lfinney

My Feedback: (44)

please post pics of retracts with the 4-40 rod, if you have picks from your P-7 as well.......pleeease!

tlj125

My Feedback: (1)

I would be interested to see how the electric retracts fit into the wings of the Jackal. I looked at those when I first got the Jackal at my local hobby store. The electric retracts were too tall to fit into the wings so I went with the recommended Robart air up and down retracts. The electric retracts seemed like a neat idea as I have never used them. Recently I have seen failures of these electric gear at the field where I fly at. Lots of cursing and retracts not working. My Robarts have worked everytime (so far). The steering cables keep coming loose though. Hard to tighten those little screws on the control horn and keep the cables from slipping. Seems to be working fine now though.

Terry

tlj125

My Feedback: (1)

Motor mounts and cowling are on back order for some time now. I ordered another complete kit to have as a spare in case the Jackal went out of production. Looks like I will rob parts from that kit to get my other one repaired after loosing a prop in flight. Anyone else having problems with back order parts for the Jackal?

Terry

JoeMamma

Hi Terry,

I now have a number of my planes with the EFlite electric retracts. None of my EFlite conversions were a simple drop-in and they all required some head scratching and minor fabrication to get them to work.

The only problems I've had with any of my EFlite electric retracts is the use of a very light gage wiring attached to the retract. This wiring will eventually break off at the retract due to engine vibration. I've solved this problem by applying clear silicone to the wiring harnesses where they are attached to the retract assembly. The silicone absorbs most of the engine vibrations.

Besides this wire breakage, all of my EFlites' are working great ! No more high-maintenence and complicated retract servo linkage, no more annoying air leaks, no more forgetting my air pump (been there, done that a few times).......etc., etc..........

I just got the new EFlites working perfectly in my Jackal. Stay tuned for procedures and pictures.

Joe M.

JoeMamma

INSTALLING EFLITE 60-120 SIZE ELECTRIC RETRACTS TO A HANGAR 9 JACKAL:

I'll start off with the main gear installation as they were fairly simple to install.

The first thing I noticed was that one of the wing ribs was interfering with the retract assembly. I didn't want to grind down the rib as I thought it may weaken the wing. The retract needed to be slightly raised from its mounting rails. Instead of grinding the wing rib I made up a set of four 1/8" thick plywood shims measuring 1 11/16" x 7/16". These were then epoxied to the existing wood retract rails. By using these plywood shims, the retracts will now clear the wing rib.

A wound-up curl is used on each of the EFlites' wire struts. This curl caused an interference fit at the wing. To fix this I ground out an area on the wing to allow for its clearance. Easy does it with this grinding !

Number 6 x 1" phillips-head heavy-duty automotive-type screws were used to secure the retract assemblies to the rails. Before laying out my drill location marks and then drilling out the mounting screw holes, I slid and positioned each of the retract assemblies towards the center of each wing. The reason I positioned them this way ?? The overall length of my wire struts will now be about 1/4" shorter. What I'm attempting to eventually accomplish is to get the angle of my wing raised up slightly with my Jackal sitting flat on all three wheels.

When I installed this same EFlite electric setup to my Hangar 9 Phoenix 7, I didn't take this into consideration. The wing angle with all three wheels sitting flat was slightly nose down. It sure made for some interesting takeoffs. After some modifications my Phoenix 7 now has a higher nose angle.

I used one drop of epoxy to retain the wire harnesses leading from the retracts. This one drop was placed below the wire harness in the center of the wheel well opening.

I also found out that Testors (brand) Model Master Chrysler Engine Red is almost a perfect match for touch-ups on the Jackal.

The main gear is now operating great so next I'll cover the nose gear installation.

Joe M.

tlj125

My Feedback: (1)

The retract appears to set above the surface of the wing. What about the wire strut? Is it also above the surface of the wing when retracted?

I have heard guys complaining about the wires breaking on these retracts. Not the only failure I have heard about though. Seen a few where the electric motor failed or somehow burned out.

