RE: Ziroli Stuka
I'll be the third guy to vote for the G-62 in the Ziroli Stuka. It is the most hassle free engine on the market for this size airplane. Every one of the Zenoah G-62's is the same. They all run flawlessly out of the box and you'll get years of service from them. It will comfortably swing a 22 X 10 where the DA-50 is a little more complicated engine to install and it only handles a 21 X 10. Here is my G-62 in a Ziroli Stuka. Slimline Pitts style muffler as mentioned by someone above. You can see the muffler protruding out on the port side just a little. It's not bad. I put a 1/4" plywood spacer behind the prop so that the engine fins did not his the front of the cowl. It works well. Leo
Posted on: 11/19/2009 7:02 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9264667

RE: Ziroli Stuka
Evil, The RH side or Starboard side says T6+CK also. It just happens that the 6 lands on the yellow stripe. What is the right way for this designation to be applied? Should it be CK+T6 or maybe KC+6T? Still you can see from this photo how crazy this black on black is. You can hardly see the letters. Makes me think I should mask it off and spray some green on it as it should be. Leo
Posted on: 10/29/2009 8:17 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9213494

RE: Ziroli Stuka
Jim (tmoth4), Which siren from J.C. Whitney did you try? Is it the electric driven one that is first in the line-up below and in the center picture? I bought 3 sirens from J.C. Whitney to study them and see what makes them loud. The all have features that can contribute to good siren design. The parts of the I4C are on the far right. I am looking closely at siren design right now. Evil, My plane has the right serial code. T6+CK as you say. Look really close at the picture with the fuse side and you will see that K in black on black after the yellow stripe. It is there. The plane just doesn't have any Olivgrun on it. Leo
Posted on: 10/29/2009 4:53 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9212919

RE: Ziroli Stuka
Tmoth, I4C is out of business. So Sirens are very rare. I get offers for mine all the time. Currently I don't believe there is any source for a good siren. The I4C did have a design problem with the drive prop which resulted in mine breaking within the first 2 days of use. I have since fix that problem and had good performance all year. Evil, This Stuka has a strange color scheme. It is black with black lettering on it. I think it was supposed to be dark green. The guy that built it called it "Black on Black" and said it was scale. Who knows? The only black Stuka I have ever seen was a Cox control line plastic model from the 70's. I am sure that one was not scale. Leo
Posted on: 10/29/2009 2:08 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9212481

RE: Ziroli Stuka
The Ziroli Stuka is a good airplane. I bought this one on Ebay 2 years ago. It was built by Jim Archer out of Florida. Since then I have been terrorizing spectators at the field with screaming dives coming from my I4C siren. Bombing runs deliver a NERF football. What I need to do is add more bombs on the outer wings so that I can inflict more damage on each Sortie. Great fun! Leo
Posted on: 10/29/2009 7:29 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9211711

RE: scale prop for fokker d7
I've been flying a XOAR 24 X 6 on the front of my Balsa USA Fokker DVII. It is fantastic! You need to go big on diameter and low on pitch. Most of my flying is at about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle and it really works with the airframe to make a sweet combination. You can also check my earlier thread on mounting the engine if you are interested: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6552240/anchors_6552240/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#6552240 Leo
Posted on: 10/22/2009 1:52 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9193693

RE: Warbird Trainer
Get yourself a Lanier Giant Stinger. Put a G-62 on it. Get used to flying it in the standard configuration first, then when comfortable start adding several lbs. of weight on the C.G. When you can fly this beast with about 5 lbs. extra in the belly then you'll be ready for that Ziroli Zero. Leo
Posted on: 10/9/2009 7:52 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9160297

RE: 1/5 scale TF P-51B
[quote]ORIGINAL: ProScaleRc Leo: Thanks for the tip. I will have a look at the best way to rear mount without showing an servo body. If I can't hide the servos with easy access, I will simply go for the standard installation. [/quote] Hold up here! I mis-understood what you meant when you said rear mount servos. Don't put them in the tail. Just move them back as far as you can in the main compartment. Plan for stuff to be aft on the whole radio installation and you should be fine. Don't do that AeroBat thing by sticking servos in the tail. That's just not right for a plane like this. Leo
Posted on: 10/7/2009 6:01 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9154634

