ROTOMATT

Yes I am using 30 degrees for take off, and 60 for landing. A nice flat approach and let it settle in with very little to no flair works best for me. How do you like that Xicoy weight & balance meter ?

2FAS

My Feedback: (5)

The xicoy balancer is pretty slick. I'm borrowing my flying buddy's. It works very well and is a lot easier than my wife having to lift the other wing tip

So you do not have crow programmed in for landing?

ROTOMATT

No not using any, was going to try it to see if it made any difference but have not gotten around to it yet. With 60 flaps it bleeds off speed nicely, the flat approach and just letting it settle in was the learning curve for me you can't force it down. I had a couple of the dreaded ( king Cat Bounce ) landings early on and the nose gear mounts suffered for it. They are the one weak point i addressed so far the original mount was 4 or 5 layers of horizontal plywood which you have to dremmel to clear the steering arm ( putting a weak spot it them ) they broke in that area every time I had a less than stellar landing. The new mounts I laminated the plywood in a vertical orientation 8 layers with a horizontal cap and they have held up fine ever since. I think i am a little lighter than you, will have to check my weight think it was 25/26 pounds dry

2FAS

My Feedback: (5)

Rotomatt I decided to double my retract mounts during my build to help prevent breaking them out later. I also did a little carbon fiber cloth in the nose and lower intakes. That's also adding to my weight I guess. So far it's got two short flights and I wasn't at the sticks for either flight. My goal is a simple, no nonsense, easy to land jet. I'm told the Reaction is just that.

ROTOMATT

It's a Nice flying jet with no bad habits, their are quite a few of them here in the North East. It is my first turbine aircraft ( I got my waver with it ) prior to that I was and still am flying a Byron F-16 converted to 12 cell edf. And the Reaction i think is easier to fly than the Byron especially on landing, you will not be disappointed with it!

dmattmul

I have a Jet Central Bee 2 that I was going to let a friend borrow for his Reaction. It's nice and light but both of us are concerned about the thrust (7 kg). Going to be off grass most of the time but it's well taken care of. Using Dreamworks Pro electrics. Any thoughts? Can the Dreamworks gear be used with slightly larger wheels? I see posts that the nose can be inceased but could find nothing for the mains.

2FAS

My Feedback: (5)

Dmattmul, I'm flying mine with 22 lbs of thrust and it's plenty of power. 16 lbs is not a lot of thrust for a 28-30 lbs jet. I'm using the prolink electric retracts on my Reaction and they work flawless so far. They should be able to handle larger mains no problem.

Take care,

2FAS

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

The Bee 2 would probably take off and fly it, but performance would be lacking. It depends on what you want out of the the plane.

Check the gear/strut specs on Dreamworks' website. How big do you think the wheels need to be? If you have the Reaction Gear Set a 2 5/8" wheel is the largest that nose strut will accommodate. The mains can take larger wheels, but I think 3 1/4" should be fine unless your grass is long or rough. If you go larger you may have to make the wheel wells bigger. I have the Prolink Electric set but fly off of a paved runway.

Toolbag

I just got an PST RX airframe complete less turbine from a guy local to me, I have installed a P120SX I had from another model that had a sad demise. I have just set up the smoke and fixed a few minor issues replaced the nose wheel etc.
Have adjusted the CG and should be ready for a maiden within the next few weeks. I have been flying an elan for the last 6 months should be a good addition to the hangar.

Bryan McLarty

Same forgiving airframe as the Elan. I have a P-90 RXi in mine. You will LOVE it.

Toolbag

Bryan thanks for that I do expect it to be a winner.

Toolbag

Working on this scheme for the reaction, the image is of the Polish made PZL TS11 (Aerobatic team "iskra" or spark) which looks similar to the Reaction these served the Polish airforce as a ground attack trainer from 1963 to 2013 50 years...

Toolbag

Finished and maidened yesterday...fly's great.

Semi scale Polish aerobatic team configuration.

Harvey Mushman

My Feedback: (10)

When I fit the turbine mounting plates into the bulkheads of my PST Reaction they sit at different angles. I want to get the angle correct before I Hysol the mounting plates in place.
Using the straight section on the top of fuselage as a horizontal reference I have 14 degrees down angle on one side and 10 degrees on the other side.
I will be using a 100 (10kg, 22lb) thrust turbine and I do not want to have to mix elevator to throttle to compensate for a pitch change when I change throttle.
Does anyone know the correct down thrust for a PST Reaction to eliminate climbing when throttle is increased?

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (4)

Harvey,

Using the top of the aft fuselage as level, I measured my Reaction and found that I had 15 degrees of down thrust. I've flown this plane with a P120, P160, and now a Kingtech K140 and haven't had to do any elevator corrections for thrust. My plane is several years old and has about 400 flights.

