First Run and Flights with the DLE-85!

Alright guys, I picked up my DLE-85 from Valley View RC a few weeks ago and FINALLY got around to getting it in the air! Got a chance to bolt it up to the airframe last week but due to January weather had to wait to get her airborne and dialed in. Didn't take long to see the 85 is a beast of an engine but to make sure we ran a few tanks on the ground. A few months ago I bolted a DLE60 twin to this same Aeroworks 33% Extra 260. It flew fine and power was smooth and predictable but with the release of this powerhouse I had a feeling this would be a little more my style...

 Due to the depth from the front of the cowl to the firewall we opted to hard mount rather than use the included soft mount. The only modification was opening up the hole in the firewall a little more to allow the carb to sit in unobstructed. Had we used soft mount this would not have been necessary but then the backplate would have sat about 3/4" too far out and that sucks. It was all done last week but finally made it to the field today. One thing you'll notice on the exhaust is something we're seeing on a lot of the new DLE's now. Rather than a long down pipe that you generally have to cut a huge access slot for to get the cowl on, the new exhausts have a short exhaust base on the muffler and a teflon downpipe that you attach with a spring clamp (like on a canister or pipe header/exhaust.) Once the cowl was on I simply slid the teflon pipe on and secured the spring clamp. Apparently the downtubes can be trimmed down but with this baby running the way she is, I had no plans to change a thing!

The time had finally come around... Choke on/4-5 flips/pop/choke off/2-3 flip/fire! Same old DLE starting ritual and this one didn't deviate from the recipe! Not really having a ton of experience I went with the middle of the road for props. The 26x10 Xoar Beechwood is a great all around prop with snappy spool up but still great top end speed. As the 85 breaks in I may eventually try a 27x10 but REALLY love the way it performed as it is. Smooth idle lived around 14-1500rpm with peak around 6200, I can live with that out of the box!

Overall the 85 was much, much smoother than expected compared to it's prejudice as an 85cc paint mixer. I imagine the soft mount may even improve it some but realistically it shakes about the same or less than my 55cc engines. 4 flights was nowhere near enough for me today and with spring coming around you better believe more flights with this baby are in my near future!!!