RE: 1/5 scale TF P-51B
[quote]ORIGINAL: ProScaleRc PS: May I ask, did you need to add weight to the nose of your ARC? If not, should I rear mount my servos? [/quote] Rear mount everything! I have nothing but an engine in front of the wing and I still had to mount my 2 RX battery packs behind the wing in order to get the balance. No lead needed. This is a nose heavy bird. Leo
Posted on: 10/6/2009 11:00 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9152707

RE: 1/5 scale TF P-51B
Hey James! Before you bond that Razorback on you need to pay some attention to your pushrods. Everything there needs to be pulled out and you have to re-route some new tubes that are up higher to match the new stab location. It is a lot easier to do it now while the fuse is open then after you close it up. Also notice that you don't want to locate the front of the elevator tubes as they did on the kit. They are mirror images of each other which requires you to reverse one servo. Not cool. It is better to locate both tubes on the same side of the servos. I had to use a servo reverser on my TF ARF that I built. You can see this in the install picture. The two outboard servos are the elevators. I won't do that on my ARC. Leo
Posted on: 10/6/2009 9:35 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9152460

RE: 1/5 scale TF P-51B
Steve, As I stated above, "My recommendation would be to glass the fuse first and trim the edge, then bond on the cowl and the razorback. Filling the seam without the overlap will be easier. Putty can just extend to whichever side is lower. You will have a hard surface to sand against with the glassed balsa versus just balsa alone. Most of the putty is sanded off so weight is not an issue. Just my recommendation and the way I plan to do my next one." I continue to watch this thread with great interest myself. Great project! Leo
Posted on: 10/6/2009 9:23 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9152433

RE: Anyone use carbon fiber rod instead of music wire with Robostruts?
The carbon fiber would be a bad idea for all the reasons listed above. I think the responses are right on. What I've done with the RoboStruts is to not use any music wire at all. They don't need to be flexible because they have an oleo shock feature. Make a hardwood block securely bonded in your wing. I use maple and make it the height of the whole rib. Then I drill a holding socket into the maple with a 5/8" Fostner bit. It will fit so tight that you have to sand the primer off the outside of the strut to get it in the socket. Cut your RoboStrut to the right length and your all set. A set screw can be applied from the front of the wing cord or from the side to hold it in place and set your toe. This method is much nicer than the music wire joint. Leo
Posted on: 10/2/2009 12:59 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9141340

RE: 1/5 scale TF P-51B
James, At this stage on the tail, drill in from the front through that plywood and peg the front of the stab with two 1/8" wooden dowels. I think it is a good measure of extra strength and it will provide more of a mechanical joint for the stab versus just relying on the adhesive bond of the lower side. I will eventually add that to the instructions. Leo
Posted on: 9/29/2009 7:21 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9132411

RE: The complete YELLOW AIRCRAFT SPITFIRE thread.
Brad, Don't worry about those wheel well panel lines. You could never get them right if you tried. The gear and the wheel wells on the kit are much farther foward than the full scale airplane. They had to be in order to make it taxi. Even with them shifted forward you will still need to cant your gear forward so that the axles are another 1/2 or so forward. Failure to do this will make the plane not handle on the ground and you will not be able to taxi without flipping up on the nose. So just Fake those panel lines in on the bottom of the wing as best you can. Leo
Posted on: 9/28/2009 12:59 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9130099

RE: Mustang Tire size
They are 27". I have studied and measured them up close. They even have 27" in a block logo on the sidewall. No debate or questions about it. The North American AT-6 also uses the same size tires. Leo
Posted on: 9/25/2009 7:54 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9124080

