Hi

I've inherited a Top Flite Nobler from an RC club mate who does a bit of CL.  He was going to bin it but knew I might be interested in adding to my collection of 3rd hand models as I'm just starting out in CL although lots of experience in FF and RC.

I've stripped all the monokote off it as it was falling off anyway, and repaired what needed repairing.  Covered the wings in medium polyspan and fuse/tail in 15u mylar and Japanese tissue.  It's just about ready to start priming.  Was going to spray KlassKote. 

Thing is it's 48oz (1380g) right now, ready to fly so to speak.  I reckon spray job might take it up to 52oz (not looking for a competition finish ... just a average club Sunday flier finish so to speak).

With an OS40 or 46 ... will this weight still be OK for a model to learn basic F2B schedule on?  Or as an option could I get away with a smaller motor at this weight?

   Your finish weight seems about right. At this point, it is going to come out how it comes out.

     I would use a decently powerful engine, without knowing which OS 40/46 you are talking about (which one is in it now?) hard to say if it will be a good combination. I would not consider a 25 or similar. If you really know what you are doing, maybe, I flew 1000ish flights with a 48 ounce Nobler and a Fox 35, but drag will be your enemy here.

    This is not an ideal combination to learn to fly stunt, it may perform well enough, but is far too complicated and hard-to-repair. Still, since you have it, carry on.

    Brett

What Brett and Ken said.  I've had some success toning down a 46LA by using a smaller venturi, but then you still have that hunk of iron out front.

I know that a Magnum 36 XLS works pretty good on that weight of airplane, with an APC 11x4 or 11.5x4 (or a Thunder Tiger 11 x 4.5 -- but those are hard to come by these days).  I don't know if there's more currently available equivalents, though.  Note that it's a lot more engine than a Fox 35, just as a modern 3.6 liter V-6 is way more engine than a 1932 Ford flathead, even though they're the same size.

Hi

Thanks for the feedback. I assembled the model with an OS 46LA and 11x5 APC prop in order to check balance point.  With an E3030 silencer it came out slightly nose heavy at the 2 1/2"  recommended CG.

Replaced the flaps winch were pretty warped and super soft straight grain.

Then I thought it would be a good idea to follow some of the threads in here and swap out the control system.  Will use a suspended bellcrank (not the one shown), new flap and elevator horns, ball links and carbon rods etc. 

Are the recommended (in the manual) bellcrank/horn throws OK?

Thanks

Mike

Are the recommended (in the manual) bellcrank/horn throws OK?

I am not sure what the manual says, I don't have mine anymore.  Mine came stock 1:1.  I changed it to 2:3 after flying it and put a Morris set in.  That is a personal thing.  It flies fine at 1:1 but I don't like where the tangent is in a turn or corner so I change it.  3" crank is fine for this size plane.  I set it up to give me 30 degrees flap with 60 degrees rotation of the bellcrank then set the elevator linkage to give me 45 degrees elevator.  From what I can tell I use about half of that do do the pattern but we have some rather strange downdrafts here and  having some extra control helps.

I flew mine with an OS35s with great results then converted it to Electric with a 2826/12 which is a 46 equivalent.  It was overpowered at a decent RPM and didn't perform well at 5.1.  I went to longer lines and got it to a 5.5 but a little plane on long lines is just wrong.

Have fun - Ken

Mike,

Keep looking at the weight.  A few comments:

--The CG will shift back when paint is added
--The OS 46LA is essentially the same weight as the OS 40LA (Listed as 9.6 and 9.5 oz. sans muffler)
--The OS 46LA is a more friendly motor for CL than the 40LA. I ran the 40 in a Noblarf myself without issues, but may have gotten lucky on all the setup details
--The OS 40FP (8.22 oz. plus 1.7 for the 762 muffler) can be made to work, but box stock many guys have trouble getting a stable run. Setup matters here, starting with the venturi size. If you want to run the FP, go watch a guy who sez he knows how to make them run and see if you agree
--The Fox .35 Stunt will fly a light Noblarf, but becomes a challenge in much of a breeze. I'm flying one like that right now.  I had to add considerable nose weight to make things happy.
--If you change mufflers around, you can expect the run characteristics to change. They may be better---or worse. So saving weight on the muffler is not a completely independent choice.
--I have had two igNoblarfs and both had 1:1 controls. They fly, or flew in the case of the OS powered one, better than I do. I found they turned quicker outsides than insides. I suspect that has more to do with my range of motion of my hand than the plane.

If you are still learning maneuvers my thought is to run whut you brung. There are a lot worse choices and combinations....

The Divot

I might be the odd duck here, but I'd consider an  OS FP.40S. Generally speaking,  stock they're a bit "untamed" for stunt - but in a heavier-than-it-should-be model they can come into their own. They're light, really powerful, and IIRC, they interchange with the .40/.46 LA. Also easy to cool. I've not had problems with "runaway" with uniflow setup but have heard of them.

I have a Sig Mustang I built around 25 or so years ago. It's a tank but it's got an FP .40S in it that pulls it like a beast. Being heavy it wants to go fast but the motor is so strong I was able to lengthen the lines and get a semi-reasonable lap time.

Great windy/turbulent day machine.

Chuck