Fuel and flying time question.

[FlyingHigh 450]

Well,I just picked up 2 gallons of fuel and this is going to be my first time flying my Raptor 30.Ive been playing with nitro rc cars,trucks and buggys for years so im pretty good at tuning the nitro motors.How much smoke should I see and do I have to run it rich on the high end?Theres 2 fuel tanks,the big one and the small one on the side.This might be a dumb question but will it run out of gas when the big tank is empty :thinking or both?Im guessing both,when the big one is empty the small one tells you to land and re-fuel or crash :rolling right?Last question,how much run time should I get?The motor is a OS .32 .

[AFjetmech]

My .32 needle is set at about 1-3/4 turns out. Don't know what temp it is running, but I don't fry my finger on the backplate. Outdoor temps will vary this a little as with any engine. I fly about 9 minutes just cruising around doing loops and rolls and that will drain the main tank, landing with it just starting off the header tank. Your header tank will stay full as long as there is fuel in the main. Thats the point of it, so its clunk is always completely surrounded with fuel.

[vandelescrow]

about the smoke: depends on the fuel, some brands smoke more than others. I've seen some that don't smoke at all, it's best to go by temp, sound and how it handles. I know just starting out you can't do the last one so if you can get someone near you to check it out, this is the best thing.

flight time: just learning to hover, I got 18 minutes with an OS 50. Time significantly goes down when you get out of hover. If you have a timer on your transmitter (of use a kitchen timer) set it to 10 minutes. Land at that time and see how much fuel you have left and adjust from there. However, as your flying changes, so will the time. Keep an eye on this as your skills improve and you do more / different maneuvers

Header tank (the small one): some people think it is so you have more flight time, true, but the real reason is to get the air bubbles out of the fuel before it gets to the carb.

When the main tank gets empty and you are only on the header tank, the engine should go lean due to the way the pressure from the muffler acts on these tanks. I don't have the ear for it but if you do, this will tell you to land.