Sygy00

Hey Joe,

Glad your Jackal flew well. I would be curious about how you squeezed the OS65 in the Jackal as I considered doing the same thing. Did you change the engine mount or somehow use the one provided? Some photos of the engine without the cowl would be interesting, including any issues or problems you might have had getting it installed. I am still considering that option if I don't get what I want with the OS55. I would appreciate your advice on this.

I also used the e-flite gear, but the smaller 24-46 size, which actually seems just fine and is only slightly smaller than the 60-120 size. We'll have to see how they hold up.

As mentioned in earlier posts, I feel the same as you that the Jackal could use more elevator authority. I can't increase mine as the control surfaces hit hard just at the low rate throws. Moments ago, however, I just finished extending the elevator cord by 3/8" - just enough to make a difference, but hopefully not too much to court with flutter. See pics.

Oh, I also wanted to ask you how you got the decals off. Did you just peel them off or use some sort of solvent?

Mike

bob27s

My Feedback: (19)

Yeah, 9x7 is good.. 9x6 too

jet22b

Mike.
I like the mod you did on the elevator!! Please post a flight report when you can.
Thanks!!

Sonny
aka
jet22b

funflyerf4

My Feedback: (6)

Its been pretty quiet on this site latley is that because everyone is flying there Jackel?I lost count but know its around or over flight 100 Its still a blast to fly.The only thing taken a beating is the cowling as we know the paint sucks on it.


Frank

djay

weather here at the moment sucks,
sandstorms and gale force winds, so jackal is grounded untill visibility improves.
Shame as I need to test out the new tank and the new 9x6.5 pylon racing prop I have just got.

Darryl

jet22b

Hi Darry and Frank,
I hope to pull my Jackal 50 out of the hangar this weekend!! The weather has just been bad. Rain for the month of March here in the Great Northwest. [][] Got to pull her out and start the pre-flight check. She has been in the hangar for the last 5 months!![X(]

Sonny
aka
jet22b

Sygy00

Haven't flown mine either since way back when, and have not tried the new mods at all. Waiting for good weather. It's awful windy around here in springtime.

Mike

viper1676

My Feedback: (14)

Took mine out about 2 weekends ago. Flies awesome. I put a 2 1/2 inch wheel on the nose and now I can put a 10x6 prop on it. Takes off a little easier with that prop. This sucker really moves. I love flying it and it always attracts some attention.

Dave

flyboydale54

Have you looked into the e-flite electric retracts? They seem to be really well made and constructed of nice alumimum plate material. They have them now for these heavier models, and they are coming out with some even heavier duty for heavier models real soon. Far simpler to install than the air retracts. I bought two sets, will be putting them in sometime in the next 6 months. If you use a JETT engine, they have modifications per order that you can have done that will give you that nice 18,000 to 20,000 rpm range we all seek. Instead of an ABC, I believe a NBC modification is required. Just talk to them for input, they have the answers.

Sygy00

flybodale54,

If you look at my post on page 53 you can see pics of the e-flite electric retracts installed.  I used the 25-46 size and they work just fine.

The nosewheel was a drop in to the existing beams, but I had to reinforce the inside a bit.  Was easy.

Mike

bmschulman

My Feedback: (1)

After my wing gear broke yet again on a not-so-hard landing, I was shocked to discover that the landing gear blocks are made of balsa, not hardwood. Predictably, they broke right along the balsa grain, which is perpendicular to the direction of flight. I couldn't think of a weaker design. Who puts balsa landing blocks into a $300 plane that by its design has to land a little hot? This, together with the peeling cowl, makes me question the quality of the plane. I think it flies great; just wish H9 had put a little more quality into some of the materials.

richardgerardi

bms I gotta tell you that the hardware was crapp but I belly flopped this baby so hard the 1st time that I thought it was gone. No damage.

viper1676

My Feedback: (14)

Rough day for the Jackal today. It was cloudy and I lost orientation on it. Hit the ground full bore...the second pic is of the engine that ended up about 7 inches in to the ground. **sigh** oh well. Gonna grab another one, but it will ahve to wait as I have a twin I'm working on that's sucking up all my funds.

jet22b

viper1676,
So sorry to see the pictures of a Jackal 50 come to a end.[] That was the same outcome of my first Jackal 50 when a low flying full scale plane did a low flyby of our club field. That's the thing with speed, you hit the ground before you can close the throttle!!
Happy no one was hit by the plane.. May I ask, what twin are you building???
Thanks.
Sonny
aka
jet22b

viper1676

My Feedback: (14)

Hey Sonny,

Yeah, I was bummed about the plane, but it could have been a lot worse. When I finally picked up the orientation, it was swinging towards our pit area. It took all I could to swing it away. But then it was flying right at me. I slammed full up elevator and ducked. It crashed about 4 ft from me. Damn lucky. I'm going to paint my next one bright orange!!

