Joe Westrich

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Finished mounting the pipe and K210. I will likely make a third attachment point from the top or bottom of the pipe. Just two tabs feels strong but I need more confidence.

Joe Westrich

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Joe Westrich

My Feedback: (95)

I also did some work on the light install. I have a set that I picked up from ED.

smchale

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Nice progress Joe! That K210 looks right at home in there!

Randy M.

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Nice work Joe. What are you doing for fuel tanks? Just curious to see how you will get them in if you use the jet techs. My engine set up is similar to yours, but I ran my rails all the way forward to mounting tabs glassed to the y- intake. I used a removable rear former that carries the rails in the rear. It has to be removable to get the pipe in and out. It worked out nicely for me. Watching with interest as mine is getting close. I actually test ran the engine in the plane wed night. what a beast!

Joe Westrich

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My turbine/pipe mount is completely removable also, minus the two small supports up front.

Good timing on the fuel cells.... They are on my list next to go in. The nose gear plate and front former bolt in place so that the tanks have clearance when they are removed. I will be making up mounting tabs that hysol to the tanks.

This is my weekend to work so this should happen on Mon or tues and I will post some pics.

Joe Westrich

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The "to do list for the fuse"
- mount tanks
- feather in body work around nose seam and intake ducts
- mount those plates in front of the intakes...can't remember what they are called
- mount rear gear doors
Everything times 3.

After that, the fuse will be done and I can set it aside and finish the control surfaces on the wing plus glassing the wing and tail surfaces.

I should have all 3 ready to be painted by Christmas.

Joe Westrich

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And my motivation is this.....
I will have this in by Dec, thanks to Chief Aircraft, and want to ready them both by KY jets

tbrum1

Hey Joe! Watching with interest from Canada.

I've got (4) of these Y/A F18's to build!! Making great progress on 2 of them this winter/spring and then 2 more in the fall of 2015. Very impressive kits.

Here's a link to the build thread I'm doing on the first two. Both will have Behotec 220's in them.

http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=203169

Thanks for all the tips and the PM's. Thanks to Sean who referred me to this great thread.

Cheers

Trev

Joe Westrich

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What paint schemes are you planning Trev?

tbrum1

Mine will be the Canadian Tiger Meet Scheme. The other one belongs to a good friend who will be doing the painting on both and not sure which scheme he has decided on for his.

Shaun Evans

Joe,

UP-3 is plenty fine for this model. I was getting 8 cycles on 110psi with the large tank. There was some brouhaha back in the day about needing 'high flow' valves, etc, but something seemed unscientific about that so I put it to the test. On the bench, the gear and doors would slam shut hard with the valve wide open. Against the advice of the experts, Kenny installed the UP-3, but on the maiden, the gear hung up. Some people thought it proved the UP-3 wasn't up to the task, but I noticed the real problem in a high-res pic of the takeoff. The big main gear door's hinge line isn't parallel to the centerline of the fuse, so the wind is going to want to close it. The cylinder on that door was easily defeated by the wind on a twin P-120 full-throttle takeoff, so the door was being pushed against the strut. The button on the knee-joint of the strut was acting as a door-stop when it would hit the door and prevent the gear from going up. I ended up making a little wire standoff that I attached to the strut with a zip-tie and the door ran over the standoff and missed the button on the strut. Problem solved.

dbsonic

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Interesting find. We could probably have a thread about gear door findings and what to look out for(on most any model that has them). But F18s have a lot of doors!

Joe Westrich

My Feedback: (95)

I figured it would work. It seems to me if you need high flow, you are trying to use momentum to compensate for a lack of power or leverage. High flow or low flow will give you the psi eventually. It depends on the strength of your cylinders and how appropriate they are for your application. I just don't know if the cylinder power is appropriate on the y/a F-18, but its sounds like they are.

Joe Westrich

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Here is the access for the two main tanks.

Joe Westrich

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Joe Westrich

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And the rear tank mounts I made, dry fitted..... Kind of looks like F-14 wings.

Joe Westrich

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The F-18 does have a lot of doors but the only doors of concern for me are the two large main doors. There isn't a lot of room under the landing gear plate to put a adequate size cylinders. I have an idea that will come later. It involves running a large robart or JMP cylinder from above the main gear plate via a drilled hole and using a rod to extend the reach. It is the only way I can think of to get the right power to those big doors.

tbrum1

A couple questions on the tanks for the F18....

1) Any idea of the capacity of both?
2) Is there a noticeable CG change during the flight? (looks to be quite far forward)

kevinthoele

My Feedback: (1)

If these are the jettech tanks they are 200 ounces for the pair. I had my first Yellow Twin for 800+ flights and its demise occured when a contractor working in my garage dropped in from 12 feet. I built another twin K100 powered and a third under contruction with K210 and composite wings. Ballance with gear retracted at front spar nose slightly down and it will fly like a dream. I dont trim at all during flight. They are awesome flying machines

Joe Westrich

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Yep, jet tech 200oz total. I like that color scheme. That was one I had considered.

Joe Westrich

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This will be mine. I have the dry transfers waiting for me to finish it.

Joe Westrich

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As for the other two..... one will be a Blue Angel and the other has changed quite a bit. Where are we at now Dirr?

Joe Dirr

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JW, I keep coming back to the River Rattlers scheme; my all time favorite!

Joe Dirr

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Another pic of the River Rattlers scheme in formation!