PT-19 (acquired
by swapping a sail boat steering conversion kit I sell - 2005)
This Hanger 9 PT-19 ARF was traded for and completed. It is
powered by an Enya 1.2
4-stroke I'd had for years and never run. This is a large great
flying plane with more than six feet of wingspan and capable of good
slow speed aerobatics including the lumcevek, which always gets
attention at the field. It will do three reverse
tumbles with a fair amount of ease... mostly a matter of timing the
move from full up elevator to full down.
PT-19 (update)
This doesn't amount to much, but is interesting. The PT-19 is
powered by an Enya 1.2 four stroker, which now has been broken in
enough to loosen up a bit and not spit its prop too often. It
seemed that the engine had lost a little performance so the break in
head shim was removed though the performance was still off
slightly. This plane was a favorite in that it would do the
Lumcevak but it had suffered a shootdown requiring a new firewall and
repairs after which cranking out the tumbling maneuver was not nearly
as predictable as previous. The Lumcevak tumble requires a timed
movement of the elevator from full up to full down along with holding
full aileron, rudder and throttle after initiating a climbing snap
roll. Where I used to hit it three out of four, it was now one of
five and demoralizing. I figured the problem was likely a CG
change resulting from the repairs and wasn't sure I'd find the magic
settings again.
The plane had been flown by my second transmitter and because it had
some elevator mix when engaging the flaps I'd not bothered to set it up
in the latest 3rd transmitter. Recently it was taken to fly
but with the new transmitter, which finally forced a setup.
Flying saw a return of the performance it once had and the predictable
nailing of the Lumcevak almost every time. Remember, the Lumcevak
is a three axis maneuver with the 3rd axis being the auto gyro action
of the motor at full throttle. The light turned on... after the
rebuilding of the firewall, the throttle setting had been limited
to less than full in the transmitter setup. I'm guessing what
happened is the sub trim was moved lower, which limited the upper throw
and I mentally didn't pick up on it.
