Final engine run and systems check prior to maiden flight:
Moki 250 radial engine, with fuel pump
1/3 scale scratch-built Nieuport 24bis
Seidel custom 32x17 scale propeller
Jeti radio with “sound on event" announcements
Here is some background, plus more details about the plane:
I made the video for the builder of the Nieuport 24bis, so he could see what was finally done to his creation, and that it was ready for its maiden flight. The model was built by Alan Yendle, a nationally known and respected scratch scale builder who lives in Waco, Texas. At 91 he built this 1/3 scale, 107", 53 pound Nieuport sized for a Moki 250cc Radial gas engine. He started the build in 2020 and finished at the end of 2021. On the RCSB website, his building thread details, incredibly, how the plane was built. Everything is scale in how the surfaces all move with cables and torque rods. There are no servos in the tail or wings, and no RC pushrods. Alan is excited to see it fly..
The plane itself is very unique as indicated by the 24bis designation. First flown in 1917, it was obsolete before entering service. The French had stability problems with the original tail, and had to fit it with a Nieuport 17 tail (hence the bis) which loosely means "diversion or change". Later they solved the issues, and it became the standard Nieuport 24, which saw service mostly as a trainer.
I wanted to show in the video how I hand start a COLD Moki 250cc engine, and to showcase the Jeti radio I fly, a DC24, especially the “sound on events” feature. Announcing the actions of the switches is a significant safety feature. No time to have a senior moment, I'm 75. When you fly several complicated planes with the same radio, switches often have different functions, depending on the model. It's a great double check, a refresher, and coupled with the PreFlight feature in the radio, makes things much safer.
The Avionics consist of two 5200 Jeti Lon Batteries, connected to a Central Box 320. There are four receivers in the plane, three of the receivers are capable of flying the entire plane independently. The receivers are a R12 Assist REX as Primary, a standard R12 REX backup, a R3 REX 900 MHz backup and a standard R3/RSW Switch receiver. Servos are a mix of Jeti and Hacker. The engine is pumped with a Hacker Fuel Pump regulated to 30% output with overflow. A Rotoflo tank and a servo on Choke round out the airborne package. The propeller is a custom scale propeller from Seidel Props in Germany and the pilot is from Axel Scale Pilots, also from Germany. Both are outstanding additions to a wonderful example of model aviation.