Swappable Mini Telemaster (Part 3) Flying Glow

Check out part 1 and part 2 for the full description of my swappable mini-telemaster and its new .15 size glow power-plant. To summarize, I built a foam-board version of the venerable mini Telemaster that is compatible with the FT power pod. I then mated it with a glow engine version of the power pod.

 

I have now flown the plane with the glow engine several times. It flies great! No adjustments required. Here is some flight video. I shot this with an 808 keycam clipped to my hat, so the framing is not great.

 

And here are my general observations:

 

My landings are actually a little smoother on glow compared to using the electric power pod. I am not sure why. Perhaps the added nose weight and increased wing loading makes the plane less twitchy.

 

Before the first flight on glow, I strengthened the main gear with a wire V-brace. See the pic below. The v-brace works much better than a straight cross-brace because it still allows the gear to flex and absorb shock. I soldered it (poorly) with a regular soldering iron and lead solder. Silver solder would be better I think. But it seems to be holding.

 

 

The AP .15 glow has plenty of power for this airplane and overall it is a nice little engine. I fly mostly at half throttle and I have not yet even leaned it out fully for max RPM. Initially I had some trouble getting it to start reliably. But eventually I found that the problem was the cheap turnigy glow igniter that I was using. I switched to a more powerful Lipo ignitor and now the engine starts in 5-10 or so flicks. Still not great, but hopefully will continue to improve as the engine loosens up. Here is my original glow igniter and the better one that I picked up for a few bucks on eBay.

 

 

In part 1 I stated that the flaps on my swap-emaster are not really necessary. Well, they come in very handy with the glow engine. At the lowest reliable idle that I can maintain, the prop is still putting out a bit of thrust. So on landing I need full flaps or the plane just floats forever down the runway. 

 

Torque roll on take-off is much more noticeable. I was expecting some torque roll on my first flight and so luckily I was prepared. But even still, on the first take-off I grabbed full throttle and almost stuffed the plane back into the ground.

 

I was concerned about getting fuel and oil all over the (foam) plane. But with the exhaust deflector out the bottom, the plane stays remarkably clean. A wire nut makes a good stopper for the exhaust deflector.

 

With the increased vibration of the engine, the skewer that holds the power pod on the plane will easily vibrate out of position. I added a bit of fuel tube on either end of the skewer to keep in place.

 

I did not build any down thrust into the engine mount. I probably should have. Because of the flat-bottom wing, the plane tends to pitch up at higher throttle settings. Pretty much all of my models do this, so it does not bother me so much.

 

I was a little worried that the 90cc fuel tank would be too small. In reality the tank provides around 20 minutes of flight time at the throttle settings I typically fly.

 

In conclusion, the swap-emaster flies great on Glow. The plane was a bit boring with electric power. But Glow makes it a lot more fun and interesting. Maybe it's just the extra noise!

 

Thanks for reading.