I'm glad things are turning out better for you. I have assembled several ARF's ranging from 40 size to giant scale. I recently finished the assembly of a Top Dawg 50cc Edge 540, and I must say that is the best designed and more "turn key" ARF that I have ever worked with. It is my understanding that Top Dawg is just a carrier for GW aircraft and NOT the production company. So whatever problems you may be having are not comming from Top Dawg. It shows great customer service on Top Dawgs behalf for Dennis to be helping you the way that he is because this is a second line product. This sounds like a relatively new approach into giant scale for you, so keep seeking help. FG is a great resource.

Red Locktite is high strength and blue Locktite is medium strength. Dennis is a great help and I know he will help however he can. As for how much to cut the cowl for cooling. The rule I have been told is 3 to 4 times the area for air to come out as the area of air coming in the cowl. As the air goes over the engine and gets hot it will expand so that is why need so much area for the air coming out.

As far as the servo arms just take it easy the first few flights and dont push it to far. If the surfaces do flutter be carefull because I have seen anything from stripped servos to control surfaces coming all the way off and bad results. I'm sure the heavy duty durbo arms will work fine.

Made some progress tonight... The motor is mounted, I ended up going in both sides of the standoff's with 5mm X 20mm screws with a wooden spacer on the inside. It seems really solid, used locktight on everything, all the holes lined up perfect from drilling through the template, I guess I'm not a horrible builder afterall. I am using the stock servo arms in the tail servos, you need to if you don't want to enlarge the pre-cut slits. They are designed for you to use their servo arm attached to a round servo horn. I will provide pics of this tomorrow. The wings are done, I have ordered the miracle switch from Valley View RC in black, has not arrived yet. I have been looking online at pictures of full size SU-26's, they all seem to have rather large spinners so I would like to go with 4" unless someone can tell me that is not a good idea.

I am still up in the air on the battery config, I know I am using a standard 4.8 V on the ignition. Not sure about the receiver. I just won a 2300m Lith bat during a raffle so might use that for receiver. However, the price of the charger about knocked me on my butt, on top of that I would have to buy a regulator. What is the advantage of these again?

Looking for pics online tonight for clean ignition and bat setups. I will post my pics in the morning. Should probably get almost everything done tomorrow.

PS... you guys are helping a lot so thanks again.

Added Pics this morning...

Originally Posted by Alerberg

Hey Hollywood... Thanks for the note, I don't know what version I got to be honest. Also, would like to get your rec on servos, I am leaning toward the 7955tg's all the way around but would like options and viewpoints. Also, Blaine is testing the 106 right now and might have some valuable input/info on the 106 if you need it. He seems to like it from the little we talked about it. What is the best way to tune the TMM or just do what I did for my Zenoah?

PS... bat setup would be great to know as well.

Al

Al,

You have the TMM 53 v2. like I said in the emails to you, the carb is preset from the factory for break-in, but may require a few tweaks, depending on humidity and temperature for the break-in period. The initial carb settings(factory) should be ok for about the first 3-5 tanks, as the engine break-in continues you will find you need to start leaning it out some, but only enough so that the engine will stay running and get a smooth transition from idle to full power. The break-in period for the TMM 53 is 3 gallons. Strait out of the box, the TMM 53 is a power house!!, you will notice a considerable power increase as the engine gets broke in.

You have my personal email address and phone number so please feel free to contact me if you have anymore questions or concerns. Sometimes it's nice to talk to a human instead to typing!!!

The TMM 106 is proving to be a great engine!!, although I never got to fly it, I was in on the Top Dawg 100cc Prototype Edge 540 race build/setup in which the TMM 106 was used.

I have fromeco 5200 on my reciever and a 2600 on my ignition, all on regulators. I used the 5200 because of the extra power for the high torque servos. I can fly all day and not usually have to recharge them. A lot of guys are using poly and a123 batts now too.

Dennis, worked on it from 6am till 7pm tonight. Needed to do some modifications to the servo arms, engine area, and cut the cowl. The spark plug cap and wire don't fit super snug, will that come out during flight? I am still trying to decide battery setup, I have the ignition on 4.8v so no worries with that. I won an Outrage NRG Advance Lithium Polymer 251p - 3600mAh bat but don't own a charger for a Lith bat and wonder if it's worth it to buy one. Why dont I get a 2600m NIMH and use the equip I got? Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Alerberg

Dennis, worked on it from 6am till 7pm tonight. Needed to do some modifications to the servo arms, engine area, and cut the cowl. The spark plug cap and wire don't fit super snug, will that come out during flight? I am still trying to decide battery setup, I have the ignition on 4.8v so no worries with that. I won an Outrage NRG Advance Lithium Polymer 251p - 3600mAh bat but don't own a charger for a Lith bat and wonder if it's worth it to buy one. Why dont I get a 2600m NIMH and use the equip I got? Thoughts?

