Warbird 80 Racing Continued Discussion

[DonStegall]

The RCPRO Warbird 80 Racing class is gaining traction.

It has been getting discussed on RCU this week, but their forums are not stable and photo uploading keeps getting changed. So I'm bringing a continuation of that discussion here.

The original spec actually used a single airframe. The World Models P-51 Mustang G.S. But I got feedback real quick that plane choice was mandatory and that we could not do what we had done with Club40Racing.com. Originally it was heads-up racing and not brackets. But most of the feedback was from people in RCPRO Warbird Racing and NorCal racing and brackets were deemed to be a better choice. Originally the course was shorter for Bronze that for Silver or Gold. But race organizers put in input that the course needed to be the same size for all classes.

I created various courses and planes for RealFlight 6.5 and above over the years. I think I actually had them for RealFlight 3.5 ... I'm going to get that stuff organized and people can try different things.

The course was originally a 900' course as specified in the RCPylonRacingRules.com ... but I kept shortening the course for a Silver level plane and I could handle it at 700' ... I could even handle a Gold level plane on the 700' course but I have not raced in an RCPRO Warbird Race. I found that I needed to move the course out because the big planes don't turn as tight.

[DonStegall]

Please check out these videos if you are interested in Warbird80.com

TWM P-51 Mustang G.S - Preparing for Warbird 80 - Part 1 - Introduction



After watching the above video and thinking about how much quicker I could have it in the air if I finish it in the yellow and black, I may decide to just get it done instead of all the customization and painting. But I'm going to get the TWM Zero G.S. out today and see what I think it will take to get it done. I also have the TWM Spitfire G.S. and three other P-51 Mustang G.S. kits untouched.

I'm committed to at least get some of my own planes for Warbird 80 in the air soon.

DLE 60 Twin Gas Engine - Introduction

[DonStegall]

For the people who want to run Warbird 80 Bronze, you may want to check out these videos

O.S. GT33 Tuning and Performance - Part 2 - Tuned Pipe with APC 18x12



DLE-35RA 35cc Gas Engine for R/C airplanes - Part 1 - Introduction



The DLE-35RA - Evaluating the Gas Engine - Part 2 - Break In



DLE-35RA Gas Engine - Continuing Break-in and Test Running



The test stand you see in these videos is called the Tripod Test Stand with a PSP test stand mount. The Tripod will soon be in full production and will be the ticket for running engines (and motors ) for this size of plane. Production units will be available no later than May 14, 2018.

[DonStegall]

The Tripod Test Stand has been in development for at least 2 years. I have been using them extensively. I am going to publish the plans. I made the first one using a Sawzall. Then my father made some for me in his woodworking shop. He is now 82 and is not up to handling the wood.

Recently a friend of mine visited and he had seen the Tripod in use. I asked him about making them. He is retired and he decided to give it a try. First he built me a great vacuum forming setup. Then he did a batch of Tripod Test Stand beams using pressure treated wood. That wood works fine, but tends to crack. We found Versa-Lam and a batch was made using it. It is very nice, but very expensive.

StegallHobbies.com will have 3 different sizes of beams with two different lengths of legs. There will be a Heavy Duty one that uses bigger legs for engines over 100cc.

You must have a reliable engine to win a race, or even a heat. The gas engines really need to be broken in properly.

The Tripod Test Stands will be available on Amazon by May 14, 2018. They will be available direct as well. They are worth their cost.

Check out this LONG video for many details and a demo.

Tripod Test Stand - Assembly, Setup, and Use ... YS DZ185 shown running at end of video

[DonStegall]

still4given: I am interested in the GS 80" racing and I'm sure I can talk the club into hosting an event. The problem at the present is there are no guys who presently have a qualifying plane. This means it could take some time before we would have enough people to actually hold a race. It may be that we could add a heat or two at our next warbird race in September to try it out.

​​​​​​​Terry,

We have to think outside of the guys that are racing pylon.

35-60cc gas powered warbirds are all over the area here. I will be approaching guys with them about trying the racing. I just don't have enough time between now and when a race could be run to get everything together.

One thing I have found is that some don't want to risk their planes. They are not confident enough in their own flying to try low and full throttle. I got people into Club 40 by letting them fly my planes at reduced throttle until they got the feel of the course, then they sped up. I lost some planes to other's thumbs. I also gave away some ARF kits and even the covering to decorate them. I invested heavily into Club 40. But at one point I had 55 Sky Raider Mach II planes alone. I was selling them locally and shipping them all over the country. So the lost planes were the cost of getting the racing going.

If people in the pylon community want to get this going, I have enough connections to get some deals on airframes. For one thing, I am a World Models and Wings Maker dealer.

