ARF Nobler Power

[Bruce Guertin]

In an effort to get to the flying circle sooner I purchased an ARF Nobler from Doug M. up in Regina. I have a choice of engines to power it with. I have a Tower .40, a OS .40LA, or an OS FP.40. Which would be the best to power it with. I've weighed all of them. The Tower .40 is about an ounce less than .40LA.

Thanks, Bruce

[Ken Culbertson]

In an effort to get to the flying circle sooner I purchased an ARF Nobler from Doug M. up in Regina. I have a choice of engines to power it with. I have a Tower .40, a OS .40LA, or an OS FP.40. Which would be the best to power it with. I've weighed all of them. The Tower .40 is about an ounce less than .40LA.

Thanks, Bruce

I am sure they are all a bit different but I had to add tail weigh to mine with an OS35s.  Flew great.  It now sports a Cobra 2820/14 and flies even better.

If the Tower runs well you might consider the weight factor.  I have both a .40LA and a .46LA and the .40 is definitely NOT a smaller version of the .46.  Same case but that is about it.  I use mine to mount during construction so I don't get random bits of this and that in the .46.

[Bruce Guertin]

Thanks, Ken. I also have a .46LA. It's the same weight as the Tower.

As to the .40 LA and .46 LA difference in characteristics. What are they?

I got a good look at the control system in this bird last night. An email went out to Tom Morris this morning.

Bruce3

[Ken Culbertson]

Thanks, Ken. I also have a .46LA. It's the same weight as the Tower.

As to the .40 LA and .46 LA difference in characteristics. What are they?

I got a good look at the control system in this bird last night. An email went out to Tom Morris this morning.

Bruce3

I don't know for sure what the differences are.  I just know that the .40 is not the reliable stunt beast that the .46 is. There are some real engine experts on here, maybe one of them will weigh in.   Lots of folks are flying the ARF with the .46 and like it.

Congratulations by by way, I was in a hurry too and said, What the H***" they can't be that bad.   Luckly I was able to land with just flaps when the elevator clevis broke and I was high enough to recover when the leadout wire snagged on the bellcrank platform.

Another thing you might want to consider while you are changing what they call controls to real controls is that the 1st rib on the inboard wing has a lip on it just begging a crimped leadout to snag on it.  While you are in there you might want to trim that up a bit as well.  Only other thing is that the monokoted noses and wing joints do tend to get gas soaked rather quickly.  You might be well served to seal the joints and brush on some finishing epoxy before it is too late to get anything to stick.

Ken

[Scott Richlen]

while you are having fun replacing the control system, consider replacing the motor mounts.  They only look like hardwood.  Starting my Brodak 40 one time it kicked back and broke the motor mounts (BOTH!!)  I found it easiest to cut them off at the firewall, reinforce the firewall and use a carbon fiber RC mount.  Worked very well.

[EricV]

I guess am the odd man out on this discussion because I always found the LA40 to be a fine engine, perhaps better than the LA46 for the run style I like in a small classic size plane. The LA46 were a hair more powerful but do you need it for a Fox35 size ship with a thin airfoil? The 40 didn't need as much diameter, which for me, was more important when putting in the typical classic bird like a Nobler where a 12.25" prop isn't optimal. The LA40 with a 10.5 to 11" prop sounds like a winner to me, and if using the APC fiberglass optimal 12 3/4x 4 3/4 LA46 prop, the smaller diameter LA40 prop, especially in wood like a Topflight PP 11/4 just saved you some tail weight you might be worried about with the LA46 and larger prop, not to mention that weight is further forward and creating less procession.
EricV

[Scott Richlen]

Pictures of the motor mount repair for the Nobler ARF...

[peabody]

What Eric and Scott said.
No need to reinvent the wheel

[Bruce Guertin]

The archives on this site are pretty darn good. There was a lot of good reading last night just by searching ARF Nobler. A lot of good and bad in them I see. And what to look out for, too.