RAPPTOR

My Feedback: (41)

F-18 WEIGHT?? NICE JOB

Shaun Evans

Hi,

Thanks. Not sure of the weight yet, but the last one I built for ICDF came out at about 15 pounds dry.

niteflyer

Glad to see this thread on the go again. Was looking for it awhile back and couldn't find it.
I picked up a D/F RTF from a swap last fall and was going to convert to turbine. In the mean
time picked up a fresh kit to start from scratch on the turbine. I'm one of those old school guys
that just can't give up on ICDF so will keep the original one intact with some freshening up to
blow some glow smoke this summer.

Keep up the good work
Niteflyer

Shaun Evans

Hi,

Thanks!

dw_crash

My Feedback: (6)

Shaun,

Mine is 12.5 lbs with a Behetoc JB55 engine. It is fully done up as a Blue Angel. They can be very light.

Dave

Shaun Evans

Hi,

Working on the plug-in wings now. Instead of cutting out the sheeting and gluing the horn plate in, I prefer to grind a slot in the foam and epoxy in the plate before I glue on the caps. The trick is to very clearly mark them because when you primer the wings, the spot disappears and you'd better know where those plates are.

jedijingle

My Feedback: (45)

Dave do you have some pix of it or list of things you did to keep it lighter

jetsflying

My Feedback: (12)

what servos you use on the wings......thank you chris

Shaun Evans

Hi,

Most likely JR digital minis (3421). They're strong enough and precise enough, yet can fit in the wing easily. I'm not going to cut a hole in the wing for the flap servo, but instead put it in the root of the wing with the arm sticking out the bottom.

By the way, I tried Gorilla Glue wood glue on this one. It comes out pretty watery, but dries rock hard. I wouldn't recommend it because it sands like stone.

Shaun Evans

Yeah,

Ix-nay on the Gorilla Glue brand wood glue. That stuff was like sanding marble. In spite of that, I got the trailing edge stock nicely sanded down to the wing.

Shaun Evans

Hi,

It's funny how tiny these parts seem now to me after building/assembling some big jets. The wing without the flaps and ailerons look smaller than the vertical stabs on my big Hornet.

I glued on some triangle gap-cover stock on the top side of the wing trailing edge. I only do the tops, because you have to sand half of it away on the bottom in order to get the flap to go down, so what's the point, right? After those were sanded to the wing, I capped the root with 1/16" ply. I also lined the aileron servo pockets with 1/64" ply. Once that was sanded to match the wing, I then rounded the leading edges of the flaps/ailerons, then separated them. Those were capped with 1/16" balsa (this time with 5-minute epoxy). Once that's cured, I'll sand all these down and glass everything.

Shaun Evans

Hi,

Been making steady progress now that the wings finally came in off of back-order. The wings really slowed this project down because you need them present in order to line everything else up. The wings are built, sanded, glassed and now primed. They've got the blade spars installed and the missile rails mounted. Instead of gluing them on, I made them removable with screws. I've also got the rudder torque rods installed with brass sleeves and a plywood base. I've got the hinges glued into all of the control surfaces, too. I use hysol with the mixing nozzle. I put a drop of oil on the hinge center point, then stick the tip of the nozzle in the hole and squeeze a little glue in there. Then insert the hinge to the proper depth, being careful to make sure they all line up, then come back the next day and do it again on the other side. So easy, I can't remember how I ever did it any other way. I'll leave it to the customer to decide whether he wants to do the two rudder servos back there or one rudder servo up front. I've done it both ways.

Shaun Evans

Well,

Wish me luck, guys! The flat clear coat is going on the bird today.... [X(]