dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Oh boy! My Skymaster F-5E Tiger II kit has ARRIVED! This is one of my all-time favorite jets, one that looks mean and fast just sitting still. I could hardly wait for delivery, ever since Skymaster let the cat out of the bag (so to speak!) here on RCU.

As with my F-18 I had it out of the box and assembled on the floor looking GOOD [sm=thumbup.gif] about ten minutes out of the box. It's a biggie and has real presence. Unfortunately it was dark and I had no flash so the photo below does not do it justice. The fuse is in two pieces (like the F-15 and F-18) and for once appears to have more than adequate fuel capacity - I'd guess about 2 3/4 to 3 liters.

Based on my own SM F-18 build and a couple of other SM kits I've seen, it looks like Skymaster has done a great job improving things. Not that they really needed it before, but is is great to see the increased use of carbon - not just tow at critical joints (as before) but now there is 1/16" carbon sheet laminated to the load-bearing formers in the fuse and on the landing gear mounts and ribs. And Hysol (aka Aeropoxy) on all critical joints.

The kit included a nice bifurcated thrust tube, which I understand that Skymaster makes. Unfortunately we will be waiting for a new gear system from Robart (sound familiar, anyone) so gear and door installation will have to wait a bit for these parts.

I'll be posting pics and hints (as before) as I progress.I'll be using my trusty JetCat P120 and JR radio gear, Duralite RX and ECU batteries, Robart retracts, Skymaster struts and wheels/brakes, BVM SmoothStop, Robart and BVM actuators (speed brakes and doors), along with a UP-3 gear door and retract valve unit.

I ordered the bare white airframe and will be finishing it in Navy/Marine Aggressor aquadron colors...can't decide on the grape (blue/grey) or Lizard (browns) colors yet. It won't be 100% accurate as I want to add some cool graphics (the Northrop Tiger II prototype tail logo, for one) but it will look MEAN and FAST regardless!

Barry

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Oh yeah - here are my initial choices re color schemes...

Barry

WhoDaMan

My Feedback: (164)

Hi Barry:
Looking forward to the build help. Could you please post some pic's of the Gear/

Thanks, Dave

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Sorry Dave, no gear yet, apparently Robart is making some new retract units for this bird (they need to be pretty thin) and they are not due in until the end of the month. But knowing Robart I am not holding my breath! .

The struts and wheels/brakes will be from Skymaster, I'll post pics of those as soon as I get them.

I already have all of the aileron/flap/rudder servos and control horns installed, I'll post pics later today.

barry

SJN

Man....it looks sooooo good [8D]

Keep the pictures comming through the build progress!

Turbulence

My Feedback: (76)

Does it come with Gear Doors for the Mains? It looks like that is where the Wing Bolts tighten up?


Turbulence

Ali

My Feedback: (5)

Barry Hi,
I have a flying F-5 here. It is a bit rough round the edges at it is prototype no. 2 just repainted but if you have any questions or if you want me to take a specific pic please let me know.

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Ralph - Yes, the forward wing blade bolts are accessed through the airbrakes. You could just drill holes in the airbrakes if you don't plan to make them functional. I am thinking of doing so on mine, through from Ali's F-5 video it does not appear to need them.

There are molded gear doors provided, but the early kits (mine included) are just thin fiberglass and need to be reinforced. Hopefully Skymaster will mold some inner door liners, as this will be a real pain to do at home. Ditto on the speed brakes.

Ali, I do have a bunch of questions (best CG location, did you use the gear doors or speedbrake, what retracts did the prototype use, etc), I'll PM you - thanks!

barry

McclureMitch

My Feedback: (3)

wow !!!!


Nice Kit

JetMax

My Feedback: (4)

Hi Barry,

Any ideas on when the gear will be available? I emailed Eric at AirPac Models about it and got no response. The best info I have gotten so far is from Todd at Dreamworksrc and he said that Robart has them 'in production'. So how do we guess what that means as far as when they wil be available? I'll try calling Robart and see what I can find out there and post again later.

best regards;
Kim

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

I have no more info than "end of the month". But Robart is notoriously unreliable regarding delivery dates on new items (been there done that) so I am also checking the BVM catalog for options. But the retract needs to be very low profile (the wing is only 1" thick at the mounting point) and handle up to a 28-30 lb. model.

Stay tuned...

barry

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

I now have the servos mounted in the wings. I am using JR 3421's for ailerons and 2721's for flaps, and choose to use the RJR molded servo mounts, which makes this a simple job! The 3421's use the medium mounts and the 2721's the large mounts.

After mounting the servos to the mounts and installing a JR heavy duty servo arm (JR215PA), I placed each servo in the servo bays with the arms oriented such that the horn would be as close to the middle of each surface as possible. I prefer to have all linkages at 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the hinge line to get maximum mechanical advantage. Since the hinge lines are tapered, but the servo pockets are in line with the centerline of the wing, the servos need to be mounted at an angle. To get this right I use a 90 degree triangle aligned with the hinge line and move the servo around in the servo bay until it lines up correctly, being sure to leave enough room for servo arm clearance while leaving adequate material around the hatch cover after cutting a clearance slot.

With the servo set in place I then place a strip of masking tape in line with the servo arm that spans the wing and aileron. Using a ruler lined up on the servo arm, make two parallel marks 1/16" apart (i.e. place ruler on both sides of the arm) spanning the tape accross the wing/aileron. These marks will be used to align the servo mounts and also to install the control horns.

barry

JetMax

My Feedback: (4)

Hi Barry,

Just got off the phone with Gary at Robart. He said that it will be several weeks before they will have a limited number of gear that will ship to AirPac Models (the only place that they will be available from). So if what you said in the previous post holds true, perhaps
we need to look elsewhere for solutions. BVM has a set that will fit (just) into the wing but some mods may be in order to allow the struts to be far enough out on the wing.
I have contemplated making my own gear for this ( and if you've seen my F-16 gear you know that I'm up to the task) but this was supposed to be a quick project to quell the 'burn-out' of working on the 16.
Have a look at the BVM gear on the web and see what you think. The measurements I see would allow them to fit but the mounting plate would have to be extended farther into the wing for the struts to be out far enough.


