Nanchang CJ-6A Paint Job Ideas

Overall silver and in RCAF markings? That'd be a first.

[Ollie]

That'd make two paint schemes. A first and a last.

[yakdriver]

My stock CJ would burn 15-17gph when out doing aerobatics or generally terrorizing the local population. Cruising at 10,000 ft or above would yield 13gph at max manifold pressure and 2000rpm and 140kts.

Are there any rpm range restrictions for cruising it in regards to vibration?

Only restriction is to not run it under 1800rpm. Any less and the rings will float. 2000rpm worked great for cruise, 2150 for high cruise and aerobatics.

Also I always told people if you can start it and taxi it you won't have any problem flying it. Took me a half hour or so to get the hang of taxiing and I have a lot of full swivel taildragger time. Its kinda like taxiing a B-25 or A-26, where the trouble is is when doing tight turns at slow speed the nosewheel flops over and is a bitch to get straight again. Very entertaining to let your buddies try it.

That's exactly the way it was described to me. Air brake operation prowess aside, how are the brakes? Does the rudder have any effectiveness when taxi-ing or is the steering all brakes?

Dan

Brakes are only adequate. The drums are thin so they tend to heat up a bit. I put new drums and pucks on mine and they worked pretty good. Rudder is not very effective in taxi so braking is required. You learn to use just enough brake and to avoid hard stops. You have to come up on thr throttle slowly on take-off until you feel the rudder come in. Make sure you find an instructor that actually knows how to run a radial. This is a very reliable smooth running engine but will not tolerate improper handling. Don

Only restriction is to not run it under 1800rpm. Any less and the rings will float. 2000rpm worked great for cruise, 2150 for high cruise and aerobatics.

Brakes are only adequate. The drums are thin so they tend to heat up a bit. I put new drums and pucks on mine and they worked pretty good. Rudder is not very effective in taxi so braking is required. You learn to use just enough brake and to avoid hard stops. You have to come up on thr throttle slowly on take-off until you feel the rudder come in. Make sure you find an instructor that actually knows how to run a radial. This is a very reliable smooth running engine but will not tolerate improper handling. Don

Thanks Don. It comes with a thorough checkout and these guys have lots of CJ-6 experience, I'm just trying to find out all I can beforehand. 1800 rpm is plenty slow enough. I don't even run a -985 that slow anymore, more like 1900 with the LL gasoline. I've been flying radials for a long time (Beaver, Otter, Stearman) and you're right, they haven't made one yet that can tolerate mishandling, although the 1000hp PZL monster in the "Polish" Otter was something to behold. If memory serves it was like 38 Imp gal/hr at cruise (mind you she'd cruise with a -100 series Twin Otter!) I think I'm still vibrating sometimes! I've been drumming "round" into my Nanchang partner - no such thing as a power off approach, etc. I've heard really good things about the little Huosai though. No blower so probably not enough guts to hurt itself that way. What kind of oil were you running?

[yakdriver]

Dan,I ran Aeroshell 100 mineral oil in mine. Flew it about 400hrs and all compressions were in the 70s. It only has something like a6-1 blower in it, just enough to distribute the fuel but not much help up here at 4000'. Didn;t realize you had a bunch of radial time. You probably don't need a check out just get in and fly. We bought two of them and had them trucked up here and put them together. Got them lisenced and just flew them. The fit and finish of the airplane is very good, too bad they get so abused during training. Also get yourself a large Scuba tank for an extra air supply. It comes in handy when you forget to turn off the air valve. Don

[Swiss Mustangs]

or how about a Bangladesh AF scheme ?





Martin

[Steve T]

Dan--

Woo! Go for that red and yellow Bengali scheme...stock, authentic, but completely different. Brings up a question too, and I bet Martin knows the answer: what other air arms besides China's have operated the CJ6A?

S.

[Swiss Mustangs]

Albania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, North Korea, Sri Lanka,Tanzania, Zambia


Martin

Dan,I ran Aeroshell 100 mineral oil in mine. Flew it about 400hrs and all compressions were in the 70s. It only has something like a6-1 blower in it, just enough to distribute the fuel but not much help up here at 4000'.

That's handy, I run the same stuff in my -670. And I just learned something, as I was under the impression it had no blower at all. I'm just a shade below 3000' here.

The fit and finish of the airplane is very good, too bad they get so abused during training. Also get yourself a large Scuba tank for an extra air supply. It comes in handy when you forget to turn off the air valve. Don

The quality of the workmanship in them is very impressive. We were lucky and had the pick of five and although some of them seemed to show signs of gravel ops ours appears to be pristine that way (somewhere under all that paint!) We were wondering what to use for a ground air bottle, we were thinking of a nitrogen cylinder but a scuba tank sounds handier - thanks for the tip. Can you hand swing it in a bind? I don't imagine it has impulse mags though. This is kinda cruel and unusual punishment with it being 500 miles away and not able to go get it for another couple of months. I can't wait to get my hands on the maintenance manuals.

Dan

Thanks Martin! Now we're cookin'! Man, is that ugly! I knew about the others but I wasn't aware of Sri Lanka using them. Got a Cambodian scheme pic?

Dan

[Ollie]

The local CJ here has a scuba bottle for those emergencies and although it has the M-14P, it's hand proped often because air leaks sometimes and it's never a big issue. Easier than on a Beaver.

[gregv]

Does anyone have a source for a decent 3-view of the type? I'd love to take a pass at mocking something up, but all I can find on the 'net is way too small.

cheers

greg v.