Mr. Larry Renger.

Having had easily predictable problems with a (slightly) shortened, uni-flo plumbed Veco "profile wedge" tank on my ARF Flite Streak it has now been fitted with a Tettra 3-ounce tank mounted to the inboard side of the fuselage. Yes, these are the relaxed bladder in a hard shell style of tank used so successfully in RC Pylon. And my Saheeto 56-powered Impact.

You are known to have a bit of experience with home-brew versions of this style tank. Any comments or ideas?

Personally, I think the layout of motor on one side of the fuselage, tank on the other side is perfect for the short-nosed Flite Streak. And we certainly had a lot of success when using Pylon SS-4 tanks. (Reference: Cheater Slow.)

My next Flite Streak will have the 25FP moved forward a bit and will easily accept the 4-ounce Tettra tank.

I am using the single-line setup, so refueling will be a minor hassle, although the reliability seems worth the effort.

Thanks.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-03-03 AT 10:40 PM (CDT)
 
I used to keep Cardinals, Neon Tetras, and a whole bunch of those SA Tropicals, and they were IN a bunch of glass tanks, but that was over in Houston, with soft water, not here with our extremely hard water that bleaches (almost) all of the color out of those tinies . .

>Having had easily predictable problems with a (slightly)
>shortened, uni-flo plumbed Veco "profile wedge" tank on my
>ARF Flite Streak

Yeah, from the time those came onto the market, I didn't find a mild running 35-size engine that liked 'em much. One of my '57 model Fox 25's was happy with one fitted to a Streak, but not a Fox 35. One of those in particular ran in an extrememely unpredictable manner on that plane with that tank. At least one Max-S 35 also choked, coughed, spewed, & generally got sick when attached to a similar tank some years later.

>it has now been fitted with a Tettra 3-ounce tank mounted to the
>inboard side of the fuselage. Yes, these are the relaxed bladder in
>a hard shell style of tank
>
>Personally, I think the layout of motor on one side of the fuselage,
>tank on the other side is perfect for the short-nosed Flite Streak.
>And we certainly had a lot of success when using Pylon SS-4 tanks.
>(Reference: Cheater Slow.)
>
We had to launch it practically screaming its guts out as I recall, however. It worked a lot better, I thought, on sport profiles (flying at more reasonable speeds).

>My next Flite Streak will have the 25FP moved forward a bit
>and will easily accept the 4-ounce Tettra tank.
>
I used those T-28's with several performance type engines relatively successfully before there were easily obtainable Chicken Hoppers: Foxes, Maxes (early on, anyway), and Tigres. Just hated the overflow vent location, which got broken off all the time until I got better with a soldering iron and moved all tubes onto the top and/or front end. My 25FP ran on a bladder, not a tank, so if it doesn't like a T-28 I've not made that test yet.

I think that the 3 1/4 Oz GRW Chicken Hopper is the right size to fit.

.
Kiwi

Kiwi,

As I think you are suggesting, a chicken-hopper tank would in many ways be ideal for the ARF Flite Streaks.

Flew my FS with inboard-mounted 3-ounce Tettra tank yesterday. While it was an improvement over my whack-job T-28 tank, and completely servicable considering it was a slap-it-on operation, I was expecting better performance.

Yes, launch rpm was high. Something in excess of 13K with an APC 9-4 prop. But well away from sagging lean. And as soon as the model is in the air the mix richens up right away.

The problem was in the variance between level-flight and maneuvering speeds. Stated another way, the break in figures was too hard. Perfectly acceptable for sport flying, maybe even the Killer Combination for speed limit Combat, but disconcerting when one of my goals is to fly this model in the next P-40 contest.

So. The inboard-mounted Tettra tank will work, plus it's fun to be using a tank which cost approximately 25% of what I spent on the ARF model.

I'm going to move the 25FP forward as far as practical, fabricate a snub-nosed feed line and wedge the tank in between motor and wing LE. I think there is just enough room to do this, and 3 ounces of fuel is plenty for this motor. In fact, these sorts of tank can be heated--just as with Pylon and DuBro tanks--and reshaped slightly, bashing in the rear of tank for clearance while losing only a bit of capacity.

Incidentally, another reason for getting this thing to work well is that, like a lot of you out there, I am up to here in having Brett blather on and on about his stupid Skyray.

Larry Renger, where are you? I could use some more help here...

Hey Dan,

If you're really in experiment mode with this, here's an idea: keep the stock FS tank in it's current position. Add a two ounce sullivan clunk tank to the inboard side, with one vent facing forward and the feed line routed through the fuselage (just behind the motor) to a tap soldered onto the front of the existing tank at the centerline close to the fuselage. Instant chicken hopper, less problem with rich runs.

Have I ever done this? No, but I ran the "cheater slow" inboard tanks plently of times and I'll bet this setup would work better for stunt.

Dan, as Kiwi has sugested the GRW 31/4 ounce chicken hopper is the perfect tank for any Flight Streak. I have a Streak built stock from the origional Top Flight kit with an FP-25 and a GRW chicken hopper. Couldn't ask for any better enging runs and the tank fits...

Bob,

Sounds like a plan. But now that I am out of Combat and that pipeline of Cool Stuff, where do I get these guys?

I think Leonard carries them, UkeyMan (Joe Just) also, you can order from Brodak and I am pretty sure you can order direct from GRW but don't have the link. I picked up a couple while at Brodaks and have a couple that need fixing. These are $15.00 tanks but worth every penny..

If you don't mind pulling the back off, pounding out the dent and fixing a hole I will send you one of two I have that need fixing pro-bono, just send me your address...

>Sounds like a plan. But now that I am out of Combat and that pipeline
>of Cool Stuff, where do I get these guys?
>
GRW was among the brands sold by SIG for the last several years, and I am almost certain that Riley carries them as well. Glenn sold out to another garage-operation family in the Dallas area; I don't think they are computer-conscious folks, but I can get you a snail address, I am pretty sure.

.
Kiwi

Kiwi,

Thanks for the effort, apologies for causing it to be made.

In reading your response I instantly remembered buying a couple GRW tanks from SIG within the past few months.

It is my view that any tin-benders currently in business are soon going to be flooded with requests for tanks bolting up to Flite Streaks.

I last used a floppy bladder type tank on a Flite Streak with my Saito 30 on it. Extremely successful combination. The bladder lay in a gutted SS4 tank on the inside of the nose, the engine on the outside, moved 1.5" back from the normal position. I recall that I still needed a hint of tailweight.

You can, on glow engines, pressurize the tank outside the bladder for more steady runs. This will also minimize the pressure change with speed.

The Balloons usually last quite a long time if they are of good quality. Be sure to use the ones that are identified for helium use, they seeem a bit tougher.

good luck!