drandles

My Feedback: (8)

I am building a second Super Kraft Monocoupe. In the first Monocoupe I used a Brison 2.4 for power. I climbs vertically - straight up. The Monocoupe has sufficient wing area to handle the weight. When I had the Brison 2.4 in the Hangar 9 Taylorcraft, the plane was a little on the heavy side - higher wing loading then I preferred. Everybody at the air field loved the way it flew. I wanted a little more wing area or a little less weight. The Monocoupe was the answer.

Now as usual, never being content with excellent, I am considering what engine to put on the second Monocoupe. The Brison 2.4 is 2.75 lbs without the muffler. I am considering:

MVVS 1.6 2 lbs 5 oz?
RCS 1.4 2lbs 13 oz with muffler, ignition, battery and switch
RCS 1.8 3lbs 8 oz w/ ignition ?
BME 55 2 lbs ???

I can read the ads on the various engines, but does anyone have first hand knowledge of the actual weight and performance of any of these engines? I can't tell for sure if these other engines are actually going to weigh less when everything is added in. Secondly would a RCS140 give dismal performance. The Monocoupe doesn't have to climb straight up, but flying a severely underpowered plane is no fun either.


Any experience?

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Drandles –

I have done a ton of research on the subject. I have the monocoupe and the rearwin speedster from Kangke. I ended up putting Zenoah G26s in both, but before you laugh… here is why..>

I purchased the RCS 180 for the monocoupe. With the cool tripod mounts, the engine is too long (7.33 inches). The monocoupe can only handle 6.25 inches. With the RCS180 you would have to ditch the tripod mount and go with a beam mount, which is a real nightmare on a rear carb engine, or you would have to hack the firewall to pieces… either way, not a good option.

I ended up buying a Kangke Cap 232 120 for my RCS, a much better fit.

I have seen 3 MVVS engines, not one ran good. I would not buy one.

The BME is a good engine, but like your brison, way too much power.

The PERFECT engine for this model is indeed the RCS 1.40. It fits perfectly, runs great, is the perfect size and weight. Unfortunately, it is also not available, at least it wasn’t when I wanted it. It has been on back order for months and I think it still is. I originally bought the 180 because the 140 was out of stock and that was in August 03.


I ended up with a Zenoah because I have seen several of these engines recently in utility planes (I consider the monocoupe a utility because it is big, has barn door flaps and can hover around the sky towing banners or dropping things from the belly. More or less it is a leisurely flyer with no need for an expensive lightweight ignition engine. ) Zenoah performance was excellent, reliable and inexpensive

I took mine out of the box, filled the tank, put in the choke, flipped 3-4 times – opened the choke to 1/3 - bumped it once with the starter and it roared to life.
It did not require the long break in like the RCS or ZDZ, and its idle was excellent right out of the box. I flew after one tank on the bench.

I also was able to use the throttle and choke linkage as is by running nyrod to it directly… no bellcranks, no bent rods, no BS. No battery, no cables – its all self contained.

The only tough part was that I had to cut substantially into to the subcowl to make room for the cheapo stock muffler. Had I to do it over, I would have spend the $$ on a more compact muffler, but either way , it fit very well under the main cowl.

The G26 has a lot of power. It easily flies this plane and nearly hovers it. If you want simple, reliable, fun and scale, I would not hesitate to recommend this engine to anyone. If you want overpowered to a fault – well, there is ZDZ, BME, DA, and Brison… but then again, you already knew that!!

DP

drandles

My Feedback: (8)

DP,

Thanks for the input.

GoeKeli

My Feedback: (18)

DP,
Any pictures?

Joe

PT21Flyer

My Feedback: (1)

I ordered four RCS140's a week before turkeyday and received them the day before t'day. They're going on my Don Smith B-17.

Jerry

NM_Mark

My Feedback: (8)

Running a G26 on a H9 Matt Chapman Cap 232...and the power is just right for it (even at 4400' here in NM). I believe the weight of the Monocoupe is fairly close to my plane, so I would say it's the way to go. It's dependable, doesn't use a lot of fuel, and it's available. I added a Bennett muffler, which is less restrictive than the stocker...helped out the power considerably.

Plus they will last forever....

Mark

drandles

My Feedback: (8)

Jerry,

What is the weight on the RCS140? Weight with muffler, with battery, with everything? Engine alone? Which mufflers are you using? When you run one of them can you let me know what rpm you get with a praticular prop.

PT21Flyer

My Feedback: (1)

drandles,

It will probably be a while before any of these RCS140's is ever run. I haven't started building the plane yet. I may try to mount them on my Bridi BIG BEE one at a time to run them in next flying season. I'll try to weigh one tomorrow, just engine and ignition box, but I don't have any battery packs and I'm going to make my own mufflers.

Jerry

PT21Flyer

My Feedback: (1)

drandles,

I weighed mt 140 today and with engine, prop, ign. box and Du-Bro #688 mounts it weighs 2 lbs. 13 oz. Just add the weight of a 1200ma battery and a switch harness. I'm now wondering what happened to the pound/engine savings they were supposed to give me over my 3 lb. 8 oz. G-23's.

