flyf3a

Hi

Mine is almost complete, please post photos of your electric set-up. Where did you have to place the batteries in order to get correct CG?

Regards
Burt

ghost.fr

And i would be interested to see how do you mount the wing and how do you connect the wing after putting down the wing

plus i'm curious to know why you repplaced the retract by robarts? Is it a must or just a choice of yours

thx

greg

Keithfl

I tried loading more pictures, but the upload kept failing. Try again...

Chasrb; photo inside nacelle should be self-explanatory.

Flyf3a: photo of wing centre section attached, showing ESC placement. The 2 ESCs are stacked with heatsinks facing each other, and a cooling fan blowing air between the two. Motors are just rear mounted, but I don't have pictures. Nothing special there. Batteries are located pretty much in line with the former at the front edge of the overwing hatch. So the rear half of the batteries lies in the bay where the nosegear steering servo is supposed to live, and the front half lies above the nosewheel, in it's retracted position. Hope that makes sense.

Keithfl

Ghost.fr: Photo shows fuselage at rear of wing opening. To the right you can see the 2 white airline connectors, and to the left a 6-pin female Multiplex plug. The Multiplex plug is mounted in a plywood bracket, while the airlines pass through a hole in their plywood bracket, and are free-moving. These brackets make connection very easy, and eliminate cable fatigue at the connector. If you look at the photo of the wing centre section, you can see the corresponding male multiplex plug, and (only 1 of) the airline connectors.

I replaced the retracts because they had lots of slop, had plastic bushings which compressed badly, and I just didn't consider that they could possibly stand up to the abuse of a rough grass strip. There were also stories of people having to use lighter wheels with them, as the internal spring is so strong that the air pressure doesn't give sufficient net retracting force to pull up the main wheels into the nacelles.

Capt G

My Feedback: (8)

Great job! What size and what kind dummy radials?

Keithfl

The radials are Top Flite 1/8 scale. They're not too dissimilar to the P&W Double Wasp that's in the Tigercat, or at least the front bank of a Double Wasp.

Couple more photos, this time the removable stab:

Keithfl

And a couple more. This time the wing spar joiner tube, and one of the removable wing tips. Single 4 pin (red) plug to connect both servos is epoxied into root rib.

ghost.fr

thx alot for all these pictures i'm starting to get your points of vue ;-) and your build looks realy cool : congrats

PLease if you wanna seed more pictures i'll be glad and if you care later i could make a small gallery of your build and any one else build so people could compare and comment

I'll for sure post my picts of the building procedures here, and on that gallery for compare !!

thx Keithfl

greg

F82FAN

My Feedback: (10)

Great job Kieth,
You've really gone over the top with your build.
I think that those of us that actually built and have flown the T-cat have said all along that, as you agree to, this is a great outer shell. It was up to us to take it from there.
The point is that there is NO excuse, in this day and age, for things to be that way.
It was funny to see you join in the "whining" about the cheesy gear - even though you hadn't used them or flown them!
We HAVE used (or attempted to) those gear and our "whining" on this forum gives an educated heads-up to all other builders about what to expect when they get around to assembling the bird.
Those of us that have built since the Wright brothers early days didn't have problems with finishing it, we just made CERTAIN that everyone - including AKondor is aware of what we encountered as we go so that they can jump over the problem with a solution in hand.
Thats why it was better with each new generation - because of our whining! If you think this is bad, just hop onto the 95" B-25 thread. It'll bust your head open with all of our "whining". But you know what? That's the way things get back to the factory and get rectified. There are some happy campers because a few of us actually built the thing and made corrections and suggestions - the new ones are correct!

We would love to see some video of your T-cat in action. It must be interesting to fly with little or no aural interaction?!?!? Those big props probably don't make much noise and it would be difficult for me to "relate" to the airplane with only visual cues. If you are a long time modeler, did it take some getting used to (the lack of noise)?

Fly Safe,

Wally

Keithfl

Ghost.fr: No problem

F82Fan: Thanks for the lesson on the purpose of whining [>:]. I am aware that constructive feedback to manufacturers can be invaluable, both to the manufacturer and the end consumer. And don't get me wrong, this kit does have deficiencies warranting feedback. As an example, in my opinion, the wing spar issue is serious, and inexcusable. I don't think they should ever have left the factory with that spar system.

The whining I was refering to related to non mission-critical issues: Fiddly hinge support blocks, balsa versus honeycomb wing skins, non-operational gear doors, brief instruction sheet, etc, etc. Reading some of the complaints, it really sounded like people are expecting BVM completeness and quality, for peanuts pricing. Porsche for Toyota pricing. You get the idea - its just not going to happen. Lets not kid ourselves here, this airframe is not for inexperienced modellers, and I don't think any reasonable person would expect it to be. No thirteen servo, twin engine, gas retract, 25+ pound aiframe ever will be a shake-the-box-three-times affair. IMHO, it comes down to unreasonably high expectations for the assembly process.

I've been in the hobby for 24 years, so yes, I guess that makes me a long term modeller. I've been flying electrics exclusively for about the last 13 years, so I'm pretty used to the lack of aural interaction. Some of my models are nearly as loud as gas models, so its not an issue. However, when flying a quieter model at the same time as gas models, it does get harder. Much greater attention to airframe pitch, pitch response, and throttle stick position required, to ascertain airspeed. I'm still not completely used to that. Certainly not as simple as engaging an earhole.

Unfortunately, there won't be video footage anytime soon - no video camera.