There seems to be some variation at the factory for downthrust though I don't know why. I love the way this plane flies and recommended a friend buy one. His flew poorly (and he was very disappointed) so we set them side by each and noticed a significant difference in the angle (his had visually less downthrust than mine). He shimmed his engine and the flight characteristics improved substantially.

Good luck,

Jim

Harvey Mushman

My Feedback: (10)

Jim,

That input is just what I needed. What size turbine did your friend use on his that flew correctly after he shimmed it, and did he shim his to 15 degrees?

Thank you very much!

Bob
(Harvey)

Toolbag

Harvey

I have just checked the turbine angle in my ReactionX with a digital angle gauge and it comes out at 20 degrees but I have a P120SX it flies perfectly So I would start at 15 degrees and noting less.

My CG is set at 150mm behind the leading edge of the wing at the root all my control surfaces are neutral when trimmed and it flies like a dream even inverted I barely have to use any elevator.

I use full flaps when landing about 70 degrees with about 2mm of down elevator mixed into the flaps when fully deployed, I don't use gyros and it is ultra stable.


TBag

Harvey Mushman

My Feedback: (10)

TBag,
Wow, 20 degrees! Was that relative to the top straight section of the fuselage above the turbine, where the vertical stabilizer mounts? OK, I'll start with at least 15.
Thanks also for the 2mm down elevator as I need something to start with. Do you think that will be affected if I use a little crow (up ailerons when flaps deployed)?

Bob
(Harvey)

Toolbag

Actually 20 degrees is related to the canopy seating face on top of the fuse... when I measure off from the seat for the vert stab the down thrust on the turbine is 14.6 degrees.
FLAPS ... I do have a set up to use crow but I have not tried it as I have never had the need to because it lands so sweetly. One thing to remember is that with flaps less than 60 degrees it generates a heap of lift and will float making it hard to land, set flaps at 70 to 80 degrees to be sure it slows the model down mix in 2mm of down elevator or it will balloon (a lot) adjust to suit if needed I setup like that and never had to adjust the mix at all.
As a footnote I have a boomerang elan which we all know has good flight and landing characteristics, I believe the Reaction flys and lands more predictably and is such a sweet flying model.
TBag (John)

Toolbag

Harvey

Landing the Reaction X is like most jets but because of the large wing area you need to hold it off the strip when you flare until it bleeds off airspeed and settles on its wheels, if you try to force it down too fast it will bounce. Very easy model to land if you remember that point they land so sweet and hold their line well on approach even in a stiff crosswind.

By the way I just last week fitted an airspeed indicator with live voice telemetry on my radio, so I was touching down at 70 kph in a 8-10 knot but 90 degree crosswind with no problems - generally it will land a lot slower at 60 kph into a headwind without any problems, mine weighs in at 13kg dry. I have a 3.8 litre main tank and 1 litre smoke tank installed behind the main both full on take off.

I fly fairly conservatively (scale like) for a total "air time" of 8mins max and generally have about 1 litre of fuel remaining, oil tank must be empty on landing or it will be tail heavy.

Let us know how it comes together for you.

TBag

Harvey Mushman

My Feedback: (10)

John,

I have the short nose Reaction. You mentioned the seat for the vertical stab. Did you mean horizontal stab, or the flat surface on the fuse that the forward bottom side of the vertical stab sits on?

I'm using the straight top section of the fuse where the vert stab sits for my horizontal reference. The wing has a slight positive incidence relative to the top of the fuse but I'm just using the top of the fuse.

Thanks for the landing tip and also the flaps tip. I'll set it up with 70 degrees.

Bob

Toolbag

Bob

I do mean the seat for the vertical stab where the turbine is then sitting at 14.5 degrees down, if I use the horizontal stab as a reference (rear flat portion) then the turbine is angled at 16.5 degrees down.

Link to a recent landing: https://youtu.be/iNXoPEHltEk

Enjoy

Harvey Mushman

My Feedback: (10)

Nice landing John!

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (4)

I have 75 degrees of flap for landing my long nose Reaction. I recently added 3/16" of crow (up aileron) with landing flaps. It makes the plane even more predictable in landing and reduces the floating. Give it a try.

Other recent modifications include a new component board mounted low and replacing the nose wheel steering servo mount, a dual nose wheel, and the forward search radar blister under the nose, and I finally started the mold for the anhedral stab.

Jim

Toolbag

Bob

Thanks for the compliment, I am by no means a great pilot but the Reaction makes me look a lot better than I really am. Lol!!

TBag