cimmy

I am really impressed with the detail. It must be a blast to fly or even just watch. Do you have any video?
mike

jettset99

My Feedback: (7)

Bill Great Job, this is the Third F-14 Flying and the Only one I know that has sweeped the wings in flight, they are kitted By Jetmart, and The kit is perfect for the JF50-Super Bees. We will be flying The No 4 Ship soon, here in So Cal Again Great Job on the F-14 Paul AJUSA

Skybouncer

My Feedback: (3)

Congratulations Bill !!!
I already knew the F-14 would have an Awesome flight.
My hats off to the camera man also, some of the best in-flight PICS i have seen of the F-14. Who took the PICS?

Aero65

My Feedback: (2)

Hello All

First congrats Bill on a great flight, he did a great job flying the maiden flight. I was spotting for him and it flew pretty much like the DF version did except that it has lots of power on take off now and just plain smokes the sky, most of the flight was at half throttle and it was still smoking.

The first flight was a non event as Bill did a great job putting his Jetmart USA F-14, He did the works full doors, and drop tanks. (They are non functional) After we took off the airplane was just like the DF, just needed down trim as it speeds up, (Exactly like the DF) It’s so wild the front of the fuselage produces so much lift you have to counteract it by trimming down as the F-14 speeds up.

Since the maiden flight was going so well Bill said lets try the sweep (Gutsy). So we swept – A non issue it behaved and Bill had the throws a little low on the back sweep so the roll was slow, but that was about it, it still flew great. Makes me miss mine. (I did a dumb thumb on a take off many years ago… don’t ask it was stupid)

Came in to do a practice approach, looked good so he just landed. Great job of piloting Bill!

I believe Eric took those pictures.

I have video just have to post it. I will have it up in a couple of days.

Thank you for helping Bill Ronnie!

Kit Jetmart Usa
Radio JR 9309
Turbines 2 Super Bees
Weight dry around 28 – 29

AirPac Models

Ian,

Does this F-14 remind you of old times? I wish I could tell you this is a Skymaster kit, but its actually a Jetmart USA kit. Well, at least this plane has a Skymaster pipe and some accessories.


I'm the one who took those pictures, and thank you for the nice comments. I believe Duke's wife Jill also took a lot of pictures that are nicer than the ones I took. I think Duke will post them later on. Also, Duke and Woody have a real good video they are working on and I'm sure they'll post it later too.

BluFox

My Feedback: (10)

Awesome maiden Bill! What a great project with outstanding results. Many thanks to Eric Wu for the great pictures and support. Your choice of the Artes jf50 Bee worked out perfectly for this airframe. Keep up the great work and post more pictures as soon as you can. I look forward to meeting you during my trip to Hawaii. Again, congratulations!

Eric Clapp
JetArtes Gulf Coast
941.468.1246
941.423.9931

AirPac Models

Mike and others,

Here’s the link of F-14 video shot by Woody. Thanks Woody for providing the footage.

http://www.airpacmodels.com/uploads/video

and Click: " Bill_F-14_Maiden.mov " to view or download it. It's a 6M file, might take time to download it. (Quick time format)

Bryce Watson

My Feedback: (6)

Nice job Bill! [sm=thumbup.gif]

That thing is haulin ***.

Congrats again man for sweeping those wings and flying that bird the way it's supposed to be flown.

Bryce

Airdoggy

A little Top Gun music and everything will be perfect!

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

AWESOME!! But please, not Top Gun again!![:@][:@]

cimmy

One word says it all Awsome. Great work and great flying.
mike

tomcatman

My Feedback: (2)

WOW!!! It flies like a bat out a hell!! Very nice job!!

wlderego

Mahalo (Hawaiian for Thank you) for all the great comments on my F-14 project. I have always wanted to build an F-14 since my Navy days in the mid-70's. I was AE on A-6's for VA196. I was on the first deployment of the F-14's on carriers, which were squadrons VF-1 and VF-2. That is how the VF-1 colors were chosen for the project.

It is a DCU F-14 kit purchased by someone 8 years ago and never built. I found out through the grapevine that it was for sale and decided to go ahead and buy it. Throughout most of the ducted fan stuff to convert to a turbine, the only ducting used was from the intake to the main wing spar. There is carbon fiber arrow shafts to stiffen the upper center section (fore and aft).
(picture to follow)

The plane's dry weight is 28 lbs. Carries 144 oz of fuel. Take off weight of about 35 lbs. Each engine has it's own supply of 72 oz consisting of 4 tanks: 40 oz in the intake (skymaster F-15 main tank); 16 oz forward of the wing spar; 12 oz aft of the wing spar; and 4 oz UAT. Both engines burn the 40oz first then left engine burns forward tank first aft 2nd and the Right engine burns aft tank first and forward 2nd to keep the CG stable after the 40 oz are gone. The engines are currently producing 14 lbs of thrust.


Aloha,
Bill De Rego

wlderego

Picture of my F-14's center section

HotelSierra

My Feedback: (9)

Bill, that's one awesome ship! Congratulations on the maiden.

tomcatman

My Feedback: (2)

Bill, if I may ask, how much did it cost? What is the total investment you have in this airplane minus radio? Also, what radio are you flying it with? I'd just really like to get an idea of how much $$$$ it takes to get something like this in the air. Thanks.

Richie

blackknight13b

WOW I am telling you this bird looks just like the real ones.. Bill has taken the extra steps to ensure a scale aircraft. Just to see this plane fly makes me grin from ear to ear

rcjetfan

FINALLY!!!! an F-14 video WITHOUT that repulsive Top Gun sound track on it..

Excellent job on everything..loved when the wings swept back during flight..Congrats on the flight and the fantastic work done on the bird