Top Flite TOPA0910 - Manual (Page 30)

Rang
e Chec
k
Ground chec
k the oper
ational r
ange of y
our r
adio
bef
ore the first flight of the da
y.
With the tr
ansmitter
antenna collapsed and the receiv
er and tr
ansmitter
on, y
ou should be ab
le to w
alk at least 100 f
eet a
w
a
y
from the model and still ha
v
e
control.
Ha
v
e
an
assistant stand b
y
y
our model and, while y
ou w
o
rk
the
controls
, tell y
ou what the control surf
aces are doing.
Repeat this test
with the engines running
at v
a
rious
speeds with an assistant holding the model, using hand signals to sho
w y
ou what is happening.
If the
control surf
aces do not respond correctly
,
do not fl
y!
Find and correct the prob
lem first.
Look f
o
r loose ser
v
o
connections or brok
en wires
, corroded wires on old
ser
v
o
connectors
, poor solder joints in y
our batter
y
pac
k or a def
ectiv
e cell, or a damaged receiv
er cr
ystal
from a pre
vious cr
ash.
ENGINE R
UN IN INSTR
UCTIONS
Because of the impor
tance f
or both engines to r
u
n
through the entire flight w
e
recommend that y
o
u
fo
llo
w
these engine pre-flight instr
uctions
.
1.
Bef
ore attempting to fly the air
p
lane
, remo
v
e
the
nacelles and r
un a full tank of fuel through one
engine
.
Put a second tank of fuel through the same
engine
, r
unning it at diff
erent speeds from idle to full
throttle
.
It is impor
tant that the engine has a solid,
reliab
le idle and that it tr
ansitions from idle to mid
range and then full throttle without an
y signs of the
engine quitting.
Adjust the lo
w speed needle v
alv
e to
achie
v
e
a good idle and lo
w end tr
ansition.
Then
adjust the high speed needle v
alv
e
.
Once y
ou are
confident of the engine perf
or
mance
, repeat the
procedure f
or the other engine
.
2.
Once y
ou are satisfied with both engines
, carefully
star
t both of them.
When star
ting a twin engine
air
plane be careful not to get an
ything or an
y par
t of
y
ou in the prop of the r
unning engine!
With both
engines r
unning, let them idle f
or a f
e
w seconds
.
Chec
k the RPM of each engine
.
The
y should be
close b
ut not necessar
ily e
xactly the same
.
Adv
ance
the throttle to full.
The engines should tr
ansition
similar
ly
.Once at full throttle the engines should ha
v
e
an RPM v
e
ry
close to one another
.
Chec
k this with a
tachometer
.
If y
ou do not ha
v
e
a tachometer listen to
the sound of the engines
.
When the
y
are r
unning
close to the same RPM the
y will sound the same
.
Run the tw
o engines together f
o
r the remainder of
the tank, r
unning them throughout the engine r
ange
.
3.
Reinstall the nacelles and r
un the engines
.
A
fully
co
wled engine ma
y r
un at a higher temper
ature than
an un-co
wled engine
.Adjust the needle v
alv
es so the
engines r
un as w
ell with the nacelles as the
y did
when the nacelles w
e
re off
.
Chec
k the RPM
measurements
, making sure the engines are
synchroniz
ed with each other
.
Once y
ou ha
v
e
the
engines adjusted to their maxim
um RPM, r
ichen the
engines
, allo
wing the engines to r
un 150–200 RPM
belo
w
the maxim
um achie
v
ab
le RPM.
Running the
engine slightly r
ich will help allo
w the engines to r
u
n
slightly cooler and minimiz
e chances of the engines
o
v
erheating.
When making y
our final engine
adjustments it is most impor
tant that the engines are
synchroniz
ed at full throttle
.
At lo
w
er RPM it is not as
cr
ucial that the
y are in synch.
If
, when y
our engines
are at full throttle one engine has a higher RPM than another
, r
ichen the stronger engine until it is in synch
with the w
eak
er engine
.
4.
It has been our e
xper
ience that the .46 AX engines
will r
un appro
x
imately 10 min
utes with the supplied
fuel tanks
.
W
e recommend that y
ou r
un the engines
on the g
round at 3/4 to full throttle and time them to
see ho
w long y
ou can e
xpect them to r
un while in the
air
.
Use of a timer in flight will assure that y
ou don’t
lose tr
ac
k of time
.
ENGINE SAFETY PRECA
UTIONS
•
K
eep all engine fuel in a saf
e place
, a
w
a
y
from high
heat, spar
ks or flames
, as fuel is v
e
ry
flammab
le
.
Do not smok
e near the engine or fuel;
and
remember that engine e
xhaust giv
es off a g
reat
deal of deadly carbon mono
xide
.Theref
ore
do not
run the engine in a c
losed r
oom or gara
g
e
.
•
Get help from an e
xper
ienced pilot when lear
ning
to oper
ate engines
.
•
Use saf
ety glasses when star
ting or r
unning engines
.
•
Do not r
un the engine in an area of loose g
ra
v
el or
sand;
the propeller ma
y thro
w such mater
ial in
y
our f
ace or e
y
es
.
•
K
eep y
our f
ace and body as w
ell as all spectators
a
w
a
y
from the plane of rotation of the propeller as
y
ou star
t and r
un the engine
.
•
K
eep these items a
w
a
y
from the prop:
loose
clothing, shir
t slee
v
e
s
, ties
, scarfs
, long hair or
loose objects such as pencils or scre
wdr
iv
ers that
ma
y f
all out of shir
t or jac
k
et poc
k
ets into the prop
.
•
Use a
“chic
k
e
n stic
k”
or electr
ic star
ter to star
t the
engine
.
D
o not use y
our fingers to flip the propeller
.
Mak
e
cer
tain the glo
w plug clip or connector is
secure so that it will not pop off or otherwise get into the r
unning propeller
.
•
Mak
e all engine adjustments from behind the
rotating propeller
.
•
The engine gets hot! Do not touch it dur
ing or r
ight
after oper
ation.
Mak
e sure fuel lines are in good
condition so fuel will not leak onto a hot engine
,
causing a fire
.
•
T
o stop a glo
w engine
, cut off the fuel supply b
y
closing off the fuel line or f
ollo
wing the engine
man
u
facturer’
s recommendations
.
Do not use
hands
, fingers or an
y other body par
t to tr
y to stop
the engine
.Do not thro
w an
ything into the propeller
of a r
unning engine
.
F
ailure to f
o
llo
w these saf
ety precautions ma
y
result in se
vere injur
y
to y
our
self and other
s
.
- 30
-