Capt G

My Feedback: (8)

Well I finally got to work on this bird. Hellcat is on hold for painting weather. Got the Fujis mounted without any trouble, Bolted directly to the firewall and cowls cut to fit. Mine is the all composite version and comes with fiberglass tubes to fit the wing hinges instead of the older "little wood blocks". Working on mounting servos (there's a lot of them) and control horns. I made the outer wing panels removable by simply using a 1/4 x 20 aluminum bolt and T nut to hold them on and as an alignment pin. Seems to work ok. I still have not received my retracts - they must still be on the boat. Andrew?

F82FAN

My Feedback: (10)

Hi Capt,
Andrews in China, according to recent post here on RCU (See his new SBD Dauntless on the ARF forum) so it may be a while before you get your gear - or anything else you are waiting on.
I'm not sure why, but whenever he goes out of the country, shipping stops completely... A friend waited almost 2-months for an "in-stock" spinner - just because he wasn't around?!?!?!?
Oh, well. Great guy with great flying birds - it's worth it.

N215PB

I flew my F7F months ago with 2 Saito 100's and 3 bladed props, plenty of power. Only issue is the junk gear, i'm waiting to hearon the Generation 5 gear but all i get is talk from KMP.. What gear should i go with and what price should i budget for it? Is KMP releasing a better gear or is that all smoke and mirrors?

n9331v

Sierra gear is the only way to go.

rcnut101

I talked to Andrew about 3 weeks ago and he was heading too china for a visit and to see what the hold up is with the Gen 5 Gear. I have been waiting about 5 months on these. Im supposed to here from him by the end of Jan. I do think Sierra gear are perfect, But im not gonna sink 700 in gear when I only paid about double that for the whole airframe rtf. If KMP doesnt follow thru soon, I will find a different solution.

Doug D

F82FAN

My Feedback: (10)

Say what we will about the price of landing gear, but those Sierra's buy you almost absolute perfection, plus you can get them with brakes, too! Sure $700 is a lot, but over the life of the model to not have to belly it in every flight, or fly it around fixed gear like I did for the first bunch of flights, it is totally worth the price of admission.
Do it right the first time, or you may not get to do it again!

Pylon2

I used Century Jet in my Tcat and they are very good.
Cheers Richard.

ghost.fr

richard could you tell me the reference at Century Jet for the retract please

thx
greg

ok i found it thx : [link=http://centuryjet.com/product_info.php/products_id/973]centuryjet KMP F7F[/link]

richard : Do you think i sould upgrade the retract i have in the kit and how do i know if its GEN 5 retracts or older?

frankly tell me, its not a question of money just security for my Tcat ... should i upgrade or not? since i'm build ing it right now i would follow your advice and
upgrade or not but if its just supperflew i will skip and in future maybe upgrade of the look

Streetfuz

My Feedback: (115)

Gentlemen,

I've been building and flying since 1955 so I would say I've seen a lot aircraft kits both arf,kits and stick built. Don't you good folks think for the money we all paid for the T-Cat Andrew could at least get the China man to spell right?? Come on, compare the T-Cat with Top-Flite, Great Planes, etc and there's a world of difference between them. Yes, they don't make all the "Special" birds we'd all like to see but a person has the right to be able to understand the instructions and have pictures of the actual assembly?? Now I know some of you are going to say that the plane is only for experts but remember the younger generation behind us older builders have a lot more money to spend. and I've talked with a lot of the younger, 18-35 year old modelers who just won't try the kits like, kondor, CMP, etc. from China for that very reason. They want something that they can understand and be able to build. Not everyone has the experience most of us have. There's my $.2 on the subject. By the way all Kondor has to do is send a real AC engineer over and design the plane so its done right. He can even write the instruction book so all can understand it. I know and have spoken with Andrew many times and he is a nice person, but he needs to get some qualified help, english speaking not from China, on site in China and 90% of the problems we've seen on this forum will go away. And remember that we're paying for all the items that come with a kit, ie: wheels, landing gear, hardware, etc. It should be as good as the American companies shouldn't it? And yes I know that their ARF's are also made in China, They just have better control over their product.

Tom
Streetfuz

N215PB

I agree 100%, I have scratch built 3 Ziroli Beech 18's and gained much experience. That said the KMP is very vague in the instructions area. To a newbie in the hobby it's to much for them, also considering this is a big bucks kit. I flew mine one flight and here it sits because of a cheap gear that can't make it even to the flying field. Everyone see's this, not a good sign for buying a KMP product. Look around, we're headin inot a depression or whatever you wanna call it. I think alot of hobby companies will not exist after 2010, a good product may survive, lousy ones surely won't. This model gets pretty expensive with a gear upgrade, and let's face it, most of the fleet will be smashed anyway due to multi engine operations being higher risk. I will leave mine sit for a year or so before I waste $600+ on a gear for it.

F82FAN

My Feedback: (10)

Hi Ghost,
You didn't ask me, but you can tell the Gen V gear by the BLUE Anodizing on the mount part of them.
Yes, you should upgrade. Budget however much peace-of-mind is worth to you. This thing is big, expensive and a great flyer, but crappy gear will make you leave it at home and take something else. Ask me how I know???
Regards,
Wally

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

IF ANYONE here who resides in the CONT. 48 US needs any Century Jet or ROBART GEAR drop me a line..

I can assist with a deal,,,

-CHEERS!

TOMAS
VQ WARBIRDS
VQ,ASM,KMP STOCKING DEALER

www.vqwarbirds.com
[email protected]

Boomerang1

I was there & witnessed Keith's test flight, congratulations Keith, superb!

The lack of noise? 5 to 6 horsepower through two 17 inch props makes a hell of a noise no matter what's (watts? ) driving them! - John.

Keithfl

Thanks for your assistance, John. It's now had 3 flights, and the thumbs have nearly stopped shaking.

Keith

at-6 texan

i want cry!!!!!>ScaleWings.com