Trent3786

How much effort would the ducting modification be to do on a finished model? I'm going to be glassing everything so I guess the hard part is going to be getting the ducting to stick to the side of the fuse? I have a P60 and I'll be flying from a mown glass strip (~200m/650ft long with a decent hedge at one end and a maze field at the other). I'm just worried that my auw is going to be too high so I'm wondering if I should leave it off at this stage with the possibility of adding it at a later stage if it is possible.

The bare finished airframe currently weighs 3.45kg/7lb-10oz. I have estimated all the installed equipment plus fuel will be another 4.8kg/10lb-9oz and then the glass and paint finish is likely to add another 0.5kg/1lb to this at least. So I'm looking at 8.75kg/19lb-5oz take off weight. I have estimated that the ducting is likely to tip me over the 20lb mark. I realise people have flown this jet at 20lb+ no problem but I don't know what turbine they were using and if they were flying from a long sealed strip or not.

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Ducts do not add much weight and they do not seem to affect the flight characteristics. I've not used them, so this is not a first-hand recommendation. But if you really want the inlet ducts (for aesthetics), I say you should go ahead and add them now while building. Don't worry about the weight, your R54 will perform just fine.

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

Anyone have a source for a canopy that looks good on one of these?

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

Parkflyer Plastics has quite a selection.
http://parkflyerplastics.com/cart/in...index&cPath=46

Joe

Helijet

Well Bruce

My first Reaction was flown in 2005 and 10 years later version 3 is completed. This one I plan on keeping a long time. The other ones were sold to guys that just HAD TO HAVE IT...lol So here she is
powered by a KT 60, electric retracts, HK brakes, full Jetti telemetry with tx to rx switch, Xicoy telemetry. Weighs 17.5 lbs, covered in solartex and matrix paint.
Ready to roll for the 2015 season and beyond.Thanks again for the great design!!

Dean Wichmann
Canada

PaulD

My Feedback: (39)

KEWL!

Ready for maiden at Princeton. Looking forward to it.

PaulD

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Paul said it in a word - KEWL! Subdued colors, simple, elegant scheme... I like it a lot. Nice and light, sensible power. Sounds like my kind of jet! Hope it serves you well for a long time my friend.

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Sorry guys for being a bit lazy to search the thread. Just just had surgery on my hands. Has anyone done an F-4 type tailplane on the 54? Chic

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

[TABLE="width: 98%, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 50, align: right"]#2920 [/TD]
[TD="width: 647"] bobparks2 shows us his highly-modified R54. Also see #2923, 3000.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

afterburner

My Feedback: (18)

Chic,
Sorry to hear about your hand and not being able to make it to KY.

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

I think this is what you are looking for;
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-j...rt-jet-42.html

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Thanks guys. Really appreciate your help. Mr Tharpe, in your opinion, would the anhedral stab hurt the flying characteristics of the 54. Thanks Marty, I will come to Virginia Jets to watch and enjoy the flying. Chic

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

I don't think an anhedral stabilizer would hurt the flying characteristics. Probably wouldn't even make a noticeable difference. Bob Park added anhedral to his stabilizer; here's a vid of his maiden flight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVomB0A2OxY&hd=1

kev-o

My Feedback: (1)

Got to,fly Deans it was a lot of fun , lots of power with the 60 in it too. It's a keeper for sure.

Trent3786

I started to installing the turbine ancillaries in my reaction last night and fortunately I spotted this problem. The photo isn't as clear as I would have liked but that blue wire had only 1 strand left attached! One of the risks of getting a secondhand turbine I suppose. Easy enough to fix but lets just say I'll be thoroughly checking everything before it goes in the model now.

ltc

My Feedback: (3)

I would suggest removing both leads, sliding some heat shrink over the wires, re soldering the wires to the terminals (cleaning any flux...unless up you use no clean) and then sliding the heat shrink down over the terminals and wire.
This will help prevent "birdnesting" as you experienced here.

Trent3786

Yea that's probably a good idea. Where I have the pump installed in the airframe the wires shouldn't get moved at all so for now I haven't used heat shrink. But if I start to see anything like this again I will redo them as you say.

Trent3786

Just finished painting. Overall glass and paint only added 310g to the wing so about 700g all up! woohoo

highhorse

My Feedback: (2)

Looks great! Congratulations.

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

Gorgeous!!!!

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

I like it! Always been a sucker for big, bold color patterns with high contrast. Should be great for visibility and orientation. Plus it's Golden State Warriors colors - gotta be a winner!

PaulD

My Feedback: (39)

Love be that paint job!

And here I was thinking it was Seahawks colors.

PaulD

Trent3786

My reaction is now ready to maiden. Last weekend I did a taxi test and everything performed as expected except the retract valve servo which I stripped the gears on - my fault for using a servo undersized. I have it balanced at the 6" mark as it sounds like most people are finding it best in the front half of the range. To get it this far forward I had to add around a pound of lead in the nose despite having all three batteries in the nose and the UAT and fuel pump forward of the cog. My final auw wet is 9.5kg (21 lb) which seems really resonable. All I need to do before the maiden is a range test and double check for any problems with air bubbles making it to the UAT. I would have done it last weekend but I managed to pretty much drain the main tank during my taxi test l so I wasn't able to tell if the air in the UAT was from a leak or if I was using fuel from the UAT.

This weather this weekend is looking great with lowish winds predicted. First completely fine weekend this winter so I'm excited to get out there and give it a hoon (assuming our nearby ski field isn't open for one of the usual 10 days a year where there is enough snow for skiing)!


I have been writing articles with plenty of pictures throughout the build which have been put up on our local club website if anyone would like to see. http://npmac.org.nz/index_files/Page572.htm

Trent3786

Maiden flight went really well, what a well behaved plane! I got two flights in today and should get a few more tomorrow if the weather is nice again. When starting the turbine for the second flight today the initial temperature according to the GSU was 4 degC so it was bloody cold to say the least.

Obligatory action shot

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

And now, my obligatory Congratulations! That's a great flight shot, glad to hear it went well.

We've been setting record high temps around here (Southern Oregon). Wish I could transport into your 4C area for a few minutes...