I have tried Testors paint for touch up repairs but it ran when exposed to kerosene. Have you tested how it holds up to nitro?

Terry

JoeMamma

You're right. The retract is sitting slightly above the wing surface, but only by the thickness of my 1/8" plywood shims.

The strut wire ? Yeah....it does sit above the wing surface a little bit but the Jackal isn't really a scale plane. I figured you can't see it in the air.

Testors ? Yeah.......on a glow engine I'd never use Testors paints except for minor touch-ups. There aren't too many paints out there that can handle any nitro.


Joe M.

Headhunter70

Gents,

I have done the maiden on Sunday and I am quite happy.

-Jett engine .56 with 10x6 ~16k RPM
-Take off was a a little fun as I needed the entire runway..80m
-CG dosent seem to be okay, every turn I did, the plane was climbing... will move the battery pack a little forward
-that Plane needs a lot of elevator compared to my other planes..
-landing without flaps was no problem...
-still need to fine tune some settings (dual Rate,expontial etc)

In summery

jet22b

Headhunter70,
Congrat on the maiden and welcome to the Jackal club!!! I must tell you that you will take the Jackal more to the flying field than any other plane in your fleet. The more you fly her, the more you will be in love with her!!!
HAve fun and again, congrat!!!!!

Sonny
aka
jet22b

funflyerf4

My Feedback: (6)

I have 43 flights on my jackal now, the last flight we got it on the radar gun and got 134 & 135 at level flight.Alls well with it . I'm having a blast with it.



Frank

jet22b

funflyerf4;
Nice number!!!! Yes the plane is a joy to fly!! Let's see how Hangar 9 top this plane!!!

Sonny
aka
jet22b

Headhunter70

Hi Frank,

What engine, prop , RPM ? I only have one flight yet and need to fine tune
My current setup jett.56 with 10x6...since engine is brandnew I haven't tried high RPM yet...
I fly very rich...just turning the needle until the pipe kicks in...having something like 16 K RPM

rgds
Gordon

funflyerf4

My Feedback: (6)

It has the 60 lx in it with a 9-8 at 17,500.

richardgerardi

Hey guys this is a video caught on my Iphone not very good sorry. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...NZQYMgKwPyGygw

richardgerardi

Oh yeah sorry about the profanities. We thought the nose wheel was sstuck up wards so I walked in front of the pilot to recucle the gear while he was trying to land?[&o]

viper1676

My Feedback: (14)

Finally maidened the Jackal fully today. Wow, what a nice flying plane. First flight was awesome, though take off roll was a heart-stopper...it literally lifted off with about 6 inches to spare before the end of the runway. Once it was up, she flew great, I started the day with a 10-6 prop. After bringing her down and refueling, I added a bit more up elevator and went to take off again. This time, she just didn't come up off the runway. ( I fly off grass). She went sailing off the end off the runway and into the heavy weeds. No major damge. Just a broken prop, and a little covering hole in the airframe next to the left flap. I think the wing flexed a little and the flap smacked the frame. Nothing major. Didn't have another 10-6 with me, but did have an 11-6. Tried that, but wasn't happening with the ground clearance. Prop kept hitting the ground every 5 feet. Another pilot had a 9-7 with him, so we popped that on. Successful flight and landing. No flaps needed. She actually slows down quite well. Might try them out a bit to see if I can help with takeoff a bit. Unfortunately this will probably be the first and last flight with this plane until spring. I have to have shoulder surgery in a couple of weeks, so I'll be out of commission for a while. Just glad I got to fly her at least once!! What a great flying plane!!

Dave

jet22b

Dave;
Congrat on your maiden flight!!! I also fly off a grass field and what I did on the nose wheel was to go with a bigger nose wheel, but not to big to fit in the well. The plane sit a little nose low and as you do the take-off roll, the nose like to dig in. My club grass runway is 366 feet long and I was using 360 feet before I change the nose wheel. Now I use 230 feet to get into the air and don't have the pucker factor anymore!! Get well soon, because, you are a Jackal pilot and you want to fly her some more
Again, congrat on your maiden, and I hope the surgery go okay for you. Oh one more thing, this plane come alive on a 9x6 prop. I use them on my baby!!!