RE: Jerry Bates F4F Wildcat
[quote]ORIGINAL: makmov I have run into this with a scale helicopter, one person does the fuse and get a kit from another, get blades here, get that there, nobody really knows anyone else or their stuff and nothing quite fits well or works the way it should, you can't get answers. I have enought brain damage projects and kits laying around and don't want another. [/quote] makmov, What you describe fits most of the giant scale airplane hobby. Especially this Wildcat. I can tell you right off that with your criteria you should never build this airplane. It will cost you double your Ziroli Zero before you're done and you will battle to get parts, especially the gear. Then you'll realize that the gear, either Robart or Century, won't work out of the box, so you'll get disgusted messing with them. This is not the airplane for you. It is only an airplane for those who are highly motivated and willing to battle through all the obstacles. It took Pierre 4-1/2 years to finish the one he has flying. Of over 100 cowl customers I know there are only about 6 - 8 of these Wildcats that have ever been finished. There's a reason for that. It is a tough bird. The complete kit concept was tried by Byron Originals. They came close to meeting the criteria you are looking for, but as you can read in other threads on this site it was a failure in the sense that they never made any money at it. The only way it survived was that Byron Godsberson heavily subsidized the model airplane business at his own loss just because he loved airplanes. If there was money in it more suppliers would be doing it today, but unfortunately there is not. You can find it in the Jet world from places like BVM yet look at the prices he charges. The jet crowd is accustomed to paying those prices and they get a great product for what they pay. I don't think the WWII heavy iron customers are willing to do the same. Now the gear issue on the Wildcat may get better. Darrell at Sierra Giant Scale is entertaining the idea of building gear for this airplane. If he does, they will work right out of the box and they will be good. If that happens, then I will build a new mold for that fuse and resume fuselage production. Leo
Posted on: 9/25/2009 7:35 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9122477

RE: Jerry Bates F4F Wildcat
I can make you cowls and canopies for the Jerry Bates design. Nobody has sent me any e-mails that I did not answer so I don't know what that's about? Here are some shots of my friend Pierre's Wildcat in flight. It is fantastic! He has about 20 flights on it now. Bates design, Spychalla fuse, cowl, & canopy. Glassed wings, Testors ModelMasters Paint, Zenoah G-62 for power
Posted on: 9/24/2009 7:34 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9121376

RE: Top-Flite Giant P-47 Razor Conversion?
Spychalla - Spychalla Aircraft LLC
Posted on: 9/23/2009 7:29 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9117431

RE: YAK-3 Fiberglass Fuselage Build-up, 1/4th Scale Jerry Bates Design
I am back in action after dual knee replacement. It has been 5 months and I am now more mobile and feel better than I have in 5 years. Takes a lot of work outs to get to this point. Anyway, time to get back on the YAK-3. I've found a fantastic primer that goes on thick and smooth. It is a cured urethane product from Dupont. The polyester based gel coat material I use for mold making does not attack it so it is perfect for this plug. The downside is that it is Isocyanate cured so you have to be really careful with it and spray with a fresh air mask as I have here. Good investment for your health. Not used correctly this stuff will poison you. Here is the plug prepared with what I hope to be the final coat of prime. I will now wet sand it and check for defects before making parting boards. Leo
Posted on: 9/18/2009 7:07 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9105084

RE: 1/5 scale TF P-51B
and I will send you information and pricing. I do not know who is making this guys Malcolm Hood. Leo Spychalla (Spychalla Aircraft LLC)
Posted on: 9/14/2009 1:16 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9094811

RE: 1/5 scale TF P-51B
James, Nice project. I am biased of course because it has my parts on it, but still nice project. Regarding glass on your fuse. Having just put a cowl on my own TF Mustang recently I have an opinion regarding the procedure. I bonded on the cowl, filled the gap flush with lightweight Ultimate Bondo (Auto Body Filler) then overlapped the glass about 1/2 inch onto the cowl. This created a situation where I had to sand and feather that edge in. I would not do it this way again. My recommendation would be to glass the fuse first and trim the edge, then bond on the cowl and the razorback. Filling the seam without the overlap will be easier. Putty can just extend to whichever side is lower. You will have a hard surface to sand against with the glassed balsa versus just balsa alone. Most of the putty is sanded off so weight is not an issue. Just my recommendation and the way I plan to do my next one. Leo
Posted on: 9/13/2009 3:23 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9092271

