Scale Aviator International Magazine Issue 3 | Page 22
mal things you do like recheck the centre of gravity
(CG) with fuel on board. Make sure the throws are
per the instructions, controls move in the correct
direction smoothly, etc. The retracts worked like
a dream and are directly from Hangar 9. These
are Robart gear, but specifically designed for this
airplane and only available from Horizon Hobby.
They fit nicely and have tabs on the struts to easily
attach the gear doors.
The maiden flight was fairly uneventful. I rotated
at about half throttle, pulled the gear up and after
one or two trim passes it was grooving like it was
on rails. Flying on low rates it is smooth as silk and
very scale. If there were any changes due to the
additional weight they were all positive.
It flies steady and true at all speeds and is particularly stable in fly past and dirty passes. In fact
I was quite surprised how stable it was on the first
dirty pass with gear extended and flaps at 100%.
Opening the cowl flaps and canopy only slow it
down a little more, it’s still solid and stable.
Just for the record, this engine is not out of the box
stock. Right out of the box I took the new engine
apart and replaced the factory piston ring with one
made by Frank Bowman and followed an article
of his to dress the reed block. He claims better
compression and quicker break in with his rings.
They are softer than the factory rings and made to
much closer tolerances. These features improved
compression right from the first flip and break in
was unbelievably quick. Tuning the engine to the
same slightly rich setting each time. The needles
needed to be adjusted almost every one of the first
half dozen flights and twice more over the next 10
as the engine broke in. I still have some of the
two gallons of break in fuel left and usually I go
through 4-6 gallons before the tune holds steady
and I make the switch to synthetic.
My biggest concerns were how the cowl flaps
and the canopy were going to stand up. I’m quite
pleased with the results and last time out was
comfortable enough to try a dirty pass with everything hanging out, gear down, full flap (45 deThe DLE 55RA provides tons of power and easily grees), landing light extended, cowl flaps full open
cruises at 1/3 throttle.
and canopy open, it was amazingly slow and rock
Without question this is the most complex model solid.
I’ve built to date and has been quite reliable so far.
After 16 flights the engine was ready to come off There’s a fun time ahead to this bird, it looks great
the break in mix and run full synthetic oil. In fact and flies even better and that’s adding the addi10 flights since the retune when I switched to syn- tional 5 pounds of detail and ballast.
thetic the carb has not required any adjustments.
Beginning another scale flight at Wings over Chino On final approach, three in the green, flaps at
35%. One of many great solid flights.
scale event. I must admit, this Jug draws a lot of
attention wherever I go.
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