Engines

F2CN

Having elected to fly F2CN and British Goodyear I then had to make decisions about which engines to use. A trip or two to Barton by way of research helped enormously.

In F2CN Nelson motors, which sadly are no longer produced, seemed to have good pace. Thankfully a commercially available motor, the Profi, was being used in large numbers and won the contests I attended. It looks the part too, rear induction places the needle close to the tank for a strong take off, it’s compact, light and powerful.

As luck would have it an unused Profi F2CN motor came up on eBay. I took a gamble on the sellers honesty, and it arrived un-run and as far as I can tell, unmolested.

British F2CN rules call for a 2.5cc motor, non integral liner design. This is to avoid the need for the latest technology and to give a use for older F2C engines. Apparently it should hold its own in F2F too, as long as I don’t build over width models.

The Profi F2CN is a superbly made motor. Neat casting, superbly made, fine detail, light and functional, and at $325 from Techno Hobby Shop , I think it represents good value.

 

British Goodyear

I raced previously in British Goodyear (then Class 2 Goodyear) using a PAW 2.49 TBR, and have always had a soft spot for PAW engines. They are good value, powerful sport engines. These days improved performance from the competition means that PAW only seems to hit to pace in the hands of the works team.

24 years old and a little off the pace. Time to hang up the old Argander.

Having looked at the current options I’ve decided to go with an Oliver, but not just any Oliver…..

I took the plunge and ordered this J.Oliver Engines Goodyear 2.5cc diesel. This motor oozes quality, has a chromed steel liner, delrin venturi, sleeved safety nut, chromed aluminium backplate, brass compression adjuster and a 12mm crankshaft. It looks purposeful  in the box, and is a genuine Oliver. This motor was £250 including UK delivery. Contact Tom Ridley via e mail: click

 

Open Goodyear

I was late to the game deciding to build an Open Goodyear model as well. Rules allow for any 2.5cc engine, and I thought a Profi diesel may well be competitive. It should be reasonably powerful, will never blow a plug and should start easily.

In F2CN the motor works extremely well, but the models are small, light and stiff. Goodyear models in comparison are much bigger, probably more flexible and heavier. Having watched this….

… and talked with Derek Cannon who tried out the idea, I shelved it. The motor is under compressed in the video from Australia, and it initially go me thinking. But Derek suggested that as the motor was designed so specifically it would limited in it’s ability to haul round a big and relatively draggy Goodyear model. I’m still considering a lightweight Open Goodyear build, but that is something for the future.

So I elected to go for a Novarossi NS15S5, on 20% nitro it should be pretty powerful. This is a car engine designed for 16% nitro, and will need a few bits made to convert it to aero use, but essentially it should pretty much just go. Or is that a bit optimistic?

The motor came from absolutehobbyz.com and I can’t recommend their service highly enough. The motor was shipped from the USA, and arrived very quickly.The engine itself is very compact, being ‘small block’ and is well suited to Goodyear as it works well on suction with minmal crankcase volume. I’ll need to make up a head (the purple one doesn’t look very aerodynamic.. could be turned down as a clamp ring though), n.v.a., venturi, prop driver and sleeve nut. On breaking down the motor it’s clearly very nicely made, and the fact that it’s a (Nova) Rossi pleases me immensely.

Now back from the machine shop, I’m very pleased…

Great work Nathan, thankyou!

 

The venturi is currently at 5.5mm, this is a conservative starting point but hopefully the motor will be easy to handle. The needle valve assembly is a very nice item from Doug Galbreath, F1C legend. E-mail Doug here

 

Engine update – British Goodyear

After running the Ridley Oliver in a couple of competitons a few details have become apparent.

Careful running in with the settings backed off a smidge allowing the motors to heat up fully and cool completely between runs is the way to go.

• Running the motors on 20% oil is essential.
• Some examples have shown wear to the back of the big end face, keep an eye on this!
• My motor has achieved a best of 24.5/10 in practice and has apparently got more potential according to Tom. Fingers crossed.

 

Ridley Oliver and cut-off/tank set up

 

 

Engine update – F2CN

Having elected to use Profi’s dedicated F2CN motor I haven’t been disappointed. They are an absolute delight, a finely designed dedicated racing motor, they just seem to work. Sometimes finding a perfect setting can take a while but it handles fantastically well.

After a few laps running in a brand new motor in a brand new model we were able to achieve very competitive airspeed. The fact you don’t need to be an engine expert is one of many aspects that encourages newcomers to the class.

I bought a second motor direct through the Techno Hobby website, Andrey was a pleasure to deal with. I can thoroughly recommend their services.

Profi F2CN powered Wing Fing

My target going into our third heat at the Nats was to achieve a 3:55. By a bizarre coincidence we were 3:55.3 and 5 secs off making the Final. Not too disappointing first time out.

A very pleasing F2CN debut, the motors show really good potentvial. And motivating to know that good airspeed is achievable, just the piloting and pit work to sort out!

 

Watch this space!