RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Adwise needed:
I already have a 51 Bobcat and starting to build a falcon now.
I don't like a lot of wiring and connections in the section of booms and elevator
What do you think about installing additional reciever in this part in order to reduce wires quantity - I will need power supply lead to this section  only.</p>

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

If you keep the booms & tailplane/elevator together (On the Tornado they recommend glueing it all together)
as one piece it will mean just two plugs versus one if you put another reciever in the tail.

You will have to run a servo cable through the tailplane to drive the other rudder. - John.

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

FMRR, just wondering if you got your undercarriage? I noticed this ad in RC Trader and it appears that he is using a set for his Falcon that you have ordered. Looking at his photos, I reckon that the turbine thrust line is set up wrong, but easy to fix. Pretty good price for a complete jet, though.

http://www.rctrader.com/category/342...0-Turbine.html

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

I've had a couple people ask about the hardware mods. In a different thread, the question was posted about how hard is it to assemble the Falcon/Tornado at the flying field. My response was it only takes about 5 minutes.

To make the wing bolts easier to install, I made some new bolts. These have both a standard hex, and a cap head hex in them. This allows me to run them into the wing with a ball-driver, and to tighten them with a small ratchet. In the bottom of my fuse, I epoxied a strip of balsa, and drilled holes in at an angle to allow the ball driver to engage the front bolts. The rear bolts are easier to deal with, since the hatch is under the rear section.


To make the booms easy to install... I installed 6mm studs in the booms. (with a jam nut, and red thread locker) This allows me to partly slide the booms into the wing, and hook up the wires. Then... I can push it the rest of the way in, an use some of my custom made aluminum flange nuts to hold them in place. You will also see a necessary mod for the booms. You need to support the ply-wood mount up to the surface of the wing. (front and rear mounts) This will give the boom more clamping surface, and it will prevent the blind nut from cracking the ply-wood mount. (and loosing your booms in flight)

As a final FYI... all the hardware is 6mm standard threads.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...s/PC181627.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...s/PC181626.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...s/PC181625.jpg

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Hello All if all still exist in this extremely long and dated thread.  Like to also think Dr. Honda for replying to my email.  First off i purchased this bird recently since Nirtroplanes marked them down to 150.00.  If they ever get the 50 and 25 instock ill get those as well just to have the lineup.  Anyway ive been in the hobby since 1991 however ive just flown nitro trainers high and low wing along with my scratch built and some arf foamies and edf's.  So this venture of a turbine is new and intimidating to me since i really have no exp in complex models.  So here goes questions and i know theres 166 pages but i drive a big truck and trying to go through them all even with the search function is time consuming.  Unfortunately there are no local club members or people in my area the have made this venture, my edf jets were the first at my club so knowledge locally is not available.  So here goes some questions

I have the plane and ive read were i need to reglue anything and everything i can get too.
I plan to order the complete UC from retracts.com at  $405.00 - Thats spring air, trailing link struts, wheels and brakes along with all hardware, yes grass field thats bumpy.
HS 225 MG rudder and Elev servos- is a matchbox required for this
I have no idea for ail and flap this is were i need help
steering servo
I have a JR8103 radio but would like to upgrade and i am NO FANBOY of manufacture so help here would be appreciated,  Fut 10 or up, or possible the JR 11x.  I do not plan on competing just having fun so fancy functions are of no use, just need what i can get by with.  I do have a future plan on a turbine heli Bell 430 but at 10k or more its 5 yrs in the future.
Do i need a power box to run duel batteries.  Im going to use lipos if i can and use the align voltage regulator like i have in my helis.
I do want all servos to run on 6v.

Im probably missing a bunch but the gray matter has been in overload with work and xmas coming and trying to read but im more of a hands on type and not a booksmart type.

O i did mention to Dr Honda about using servos from hobbypartz or hobbyking but he uses good ones lol,  I did see some at Tower from Hobbico or there own brand that were in the 30 dollar range but i see JR has some that cheap to, so let me know guys please and thanks in advance. 

Merry Xmas to all btw

Mike

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

I will try to give an unbiased opinion and advise.

Futaba have an 8 channel set that can be upgraded to 14 channels with a simple down load of some firmware off their site, this is done by an SD card that slots in the back, it also means that you can share or download set ups from the 12FG, 14 and 18 channel Tx's, belive me the more channels you have the better, especially with twin ailerons, twin flaps, twin elevators and twin rudders, these all can be trimmed individually with a set up that uses seperate channels per surface or you can combine them and set them both to trim off one trim lever, and doing it this way means no matchboxes required, this will be all the radio you will need even for the future Helio.

Servos: Hitec 5425's 5426 or up wards for flaps and ailerons will be sufficient.

Peronally I don't like LiPo's in jets, I use A123's in pairs with no regulator, 3.3volt per cell, that is less current than a fully charged 5 cell Nimh, but the Amp capacity is way over any Nimh, two batteries plugged straight into a switch and on to the Rx no need for any power box.