RE: TF 1/5 Scale P-51 ARF Assembly (1ST MISHAP!!!)
Just bind them at separate times. No problem. The AR7000 does not communicate back to the TX so it has no idea that a second RX is out there. The special unique code is in your TX. The AR9000 does communicate back to the TX, consequently you cannot bind an AR7000 and an AR9000 together. The first one bound will lose its bind, but you can bind two identical AR9000 transmitters together and interestingly enough you can bind AR7000 an below together. So you can for instance bind an AR7000 with an AR6300. More detail last night after the flight. I didn't have much time. So in just one hour I finished off these Tony Howard Exhaust. Sorry Tony, no weld beads or wrapped thickness on the ends of the pipes. This is an ARF. Just didn't have time, but the air brush worked wonders with 3 colors. Note the step sanded into the back to clear the plywood near the firewall. It establishes the correct angle without taking away strength on the fuse. Bonded in place this morning they are a nice touch. Leo
Posted on: 9/3/2009 7:23 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9066419

RE: TF 1/5 Scale P-51 ARF Assembly (1ST MISHAP!!!)
[quote]ORIGINAL: fujiman wow leo!!!!!!! that's one sweet lookn' 51. the way you did the nose really cleaned up the front of plane. maybe some pics from Muncie????? and let us know how you faired there. [/quote] Well let's not think too much of it. Remember this is the wrinkly ChinaCote covered ARF we are all familiar with. You just can't see all the flaws and wrinkles in digital photos. The photos can make everything look better. But it is a fun beat around airplane that is a blast to fly. Someday I will make a truly good looking one that is glassed and painted. I flew it twice today. On flight one I learned that my nose heavy condition is not alright. Rotation was sluggish. The airplane flew heavy feeling and it was no fun at all. On top of that the engine was rich and the tail wheel fell apart. My son and I say it takes at least 12 flights to de-bug an airplane. So that was just flight one. After an hour of work I re-balanced the plane by sticking both RX batteries way in the tail. Just in front of the tail wheel former. You can see them in the photo. I never realized I'd have to go that far back. Second flight was fantastic. Nothing fell apart and the airplane was lean and on rails. This is a very fun airplane to fly. She is ready for Muncie. For general interest I also show a picture of my radio install. Dual RX AR7000 completely isolated and separate systems. Each controls half the airplane. One has the throttle and the other the choke so I always have engine kill capability if I lose and RX. Servos are all fused with 7 amp in-line fuses to protect against dead short servos or servo leads. This is my standard install strategy for any airplane over $1,500. Leo
Posted on: 9/2/2009 10:29 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9065801

RE: TF 1/5 Scale P-51 ARF Assembly (1ST MISHAP!!!)
I've been literally burning the midnight oil trying to get this thing done so I can take it to Muncie. Got all the radio gear and tank in tonight. Quick check of the C.G. shows I am about 3/8" nose heavy. That will be fine for this weekend. I will move my batteries back behind the wing when I get time. I hang my airplanes for balance. It is a good way to get an accurate balance with a bob weight hanging down from the lift point. Test flight tomorrow night and then I pack for Muncie. I won't have time to do much of a scale job on the exhaust stacks. Probably just a quick shot with some testors aluminum and stuff the stacks in it. I can take it off later and do it up right. It was a rush but I think it's ready. The nose looks a lot better than stock. The front photo show you how I rotate the engine 10 deg. clockwise to keep as much in the cowl as possible. Leo
Posted on: 9/2/2009 1:36 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9063608

RE: TF 1/5 Scale P-51 ARF Assembly (1ST MISHAP!!!)
[quote]ORIGINAL: Doomking Looks fantastic !!! One question ...is it easy to reach the inside of the engine/carb in case you need to service them since you cannot remove the top portion of the cowl ? Great job !! [/quote] Sure. It is pretty easy. Carb adjustment is done through two holes in the side of the airplane. In this case they come out right on the RH exhaust manifold. You can see my picture with the screwdriver in it. On some planes I put guide tubes for the screwdriver so it hits right on the screw head to make it even more convenient. I won't be doing it on this one. It will be easy enough to adjust. General access through the lower hatch and through the clearance around the crank when the spinner is off is adequate to service anything you're dealing with up front. If you have major maintenance then you need to pull the engine, but that should be rare. Photo shows vibration mount for the ignition. Many people don't truly vibration mount their components. The way I do it is to zip tie the component to plywood that is bonded to medium density foam. Then the foam is bonded to the airplane. I shoot the foam with kicker and put CA on the airplane and just push them together. Two electrical shrink tubes are sandwiched between the foam and the ply to act as passage ways for the zip ties. I can make one of these mounts and install it in the plane in less than 5 min. They hold up great and provide true vibration isolation for ignitions, batteries, and receivers. The engine is mounted. Yes it does have a 1.25" extension on it from Sierra Giant Scale. $40 and a good value. If you use one on the DA make sure you change the 4 crankcase bolts from the original aluminum to steel. Failure to do this will result in blown crankcase gaskets after about 20 flights. Pushrods linkages for the throttle and the choke are in place. You can see the lower cowl clearance hole. I left the plywood side screens complete even though they touch the engine fins and the muffler. We will see how black they get. I expect the muffler side to burn up a little. But I just didn't want to cut and trim them at this point because they look so nice. Leo
Posted on: 8/30/2009 11:49 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9057825

