Tank for JR Satan

[badbill]

Hey, do ya'll this this tank will work OK in my JR Satan ? Or alternately, does anyone have a Perfect #9 or Veco T23C tank they want to get rid of?

[kenneth cook]

      Bill, that's the correct tank. However it should be re plumbed.  In addition, NO Perfect tank has it's pickup tube soldered internally therefore it's a tuning fork inside the tank which fails from vibration. This means that looking at the feed line, it usually follows the same angle and it's terminating at the bottom of the tank which ultimately has an impact on tank height when flying inverted vs upright. Once inside the wing, there's no adjustment. Re plumb the tank so that the pickup exits the bottom of the tank and keep it very tight to the bottom of the tank. Solder it entirely to the bottom and leave enough protruding to fix a piece of tubing. Internally solder the pickup so that it's centered in the wedge. I would keep it slightly off of the rear of the tank as well. about 1/8"  Remove the vent out of the bottom of the tank or solder it closed. This will prevent it from tearing out on a belly landing. Even though the JR has a piece of ply on the engine nacelle, any pipes protruding straight down offers themselves to be broken off. Re plumbing as I mentions shortens the length of fuel tubing and the craziness of the fuel going up the pickup, down the front of the leading edge and back up to the spraybar. The tubing being that long and considering the type of flying that the JR offers will cause some issues in the hard maneuvers. With only one vent pipe, you will increase fuel draw and prevent siphoning. Fill the plane holding the plane engine pointing up and fill through the pickup until it comes out the top vent.  Cant the rear of the tank as far outboard pushing the front of the tank's end cap into the center rib. If needed, you can also sink the end cap slightly into the center rib. This will insure that all fuel is used up. Ken      

 Looking at your bellcrank and lead out wire termination I see your using braided cable. I lost my Jr Satan last year at the Garden State Circle Burners Combat event when the bellcrank cut the up line slamming the plane in. It was quite disturbing and I decided not to rebuild. I hope you deburred or bushed the holes

[Howard Rush]

I'd use a pacifier.  I used a Vienna sausage can as a pacifier holder. That was 42 years ago. I don't know if they still make Vienna sausage or baby pacifiers.

[Air Ministry .]

They Just let them SCREAM . 

[Dan Berry]

I'd use a pacifier.  I used a Vienna sausage can as a pacifier holder. That was 42 years ago. I don't know if they still make Vienna sausage or baby pacifiers.

Sausages -- yes.
Binkys --- nope.
However, the pacifiers are available from lab supply house as bulbs on pipette thingys.

[Paul Smith]

A rolled cardboard tube made from file folder stock with a balsa end plugs works well and it's lighter.   Unless you really like the sausage.

[C.T. Schaefer]

A couple of things.  Brodak need and you can even get a tank kit so you can configure the vents for a specific application.  Our boys have been buying pacifiers at Wal-Mart. They are happy with them. What motor are you using? I built mine with a G-15. Fun and quite peppy!!   TS

[Keith Miller]

If you're not set on metal tanks, and you don't want to hunt for pacifiers, you might consider a latex tube bladder.

A 5/32 OD latex tube from MBS inflates to 0.68" diameter which will fit into a 3/4" cardboard tube inside the Jr. Satan wing.
There's about 4" of space between the inboard ribs. 1oz of fuel needs about 6" of inflation, so the tube may have to extend into the 3rd bay.

LT-316 from Terminal Tackle is 3/16" od latex that inflates to 0.95". It would just barely fit into the wing (ribs are just a tad over 1"), but 1oz fits into 2.8".

[badbill]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. On all my 35 size combat ships, I'm using LA .40's and red caps, which really work great. It's not as much pressure as a pacifier, which makes everything easier since I'm not looking for all out performance anyway. The inflated shape of the red cap makes it not really suitable for the JR. Satan, so I was going to use a tank. I also didn't want to put a bulge in the wing, I wanted to have the classic JR Satan lines. I'm using a really good running OS .15. I think I'll use Keith Miller's idea and put a tube in the wing, best of both worlds.