308jockey

Evening all,

Had a great weekend at Perry and found a very interesting plane. Well, lots of them but two that I brought home One is an EDF F/A-18. Not sure who manufactured it, the seller said something about CMK or something like that. As is often the case though, it came with no instructions. No big problem, not all that much to do. My question is, where should this jet balance? I was told it should be about the same as a Yellow Aircraft F/18 but I don't have that information either. This uses a 120mm fan and I have one already so no problem there. It is 74" nose to tail and wingspan is 55" tip to tip. I have some information about a different size version and distance forward of the trailing edge. I'm told it is critical on this plane, more so than most. I'd like to get it painted and test flown in time to take it to SEFF. I've been flying most of my life but this is a new one for me. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks.

Rick H.

BarracudaHockey

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PM Shaun Evans, he's the YA guru, I'm sure he can tell you where the CG on that one is supposed to be

Shaun Evans

Hi,

From the pic and from the specs, I'd guess that's a JD Enterprises F-18. Not sure of the CG on those, though

308jockey

I spent some time this evening going through this plane from front to back to get a better look at what is really there. I had thought the retracts were air powered but of course they aren't, they are mechanical. No problem there I've used mechanicals for years and find them fairly reliable. This is an odd set though and I wonder if they came with the jet. The nose gear seems normal enough and uses a JR analog servo to actuate it. It's a little sloppy but I'll work on that. The mains are odd. The struts look like a traditional nose gear strut with a circular spring bent into it. Not sure why they are in the mains because the odd part is they are rotated 90 degrees, The springs are set laterally and not front to back. I wonder if that is to make it easier to straighten the strut out after a rough landing. I found a few intake parts bouncing around in the fuse, they clearly attach to the front of the intakes but don't quite fit. Use of a Dremel will be required. I am planning to put a pair of 5000mah 6S batteries in but haven't figured out where they go yet. Same for the esc, not sure where that will go. This is a first for me, a larger edf. Clearly I have to be careful where everything goes as I don't want FOD to get sucked into a small gap in the intake system. It's also clear that no gaps should be in the system from the fan/intake joint or in the exit structure. I'll get some photos here tomorrow

Rick H.

308jockey

Finally, here are a couple photos of the retracts. The mains just seem odd to me.

308jockey

Interesting, I googled JD Enterprises and apparently they are not in this business any longer if it is the same people. I did find an RCG thread on the JD F/18 though and I think that is what this one is. Looks like someone else had the edf idea for it though I'm not seeing any flight information. Found one somewhere else on the same plane but it ended without the plane having been flown. I'm hoping to figure a good CG point for it and need to decide where to put batteries but I think that updating some of the installation and a couple servos will have this one airworthy.

Rick H.