dabevan

I bought the Mick Reeves Hunter kit about this time last year, I'd built a few large warbirds and wanted to build my first turbine. I didnt want to go down the ARTF route as I wanted a building project that would take me a year or two - even though in comparision the current ARTF jets out there seem to offer very good value for money!

Don't get me wrong, I've got no complaints about the Mick Reeves kit so far, its seems to be nicely manuafactured and cleanly cut etc and most parts seem to fit fine. But the are a couple of Micks ideas I'm not keen on and will be changing...

1) I'll be using balsa sheeted wings instead of ProSkin as I can sand balsa and its a technique that i'm familiar with where as some ProSkin finishes I've seen sag inbetween ribs.

2) I probably wont make the tail planes detachable, and I'll drive each half with a separate servo rather than the single servo groove and lip technique that Mick suggests.

3) I'll change the rudder link to a more standard set up - Mick suggests using the servo as the bottom hinge, and then just one hinge at the top, id prefer a few more hinges (although I've not figured out how to get the rudder in yet!

4) I'm generally going to use more hinges everywhere than suggested by Mick.


I've got some photos to upload of the build so far - not got as far as I would have liked due to not getting as much building time as I had orriginally thought, but it'll get there in the end!

Regards

David Bevan

PS - I'm no where near as tallented a builder as many build threads on here so please be gentle with your comments! (although feel free to point out if I'm making two right wings etc!)

Alex48

Be nice to see a more traditional build, Micks kits are ok but do require a bit of thought in some areas. I've never liked using proskin for sheeting much prefer balsa and glassing.

Look forward to seeing how you get on.

Cheers, Alex

dabevan

OK, first thing to notice is that for a 68" wingspan model this plane has an impressively large fuz!

(er, not sure this picture has come out?)

dabevan

OK, that pic uploaded ok, here are some more...

The parts all seem nicely cut and well packed etc, the only gripe on initial inspection would be that the jet pipe supplied is only single walled. I’m new to turbines, but I’ve never seen a single walled pipe and have been advised to buy a double walled one.

The little model is the Corgi Hunter and shows the colour scheme I’ll probably go for.

The retracts are non scale, but the wheels look nice!

David Bevan

dabevan

Mmmm, any idea why them photos are showing full size and not as thumbnails?

dabevan

...I'll try uploading one at a time...

OK, first cut!

And first glue joint! (dated as 10th May 2010)

And very straight forward framing up of the tails.

HarryC

My Feedback: (1)

David, there was a build thread on here a few years ago by GordonMc, have a search for it as there may be stuff on there to help you.
The ribs may be sized for the thickness of Proskin so you will probably need to remove some edge from them
Wren pipes are thrust augmenting rather than plain parallel, and I believe they now, at last, offer the option of a twin wall.
Harry

mick15

Proskin is a fantastic material but not for skinning wings.

m

dabevan

Wing construction is fairly standard, except the spar is a kind of ladder structure. The main advantage of this is that all the ribs can be slotted in dry.

The disadvantage (for a builder like me) is that while a traditional spruce top an bottom spar holds the wind firm in two directions this ladder spar can allow the tip to move backwards and forwards while gluing and I let mine move backwards by ¼” leaving my spar a bit bent. - I spotted this and was able to pin it straight while sheeting the front portion of the wing so no permanent damage done!

dabevan

Thanks, yes I've read GordonMc's thread, his plane is lovely, I can only hope that mine is half as nice!

...I'll be powering mine with a P80 which will mean about a 70% power to weight ratio - which was still higher than the originals 50% power to weight.

The ribs appear to actually be too thin for proskin and the instructions suggest building a kind of fillet so that the thin wing matches the thicker fuz rib. I wonder if the kit was originally designed for balsa sheeting as the wing seems to fit better with sheeting than without - the extra 1/16” helps with the gear clearance as well!

dabevan

As mentioned before, its quite a big fuz, but I think I’ve found somewhere I can store it! - God knows where I’ll put the next plane!

dabevan

Just playing about dry fitting all the formers in the fuz and the first thing that becomes apparent is that the formers in the nose and tail will have to go in first (as they wont fit through the hole in the middle formers) - Note, this is NOT what is says in the instructions! - But then I always tend to build to the plan rather than follow the instructions!

F86_SABRE

Hello Dave,
Looks like a nice build....love HUnters!
Wonder whether PROSKIN can stand up to our summer heat (35c) and not sag?
Which scheme will it be?

Reuben

dabevan

The retracts are mounted on neat little rubber grommets - I’ll remember these for my next build!

Retracts went in ok, but initially I thought that the angles were all wrong since the wheels pointed at a funny angle when gear was down!

…several minutes of head scratching later I remembered that the wings are swept and that the wheels will have to point in a lot just to be going straight!

dabevan

Thanks!

35c Summer heat? not in the UK the're not! ;-(

I'll be balsa sheeting the wings and probably doing it in the RAF camo/red tips scheme (I think its a training scheme)

dabevan

Ailerons frame up in the standard way.

F86_SABRE

There you are Dave. Here is a side view of the plane. Unfortunately I was not able to find a multi view picture of the plane. This one is taken from the WARPAINT series on the Hunter.
You are tracking along now!

Reuben

rhklenke

My Feedback: (24)

Dave,

Have you seen Gordon Mc's build thread on his Mick Reeves Hunter? Build threads are always welcome and fun to read - I just thought you might get some good info from it if you hadn't seen it.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_12...tm.htm#1231873

Mick's Hunter is on my "wish to build" list - someday. Keep going!

Bob

siclick33

Bob,

Have you read posts 7 and 10

dabevan

The tail sheeted and with the tips added - Note, the kit provides molded tips for the tails, but they are so small I just shaped them out of balsa (much quicker and easier)

Note, I always cut the plans up into each component - I don’t see the point of trying to build the tail on the very corner of the building table with the rest of the plan hanging over the table just because that’s where it is on the plan. Much easier to just cut the plan up so I’ve got a wing shaped plan, a tail shaped plan and a fuz shaped plan etc then I can build them on any of my benches and orientate them in the most convenient way.

schroedm

My Feedback: (1)

Expect to see it Tuesday night now!..........

dabevan

For the wings I used the supplied moulded tips, these are glued to a balsa rib and then glued to the tips - But, my tip is 1/8” thicker than Mick intended (as Ive got 1/16" balsa sheet top and bottom) so I had to make up a pair of thicker ribs to compensate. The plastic tips had enough flex to fit the thicker profile.

dabevan

Ha! Hi Mark, I wondered how long it would be til you turned up! ;-)

...as you can see from the dates on these posts I've managed to frame up and sheet the wings and tails all in the last hour and a half, so I reckon at this rate I'll be finished by tomorrow morning!

If the paint is dry do you fancy filming the test flight tomorrow morning?

vease

Yes please for Tuesday Dave!

dabevan

The aileron with it’s counter sunk hinge slots.

Next pic is the dry fit, note, it does actually fit better than it looks in this pic as the wing trailing edge hasn’t been cut down to size yet.

One thing it did highlight though is that due to the sweep of the aileron you can't just push the hinges in as the inboard bit of the wing is in the way. I’ll have a read of the instructions to see if Mick suggests how to over come this problem, if not then the preferred option at the moment seems to be to leave 1/8” gap then slot the aileron in at 90 deg (ie full deflection plus some more) and it will just about go. Then fill the 1/8” gap after aileron is is in place.

…I’ll have a think about it, there must be a better way, but I’m open to ideas.