ST 46 Questions

[Vincent Judd]

After my retirement, I thought I'd give C/L a try again.  I flew stunt for years, back  in the late 70's and 80's.  Lately, I've been flying R/C and really like it, but my true love has always been C/L stunt.  I bought a Cardinal ARF and put one of my trusty old ST 46's in there, after Frank Bowman did his magic on it.  I grabbed one of my old Rev Up 11 X 5 props that had been cut down to 10.5 X 5 and stuck it on there.  It runs great and has the traditional 4-2 break just where you'd want it.  It's running at 8400 on the ground.

I'm flying it on .018 X 62' lines.  Not sure what the lap times are, but they're comfortable to my eye and hand coordination speed.  Line tension is OK, not great, but OK.  I have the plane balanced pretty much where the plans called for.  I think I put 1.5 oz of tip weight in there to start out with and haven't changed it.  Since I'm just relearning the pattern, I haven' t been too critical on shapes and stuff like that, the plane does everything I've asked it to do.  I'm probably flying much bigger that normal, but until I get my timing back, I'm OK with that.

My question is about props.  Am I using the best size prop for this combination, or should I try something bigger, or with more pitch?  I notice a move toward APC props, which I find ironic, since I've been using them in a lot of my R/C stuff for years.   The Cardinal has rather short stubby landing gear.  My ground clearance is 1 3/4" right now.  I fly off of grass, which is usually kept nice (actually I fly at my R/C club in the afternoons when no one else is around).   What would be the minimum ground clearance I would want for flying off of grass?

I just wanted to explore the range of sizes and types of props to get an idea how they changed things.  I didn't want to get too extreme and mess up my motor or anything like that.  I still have some of the old Rev Up props from back in the days, how do they stack up against the newer line of wooden props?  I've started using some of the Pro Zinger props on some of my R/C planes and really like them, are they suited for C/L stunt?

I'd rather not get into any of the CF or real expensive props. 

Thanks for your help

Vince Judd

 

[wmiii]

 I've used the following on my .46's with good results,  Bolly 3 blade
9.5x6.25, Rev Up 11x6, 11.5x6, 12x6.

 Walter

[Chris McMillin]

I have had a lot of luck with Zinger 11x5's and 6's.
Chris...

[Greg L Bahrman]

I grabbed one of my old Rev Up 11 X 5 props that had been cut down to 10.5 X 5 and stuck it on there.  It runs great and has the traditional 4-2 break just where you'd want it.  It's running at 8400 on the ground.
My question is about props.  Am I using the best size prop for this combination, or should I try something bigger, or with more pitch?  I notice a move toward APC props, which I find ironic.  I didn't want to get too extreme and mess up my motor or anything like that.  I still have some of the old Rev Up props from back in the days, how do they stack up against the newer line of wooden props?  I've started using some of the Pro Zinger props on some of my R/C planes and really like them, are they suited for C/L stunt?

I'd rather not get into any of the CF or real expensive props. 
Thanks for your help
Vince Judd

Vince,
I think your moving in the right direction. Most people who use the APC props are running motors that turn a little more RPM than the ST 46. The Rev-Ups are great props for the ST 46. The 11 x 5 and 11 x 6 props are excellent props to start with and you may even stick with them. Actually I don't think anyone here wants you to mess up your motor either. So stick with 20% to 22% oil part castor and part synthetic and you won't have any problems. All have given good advice.

[Bill Little]

Hi Vince,

I have used a 11 1/2-6 1/2 (it's weak on pitch) AHM prop for the past 8 years.  I also take the 12-5 Rev Up govt. surplus props and cut them to 11-1/2.  The shortest prop I ever ran on a ST 46 was an 11"........

Bill <><

[Steve Helmick]

I've been looking for more info on ST .46 props, also. There was a thread on "another forum" that divulged some useful 3 bladers that aren't real high buck. I recently got a couple of Graupner 3 blade 10-7's which Bruno van Hoek of Holland reported to be more like 5.5" pitch, and they used "back in the day". Master AirScrew also makes a three bladed 10-7, and they also work, or can be made to work. These plastic props can be repitched just like a carbon/epoxy prop, using boiling water and pitch gauge. The old Tornado 3 blade 10-6 was also reported to work well. Sparky may hate me for it  , but here's the url:
 http://www.clstunt.com/htdocs/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=246872              Steve

[Garf]

On mine I run the Zinger 11-5, Taipan 11-5, and the Cyclon 11-4.5. I prefer the Taipan.