I'm currently building a Beechcraft Barron by a company called Aerodyne. Beautiful plane. But price is adding up...

jet22b

Hey Viper,
Four Feet??? "WOW"!!! That is to close!! I know I would have to change my shorts!! I know what you mean about twin and the way it suck money. I just finish the Top Flite Cessna 310 and it was a money pit!!
Re-plane when you can and do a thread on the Barron!! I would love to see the ontcome!!!
Sonny
aka
jet22b

djay

Hi Viper.

Someone at our club test flew his Baron a couple of weeks ago.
Has two OS electric motors in it, and flew well. Few minor problems with the gear.
The kit was supposed to be mine, but he got to it before I did, even though it was promised to me. Luckily I have over 50 aircraft so did not miss it to much, and took the top flite DC3 and CAP mosquito kits instead. Both built and both flown now.

Jackel will be emerging in a couple of weeks as the winds have died down and spring temperatures are here, hitting 45c aprox 115f. Will really warm up in the summer at over 120f and 100% humidity.

perfect flying weather.

Darryl

tlj125

My Feedback: (1)

Flown my Jackal several times so far this year. Discovered why the retract collapses on landing taking out the prop. The Robart nose gear retract will not lock down if you are going any speed at all. Not enough piston force to overcome the air pushing against the wheel. Tested several times with as much pressure as I dare put in the tank, 110 psi. Found that I have to go straight up and stall the plane then hit the retact switch as the plane just starts to fall. So far this has worked every time I have tried it. A bit irritating though. Anybody else having this problem? I switch to a tru-turn aluminum spinner and finally no more in flight prop failures due to the nose cone retaining screw breaking. The nose cone that comes with the kit is not balanced well enough. After a certain number of flights, the screw breaks and the prop gets taken out as the nose cone departs. I have had 3 such failures with the stock nose cone. No such problem with the tru-turn spinner.

I have discovered that the Jackal can be flown in 20-25 mph winds with no problem. Crosswind landings in high winds are no problem. Its a little hard to see on very overcast days if you try to fly to far away. Put bright orange on the leading edge and this helped greatly. Taking the wings on and off is a pain. Try to leave them on whenever possible. It is also a little unstable flying inverted on low passes. Wants to try to roll and is pitch sensative. I am flying a bit tail heavy though. Just love those wheelie landings.

Terry

viper1676

My Feedback: (14)

Hey Sonny and Darryl,

There's a ton of build posts on the plane. I'll send you some pics if you would like. A friend of mine had the Cessna..I loved that plane. He ended up selling it for like 500 bucks!!!! I wasn't in the position to buy a plane at the time, but damn!!! I'm going to be going nitro on it with a couple of 0s 46ax's. I got the e-flight gear for it so I don't have to screw around with the gear from aerodyne.

Terry: My front gear seemed to work pretty well...make sure it's not catching on anything. Do you have air/air or spring air? I know I had to cut some stuff away to make sure it wasn't catching anything. I also used to put 120psi in the tank. There was only a couple of times I had issues coming down, all were related to it snagging something or the wheel got cocked or something.

jet22b

Terry,
I only put 100psi in my tank and my nose gear come out at any speed. One thing I did was to enlarge the cutout for the nose wheel. I found out the the nose do not center when it retract. I found this out on my first Jackal 50. I almost rip the gear right out of the plane before I saw the nose wheel. After I enlarge the opening, no more problem
Like Viper post, watch you pull-pull wire. Sometime that wire can fall just right when the gear go up to hang on some part of the wheel, so when you put the gear down, the nose stay up.
I hope this info help.
Sonny
aka
jet22b

Sygy00

Finally got to fly my Jackal after about 2 months for various reasons.  All the mods I made seem to work great.  The plane handled much better and even though the wind was 10-15 and gusty crosswind, I was able to grease it in right on the centerline time after time.  In particular the aileron to rudder mix with flaps down made landing corrections much better, and the extended cord elevators cured what I thought was a little too little pitch authority.

Unfortunately on the third flight the canopy hatch blew off at low speed.  I haven't even installed the tuned muffler yet, so top speeds are moderate at best.  This is very disappointing for a $300 kit - canopy hatch failure after just 6 flights.  It looks like the front ply frame with the dowel simply separated from the plastic.  Of course I initially found that the dowel wasn't even glued into the frame when I opened the kit.  Anybody else have this happen?  Has H9 replaced this for anyone?  I will build my own hatch later but want another to keep it flying until I do.

Mike

Jim_Purcha

My Feedback: (8)

http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...l-50-HAN488002

$42.00 for a new canopy.

djay

Hello Mike.

read my earlier posts in this thread regarding the canopy blowing off.
Mine blew off in the middle of the desert amongst the dunes, but found it after about an hour,

Darryl

richardgerardi

I used a mix of epoxy and alcohol to make the canopy area harder. Haven't had any issues.

pablojaime

Hi All, little quiet here, so let's make some engine noise...
Here a video of one of my flights with the Jackal, Engine is Rossi 53 with black pipe, prop 10X9 and electric.retracts for main and mechanical.retract for nose wheel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=332cW6osT3E

Pablo.