The Cyclon-049 TOP-3. This example has been set up as a speed engine with the standard speed accessories of spinner, speed needle valve, and a pressure tap in the backplate.
| |
|
The Cyclon-049 TOP-3. This example has been set up as a speed engine with the standard speed accessories of spinner, speed needle valve, and a pressure tap in the backplate. |
The Cyclon-049 and 051s are produced by Alexander Kalmykov in Novosibirsk, Russia. They are well made engines using AAC technology and Nelson plugs and are derived from the Cyclon-06 F1J engine. The cases are the same as the equivalent Cyclon-06. As far as I know most parts are common between equivalent 049, 051 and 06 engines. The stroke, and hence the shaft, is the same: the bore is reduced to reduce the swept volume. There is a choice of rear or right exhaust stack (TOP-3 and TOP-4 models).
Cyclon engines are available directly from Alexander Kalmykov in Novosibirsk or visit the Cyclon web site. The engine is also available from Doug Galbreath. Contact him by phone: +1 916 757 2283 or take a look at his online catalogue.
I have not handled a Cyclon-049/051 but am told that it is about 1000 rpm down on the Cyclon-06 when it is run with the same propeller and fuel. This places the Cyclon-049 in the "hot engines" category alongside its bigger brother.
As well as the items shown in the heading photos, Alexander can supply a speed pan, shaped to match the spinner, and a tuned pipe:
 |
|
Note: in contrast to the Free Flight Cyclon-06 engines, where the side flanges are intended to stiffen the case and to provide a place to mount flood off devices etc., the flanges on the 049 (and 051) are evidently considered strong enough to be used as beam mounts for a speed pan installation. The pan has been machined out to clear the engine's radial mounting. This is the purpose of the semicircular slot between the engine mounting points and the pickup points that attach the pan to the model. This pan can be made to fit the 1/2A Newton/Hughes sidewinder speed kit, which was designed for the GZ 049 engine. The Cyclon pan is slightly narrower than the GZ pan but this is soon fixed with a bit of fibreglass work. Its internal machining differs too, though this isn't a problem. |
 |
 |
There are currently two versions of the engine. The main differences are in the crank case casting, though individual engines show detail differences. All internal parts are said to be interchangeable though they may vary from batch to batch due to Alexander Kalmykov's incremental development policy. The table shows the principal differences:
|
Version |
Recognition features |
|
Cyclon-049/051 TOP-3 |
Rear exhaust engine. The stack is initially rectangular, stepping out to circular at the rear. It is designed to accept a pipe, which is available as a standard accessory. All cylinder fins are thre same diameter. |
|
Cyclon-049/051 TOP-4 |
Has a single, exhaust stack the same size and shape as the exhaust port on the right rear of the engine. The stack on early examples has a flat top and bottom with rounded vertical sides. Later engines have a rectangular cross section stack. All cylinder fins are the same diameter. |
The head screws into the main casting. It ends with a boss that slips inside the liner. When the plug, which is tight in the threads, is screwed fully home it expands the light alloy to improve the head to liner seal. You MUST remove the plug before unscrewing the head or you can cause serious damage.
The head has a deep hole in the top, the full depth of the plug body, so that only the plug's terminal protrudes above the top of the head. Consequently you'll need a special plug wrench that can fit into this restricted space.
You'll need a special head wrench as well. The engine follows Russian team race practice in having a ring of holes drilled in it. You can obtain one from Alexander or make one yourself.
For more details about these tools see Cyclon-06 special tools.
These engines use Nelson plugs. If you're not familiar with them, see Cyclon-06 plugs for more information about the plugs, prices and the source.
As the 049s are so similar to the 06s, the same modifications for Free Flight operation should be useful. See Cyclon-06 modifications.