Originally Posted by ww2birds

Congrats! So nice to see you get a bunch of great flights. I presume it's the mains that are hard to retract, presumably due to the air resistance when rotating? Is the nose gear working ok?

What air pressure are you running? I am doing hydraulic on mine, which will give more positive force and controlled motion through the cycle .. but the max pressure will be about the same (120 psi for the Hausl system I am using) so hyd vs air may not matter on the air resistance issue. I did my original plumbing with the JMP hi flow valve and all 4mm airlines and the force of slamming up and down was kind of shocking!

Any other tips for those of us getting close to our own maiden flights?

Dave

Originally Posted by gunradd

Started on the markings

Originally Posted by jws_aces

Chris man that is a very nice repair job. Looks better than the first time..Way to go!

Originally Posted by gunradd

Got all the big markings on. Starting on the tiny dry transfers.... Love it so far.

Originally Posted by gunradd

Started on the markings

Originally Posted by ww2birds

Thanks for the invitation Gunradd.

Here are some pics of my install.

The paint scheme is from a Japanese aggressor F-15D (yes, a slight sin, technically this is a fantasy scheme to put a D paint job on an E aircraft). I asked FB to leave off the clear coat so I could add some graphics and I'll add the matte clear after that. I'll probably maiden it and fly it some as it sits.

I elected to cut through the inlet ducts to take the Y-shaped part out during install. As you can see, I've got it reattached with white duct tape and am debating if I need something more robust. I'd actually prefer not to follow my original plan and glass the seams back permanently. It would be a wonderful upgrade to the kit if FB would consider putting a slip joint in the inlets at about the point where I cut them - for initial install and maintenance. I also removed the covers over the main gear wheel wells as I found it impossible to rig the gear doors and install the tanks with them in place. I currently do not plan to replace them. I did leave the nose gear well cover in place.

Like many builders I elected to cut off the nose cone and make it removable, there are three steel pins that position it at matching bulkheads I installed on either side of the cut. A single knurled screw holds it fast, accessible through a small flip-down at the nose that secures with a rare-earth magnet.

I did my best to put some weight in the nose (main batteries, etc), and to make all the startup/flightline stuff accessible without opening the main hatch. Currently I have the fuel fill, smoke fill and smoke system switch in the main hatch as that is something I generally do back in the pits, not at the flight line. I went a little crazy with 6 charge ports only 4 in use at this time (2x main RX batt, lighting system batt shared by lighting and AB ring, smoke battery). In the end I was a few mm nose heavy (!) compared to the 235mm suggested point so I placed the ECU battery back in the main hatch.

I used the Jet Central gear and canopy sequencer (which really is quite convenient) and JetTronics valves for the air functions. Robart restrictors on the air brake, canopy and all doors to keep them from slamming. I am not using the stock fuel tanks (they are fine but I wanted to set up differently). I had a set of larger "side" tanks made by Gary Mueller (Jet Tech), and his Reaction 54-size tank in the center position for smoke. The two side tanks feed the extra large Tom Cook/JMP Vertical Air Trap. The JMP trap is mounted in a plywood holder that is glassed to the fuse floor. It gives me about 230 oz of fuel and 72 oz of smoke. I have the PowerBox smoke pump and one large-size (3/16") Tam smoke injector .. this is a great combo I have used before. I did not order the plane with a pipe so the bifurcated pipe was done by Tam for the P200.

Power distribution and dual RX selection is via a Robbe PSS2018 power box with 2xR7008 Receivers. CB associates JetCat ECU telemetry unit and pitot/static airspeed sensor, all A123 batteries.

Pilots are from Tailored Pilots in the UK. The cockpits that come with the plane are quite nice (my son, an F-15E pilot, and his WSO colleagues declared them "pretty legit!" .. they also advised me that for the full "scale effect" the position light on the tail should be burned out :-) ). The pilot sitting position was not quite right - it was hard to get the pilots to sit low enough (they are a still bit too high), I had to cut the plastic seat "cushion" out and put the pilot torso on the floor and remove the molded legs and stuff the flight suit with cotton . None of that is visible with the pilots installed. I think they look great in the plane now.

To get the canopy to work reliably, I had to move the air cylinder bottom mounting point back about 2" to get better mechanical advantage at initial opening - no big deal and it really helped. I saw a very clever canopy lock mechanism on a friend's SM F-14 with wedge-shaped plungers driven by small air cylinders .. the small wedges are driven into a BVM canopy hook that faces forward so that as the air cylinders push toward lock the wedge engages with the slanted edge of the hook and pulls the canopy down strongly. It locks very tightly and releases easily. Nice. And easy to program with the JC sequencer.

Lighting system from Details 4 Scale, as well as the AB rings.

Dave McQ

Originally Posted by mick15

You've answered your own question Dave, both pressures are the same, it's how they are delved that's important. When you open the air valve you get the whole 120, take it or leave it, when you start a pump the pressure starts at zero gradually building up as required which is why the whole operation is more gentle and scale like.....................................no contest.

m

Originally Posted by FenderBean

Still waiting on you to started selling a hydraulic kit