Later.
Kim

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

I also like to have the servo mounted as high up as possible, allowing the maximum amount of servo arm to extend outside the hatch. This allows you to use the servo's full travel by moving inwards a hole or two in the servo arm (rather than reducing ATV) if surface travel is too high, which will allow the servo to realize maximum torque and resolution. If using the RJ servo mounts, make sure you use the "lowest profile" orientation on the servo mounting brackets.

To do this I needed to make a 3/32" ply spacer for the aileron servo. I did find that you'll need to sand a slight taper (about 1/32") into the rear edge of the spacer to allow for glue thickness on installation. I forgot to do this and had to slightly relieve a small spot on the bottom of the hatch cover. The flap servo mount can be glued directly to the upper wing surface, just be sure that you have adequate hatch clearance, especially if the servo is mounted towards the rear of the bay.

Before gluing anything, clean up the servo mount bases with solvent (denatured alcohol, acetone or laquer thinner) then scuff really well with 80 grit and blow off all dust. I prefer to first Aeropoxy the mounts to the spacers, allow the epoxy to harden, then Aeropoxy into place in the wing, taking care to align the servo arms with the marks previously made on the tape.

One hint if using these servo mounts - I have accidentally glued in a servo when excess Aeropoxy oozed out and spanned the 1/64" gap between the servo case and the mount. [X(] To prevent this occuring again, I have lightly oiled/greased the side of the servo or covered it with 3M Magic tape, which works as a good mold release. No problems this time!

Barry

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Thanks Kim, I am at work so will check the BVM catalog and web site for measurements when I get home tonight.

No doubt you are up to the task [sm=thumbup.gif], understand you concern about F-16 burn out! Awesome project.

Barry

Turbulence

My Feedback: (76)

Hard to get a hold of sometimes, But you might try Air Magic. They had some retracts made for their bigger T-38 (same as Fiorenze) that never got off the ground. They are low profile, strong as heck, available is another story. I do know Ken Le used a set for his ANK 339, so they make them. I will try to call them and ask.


Turbulence

Turbulence

My Feedback: (76)

O.K. guys, got a hold of Jim at Air magic. Here is the deal with those retracts. 1.1 Inch tall, $285.00 for the mains. The only thing is that the Cylinder is opposite of the retract. In another words, you have the Air Cylinder sticking out past the retract, so you need a hollow space behind the retract mount. Well why not just add a picture so you can get the idea. This is from a Jet Hangar F-15, the Air Magic gear does NOT rotate.

Turbulence

JetMax

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks Turbulence,

That is the configuation that would be needed. Did Jim say if it was 1.1 inches total? (which would work) or 1.1 inches depth from the flange?(which won't work). And would they take 1/2 in. struts?
If you don't know offhand would you PM me his contact info?

TIA
Kim

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Well, it looks like the BVM main gear units won't work, at least if you want them to fit flush - with some minor grinding on the mounting rails they will fit width-wise, and they are an OK fit, depth-wise, but as the mounting tabs are offset about .112" below the top edge of the retract, they would sit proud pf the wing surface by 1/10" or so.

The Air Magic units might work, anyone know what size struts they use?

Barry

Turbulence

My Feedback: (76)

I just talked to Jim Dyck at Air Magic. and they are 1.1 Inch tall total so they would fit. They are for 1/2 inch struts ONLY, so take it from there if you want. I warned him that people might call and order some so he said he would get on it and start making some and will have them ready at the end of Next week.


Air Magic
(707) 462-4610



Turbulence

Aero65

My Feedback: (2)

Hello Turbulence

The Airmagic gear sound good. The F-5 uses reversed cylinder gear so they sound good.

I have also used Trim SLS retracts from Great Norther Models. You need to modify the retract trunnion blocks with a dremel to make them reverse, but it only takes around 10 min. The only issue is since the retracts were designed to retract under the cylinder the strut will stick out below the wing ~ 3/32", but the wheels are completely in the wells. We have flown with this setup for awhile and the retracts are strong.

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Here's a few shots of the rudder servo mounting. I am using a JR DS8231 servo, basically because I had one lying around, and an RJRC Large servo mount. It was installed much the same as the aileron servo, except a 3/16" balsa spacer (sanded down to fit the taper and curve of the mounting surface) was used to get the servo flush to the hatch.

Barry

Nick Yuhasz

My Feedback: (11)

Thought I would contribute to the Barry's build thread:

Here are some pics of the turbine install - very easy set up ....

Nick

JetMax

My Feedback: (4)

Hi Nick,

What gear do you have in your F-5?
Also, Barry, I talked to Jim Dyke and his gear take 1/2. in struts but has only a 1/2 in. cylinder bore. I'm not too sure if that would be enough power to lift the heavy Glennis wheels and brakes that I always prefer to use because of the short moment on the trunion. I have a pair of 5/8 in. short cylinders from a munched set of Rhom-Air retracts that I'm going to use in my own design gear. I've ordered the bar stock to machine the trunions from and should have the gear completed in the next week.
Anyway, I think that Jim's gear will fit OK.

regards,
Kim

Shaun Evans

F-5s, huh?


How does the overall scale compare to full-scale? I don't know if anyone ever made a cooler looking jet. I had the Air Magic one once. Good luck with the project!