H9's Sundowner

[mfuess]

I have several Evo's laying around. Great engines, but 4 oz. heavier than my BME. You are right regarding the Sundowner "seems" like it takes a looooog time to make a lap! But in reality, it's moving along fairly NICE!

[mfuess]

Here is a photo of the Sundowner after the PIPE was tuned to the APC 18x14 prop. The pipe is 2 feet long! The total length (pipe & header) 30.6". This really pumped up the engine's topend. It's loud, but not over the AMA Event Limit. 90db at 25' "A" weighted. It has the typical tuned pipe ring to it sounding more like a Yamaha motorcycle than an RC airplane. The way this bird flies, you'd never guess it weighs over 14 pounds. I just love this airplane...

[CRG]

Guys,

Look for the updated USRA Sundowner rules to be posted on the site (www.usrainfo.org) soon, in the next week or two probably.

The likelihood of changing to the Moki 2.10 as a single motor class are pretty much zero. We want more than just those guys who own EVO35's or Moki 2.10's (a relatively small group) to come and try racing.

Craig.

	Quote: Originally Posted by rcplane
	I wouldn't be surprised though if the USRA changes the motor to the Moki 210, the Sundowner wasn't fast enough for them on a 1800' race course (it did seem to take a long time to complete a lap, but then so do the Dominator, Biplanes and AT-6s). If you look at the race results those four aren't that far from each other. The Sundowner did "look" to be awful sloooow though. Last weekend when I was flying it a guy commented on how well it flew and he was right it does, guys are going to like this plane whether they race it or not. Enjoy yours as well. Mike

[rcplane]

That sounds great Craig!
I guess that to mean a certain cc's are going to be accepted.
I will check it out.

Mike

[mfuess]

Well, I flew my Sundowner again Sunday. My BME 50 ran like a top and I whacked everything that dared to fly with me. My flight recorder logged 134.2 MPH doing laps, and a dive speed of 152.7 MPH. I did end up burning a hole in my tuned pipe coupler on the third flight though. It was a good day inspite the coupler. We had about 30 pilots Sunday, and most everyone came over to gawk at the Sundowner even the Q500 guys. I overheard one of the Quickie guys say to a novice pilot, "when a big plane looks fast, it's really haulling ass". I got a warm fuzzy feelin' hearing that... Anyway, I'm pushing my BME and Sundowner to its absolute limit, and having a great time with it. I hope all you Sundowner owners are having as much fun as I am!

[CRG]

I think you'd gain more than a little more speed if you didn't have all that motor stuff out in the breeze. Not much you can do though with a motor that size.

Did anybody end up with solid data on the Moki 2.10? It's got to be close to 130mph, no?

	Quote: Originally Posted by mfuess
	Well, I flew my Sundowner again Sunday. My BME 50 ran like a top and I whacked everything that dared to fly with me. My flight recorder logged 134.2 MPH doing laps, and a dive speed of 152.7 MPH. I did end up burning a hole in my tuned pipe coupler on the third flight though. It was a good day inspite the coupler. We had about 30 pilots Sunday, and most everyone came over to gawk at the Sundowner even the Q500 guys. I overheard one of the Quickie guys say to a novice pilot, "when a big plane looks fast, it's really haulling ass". I got a warm fuzzy feelin' hearing that... Anyway, I'm pushing my BME and Sundowner to its absolute limit, and having a great time with it. I hope all you Sundowner owners are having as much fun as I am!

[mfuess]

You're right CRG, having all that engine stuff hanging out does affect its speed. There's nothing that can be done about it though. The good side is, I have lots of thrust available from that 18x14 prop spinning over 11,000 RPM (in the air) makes up for a portion of the drag. It's making over 25 pounds of thrust up there in the sky.

[mfuess]

I wouldn't be surprized "IF" a Moki 2.10 did get close to 130. But not without some help. Ignoring drag and other parasitic complexities, A Moki 2.10 would have to be capable of spinning a 14 pitch around 10,000 RPM's in the air and still have enough prop thrust (diameter) to overcome the exponential drag. It's certainly capable of it, but you'd have to earn every mile per hour as you approach 130. Been there, done that.

[mfuess]

I put another 4 flights on my Sundowner yesterday and it's running a little better each flight. The accelleration is mind boggling with the BME 50 at the helm. It's holding in the upper 130's for lap speed and will high-bank at slightly over 150 MPH (152.7 to be exact). I have about 40 flights on it now, with the last 12 flights on the Tuned Pipe. I do need to work on the noise part though. I'm hitting 129db when the engine gets on the pipe. Part of that is prop noise.

The Sundowner is running so well, I decided to invest in a real-time radio telemetry flight recorder. It transmits real-time data to a hand held receiver (on the ground) and displays, air-speed, ground speed, RPM, engine temperature, exhaust temperature, altitude, longitude, and latitude. It also sends information about the radio gear, such as individual servo load, volts, and amps. I can look at an entire flight on a Laptop computer afterwards and see precisely what it did. Ain't technology great?

[Flatlandman]

That sounds to cool! What system are you using?

[mfuess]

Eagle Tree Systems: http://www.eagletreesystems.com/Plane/plane.html

[mfuess]

I received my Eagle Systems Flight Recorder. I didn't install it in my Sundowner... I put it in my DA-50 powered RV-4. There was more room available in the RV-4 and it's less likely to go down in flames.