Around here a lot of times the sport fliers get the pylon guys to test fly their planes. If you can convince some of the giant scale Warbird guys too give you the transmitter, you can fly a high circuit so they don't freak and get the feel of the big planes. They're just planes. Engine outs are not a happy thing on giant scale warbirds though. So you have to make sure the plane is actually worthy of flying some circuits that get tighter and tighter.

With all the videos I posted today, it should be evident that I have put a lot of time and money into this class that now finally seems to have some good potential. Those videos didn't happen this week. They've been works in progress for a while.

I will get the RealFlight stuff ready so some people can try it on simulators. I have some EF1 stuff that is ready to put out and I will work on getting it and the Warbird software add-on's ready and on RCPRO.org ... In the meantime, is anyone wants to try EF1 3 pole racing on RealFlight, just shoot me an email at don.f.stegall@gmail.com and something will magically appear in your inbox. 

[DonStegall]

With this discussion starting up, I was curious to get a look a The World Models Zero G.S. since the DLE-60 Twin will fit under the cowl. I have had the wing box open and looked at the wing panels and tail surfaces, but I had not even broken the plastic bag on the fuselage. I had the cowl out when I did the DLE-60 Twin Introduction video.

The fiberglass fuselage is nicely detailed and looks good even though it is glossy. It has a structure inside the fuselage, but I think additional cloth and carbon fiber may be needed. It is very lightweight, and with the extra weight of the 60 up front, it would probably be wise to use some strengthening.

I think it may be capable of Gold speeds.

The plane in front is a TWM P-51D Strega 40 Warbird Pylon Racer.

The plane in back is my new 50cc Pilatus PC-6 Porter ARF with a 10 1/2 foot wingspan, 2009 square inches of wing area, and an estimated flying weight of 26-30 pounds. If you don't follow me on Facebook, just go to https://www.facebook.com/don.stegall and there are more details there. I'm going electric and using a 100cc gas engine equivalent motor. There is a photo album of some of the pictures at Starting to look at the 50cc Pilatus PC-6 Porter ... I'm over-powering it so I can tow large gliders. The page on the AirBorne Models site is at http://airborne-models.com/html/ZDispla ... egoryID=12 ... If it flies good, I may build the kit version. My dream is to put a JetCat SPT5 Turbo-Prop engine in the kit built version.

[DonStegall]

The Giant Scale planes by the World Models will make excellent planes for Warbird80Racing.com

You can see a lot of pictures and details of the P-51 here http://www.abmshowcase.com/the_world_mo ... fault.aspx

The links to their planes are

P-51 Mustang G.S.

Spitfire G.S.

Zero G.S.

I have all three and will be getting the Spitfire and Zero on the AirBorne Models Showcase

I'm a dealer for AirBorne Models as well and special prices are available on these planes if you want to use them in RCPRO Warbird 80 Racing.

There are many other ARF's available ... I will post links to planes that I know to be good fliers.




 

[DonStegall]

After the past couple of years of serious health issues for my wife and I since 2017, I'm finally really getting back into gear with R/C (and music) full speed. I almost died from DVT/PE blood clots on June 30, 2019. Then I had a serious Crohn's Disease flare up that I dealt with through July and much of August. I'm much better now. I have an CT Angio Chest on Friday August 30th. I still get a little winded with mild to medium exterion, but I think the clots in my lungs are gone or close to gone. They are pretty sure the clot in my left leg has cleared up.

I will be getting back to work on my TWM P-51 Mustang G.S. Double Trouble for the Warbird 80 Bronze class. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going with a DLE-35RA, an O.S. GT-33 with Macs tuned pipe, or a YZ185DZ. The first two are gasoline engines and would be much more economical than the YS that uses 30% heli fuel. The YS is more powerful though. The DLE would be more scale, but both the DZ with a header and the O.S. with the tuned pipe would not be club and fly-in friendly because of being too loud.

By cutting down an APC 18x12 Pylon Prop to 17x12, I finally got the rpms of the DLE where I think it would be acceptable. May be able to use a full 18x12 if takeoffs and unloading in the air takes some stress off the engine. The DLE-35RA is still on the test stand that has telemetry.

I was working with the FrSky Taranis X9D Plus using telemetry and stabilization before I got seriously ill. I would like to use the OpenTX system with the gasoline monitoring component if I go with a gas engine. It will slow down my progress, but being able to monitor more about the engine and gasoline flow . If any one has used the https://www.frsky-rc.com/product/gas-suite/ please let me know your thoughts on it.

My P-61 G.S. that was going to be a Bardahl Miss has undergone some fuselage modifications and will likely get a DLE-60 Twin on it. I hope to get clones of the Mac Products DLE-30 tuned pipe header produced so I can use dual open headers on it. I have no intentions of flying it where noise is a factory. I plan to fly it at Old Julian Airport with the nice paved runway. http://OJA.today ... I'm going to finish it as a COLOR TILE Stiletto.