RE: TF 1/5 Scale P-51 ARF Assembly (1ST MISHAP!!!)
After the coat of primer I sprayed on one layer of white PPG acrylic. This helps bring out the pigment of the red top coat. Red has such poor coverage and this really makes a difference. Coverage on the red can be achieved in 2 light coats over the white and it looks good. The parts are set aside to dry. Tomorrow I hope to stuff components. Leo
Posted on: 8/29/2009 7:45 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9055056

RE: TF 1/5 Scale P-51 ARF Assembly (1ST MISHAP!!!)
a Spychalla Aircraft Cowl. Epoxy bonded it to the front and cleared away some of the Monokote
Posted on: 8/29/2009 7:27 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9055028

RE: The complete YELLOW AIRCRAFT SPITFIRE thread.
[quote]ORIGINAL: Peter_OZ hey Leo, off topic here mate so apologies to Brad et al but seeing the firewall made me think about the Yak 3 fuz I'm getting for you. When you set up my firewall for the DA-85 I'd like to get it softmounted. My thoughts are to use a standoff plate that is softmounted to the firewall then hardmaunt the DA-85 on it's standoff mounts to said plate. This is how I have my Vailly Seafury setup. works very well and you would know it has a clunker of a G62 in the nose. Thoughts? cheers Peter [/quote] Peter, I've got one more Warbird show to attend Sept. 4-6. Then after that I am back on the YAK-3 mold and you will see postings on the existing thread. September will be a cool month for progress. I'm not sure how far back the firewall is going to get placed right now. I'd be glad to space yours back for the soft mount if you want. If that is the case I just need a dimension of total thickness for that plate and soft mounts stacked together. If you can get the plate done and send it to me I would pre-drill the holes and install it. If not then I'll have to leave the holes out. I have seen many soft mounted engines. I have never been a fan of them. For as many problems that they solve they create new ones. Just my bias. Leo
Posted on: 8/28/2009 7:36 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9051402

RE: How much Down and Right Thrust?
Transatlanticflight, What are you designing or building? There is a very knowledgeable group out there that could probably help but with all the variable you need to narrow it down. I have some examples I build my heavy iron WWII warbirds with typically 1 deg. right and 1 deg. down thrust. My WWI dawn patrol stuff has 1 deg. right and 2 deg. down thrust. However, my Pietenpol Aircamper has 1 deg. right and 7 deg. down thrust. So it shows you how dramatic you can go. The Piet with that 7 deg. down thrust is scale by the way and the airplane needs it. Every Piper Cub I have flown, which is a similar configuration to the Piet, could have used a lot more down thrust. I just never thought that any of the designers knew what they were doing to make a more power neutral airplane that didn't climb like crazy when you poured the coals to it. Leo
Posted on: 8/26/2009 8:03 PM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9047762

RE: The complete YELLOW AIRCRAFT SPITFIRE thread.
Brad, On your installation leave the firewall alone. Just trim the fiberglass away up to the firewall and stop. I don't think the air behind the head is that critical. You don't need to go for an inch. It matters, but not nearly as much as we might think. Keep the strength of that firewall and don't cut it up. As far as your duct in front, it is generous. Should work great. Leo
Posted on: 8/25/2009 7:32 AM by Author "Spychalla Aircraft" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9042984