Jerry

rmh

my Monocoupe gets the Roto 35 -
I have to cut a big portion of the wings away -to get a scale like version of the LIL BUTCH clipped wing Monocoupe
But I just gotta have that version -- it was the winner of the first World Aerobatic Championship.
the kit is just lovely. I hate to whack at it - but so be it.

drandles

My Feedback: (8)

I was trying to compare it to the Brison 2.4 I put in mine. The engine, ignition , and motor mount would have been incuded but not the prop. What is it without the prop? Did this include the header?

BFH

I have the rcs 1.4 and Kangke monocoupe combo.The engine is more than enough power. I usually cruise around at one-third throttle. The Problem with the monocoupe is an extremely weak landing gear.
Bill

drandles

My Feedback: (8)

I heard they had problems with the original landing gear. I have no problems with mine. The gear is actually a little stiff. I am thinking of getting some real pneumatic tires from Hobby Lobby to cushion the landings. I also land with a little power on and cut the throttle when the plane is 6 inches above the runway for best results.

drandles

My Feedback: (8)

Bill,

I am trying to compare my Brison 2.4 to the RCS 1.4 in weight. The Brison 2.4 is supposed to weigh 2.75 lbs. This would include the mount. I don't know how much my pitts muffler weighs. I bought a digital scale today but don't feel like pulling the motor off the Monocoupe just to weigh it.

According to what Jerry has said about his RCS 1.4 weighing 2 lbs 13 oz, I don't think I would save a lot of weight by putting an RCS 1.4 on my Monocoupe.

Have you weighed your RCS 1.4 or any of its components?

PT21Flyer

My Feedback: (1)

My 140 weighs 2 lbs. 8 oz. without the prop and exh. adaptor.

Jerry

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

The landing gear on the first batch was like lead, it bent very easily. I didn't have one like this, but saw someone who did. He bought a new set at a website that specializes in gear sets. I have one of the latest shipment models and apparently, this newer batch uses harder aluminum. It seems pretty rigid to me, although it still didn't seem substantial enough to handle a less than perfect landing. I installed small cross wires on it to keep it from bouncing or flattening out. (think piper cub, decathalon) Nothing worse than a bounced landing or flat gear from cheap metal. Haven't had a bounced landing yet with the wires.... and you really don't notice them too much anyway so they don't ruin the scale look / lines of the plane.

DP

BFH

I'm not sure of the absolute weights but the differences in weight of my Brison 2.4 and the RCS 1.4 is 12 oz. Both were weighed with mufflers and ignition; however I did not weigh the Dubro mount with the rcs. Hope this helps.
Bill

drandles

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks Bill,

I went out to the Dubro site and it says the 1.20-180 size motor mount weighs 198 grams. I believe that is about 7 oz. Which means the difference would be around 5 oz. Then my spacers weigh around 1 oz so we have a difference of 6 oz. I am going to order a carbon fiber wing tube that is 4.3 oz to replace the aluminum tube that is 10.3 oz. That'll take off 6 oz. So I should be similar weight as if I had the 1.4 in the Monocoupe - providing everything else is the same.

ilike2fly

My Feedback: (23)

I have the RCS 140 in mine. It is the perfect engine for this plane to fly scale. I wasn't happy with it at first it barely flew at full throttle when new. As it breaks in I am now flying at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle. The only thing I would have done differently is NOT using the Du-Bro mount. If you use this mount there is NO way to reach your high end needle with the sub cowl on[:@]. As for the landing gear...they are C#$pola. But, I crisscrossed landing wires between them and it works like a dream.[img][/img]

drandles

My Feedback: (8)

ilike2fly,

Any idea what your Monocoupe weighs all set to go?

rmh

just finished one --with the new RCShowcase ROTO 35 engine - It is under 14 lbs but a tad nose heavy - cute as a bug!
Kangke has got some slick hardware with this ARF---

frieshoo

My Feedback: (20)

Dick,

What prop are you using on the Roto? 18x10 or 20x8? I like the 20x8 on mine. Just curious.

Dennis

nordmann

Drandles,
don't know if you purchased your engine already or not, but today I received my Supermoncoupe with the RCS F-180. The F-180 has a front mounted carb and is only 5.75 inches in length, whereas the rear carb mount 180's (se,re) are 7.33 inches. The length shouldn't be a problem with this engine.

GoeKeli

My Feedback: (18)

More pictures please~! Dick, any pictures of your clipped wing roto version? What props clear?

Joe

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

I'm putting a G-38 in mine! Added a 3/4 inch doubler to the back of the firewall. Cut the bottom back for muffler clearance. Spinner sit's about 3/8 inch out of the cowl. I put .012 inch aluminum behind muffler for heat shield. Fit's nice. I'll put the batteries behind the cockpit. Coming out nice.