For some reason up til now, I've posted my previous videos in the 1/2A section.
But here's my Li'l Satan I built a year or so ago. It's flown with a Black Widow, and an RR1. But I got tired of 90 second flights.

Here it is with a Tee Dee .049 fed by a pressure bladder and bolted on with an aluminum backplate mount like the ones Texas Timers sells. It's on 40' lines. I guesstimated the speed with a 42'(including my arm) radius using the video timestamps of a few semi flat laps, starting around 2:15 or so and I figured just about 69mph. The engine stumbles a few times. This one has a quirky needle valve right now. Maybe the venturi needs opening up some more. It has a 5.5x3 Master Airscrew on it.

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Lil Satan with its new Tee Dee upgrade (3 min 16 sec)

Hi RknRusty!

Boy, THAT brings back some fun memories! Thanks for taking the time to video, process, and upload.

I have some of my 1/2 A TD combat planes on VHS... even some 1/2 A combat matches... but don't know how how to get them into a digital format that I can upload.

As for your TD stumbling:

It really sounds to me like it was going lean on you in manuevers. To my ears, it sounds like I can hear the engine sag from heat caused by lack of fuel. Your video indicates you've tried richer and leaner, but still can't get a good solid run. One possibility could be your needle is vibrating and changing your setting? In the past, I've had TD's do that. One thing I did was take a slice of silicone tubing and stretch it over the needle and and also over the needle clicker. This will help keep the clicker pressed firmly against the ridges on the needle valve. (I assume you're using a stock NVA?)

Good luck!

Hi Ming. The needle is a Kustom Kraftsmanship 128tpi needle sold by Texas Timers for running pressure bladders. I'm using the thin walled tubing that TT recommends with identical setups on three of my planes. It's very stiff to turn and after every flight it's in the same place as when I launched.

There is one thing different about it from the other two I am flying. The engine peaks at only 1-1/3 turns. My two others peak at 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 turns on their Tee Dees. And it's very difficult to set slightly rich off-peak for launching. You can hear in the video how long it took to unload and come up to full speed, so I figured it was set plenty rich. Usually the Baby Flite Streak takes a lap to unload too, buts .051 runs beautifully.

I'm always careful to evacuate the bladder and not to pump any air into it. I haven't tried swapping needles, venturi's, etc. yet. Maybe it's as simple as boring the venturi a little wider.

I'll look for your Tube videos. I like watching combat planes.
Rusty

Yeah , good sound [audio] - Definitely sagging [ going lean ] ...

Possibly due to unwinding so much with that prop 5.5 x 3 ?
Might want a prop that dont unwind so much in the air .. [ 5x4 ? ]

It would be nice to have some equipment to measure performance with these different engines on the same plane.

RknRusty,

I am not in a position to be capable of offering you any advice, sir, but I sure did enjoy watching that.

I had a Lil/'Satan in the early 1970's with a Golden Bee on it-it sure did not fly like that one! (mine was much, much slower)!

Great Video!

Ya once you get a TD, you never want to go back to a reedy. I had (still have) a Guillows Spad biplane as a kid. My buddy used to chase it around the circle on a ten speed and almost keep up. I put a TD on and what a difference.

Originally Posted by old4570

Yeah , good sound [audio] - Definitely sagging [ going lean ] ...

Possibly due to unwinding so much with that prop 5.5 x 3 ?
Might want a prop that dont unwind so much in the air .. [ 5x4 ? ]

I have some 5x4 props, I'll toss them in the box next time I fly it. If the prop doesn't solve it, I'll swap parts one by one from the other plane.

Originally Posted by Ah Clem

RknRusty,

I am not in a position to be capable of offering you any advice, sir, but I sure did enjoy watching that.

I had a Lil/'Satan in the early 1970's with a Golden Bee on it-it sure did not fly like that one! (mine was much, much slower)!

Great Video!

Originally Posted by aspeed

Ya once you get a TD, you never want to go back to a reedy. I had (still have) a Guillows Spad biplane as a kid. My buddy used to chase it around the circle on a ten speed and almost keep up. I put a TD on and what a difference.

Haha, yeah, once I was given my first Tee Dee, all of my Bees started hibernating, one by one. Now I've got Norvels too. I just used one of them to demolish a newly rebuilt plane that should have been on longer lines.

Originally Posted by aspeed

Ya once you get a TD, you never want to go back to a reedy. I put a TD on and what a difference.

Exact same thing can be said of a Norvel.
Once tried, the TD's go back into the drawer .

Looks like fun - makes me wish it was not cold and windy here for the next 4 or 5 months

5.5x3 is a bit too much prop, try to finds a 5x3. And MA are sort of "heavy", try an APC.
We used to like Cox black nylon 5x3 on the TD, usually survived crashes. The Grey ones were too brittle.

These might be the same ones, even though they say "Grey" they look like the flexible black ones.
http://coxengines.ca/cox-.049-propeller-grey-5-x-3.html

What fuel are you running?

Pat MacKenzie

These are the black ones at the same vendor:
http://coxengines.ca/cox-.049-propeller-5-x-3.html
The only thing I don't like about them is they're hard to balance. The hubs are either lopsided or the holes are off-center. That's why I switched to MA.

I'm using Glowplugboy 24% nitro. I add castor to bring it up to 20% oil so that drops the nitro a bit. All of my other Tee Dees and my 3 Big Migs run good with this fuel. The Satan is in the hangar now with a 5-1/4x3 MA awaiting the next flight. And I have a couple of 5x3s and a black Cox 5x4 in the flight box too.

This engine has a funny crease in the crankcase. It was like this when I got it, and could be causing a friction problem..If it gives me any more trouble, I'll swap it with another Tee Dee that I know runs good.

I have a TD 15 crankcase just like that; the result of a blown rod at high RPM. What you have there is a repaired and rebuilt engine.

Originally Posted by Jim Thomerson

I have a TD 15 crankcase just like that; the result of a blown rod at high RPM. What you have there is a repaired and rebuilt engine.

I see, I thought maybe it happened when someone used too much force tapping or pressing the driveplate off of the crankshaft. I suppose as long as the drive tube is straight the bearings aren't binding. There were no marks on the original backplate after test running it. It did make a full speed bench run without slowing down.

If another prop doesn't make it happy, I'll swap the NVA from another plane and see what happens.

Is the crease deep enough to cause an air leak in the case? That would mess with the transfer pressure.