I had a serious case of "Elanor" with these dumb things. The H9 80" Sundowner. Used to be an entry level plane for USRA. Heavy, turned like crap, and didn't really go all that fast. But, they look cool and that was good enough for me.

I went through quite a few of them on my quest to see how fast I could make one. That was 7 years ago. Recently, while trolling Ebay I found one NIB.

Had to do it and its now on a Fed Ex truck. Pretty cool. I was certain these things were all fodder in a landfill by now.

So, powering it. 7 years ago it was basically a "top fuel" Moki 2.1. I did all sorts of dumb stuff and eventually rewarded me with an engine that would barely start, but once it did I could turn a 17x12 APC to almost 12k rpm. Piped, ringed, ported, a "pucked" head carbed, fuel pumped, and lots of 40% home brew fuel. At one point I even soldered up a radiator and used a Perry shaker pump to circulate coolant around the cylinder.

There was an old guy named "Ralph" down in Flagstaff AZ who helped me with a lot of this. Great guy and hope he's still around.


For this new one I want a 2.0 version. All the speed, etc... My heart is with a slimer but a friend has me almost talked into a nasty electric setup.

Therein lies the question as I don't know much of anything about a super high output electric power system.


If you were to build this plane and take it to the extreme limit of power, what would that look like?

Thanks.

C.

My heart says fuel, with your old set up.But for speed electric is faster in this size.One other thing to consider is with a HV system, will you be able to go WOT and leave it there. Meaning will you only have short burst of WOT, like flying 200 mph hotliners.
I'm a fuel guy,but it may not be faster,here.

II'm leaning that way myself. Electric stuff, while cool, has never really captured my attention. I've always looked at em as something you fool around with in your back yard.



Were gonna do a motor for this pig... Especially after watching the clip where the guy stuffed a DLE twin in one. The 80cc DA with a little port work seems like a great candidate. Assuming a couple of things like being able to bump compression and molest the ignition advance/curve a bit, a methanol conversion would be killer. Of course that involves carb work as well, but I don't think its outside of whats possible.



Thankfully these parts are cheap.



Appreciate your input.



C.

LRI,

I have a NIB Moki 2.10 if you're interested. That setup with the Perry pump doing water cooling duty....that's the kind of guy I could have a beer with.

Racers, whether it's hot rods, airplanes, doesn't matter.....if you have it in you, you can't help but look at something with an engine and say, "you know, a guy could....and then run it on nitro....and get rid of weight and heat...." Same. Can't move west yet because I have a disabled vet dad who needs my help, but eventually, I'll be out in the tumbleweed....with plenty of nitro.

Take care,

Tyler

I managed to find a NIB Moki 210 bit I think I'm gonna go with a GP in either a 61 or 72 instead.

"Big block power".


I cracked the box open tonight. Engines are on order. I bought both of em as I'm not sure yet. My 20xi arrived a few weeks ago and all my high tech titanium gear servos got here too.

Fun stuff. Can't wait.

LRI,

Got any updates on the Sundowner?

Your project got my head going again. I just got a new DLE-222. I have a Supercool 24x34 USRA Unlimited Prop, and I'm going to design a plane around that engine/prop combo.

Not going to be legal for competition, but any speed project basically becomes a pylon plane anyway, even if you're just burning holes in clouds, but you know how that goes.

I want much shorter wings, and I'm going to try a couple crazy thin airfoils. Nice long tail moment for stability, mid-wing directly intersecting the thrustline. Basically a Sundowner or Cassutt, but with thinner, trapezoidal (or complex curved like a Nemesis) wings, and a cowl that looks like a Laser 200 or Tequila Sunrise (remember the old .25-size Global kit? I went through 4 or 5 of those 20 years ago...)

The big gasser solution is tempting, isn't it? Just get a whackadoodle pitch much bigger than diameter prop, and go nuts. A ~70cc in an 80in plane...yup. 20x18 APC, and trim until you have a pucker moment.

It ought to be good for a few laughs!

Tyler

Originally Posted by TylerPylon

LRI,

Got any updates on the Sundowner?

Your project got my head going again. I just got a new DLE-222. I have a Supercool 24x34 USRA Unlimited Prop, and I'm going to design a plane around that engine/prop combo.

Not going to be legal for competition, but any speed project basically becomes a pylon plane anyway, even if you're just burning holes in clouds, but you know how that goes.

I want much shorter wings, and I'm going to try a couple crazy thin airfoils. Nice long tail moment for stability, mid-wing directly intersecting the thrustline. Basically a Sundowner or Cassutt, but with thinner, trapezoidal (or complex curved like a Nemesis) wings, and a cowl that looks like a Laser 200 or Tequila Sunrise (remember the old .25-size Global kit? I went through 4 or 5 of those 20 years ago...)

The big gasser solution is tempting, isn't it? Just get a whackadoodle pitch much bigger than diameter prop, and go nuts. A ~70cc in an 80in plane...yup. 20x18 APC, and trim until you have a pucker moment.

It ought to be good for a few laughs!

Tyler

Any update?!