You are ABSOLUTELY right Randy. I stated this before, our "speed limit" doesn't allow us to get all the juice out of these powerful motors because, we have to choke them down to run at 55mph. I really should have used the statement "most potential power".
Windy had to significantly bring down the available power in his 4 stroke 91 powered Hawker Typhoon to get it to work in stunt. Still had incredible grunt but, nothing close to what it could do in RC applications.
Hello everyone. I really appreciate the congrats when this thread originally started, thank you very much. It had been 13 years since I have won a F3A Nationals and even though my thoughts were on Stunt I had to try and get rid of the certain monkey that was on my back.
As some of you noticed right away I went back to glow for F3A because of its weight and performance advantages. At this time it is literally impossible to compete against an IC (YS) no matter who you are. Not to mention the patterns just keep getting tougher as do the conditions it seems.
I origanlly called YS in 2012 and told them what I was thinking as far as F3a for this year so we reunited and have had a blast ever since. However I had the biggest enternal struggles I ever have had with anything to get myself to really make the switch. Just the airframes were $12,000 and I had no Fuel Pump, Starter, Glow Driver, Glow Plugs, Fuel, Field Stand, Headers, Pipes, Fuel Dots, Tanks etc.
The planes arrived late April as did most of the other stuff and I spent the next few days rigging. I drove up to the Kimbros place and they were nice enough to walk me through their SYSTEM and assured me if it were followed its almost cheating . Meaning no generators, charge boxes, adaptors, etc. I did not believe them for a minute I know how the 160's ran and actually had myself talked into retiring from comp. at the first sign of problems.
Well I have now won the nationals in the 4th decade, for the 13th time, and by the largest margin of victory anyone can remember. I love flying F3A again and my plane is as tight as it was on flight one almost 300 flights later. I have had 3 flights that it quit, each one was my fault the engine(s) have not missed a beat and have not had even a single part failure. That was the 175 DZ and they just released the 185 which is 15% more power, its quieter, smoother, and get this it get double the fuel mileage I did last year. Almost Done... Did I mention that I used one paper towel a day after 6-10 flights and the engine compartment is as clean as it was when it arrived.
If that is the horrible experiences I am going to need to struggle through due to flying glow then sign me up.
Now on to the CL (Important) Stuff. I have watched as many of you guys fly as I can every chance I get. I have also become an avid reader to try and better understand with these types of models and flown everything I have been able to get my hands on for just over a year, not to mention countless hours talking to guys like Bob H. Ray Ferkins, Randy Smith, Bob Whitely, Kieth Trostle, Kirk M.and so on. I have come to the conclusion if I did that for the next 15 years I might only be about 15 years behind.
I decided to try the 4 stroke in CL based off the result from F3A in part, but I think we can really have a truly optimized 4 cycle that is a CL motor throughout not a bunch of band aids on a RC engine. It seems like only yesterday when Richard Verano (YS USA) Called Tetsuo Yamada (YS JAPAN and told him I had just won the F3A nats and would like them to make a 70 DZ for CL. His w answer was "Richard you gotta tell him we don't know anything about it" I told Richard neither do I but I have met some really incredible modelers that do and I have there phone #'s.
That was about a month ago and since then I picked up an awesome plane from Kirk, and my dad figured out how to build me a HYDE mount that the attaches to the existing maple beams and has reduced the vibration to a very acceptable level. I ordered every APC prop that might even be close, Cool Power has got the Fuel Formulas with far lower nitro content, and then Randy was the final piece of the puzzle. (Yes he knows a great deal about 4 strokes as well)
All of that got me to the point where I actually flew this combination in a short demo last weekend that had Tetsuo Yamada and Richard Verano in attendance. I did a 3 minute flight and it was a huge success. That's when the 81 year old Mr. Yamada, (The 4 cycle Mastermind) decided to build several versions that are not RC conversions but true CL Stunt Engines from the ground up.
Please do not be turned off by this type of effort from the Factory, they are very aware of the price of CL engines and are not going to stray from that. One version will be signifigently less and I know they have high hopes for it.
As far as the consistency problem (I have only read about this) I truly believe that these engines will not change for no reason. If the needle on a YS changes you better just shut it off there is a problem. Normally its a simple as a pinhole in one of the fuel lines.
Anyhow that's about all I have right now and I really wish I had a video to put up but I have not had my flying buddy Ray Ferkins around during this entire ordeal and its hard enough to fly and record lap times. lol Ray did finally get back yesterday and we went flying for the first time. I was worried he was going to tell me something I really didn't want to hear, but instead, he told me to take care of that thing.
I will post any findings that I think might be stuff people are interested in and I cannot wait until we get a couple more engines in and out to test by some of you guys that know what you doing. F3A was never this stressful <G>
Chip