buffjet

What should a RTF BYRON F-16 WEIGH.

grbaker

My Feedback: (29)

And it flew great. It had 64th ply covered wings and stabs.
But I think most Byrons come in lighter. I did see one one time that was over 20#. Didn't get to see it fly, or should I say if it was able.

PineBaron

My Feedback: (38)

The all up weight would interest me as well. I am in the process of refurbishing a Byron F16. I finished painting the fuselage and have covered the wings and elevators.

I have not weighed anything yet so am clueless for now. I will have some useful data within the next few days.

Vim

ghost_rider

My Feedback: (20)

Many moons ago when I had a ByroBlaster F-16, the take-off weight was 13.5 lb. Powered with Byron Fan /OS-91 and Spring-Air as landing gear. My trick for getting it off grass field was to chop the throttle once it obtains a good ground speed and then go full throttle up.

Nice flying airplane and will hardly tip stall.

strong

Try to keep the weight down mine takes a long time to get up.

SNestle

My Feedback: (3)

I will be test flying my Byro-blaster F-16 very soon. It weighs about 12.5 lbs. OS .91, rhom retracts, 9 servos. Did not sheet the wings or stab's. I have a 400' grass strip I will be flying from. Not anticipating any problems.... just crossing my fingers since this is my first jet.

Johng

My Feedback: (4)

How did you cover them, then?

SNestle

My Feedback: (3)

I covered them with "foam safe" covering. It was quite awhile ago. I thinks is was Ultracote or something.

PineBaron

My Feedback: (38)

I just weighed mine. It weighs exactly 13lbs dry. I will try and fly it tomorrow assuming nothing else goes wrong; each time I've been to the field, something went wrong.

By the way, I bought a set of retracts for this plane here on RCU and I find the nosewheel was too long or the mains were short, yet everything appeared normal when you look at the retracts. I ended up inserting wooden blocks between the mains and the mounting bracket to raise the mains; still not perfect though it is acceptable. Any clues anyone?

Thanks
Vim

buffjet

I have a similar problem.
I have set the gear to the length specified on the plans,
but when the weight of the plane is on the mains they sink a little.
Some sink would be expected but it leaves me with a ground
incidense of +8 degs. Just looking at it visual it looks like the nose is too high. I would guess the ground incidence should be 2 or 3 degs. Ne1 have any thoughts on this?

grbaker

My Feedback: (29)

If your flying off pavement you can get by with a couple of degrees of positive, but for grass fields you will need more. If you click on my gallery button, you can see how mine was set up. I flew off of grass.

PineBaron

My Feedback: (38)

I managed to get that incidence following insertion of hardwood blocks in the mains. I think it will be ok; tomorrow may be the day it flies. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I had to install a high torque servo for the nosewheel, on a seperate channel. Anyone have that problem?

I also covered the wings with ultra coat. See a couple of pics in my gallery.

SNestle

My Feedback: (3)

With the specified gear lengths the plane is very nose high in a static attitude. As previously mentioned it is for flying off of grass fields. However, I have a very large grass field so I shorthened the nose gear a little. I will did not check the incidence since then. But, it is still a bit nose high. Another concern I have not rectified was how close the ventral fins come to the ground with the mains touching and the nosewheel only an inch or so off the ground. I have a feeling I will be grinding them off on the runway if I don't add the wood blocks PineBaron mentioned.

PineBaron, how big are the blocks you put on the mains?

PineBaron

My Feedback: (38)

I inserted a hardwood block 1/4" x 1/2" x The width of the retracts; cut from 1/4" x 1/2" length. The height improves that way; however I just returned from the field. More changes required.
1. The Mains spring loop of the strut begins to come apart when the plane (13lbs) is resting; a) I bent the mains inwards, that improved the stance when static, but I need to tie the oval spring loop with fine steel wire to stop it opening up. I am not sure if there are better and stronger struts around. The design does not allow the retracts to stay vertical, coming out at an angle is whats causing me problems. I am sure someone knows a better way.

2. I think I also need to cut the nose length a bit, this will help shift a little weight to the nosewheel helping it track (Today it kept veering to the right even on full left rudder (perhaps more rudder is required) and also because the nosewheel was not making much contact with the ground).

Just could not get it to track a straight line long enough to take off.

Another try tomorrow after I fix it late tonight.

Johng

My Feedback: (4)

I wonder if you might need to put some toe-in on the mains to help you track straight. It's normal for the weight on jet nosewheels to be pretty light.

Is it normal for the foam wing on this plane to be covered by nothing but film? It concerns me, but if it's per the mfr...

PineBaron

My Feedback: (38)

Yep, I am going to try some toe in. I almost had it off the gound; the OS91 has got enough power to push that plane even on grass, I was afraid the plane will not gather enough speed on our grass, the grass is not exactly in very good shape.

Will let you know how I progress tomorrow.

