Pilots lounge

[peter]

Hi Shannon.....I did the tail weight with the boom level and me in the seat, but only about 1/4 tank of gas, and the scale showed 29 lbs. According to the seat adjusting chart it should be only 25lbs. for my weight....however I know it flys well with a full tank and the rotax's, so I'm thinking the heavier clone engines (12 lbs. total) should help correct a tail heavy situation a little bit....but you know it doesn't fly like it's tail heavy which surprises me when I see the weight and balance figures..and when I'm landing I'm pretty well run out of back stick, and that would indicate to me that the C of G is not grossly out....At any rate I'll do a couple of test hops down the runway to feel it out.....I'm expecting it will fly just fine the way it is.
I really don't know much about the covering (no logs of course) except that it's Stits and done 8 or so years ago...I suspect it's 1.7 fabric and done properly...although it isn't rib stiched, it has cap strips on all the bottom ribs. The paint job is great and quite unusual,..two tone green plus yellow stripe over white, and I can't beleive anyone would do such a meticulous job without doing it properly....It was always stored inside when Frank owned it, and I've kept it covered, either in the barn, or tarped when I'm not flying it....I logged 41 hrs in it last summer with only one engine failure, about 2 miles from my strip....made it back ok on the one....seals and bearings shot but the piston and rings were ok.
I'm still waiting for the tinytachs, special order, 9' leads to mount down in the pod, and also the fuel pressure regulators, and tidy up the wiring etc.....they should be in soon, other than that, by the time my strip dries up I should be good to go.
Thanks for sharing your knowlege and expertise Shannon...It is very much appreciated.................Cheers.....Pete.... A899 C-IGGI

[Chappy]

Peter,

My series one with all the mods ended up rather heavy at almost 200 pounds so I flew it tail heavy to reduce tail generated drag. Over the years, sad to say, I also added a good 30 pounds to the pilot and that pushed the CG even farther back. I know it's too far back, but darn she still behaves pretty well. I am not advocating others try it, just that I've gotten away with it. Adding engine weight up front should be a good thing for my plane.

Most of the stuff I remembered to order (yea, I forgot a bit) have come in, and of course so has a bunch of work. I finally came to the conclusion that I really, really needed to clean out my shop first, so I built an enclosed fabric shed over the weekend from a snow crushed canopy thing and have been sorting, moving or throwing stuff. Finding things I haven't seen in years...anybody need a like new Tennessee prop for a Quicksilver MX-2?

You'll no doubt be in the air before I get anything accomplished.

Chappy

[Shannon]

No prob Pete, happy to throw out what I can to help.

I'd say ideally you would want a slight forward CG condition. Running out of forward stick at landing with an aft CG condition is not good at all if that's what you are saying. Being you have made the W&B tests I'd guess you are OK for preliminary tests just as the manual states. A few test hops should tell you if anthing is grossly out of wack. I've never quite understood it but each Lazair seems to have its own center of gravity "sweet spot" for a given pilot weight and unique configuration. You may have a good set-up there with your weight, fabric covering and clone engines.

[peter]

Hi Shannon....I reweighed the plane with a different set of scales and now I get 274 lbs....that 's with only 1/4 tank...plus me at 160 gives 430 lbs......The tail weight level is 29lbs, and it hangs level at 15'. It's reassuring to hear you say that they can have their own sweet spot, so to speak, and my feeling is this plane is not too far away from it.....the stick pressure certainly doesn't warrent any trim tabs anyways....I'm going to shorten the stick by 3 or 4'' to make it easier to sling my leg over getting seated.
I guess I was apprensive about the W and B figures showing an undesirable tail heavyness when I was expecting the opposite with the heavier motors....I'm looking forward to test flying it soon.
Chappy.....Glad to hear your project is coming right along....It appears this Paul Baily who subscribes to the Yahoo Eggmotor site has developed a rear mount for the 6.5's plus other neat mods....might be worthwhile checking out.
It's been a weird winter all over Chappy, sorry to hear about the snow damage....nobody needs extra cleanup hassle....been a great winter up here though....Shorty rippin around in his Kitfox on skis, while I'm making maple syrple and wishing my parts were in so I can get going too.
Looking forward to get up in the air again and get some figures posted and maybe a picture or two................Cheers .....Pete

[Shannon]

Hi Pete,

You have definitely picked up a bit of weight. No matter as at your weight you will still do pretty good provided you are getting enough thrust from the engines.

Yes one of the negatives of adding a nosepod (Series III) is the stick issue. Upstick Lazairs have no problem of course. A few inches will definitely help.

You very well may need to add some trim tabs. They are not a bad thing really as you can correct a small trim problem and they do add a bit of surface area into the wind. I made of a pair of them a while back for one of my Lazairs. They are 3-1/2"x 13" out of .020 or .025 2025. If you put a "bend line" in them (1/2" from front) when you make them up they are easy to adjust (fine tune) once installed. Also it's a good idea to pre-drill them on an approx. 1" spacing before installation. If you do that then you simply clamp them into place on each end and start drilling holes. Place them near the top of the ruddervators (just before the bends).

[peter]

Thanks for the info on the trim tabs Shannon...Still waiting for the flow regulators and the tiny tachs to test fly.. Weather great..mid 70's tomorrow......Happy Easter all.....Pete

[peter]

Hi Guys...If anyone is interested, my son Josh posted a couple of vids on utube ...everhill69...of me running the new Honda clones....wanted to see what actual pull I could get, and also check the throttle sync and hear how they run outside...Found out he right hub was not tight...you can hear it knock on start up....tightened it up and it seems ok, but sure bears close attention.
I'm pleased I'm getting the thrust I am...I'm beating the rotax/biprops setup by 10 percent, in fact the left engine with the t.t. showed almost 4700. rpm... and it still has the breakin oil in it....the other engine was doing even better. I'll tell you one thing, you want to have the stick right back in your crotch when doing a full throttle runup with the brakes on and wheels chocked, or you'll find the tail up damn quick.
Still no pressure regulators or tinytachs....soon I hope...............Cheers....Pete

[JPXman]

your field better be dry by now with the 25C temps you've been getting. very jealous out here in the wild west....

[peter]

Hi Tyler....That weather was too good to last....field's ready, but still no pressure regulators...left engine seems to idle ok, but the rt engine floods out after a min. or so of idleing...I wonder about bending the float down a a tad to put a bit more force the needle valve?...might just do the trick....
To make it easier for everyone to access the progress of my project, here are some direct links.

Re-Engine Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPCWv61qWgI

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsEJmKGbnkw

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhjzCpEEApk

And here is a video of what I do in my spare time when I am not playing with the plane. Recorded at the Central Canadian Bluegrass awards in Huntsville Ontario last fall. I'm the old dude in the back leaning on the Bass fiddle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNQrGrhU1Ck

Cheers.....Pete

[Shannon]

Looks great Pete. I see the tail comes up easily at 1/2 power ! Super ! You very well may need those tabs and they are a good solution if needed.