 35 which would not be competitive against the OS35AX which is the engine of choice for the hot-shot i/c pilots in La Coupe, but it would be different. If it happens there would be two British pilots flying two Barons in British markings and powered by British engines! How cool would that be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 1 hour ago, David Davis said: Mike plans to fly in the competition next year and may use a PAW 35 which would not be competitive against the OS35AX which is the engine of choice for the hot-shot i/c pilots in La Coupe, but it would be different. If it happens there would be two British pilots flying two Barons in British markings and powered by British engines! How cool would that be! However to be really cool you should be sipping slightly warm pints of bitter and eating fish and chips, (out of a newspaper of course) 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 22 Author Share Posted May 22 1 hour ago, Martin Dance 1 said: However to be really cool you should be sipping slightly warm pints of bitter and eating fish and chips, (out of a newspaper of course) 😀 True enough Martin but given the location we might manage a cup of tea with a dash of milk and a bacon sarnie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 Don't forget the knotted hankie to protect your bonce.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 23 Author Share Posted May 23 1 hour ago, GrumpyGnome said: Don't forget the knotted hankie to protect your bonce.... Yes, it can get really hot down there in the summer. I had to abandon my 2022 attempt because Miss Blue Eyes felt unwell in the heat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 27 Author Share Posted May 27 The slow running needle arrived from Athens this morning so all thoughts of gardening or fitting a new switch to the P6 went out of the window. The engine started up straight away but would not hold full throttle. There could be a number of reasons for this: dirt in the carb, glow plug too old or the wrong heat range, prop too small, but I thought I ought to do something more constructive so I've left things until I have more time to devote to it. I will probably treat it to a set of piston rings as the compression seems to be a bit low. I plan to run it in La Coupe Des Barons next year. A Baron in British markings, powered by a British engine and flown by an Englishman will be ubercool! It's much heavier than the equivalent Japanese engine or any of their Chinese clones so I'll have to shorten the nose on the new model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 - Moderator Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 It is an old Laser with very likely an equally old plug, so I would start there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 19 minutes ago, J D 8 said: It is an old Laser with very likely an equally old plug, so I would start there. Can I send you some castor oil ?.😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 27 Author Share Posted May 27 3 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said: Can I send you some castor oil ?.😂 No thank you. My bowels are working well. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted May 30 Author Share Posted May 30 I dismantled the Laser's carburettor yesterday and gave everything a good clean. While I was at it I fitted the modern silencer. I remember reading somewhere that the slit in the spray bar of a Super Tigre carburettor has to face downstream so I assembled the carburettor and adjusted the spray bar accordingly. It started up straight away this morning and I was able to run it at all throttle settings on straight fuel. The original small silencer is pretty noisy but I might run it in La Coupe Des Barons next year because the Laser is much heavier than an OS 56 Alpha, the largest four stroke permitted in La Coupe, and I'm giving away 1cc in cubic capacity so I need all the help I can get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 Are you fitting it upright ?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis 2 Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 Dunno. I won't be doing much inverted flying in La Coupe! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted June 4 Author Share Posted June 4 Today, the rain and fog finally disappeared so I took both Barons to the flying field to practice for La Coupe. I had not yet decided which of the Barons to take to the competition, I'd made up a new cowling which could fit either but decided to fly them with their existing cowlings and put the new one on whichever model I chose, next week. The competition is on Saturday 15th June. The British Baron has closed link actuation on both the rudder and the elevator. It is powered by an OS52. I made some adjustments to the cables to take out lost motion. I decided to fly this one first. It turned out to be much faster that the Ukrainian Baron powered by a Magnum 52 XL. I made a couple of flights practising very low level flight. Then I started up the Magnum in the Ukrainian Baron. I flew it about but in practising low level flight I executed a Chinese landing and broke the starboard wing! So that's made the decision for me! I need to have a look at the landing gear on the British one but otherwise I will compete with my British Baron resplendent in its British insignia! If I don't plough it in in the first round, I think I might do quite well in the high speed events. Pictures of both Barons before the crash below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis 2 Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 (edited) I have been practicing every day this week and now have the engine and model sorted out. I have tried various props ranging from a 12x6 to a 10x8 but I can't say that I've noticed much difference in the performance of the model. Essentially there are two slow speed and two high speed events in La Coupe Des Barons and I was hoping that a change of propeller would make a discernible difference but that does not seem to be the case so I'll stick with a 12x6 or 11x7. I'm very impressed by the OS 52 FS Surpass. After fiddling about with push-rod lengths, carburettor adjustments and transmitter settings I now have a very slow tick over, excellent transition and plenty of revs at WOT, mind you, I am using 16% nitro fuel. I have also mixed in some down elevator at 75%-100% WOT. If anything there's a little too much because I have to hold in a little up elevator at maximum speed but I find this a bit easier than pushing in down elevator, the Baron has a Clark Y wing section remember. However, it nearly caught me out on the first take off after I'd set the elevator-throttle mix. I took off, moved the elevator stick to the neutral position and pushed the throttle stick to its maximum position. Suddenly the nose dipped! The model had not attained maximum speed of course and suddenly it was getting a down elevator signal! Oh how we laughed but I held it, throttled back a bit and the model climbed away. I'm really looking forward to this year's Coupe. I have a busy day in prospect because I am singing in and compering an Open Mic night this evening. So far there are eight acts that want to perform. I may fit a new cowling to the Baron and give it a test flight tomorrow but I don't think I'll go flying today. PS. Jonathan Harper has advised me that the new larger silencers are less restrictive than the old silencers fitted to the Laser 50s and 75s. That's good! I hate noisy engines. Edited June 8 by David Davis 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 Good to hear that it too hasn't bitten the dust, OS 4 strokes ( and 2 strokes ) like a bit of nitro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted June 8 Author Share Posted June 8 1 hour ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said: Good to hear that it too hasn't bitten the dust, OS 4 strokes ( and 2 strokes ) like a bit of nitro. I'm not quite so incompetent. 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted June 9 Author Share Posted June 9 I've just received an email from the organisers of la Coupe Des Barons telling me that I am Pilot no. 7 in Group 7. Isn't 7 supposed to be a lucky number? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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