Sonny
aka
jet22b

Krasherjack

Guys,
I take off in about 60ft, on our grass runway, But I increased the length of the nose wheel strut, and use Takeoff flaps, about 15Deg..
All 4 Jackals at the Club use Takeoff flaps..
Jack

viper1676

My Feedback: (14)

Thanks Sonny. That 9-6 prop isn't to small? My local pro told to try a 9-8 or 9-9 so I can get some more pull but get better ground clearence than the 10-6. Thanks for the get well...I'm definately done till the spring though. I'll be in a sling until at least January. Hoping i can at least manage to hold the controller for my sim.

Thanks as well Krasher. Did you just lower the strut down a bit on your nose? Did you go with a bigger wheel as well or just lower the stock one? As far as the flaps go, I was going to put them down, but didn't get a chance to try them in the air first and I didn't want it to ballon on takeoff and stall out on me. Did you need any elevator compensation for the 15 degree's you have set in?

Thanks
Dave

Krasherjack

Viper,
No I could'nt lower the wheel down the electric nose wheel shaft, once it was cut to the 10*6 prop, so I replaced it with the Jackal's fixed nose wheel, which was longer, also allowing the 11*6 11*7 prop. You also have to dremel the notch's for the retaining spring clips, and allen grub screws though and then used the Kit supplied nose wheel.
I also dremmeled out the nose wheel gear door, for clearance.

I had to program nose down elev trim, for both takeoff and landing flap.

After all that, I still have occasional nose wheel jams, as the push pull cable steering arm sticks..

Krasher..

stegl

I may have missed it but what is the longest prop you can turn on the Jackal with 1 inch ground clearance ? Thanks

JoeMamma

By slightly lengthening my nose gear and slightly shortening my main gear (EFlite 60-120 size electric gear) I was able to get the Angle-of-Attack (AOA) more upward by about 1-1.5 degrees. This will really help me out and should work great on my clubs grass field, especially if it hasn't been recently cut.

Cutting the grass has always been an issue at my clubs' field. In this particular area north of Detroit, and in the springtime and early summer, the grass may be growing almost one inch a day. If it hasn't been cut for 4-5 days ?? Well.........you do the math ! If the grass gets long it always makes for some tough and interesting takeoffs and landings. I'm running into this same (grass) problem with an EFlite Habu 32 I'm currently putting together.

I'm using an OS .65AX on my Jackal which requires a minimum 12x6 prop. I came up with a dimension of 8 3/8 inches from the crankshaft centerline to the ground. Swinging a 12 inch prop should now give me more than two inches of prop clearance.

On another note...........I understand Hangar 9 helped you out with your crashed Twin Otter ??

Joe M.

jet22b

Hey Joe M.
You better be happy you don't have to deal with cow pies on the runway!!!
Sonny
aka
jet22b

viper1676

My Feedback: (14)

On the standard Robart pneumatic gear I'm going to see a 10" prop ss going to be the biggest. I popped an 11" on mine and every 2 feet it smacked the ground. The grass was cut short, but everytime it hit the slightest bump it would hit. If you are flying off asphalt you could probably get away with an 11" if it is smooth.

stegl

Hi Joe ; Yes Horizon give me all the parts to get my floats back in the water and that will be this winters project for next spring. Took a few hours on the phone ( they called me) for them to see my point of view. Been looking at the Jackal but since I would consider electric I need lotsa prop clearance. so basicly if you are getting 8 3/8 from shaft centerline to ground the that should allow me (8 3/8 x 2 =16.75 minus 4 = about a 13 inch prop. Is this clearance with the positive incidence ? What do you think you could get for prop swing with the mains as long as you could go and then lengthen the nose ? I would definitely go with the eflite electric retracts. Thanks