Hope this helps.
Mike

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

TY Bald Eagle, i have noticed that system however wouldnt all the s bus leads add up to were i could go with a 10ch with 14ch receiver and come out cheaper,  Im not worrying with a pretty install at the moment as im getting my feet wet into this.

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

No the 8channel converted to 14ch and the 14 Rx is cheaper overall than the 10, the 10ch is believe it or not out of date compared to the 8/14 or the 12FG even though it came out later, the thing with having 14 channels is that each individual channel is able to be set with the sub trim function to adjust the neutral position, link or unlink trims and drive in the opposite direction with the flick of a switch, handy for using ailerons as crow and rudders as air brakes, I don't know if the s-bus is that capable with the 10 and still have sufficient channels left over for the wheel brakes, retracts and throttle which all adds up to 11 channels, I don't know enough about the S-Bus system to comment fully on its capabilities, but I do know that I never thought I would need any more channels until I put the vectored thrust on the Rookie and found I needed 16channels to control everything.

My advice would be to buy the most up to date and capable Tx you can afford, you will be surprised how soon you will want all the bells and whistles.

Mike

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Hi Tony,
always more ways to skin a cat, here was old 90 degree bevel gear screw driver idea fro getting to the front bolts. I use ally boltsthroughout, they are so much lighter than steel, cheers tim
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_59...tm.htm#8201738

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

You don't need a power box to run dual batteries. I have two 2650 Duralites two seperate regulators and switches in mine. just plug one in the battery port and the other in any open slot. If you don't have any open use a y harness with yhe servo in one end and the battery in the other.

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Thank you guys im going with the super 8,  Now to just nail down these servos,  Sorry of my lack of knowledge on those as all my planes just use 148 futaba and 9 gram Chinese and my gas helis were purchased used so everything was there too.

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

What do you think of these.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/servos1.html

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

It's not a good idea to risk a $4000+ investment on no-name Chinese servos of unknown quality. Use good JR, Futaba, or Hitec servos on all control surfaces. Also I recommend using digitals on primary control surfaces.

Joe

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

As Joe says use digital servos on the primary controls, I have used Hitec throughout on most of my jets, for the Falcon 6245, equivalent or above are good enough IMO.

Mike

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

My Falcon was built cheap, and I have a mix of Futaba, JR, Hitec, and HD Pro servos. More or less... it's what I had sitting on the shelf. None of my servos are digital, but the aileron, and elevator are metal gear.

I don't have a problem with "Chinese" servos... but don't buy a brand that you don't have personal experience with. The HD pro servos are an "Off brand" but I've been using them for a while, and I trust them. In the past few years, I've only had one bad servo from them, and it was bad out of the box.

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Tony

Digital servo's hold position when under load unlike an analogue servo which will can get blown back at high speed or high load, with the potential of any jet being able to put high loads on its flying surface's digital servo's are a good insurance, this became evident to me during the early 3D days with the silly things I used to do with my 100cc Yak, jets put just as much load on the flying surfaces and benefit from using digital servo's, I remember the first time I checked the Amp draw on my QQ Yak and was shocked at the result, most on the same thread, when I reported it said I was doing all sorts of things wrong, until they checked themselves and Quique Simozini put his Bulldog in when his Spektrum browned out due to an Amp draw off the scale which starved his Rx, so digital servo's are not a cure all, but do make a difference to the flight characteristics of an airframe at its limits and lets face it we all like to go fast sometimes, and I like to do it more than once. ;)

Mike

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

BaldEagel: That's some food for thought. I haven't had any issues... but I may check some of my loaded amp numbers.

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Looks like HobbyKing is going to carry the Falcon 120. They call it the Vulcan.

http://youtu.be/i-tFLJJejUA

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Nitro Planes has them on sale right now for $128.70. It'll be hard to beat that price.

Joe

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Ok if in the USA but stuff is much easier got from china, like also the clear canopy

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Are the falcons on sale available in just the black/orange scheme/</p>

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

Nitro Planes only has the orange and black in stock. I ordered one for $128. Shipping was about$38. I'm going to use an E-Flite Power 90 on it. Hopefully that will have enough power for it. What do you think?

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

A Power 90 on a 120 sized plane??? Hmmmm....;)

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

I don't think a Power 90 will work. It's a VERY low RPM motor, and even on 8s you are looking at a max RPM of under 10k. Since you are limited in the size of the prop... I would look for a motor that has a higher KV. Remember... this is a "Jet" model... so you are better off with a smaller, high RPM system.

If you look in the Falcon 25 thread... power is a big debate. Guys try to put on a "30" sized electric motor, and they don't get off the ground. BUT... a high RPM "15" sized motor makes it fly great.

Knowing that... I would be looking for a "60" class electric motor, with a KV around 700 ~ 800, and good for 6s. Then, you can spin a 12x7 or 12x8 with it, and get your prop velocity into the 120 to 140 mph mark.

RE: Bob Cat Copy Falcon 120 Jet
 

looking for hardware / modifications for quickly removing tail boom for travel ?


i think there was reference in previous post about this , but i did not find it ? any one remember ?


thanks