Hellcat716

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Just finished up my T-33. Using the RC Lander 90mm fan on 9s 5000mAh packs. Weigh's 10lbs 1 oz ready to fly. It is balanced at 123mm. Using metal 2-56 rods and metal clevis on all control surfaces. Also installed dubro control horns and foam wheels. Will get a post flight report soon.

Greg Covey

Looks great! I see that you have the airbrake option too.

Good luck on your maiden flight!

Hellcat716

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Thanks Greg.

Hellcat716

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We got to maiden the T-33 today here in HOT Las Vegas. Temps near 100 degrees. Got two flights in and have to say the jet flies really well. No speed demon with my 90MM fan set up, but I am OK with the performance. My only complaint with the jet is the inner gear doors. I still say the springs are too weak and do not keep the doors open far enough so the wheel will not make contact when they retract. You can see in the pictures the left main door holding the gear down. With no air movement, the gear cycle with no problem. I would highly recommend this plane to anyone who has interest. Max at Park RC models has been very helpful in the minor problems that I have had. His customer service is outstanding.

Hellcat716

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A few more pics of the T-33.

Greg Covey

Congratulations! Great job on getting your T-33 in the air!

I noticed that when my gear doors worked while the plane was inverted, they didn't always work when the plane was upright, so I started adjusting them with the plane just up off the floor. We'll see how they work in a few weeks.

We woke up to snow today and about 30 degrees. I'll be in Napa Valley for a few weeks so hopefully spring will finally arrive once May is here.

Greg Covey

Although the winds were blowing from 20mph to 30mph today, we had a chance to maiden the T-33. Before the flight, we did a full system check and paid tribute to a full-scale T-33 at the Pine Hill Airport in Albion, NY. Scott Miller took the sticks for the maiden flight.

I knew the T-33 would fly well but I didn't expect it to handle the high winds with so much stability!

I will post a video and more photos soon...

photos by "Papa Jeff" Ring

tim wan

Hi Greg,
Wow..very nice photos of her..
Can't wait for her flying video..
Happy flying,
Tim

Greg Covey

Hi Tim,

The T-33 is a great design! Check this out...

We tested the T-33 in 25mph winds. Not the best conditions but we drove 45 minutes to the Pine Hill Airport and we were ready to go!

The flight was going great until the old ThunderPower packs gave out after about 2 minutes of fight. The pilot, Scott Miller, brought the T-33 around the corner and onto the runway where it just dropped about 5 feet straight down. The only damage was the main wheels that broke off at the plastic hubs. I found that Dubro (275TL) 2-3/4" Thread Lightweight Wheels are a perfect replacement in both size and axle diameter. The nose wheel can be replaced with a Dubro 2-1/2" wheel, if needed.

Overall, the T-33 performed very well in the high winds and the RC Lander 120mm DF sounded awesome! I ordered some new Turnigy 3600mAh 6S 30C Lipo Packs from the USA Warehouse for Memorial Weekend flying off grass in two weeks.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/Reviews/T33Flying2.wmv]T-33 Maiden Flight Video[/link] (13meg)

photos by "Papa Jeff" Ring

tim wan

For original wheel hubs issue, we can provide an option metal hubs for selection.
Attached is for sharing, it also be able come with brake system if necessary.

Greg Covey

Tim,

The metal hub looks very nice and the brake option would come in handy on paved runways to slow down when landing. I am impressed with all the options available for the T-33.

The strut design makes it very easy to replace the wheels since the two set screws holding the axle are on the bottom. The Dubro wheels seem to fit perfectly and they should be strong enough since I don't plan on having another drop landing like in the video.

Regards.

Greg Covey

..

Greg Covey

My new Dubro wheels must have been just a tiny bit larger than the stock wheels, which prevented the main gear doors from closing properly. The metal arm on the door was always a bit eccentric and needed to be re-adjusted just by changing the plane from inverted to upright on the stand. If the adjustment was a bit off, the door would often jam and prevent the retract from either closing or opening.

I noticed that the nose wheel doors always worked well, every time, so I decided to mimic the same fishing line approach on the main gear doors.

Instead of using regular fishing line, I used the black FireLine from Berkley. By simply drilling one small hole in the bottom of the well, and using the existing hole from the removed metal arm in the door, I tied a loose line between the two holes. Now my main doors work every time; both inverted and upright.

To make the second one adjustable, I used a Du-Bro (#845) Mini E-Z Connector. I ran the FireLine through the connector and tightened the screw down on it. In this manner, I can adjust it if the line ever stretches.

4stripes

Hi Tim
I purchased the landing gear and optional wheels with brakes but now still have a plastic nose wheel hub. Is it possible to get the alloy hub?
Where and how much? I'm surprised the hubs failed as they look pretty strong. The retracts and shock absorbing legs are beautiful.
Thanks Eric

PS I also have the Canadian Airforce version coming to me in the mail. Looking forward to next winters building season.

Greg Covey

I was surprised that only the hubs failed. It was a significant drop for a foam plane weighing 11lbs. I would have thought the landing gear or wings would have broken but the design appears very solid.

