Discussion Long term planning: Getting into gas

[FlyingFrankie]

I actually have both an electric 70" Slick and gas 71" Slick. I don't weigh my planes but can tell by flying my electric is more floaty than the gas. But my electric is also a light setup with Scorp motor and 6s. Have to have battery all the way to firewall for balance.

But I think the gas is plenty light and flies well. First I love the flight time I get from gas. At six minutes of flight, I'm just getting warmed up. The stick time with gas has helped me tremendously in improving my skills. No doubt the plane isn't as forgiving in reaction time compared to my electric, but I can do everything with my gas that I can with the electric. Best part is it gives lots of practice time for hovers (easy), TRs, rolling harrier circles, loops, pop tops, walls, and all the other fun manuevers.

One thing to add, the gas does take a toll on the airframe compared to electric. I'm approaching 500 flights on the gas burner. I've essentially replaced the cowling, canopy, elevator and rudder hinges as part of my "durability" testing.

Hope that helps in deciding. I love them both and fly the shyznit out of the gas version.

Frank

 

[Notorious B.E.N.]

When you go to gas, you'll love it. Long flight times and cheap fuel even if you run SEF. I started running it and my engine loves it. It's more expensive but my 60cc motor burns maybe 10 ounces in a 12 minute flight.

Smart Fly has some great products if you need ignition kills or ignition regulators. However, I suspect you will be going with an IBEC. Tech Aero seems to have a good one from what I've read but I've never used one.

As far as set up, do not use any servo that has karbonite gears. Yes they're stronger than plastic but they are more susceptible to vibration. They still work in glow planes but they don't work it gassers. I know some people have luck with servos that have plastic gears for throttle, but I've always used a high speed metal geared servo. I also suggest going with a analog servo as the vibration from the engine can cause problems with a digital servo on throttle but other people seem to have success with them regardless. And lastly, get a great fuel dot. I've had a couple different ones and I'm currently using one of the Secraft ones. You don't want to go cheap as they can be difficult to get in and out. There are small ones that press into an o-ring held by a aluminum sleeve that work pretty well and are cheap. You just have to look around and see what's available.

 

[Enterprise]

I got some time on my 71" gasser today till the wing bolt came out (I have had issues with the wings coming off my slicks, the causes are different). Luckily it landed from a flat spin upright and will be fixed this week with minimal to do really.

Anyways it flew really good today with a more forward CG and a smaller gas tank. I flew 12 minutes and only burned over half the 330ml Fuji tank at most per flight. The plane felt really good and had very good thrust on the 20x6 Falcon. I also did some tweaking on my elevator matching with the DX-18 balancer feature and it just seemed a little crisper in high elevator moves.

I will still say the electric, 6S setup slick flies the best. The 22cc Velox is more my style, and now that the temps have gotten cooler and I went to a Falcon 17x6.5, the Velox has plenty of 3D power and flies till I get bored or my fingers get too cold.

Either way you go on a airframe, forget the DLE, go O.S.