An evening out with the toys.

[Andrew Hathaway]

Yesterday evening the wind and rain both stopped long enough to go fool around with the toys.  I've been doing a lot more building then flying for the last year or two and I've got several planes that have yet to be flown. 

Last night was the first flight for my new BiSlob.  It was scratch built from the Flying Models artical and blown up magazine plans.  The engine is a Fox 35 that I got for free off ebay.  It had been in a bunch of junk engines.  Everyone of them was burned up or otherwise trashed.  The Fox was missing all the front end hardware and the nva, and someone had tried to polish the case with a buffing wheel.  The compound had removed the Fox 35 script, along with the rough cast texture, and so on.  The engine had been full of compound.  I cleaned it out, but didnt replace anything, just threw 40th anniversary spray bar and old flat sided needle in it, along with a 25 thrustwasher and a random prop washer.   The fuel tank is a brass 3-4oz tank of unknown origin, probably Japanese, also from ebay.  Even the prop came from Ebay, a junker APC 10-6.  Anyway, it started on the third flip and ran the sweetest 4-2-4 you've ever heard.  The plane is a handful like any BiSlob, hard to fly level but hovers and loops like no other.  The tank ran out and it landed without breaking a thing.  I don't know that I've actually ever landed a BiSlob on the wheels before. 

Next up was the big Orange Skyray 35.  It got some play last summer with a Fox 19 stunt and BB, but the engines never co-operated.  Now its got a 1954-ish vintage Fox 35 that was about $20 off Ebay.  It fired a couple times, but there was something up with the fuel delivery.  When it finally did run for more than a second or two the fuel line fell off the vintage spray bar since it wasn't very long and didn't have a barb. 

We were about to head home but we had the 15+ year old Twister in the car with the LA 40.  With plenty of daylight left we pulled it out and gave it a shot.  The LA started right away and ran beautiful... for about 3 minutes.  Then it took off in a two cycle and flew another 7 or 8 minutes in a runaway.   We backed it off a couple clicks and I put in a full pattern on it.  It ran perfect until about the horizontal sq 8's when it took off in a runaway. 

That's about 20 flights now on the LA 40 with every tuning combination under the sun, and it still doesn't work right.  Meanwhile the worlds ugliest, most abused, discarded, Fox 35 runs like a clock the first time out.

[Wynn Robins]

run muffler pressure on a plastic clunk tank with a sintered brass clunk on your LA40.......it willl run perfect every time.

[Patrick Rowan]

Your LA .40 is not broken in yet.
Run it some more & it will settle down.

[Andrew Hathaway]

The #1 problem I have with the LA is that it didn't work as advertised.  There are just too many alternatives that serve the same purpose and work without any of the fiddling.   When I think about the planes I could power with an LA 40, the Max-S 35 would fly the smaller ones, and a ST 46 would fly the larger ones.  I have plenty of both and they work perfectly in a 4-2-4 manner without any special setup.  Why fight with an LA?
I read about how great the LA was, I gave it a shot and it seems like a poorly finished substandard FP. 

The LA has all the problems of the FP.  Added to that is a plastic backplate that leaks, foreign fasteners that essentially are tamper proof, a heavier muffler, and a finish that is a step back from the FP. 

The runaway is a huge problem.  Stunt is about earning points.  If you can't complete all the maneuvers then you can't be competitive.  When the engine over-runs you lose landing points, and pattern points.  Not to mention that you never know when the runaway will happen.  It's much more difficult to fly the maneuvers precisely when the plane is flying faster than the ideal speed.  The LA/FP is a huge handicap if the run away can't be controlled. 

I'm too lazy to try every magical fix for the LA.

On another topic... I find it kinda funny how I keep recycling old junk and how it evolves into new stuff to fly.  For example, the big orange Skyray pictured above, actually started out as a box stock Skyray 35.  It was the first plane I built by myself and took about two days to complete.  It was finished just like the box and was broken and repaired over the course of the summer as I learned the pattern.   At that point the wing was trashed and a new wing was built from balsa.  That go round was still blue on the fuselage with transparent yellow monokote.  When it got destroyed again it was rebuilt in a hurry for Sig and had the rebuilt balsa wing covered in gold monokote.  This variant can be seen in the picture attached.  That wing was eventually trashed and the fuselage sat in the shop for about 4 years till last winter.  The current construction is vastly improved from the kit and is the best version to date.  K2R and thin CA can work wonders on old oil soaked wood.

[Dennis Moritz]

Sounds like you're trying to run the LA in too low a speed range. A medium 2 stroke run stays real even in the planes I've observed. Usually the engine needs very little break in. A tank or two. Well matched to a Twister, in my opinion. Good pull. Not too fast with the right prop. The schnurle engines run happy differently than fox35-s and OS35s'. Certainly the older stuff works. I've also snagged some cheap foxes from ebay that do well. A hoot to pick up the discards cheap and make them work.

[Leroy Heikes]

I ran about half a gallon of fuel through my LA40 and have had no problems with it. It has been on my Nobler for three years.

Leroy

[Andrew Hathaway]

I was trying to run it in a fat 2 breaking to a fast 2 in maneuvers.  It worked fine for part of the flight, as it usually does.  I've had it on a Banshee, and now its on this Twister.  It's been flown box stock with a large 40FP venturi.  It's had the backplate swapped with an FP and had the socket head cap screws installed.  It's had head gaskets added.  It's had smaller venturi's.  It's had different gallons of fuel.  It's had different propellers.  It's had different mufflers.  Everytime we changed something it got at least two flights before giving up on it.  The tank worked fine back when the plane had a 35FP, then again when it had a Super Tigre 46, and again when it had a Silver Fox 40... 
Strangely the 35FP ran better on this plane then the 40LA does.
The only reason its on a plane at all is that when I robbed the Silver Fox 40 to use on the Banshee I didn't want to leave dads plane without an engine and the LA was sitting there ready to go.  Since dad really only has one or two planes and doesn't fly all that often when we go out, I really owe it to him to put a good engine on it.  Sadly I don't think the LA 40 is the one. 

[L0U CRANE]

Andrew,

You haven't mentioned what fuel you're running in the 40LA. If it's the high castor type that your Fox 35s love and run well on, it may have too much castor for the ABN sleeve/piston LA.

ABC/AAC/ABN engines are manufactured so sleeve and piston expand to running fits when they warm up. Some detergent in the oil is usually needed to keep the metal clean at the intended running fits. Castor builds up a varnish coat - defeating the A(xx) idea.

How many times have you heard fuel with 10% nitro, 10%(or11%) each castor and synthetic oil recommended for ABC/AAC/ABN engines? Yes, a nuisance to tote around two kinds of fuel, but it might have something to do with your problem if you don't.

[john e. holliday]

Andrew hasn't mentioned what prop either.  If yu are fed up with the LA 40 bring it to Topeka and I might take it off your hands.   DOC Holliday

[Andrew Hathaway]

Sig 10% exclusively in the LA.  I have to haul it around for the 20-25FP's and my Tigres anyway. 

The current prop is an APC 11-4, but I've also tried 11-3, and countless other wood props.  An 11-4 Rev-Up might work well, but since its unobtainable...

I'm something of an engine collector, and I'd have to find all the plastic pieces to put back on it first.  Well then there's the problem that I won't be competing this summer.  I can't swing the AMA membership dues. I haven't gotten any practice in, and my primary plane I intended to use this summer hit a huge bump int he road so its still not done.   I've thrown in the towel for this contest season.