JohnnyA

My Feedback: (1)

Johng asked:
"Is it normal for the foam wing on this plane to be covered by nothing but film? It concerns me, but if it's per the mfr... "

Yes, it's normal to cover Byron jets with just iron-on (low temp) film, or 3/4 oz fibreglass cloth.

When covered with iron-on film, you will often see the texture of the styrofoam through the film. This is usually referred to as ...BYROHIDE

Johnny

SNestle

My Feedback: (3)

I have noticed some "wandering" during taxi tests also. The tests have been slow and around my lawn. It seems as though the nose strut is so long that even with the nose wheel on the ground, the nose of the plane "hunts". Maybe a little rearward rake on the nose strut would help that.
I to would strongly suggest toe-in on the mains.
I have been storing my jet in a cradle so the mains have not had prolonged weight on them to bend out the spring loop. But, I will keep an eye on that after a few flights. I am hoping to test-fly as soon as the weather and my schedule coincide.

thanks,
scott.

PineBaron

My Feedback: (38)

Well, this is news nobody wants to hear. I took the F16 to the field;
A 10mph wind was blowing left to right and not straight down the runway. I had modifed the nosegear setup the previous night to help track a little more straight, so ground stance was almost perfect.

Anyway I fired the engine up stood at one of the runway and ended up handing the tx to our club expert Mike (my son did not forgive me, he said Dad, you can fly anything, I wish I had) as I felt I find it easier flying when the wind is blowing right to left for easier counter clockwise circuits for the first flight.

Anyway, following a 250ft run the F16 lifted off and I believe the engine lost a few revs, I did not hear it, others did. Nevertheless, Mike continued to gain height and at a distance of about 300 meters, just managed to clear a line of trees, still gaining height but moving rather slow and heading away. Mike decided to make a left hand turn; it turned alright (now at around 200 feet) but after the turn it just did not recover and headed to the ground like a missile, looked rather neat from a distance. I was rather shocked at my lack of reaction and emotion. I just hopped into someone's truck; he drove across the fields and we brought the pieces back.

Damage. Fuselage and pipe. Everything else, engine, retracts, wings, elevators, radio etc. came through 100% ok.
Anyone got a spare fuselage?

Lesson learnt: Following lift off, if the plane refuses to gain speed or you hear the engine slow down at all, bring it down and adjust mixture etc.

My F15 yet unflown as yet, has a mixture control and I pray to God when I fly it, it does stay up.

Good Luck.

SNestle

My Feedback: (3)

I am truly sorry to hear of your loss PineBaron.
I have heard that the Byron F-16 is a little slow to get "on step".
And if your engine was letting you down that would make it worse.
I have an inflight mixture control on mine. I will be sure that it is operating properly before I fly it.

nacho

My Feedback: (11)

PineBaron sorry to hear about your loss. I recently purchased a used Byron F-16 with fixed gear to practice on and I have a new one in a box comin soon. Did the ByroFan unit come with the kit or is purchased extra? I like OS Engines but is the Rossi 91 more powerful than the OS 91? Does sheeting the wings and glassing add a lot more weight so that it won't fly right or should I just glass with no balsa? The used F-16 I have just has the iron on and it is wrinkled and looks ugly with the foam texture showing underneath.
Thanks,

Ignacio

Raptor Rich

A Good friend of mine just gave me his old Byron F16 to get me into jets. I found it strange that the wings were foam with a Econocote low temp type skin but I hear this was the way the kit was.
I'm planning on using a O.S. 91 and possably getting a Hurricane fan for it. Has anyone heard anything about the Hurricane fan unit?
Also has anyone seen this kit converted to turbine?

SNestle

My Feedback: (3)

Byro-foam is different than normal expanded bead foam. Although many people have sheeted the wings for added strength it is not required.
The OS 91 is a good engine for the F-16. I have heard of guys using other manufacturers fans but I'm not sure which ones.
The Byron Fan is a proven performer for this model. Especially if you are flying off of grass.
Although the F-16 is not a speed demon, most experienced jet-jocks will attest to it's user-friendly attributes, particularly for us rookies.
Iron Bay Models claims to be researching a turbine conversion for the Byron jets. They are the company that bought out Byron's airplane stuff.

Javier-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

Nacho,

I did cover the wings of my F16 with 1/64 th. plywood and Monokote.

Each wing gained 200 grams. but i think worth the effort and extra weight. The film cover over the foam is very ugly and weak.

I have my Byron with a Weston mini pipe and Hurricane impeller. A great combo with big improvements in reliability, very low vibration and best static trust. A in flight mixture is a must.

nacho

My Feedback: (11)

Javier, thank you. I think I will cover the wings too as they look ugly. Where can I get that Weston Pipe, also where is the best place to find a good deal on an OS 91DF? Also, why didn't you glass and paint the wing?