john agnew

I was looking for a suitable non-scale jet for my Wren 44 which is currently without a home and spotted the Foxcub in the latest issue of RCJI in the UK Colchester Models are the agents. The power range is 7-14lbs thrust and the weight from 11-14lbs span is 64" and it looks to have good STOL and grass field abilities, fixed gear with brakes (supplied with kit) construction is ply / balsa / oracover. I think it looks ok , better than an AV8R anyway! I have one on order and will report more on delivery.

John

Craig600_0

Hi John
I have bought on of these jets from Christen Diffusion in France as Clochester did not have any of them in stock. I flew it for the first time at the Winter Jets at Abingdon. Mine flies with a JJ1400 and is a great trainer and is very easy to put together depite the lack of instructions. Mine came with a disc with pictures, but the assembly only took me a few days. It actually took me longer to work out where to put everything than the actually gluing.
The plane is a lot better looking than some of the current crop of jet trainers out there!!!!

Craig

john agnew

Craig

Good to hear it flies well, what are your impressions of the quality of the model, hardware etc. and what was your dry weight? My intention is to use Hitec 225 MG mini servos for the flying surfaces as I want to keep it as light and simple as possible.

Best regards

John

Stig Andersen

Interesting little jet. What's the price tag on it it?

patf

My Feedback: (4)

did Jim (fox) have anything to do with these?

Craig600_0

John
I was pretty happy with the quality. There were a few niggles, as with any ARFT but on the whole is is pretty good. All the flying surfaces are all foam and Balsa covered, yet they supply fuzzy mylar hinges on. My foam safe cyno is not thin enough to use these so I had to replace them with Robart ones. The canopy frame did not fit very well, but that only took a few hours to sort out. The only other thing I did not like was that I had to cut a hole in the rear of the fus to allow for the bullet starter, I needed to get my engine as far forward as I could to achieve the balance. But on the whole the plane is good, there are proper hardwood bearers for the U/C and the supplied horns are ok (I replace them as a matter of course on all my models with the ones from Pete Tindal).
I think the biggest way to save wieght on this plane is to replace the U/C as the one supplied has brakes fitted and the nose wheel is a very good robust oleo type one. this will save on the weight of the U/C and the extra servos etc. If you are flying off tarmac you might get away with not having a steerable nose wheel.
I used the following servos on the plane:
Ailerons: JR 811
Flaps: JR 591
Rudder: JR 811
Elevator: JR 8231
Nose Wheel: Hitec 635 ( I think, metal gear one)


Stig the plane cost me GBP440.00 including postage from France

john agnew

Stig

The cost in the UK is £400, in France it is around 550 Euros which is about the same, personally I think it is quite a lot for a small plywood and balsa ARTF but there you are, if we don't like the cost we don't have to buy one.

patf

No, Jim Fox produced the Foxjet which was a much bigger model.

Best regards

John

john agnew

Craig

Thanks for that, I had already decided to do without the brakes but I think I will keep the steerable nosewheel, looking forward to getting my kit!

Best regards

John

CJ2002

Hi Pat,

Jim designed/produced the Foxjet (pic below) which I now own the moulds, etc, for. I've got a smaller lookalike drawn up for MW44 size (wooden fuse with foam wings, etc) that I was going to call Foxcub...not any more!

Cheers,

Dick
England

PS, the model without wings is Paul Lewis!

patf

My Feedback: (4)

thanks all. i had forgotten that the foxjet was a low wing.

Springbok Flyer

Hi John and Craig

I've actually just received one myself and will be starting on it soon. I can confirm that the general quality looks good and that the canopy is not the best I've come across. Having to cut a hole in the back of the fuz is also not good.

Craig, can you possibly tell me what you did with the yellowich plastic moulded piece. I can only assume it's for the nose gear setup and that I will have to fit it somehow. A friend of mine who is flying a Foxcub, received a flat (very soft) square piece of alluminium to fit for the nosegear, but I did not - only this strange piece of plastic.

BTW, I will be fitting a FunSonic FS70 Typhoon. Only 725grams installed. I will use the mylar hinges, but use the old trick of drilling a 2mm hole in the centre of the hinge slot to guide the cynon all the way to the back of the hinge. The tank fittings and tubing however appears inadequate and will get replaced with some reliable K&S and Dubro bits.

By using a nicad packs in the nose, balance does not seem to be a problem.

John, no doubt we'll exchange assembly tips over the next few weeks.

Cheers

Springbok Flyer

Craig600_0

Hi Springbok flyer,

You are right, it is for the nose wheel mounting. I got a yellow nylon and an aluminium nose-wheel mounting in my kit. I chose to use the nylon one as it has a bit more give for hard landings . Attached it is a photo of it in my plane. The instructions did not give a exact location so I mounted mine about 9.5 inches back from the nose.
Hope this helps!

Springbok Flyer

Craig

Thanks, the photo is very helpful.

Did you mount the main U/C as per the instructions? My friends plane tend to drop on it's tail when it's empty and therefore also allows the nose to lift very easily during take off. (He may be a little tail heavy, due to the nature of the turbine installation making for an aft CG). I was thinking of moving the main U/C back a little bit.

Cheers

Springbok Flyer

Craig600_0

Springbok Flyer
I left the Main U/C as it was meant to be and pushed the Turbine as far forward as I could without having to cut a huge hole in the rear of the fus. I put the UAT, all the valves, pump, RX battery and the Fadec battery as far forward as I could and that got the plane to balance... just ( I have not installed the brake system yet). If you want to move it rearwards I do not think you will need to move it more than about 5mm. My plane takes off within about 40 metres on tarmac and I have not had any problems with the plane tipping backwards in service.

Cheers
Craig

Springbok Flyer

Craig

Please confirm. You did not cut a hole for the electric starter motor, or you did?

Springbok Flyer

Craig600_0

Springboy flyer
Yes I did cut a hole, but I tried to limit the size of it and the removal of the former.
Cheers
Craig

john agnew

Guys

Received my Foxcub this morning, looks ok apart from a few small niggles like plastic clevises! The twin wheeled noseleg has been ditched in favour of a single wheel in a yoke with some castor angle and the covering looks fine, the main wheels / brakes would not disgrace a scale jet the only downside being that they weigh 10oz.Will try to post some shots later.

John

Springbok Flyer

Craig

Understood. Thank you for your assistance.

Cheers

Springbok Flyer

Undecided

My Feedback: (36)

Any place in the states to get these?

Thanks, Neal

john agnew

Guys

A couple of hours work today on the Foxcub got the aluminium tape on the underside of the fuselage, the landing gear mounted and the turbine mount in place. I am pleased with the kit, it's a bit of a shock going from a diet of composite ARF's to a built up one covered in film though! Only downside so far and I do not anticipate any more, is the poor quality of the horns / linkages / clevises. I will be ditching these in favour of better quality items. The model weighs 7lbs 6oz as pictured with the tank in the fuz. only radio and turbine to add, with the Wren 44 final dry weight is anticipated at around 10-10 1/2 lbs should fly well on the 44 and up.

John

jeanfi

HEllo guys

Here is my fox cub...
I have modified the canopy !!

It looks great now !!

Bye
Jeanfi

jeanfi

more pics of my fox

jeanfi

The Jetcat P60 on the Fox !!!

Enjoy...

Craig600_0

John
Looks like they have made a few changes to the construction. The canopy area, nose and V fin look different to mine. The canopy and Fin look like they have made some improvements, not sure about the two part nose area.

Cheers
Craig

Springbok Flyer

Ditto


Springbok Flyer