I wasn't knocking the hubs for failing. I was just happy they were the only things that broke. I think the stock wheels are modeled after the Dubro 2-3/4" and 2-1/2" wheels...even the axle hole is the same. They make for a good replacement.

mavdriver

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Hi Greg fantastic T33 build thread and flying , i saw this bird fly at the Dixie Jet rally In ST George Utah was very impress how well it flew and that was on 90 mm fan , My friend is going to buy this plane so i point him to this thread when hes ready to build his T 33 , also have you posted a video yet ?

tim wan

Hi 4stripes,
Yes, we have only alu. hub as spare parts to sell for replacement of plastic hub. Pls contact with our dealers for arrangement. If you can't get it, pls feel free to contact me.
Thanks again your interesting of our products.
BRs,
Tim

Extreme_RC

Looks really nice Greg, how strong are the retract mounts for grass use? Never seen them over here, pity as its a nice aircraft to model.

Greg Covey

Thanks, Mark. I'll find out how strong the retracts and mounts are next weekend when we test fly the T-33 off grass. My two concerns are the retracts and my power level so we'll see what happens. We never got a chance to test the flaps on the maiden flight off pavement either because the wind was so high.

mavdriver,

Yes, the video link is in post #109.

Thanks!

4stripes

Hi Greg,
11 pounds, with batteries (I assume)? What size and type are you using? I'm hoping 5800mah will give me at least 4 minutes with reserve.

My Lander T-33 in RCAF markings arrived yesterday. Very impressed with the careful packaging and superfast shipping (only took 8 days right to my door). The only "damage" was some crushed foam in the horizontal stab which can be repaired. It would be nice if some touchup paint was provided for these type of inevitable shipping damages. Shipping was $120, perhaps higher than some other vendors but cosidering everything, I'm very happy with my purchase from Parkrcmodels. Thanks Max!. The models finish is very good for foam with tasteful details like panel lines and rivets. The flight controls, flaps and speed brake all came hinged but not glued (which is my preference as I will use diferent hinges). Haven't gone through all the bags of parts yet to see if the gear doors came with it.
This will be built next winter so I won't comment on the construction till then. Although the Lander fan is a good setup, I chose to use the Changesun 12 blade 90mm with a HET 700-68 1200kv motor. 8 or 9S depending on installed amp draw. The sound of the 12 blade fans has me converted having flown it in my other 90mm models. The Lander retracts look well suited for this model and the wheel brakes will be necessary on our paved runway. I'm curious to see how long the hubs will last with the metal brake "shoes" digging into the alloy. Might have to keep a spare set of wheels on hand if they wear.
Cheers Eric

mavdriver

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Hi Greg saw the video nice flying , to bad about the lipos have you try Gen Ace 65c batteries from hobbypartz. com , i`m really impress with this lipos also at a good price , hope too see another video .

Greg Covey

Eric,

I'm using lower capacity 3200mAh to 3800mAh packs because I am running 12s and want to keep the weight down for my initial testing. The width limit for two packs side-by-side up front is about 42mm. I checked my data logging in post #24 and I am only drawing about 72amps at full throttle. If the TP packs were new, they would never have had an issue so new 30C packs should work fine.

I ordered two of these [link=http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=14969]Turnigy 3600mAh 6S 30C Lipo Packs[/link] from the HK US Warehouse. They should arrive Monday or Tuesday so I'll have them for Memorial Weekend.

I think if you look further into your T-33 box, you should find the touch-up paints. See my post #16 on page 1.

mavdriver,

I will look into the Gens Ace packs next. Thanks!

Greg Covey

The T-33 flew fine off grass yesterday. We did have a few minor issues. My gear mains doors didn't close properly, probably because the mains twisted on take-off. Upon inspection after the flight, I discovered that the strut pins had no flat spots on them. I probably should have been more pro-active in checking them but no harm was done and it is an easy upgrade. I'll post some photos of the main gear strut pins as I modify them.

The winds were a low 5-10mph this time and the T-33 flew great! The sound, as can be heard on the video, is very nice. Scott Miller flew for about 2 minutes and then played with full flaps and the gear for another minute before landing so the total flight time was about 3 minutes. When I checked the pack charge, I had only about 10% capacity left. With the 12s 3600mAh setup, the flights are rather short on time but still lots of fun.

After some more flying with the T-33 using these packs, I may try some larger 5AH packs because the extra weight doesn't seem like it would be a problem. One pack would then sit behind the other instead of side-by-side like I have now.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/Reviews/T33Flying3b.wmv]T-33 Flight off Grass[/link] (16meg)

photos by "Papa Jeff" Ring

Greg Covey

The photos show the stock gear pins and the new flat spots I added with a Dremel tool and file. You can see the twist marks on the stock pins. This is easily eliminated by adding flat spots for both set screws. Keep in mind that this also has to be done with the other end of the pin (in the strut) so you are adding four flat spots per pin.

I downloaded the data logging from my Castle ICE HV 80 ESC and it shows my new Turnigy packs are holding the voltage nicely. The mouse cursor is on the last full speed pass, which reads about 100amps at 4000 watts. The ESC temperature is fairly cool at 124 degrees F. The flight time was about 3.3 minutes.

frankensteen

I've got a spare EVF2, 12s system and am considering it for the T33. Would need limit lipo size to 4500s. Any thoughts on how this would fan would fit?
Thanks!