Al,

Since the engine is new, the spark plug cap will be hard to get on there. You'll have to twist and push hard on it to get it to snap in place over the spark plug. It will be fully seated on the spark plug when the metal ring around the end of the cap is past the hex part of the plug. It will be a bear to get off there also, but after a few times of taking the cap off and putting it on it will get easier.

Check out this this charger....don't let the price fool you, it's actually a pretty good charger for the money. although I have many chargers, I bought one of these just to try it out. It will charge nicad, nimh, lipo, li-on, life and pb batts. http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...w/_accessories

One thing to watch out for on the HK site is the warehouse you buy from, you have the option to purchase items from different warehouses across the world. Any US warehouses are going to be more expensive to purchase from. I always pick the Hong Kong warehouse. Like the charger link above....$18.99 from the Hong Kong warehouse and around $40 from a US warehouse. If I remember right the shipping was $12 from Hong Kong

If you use any battery(no matter the type) that has a nominal voltage above 6 volts you should use a regulator. I use a 4.8v 2000 mah nimh batt on my Edge ignition(TMM 53) and a 6v 4200 nimh on a regulator for the rx. The reason I use a reg on that rx batt is because it reads very close to 8v when fully charged. I would normally use the lighter li-on batts, but the TD Edge is inherently nose heavy(most ARF's are designed that way) I'm using the heavier nimh to get some tail weight in it and weighs in at 16.2 pounds all up.

Oh...one other thing on the TMM 53 engine. I highly recommend replacing the spark plug that came with the engine!! It will say CM6 on the plug, but it's not an NGK plug. Pick up a few NGK CM6's so you have a spare or two

Dennis... Thanks, also what size fuel tubbing, I think there are two choices, which is better. Also, I have had problems in my taylorcraft with the line getting hard and losing flexibility. Any suggestions. I will replace the plugs per your suggestion and THANK YOU for the info on the spark plug cap, I did not have it seated properly. Hated cutting the cowling, didn't have a choice. I will post a few pics. Any problem with running the RX with a 4.8 just to break in the motor? Also, what did you think of the Litho battery I suggested above? And THANKS again for the charger recommendation, that is huge.

Al

Al,

I recommend 3/16" ID TygonŽ F-4040-A Fuel & Oil Tubing, translucent yellow line. Over time the line will get hard and start to shrink some, this is normal. I replace the fuel line in my planes once a year, right before the flying season. You can find this fuel line at any small engine repair/sales shop for about 99 cents a foot.

I haven't heard of that lipo battery(brand) you have, nor could I even find it in any searches. I am assuming it's a 2 cell battery which would make it 7.4 volts, you will have to use a regulator and get a balance charger like the one I listed in a previous post. I use Fromeco regulators and switches.

If you are unfamiliar with lipo batteries, PLEASE do some research on them and head all of the warnings that come with using them!!! although they are good batteries, they can be VERY DANGEROUS if not treated/used properly.

You can use that 4.8 volt for the break-in, but if it was me I would set the plane up the way I was going to fly it, after all....your going to fly it during break-in!!! Just cruise around varying the throttle position every now and then and a few seconds of full power blips to help keep it cleared out.

Thanks, I will look for the fuel tubbing tomorrow at small engine shops. I put power to the servos today, lot of crackeling? I have the Hitec7955's, not sure why but it sounds like they are trying to find center. Probably because of the battery I have, using the 4.8 nicd for now. Question for you, was your throttle really stiff on the TMM. It takes a lot of force to open. Is this normal? I need to re-work my throttle connection, tried using a screw that tightens on the rod but it keeps sliding. Not going to work... Again, thanks for the spark plug info, I had no idea it took so much force to attach. My zenoah fit completely different.

Any ideas on the choke? I know many people use a servo, others don't. I am not going to use a servo and would prefer not to cut another hole in the cowl.

Thanks

Does it have a return spring on throttle?

You need to cut the return spring on the throttle plate shaft(right below the arm where your throttle linkage attaches. you can cut the ears off the spring or just uncoil it off the shaft. You will still feel a slight detent in the movement, but that is ok. Also remove the idle stop screw, it's not needed in airplane applications.

On the choke, I just reach inside my cowl and flip the choke on with my finger, flip the prop until it hits once, flip the choke off give it just a little throttle and a couple of flips later it running. In my opinion a servo on the choke is a waste of space and weight and something else that could go wrong, you will have plenty of room on your Sukhoi to reach in a operate the choke.