Keil Kraft Outlaw for Ponte 2023

[leccyflyer]

I hope so Shaun - rediscovering balsa bashing after a lot of years has been brilliant fun and I have a highly amended to do list, which has a strong bias towards vintage subjects now. Really enjoying it.

[stuart mackay]

Love this report, often thought about doing one myself! How is the Diesel fuselage progressing?

[leccyflyer]

Diesel fuselage is all done Shaun - just need to get the PAW 1.49 run-in on the bench, which I am having very little success with. I'm told that they are trckier than usual when fitted with a silencer.

I've flown the Outlaw-E quite a few times now On The Button with my Digimac III, but every attempt to get to the field for a suitable day to try the single channel maiden with the Gem 1+1 has been thwarted by the weather. It has to be the bigger field, because my local site runway is only 12mx50m ish and a bit of a struggle to hit sometimes, even on the sticks. Even the bigger field is surrounded by a robust electric fence, so the potential for disaster on landing is there.

[leccyflyer]

Here's a couple of pictures of the diesel version of the Outlaw - all ready to add the PAW 1.49 RC, once I'm comfortable that the engine will be ready to start and keep going - still got some work with it in the test stand to be sure of that.

I opted for the original tricycle configuration for the diesel version and needed to cut down the only dural undercarrisage that was anywhere close to the dimensions on the plan. I stayed with the banded on undercarriage and we'll see how that goes - on the electric version it flips on every landing, no matter how gentle I am. Outlaw -E is blue, Outlaw-D is red - both use the same wing,

[stuart mackay]

I like that! And am suffering workshop envy too , Brian!

[leccyflyer]

Thanks Stuart - I just hope that the weather co-operates in the next few weeks to let me get a first IC powered flight in more than a decade and scratch the 50-year old itch of a successful single channel Outlaw flight with a diesel.

The workshop has been half a lifetime coming - I've not had a suitable space for a dedicated workshop for decades and have had to share my assembly space with work activities, in my office and latterly in a spare bedroom, so no "dirty" tasks such as sanding and painting. When we moved here a few years ago the requirement for a suitable space was key to the move. The first job was to get the workshop kicked off and it was well underway, when Covid struck and the second fix was delayed. Once completed it's been a joy to work in and the single channel retro project probably wouldn't have happened without that ability to make a mess. My visit to Ponte in July has completely changed the direction of my modelling this year.

[Pchristy]

Re: Getting small PAW diesels going...

I found they were absolute pigs to start on D-1000 (the so called "easy start" fuel), but started very easily on D-3000 - the lower oil stuff for performance engines.

I don't think I ever got my PAW 80 (.049) to start on D-1000, but it was dead easy on D-3000. My 1.49s would start (reluctantly!) on D-1000, but were much easier to handle on D-3000.

I was warned that D-3000 was unsuitable for plain bearing engines, but I never had any issues with them. They still run today!

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Pete

[leccyflyer]

Thanks for that info Pete. I wonder whether the half-way house D2000 might then be a bit easier to start than the D1000, given it's slightly lower oil content and higher kerosene, but with no concerns about it's use with plain bearing engines. I might order some - it'll be useful down the road anyway as my PAW 19RC is going to need feeding at some stage. I'm getting nowhere with the D1000 so far. It's dear stuff to experiment with - even dearer than Norwegian beer!

[Pchristy]

I did try D-2000, and it was OK, but D-3000 still started the easiest!

--
Pete

[leccyflyer]

A litre of D2000 is en route from Leeds right now - will let you know how I get on. The PAW19 RC is also mounted in the test stand so will see if that co-operates as well.