Big Al-RCU

JM, that is GREAT news!!! I know how you feel. I spent more time than I would ever admit on the design and construction of a little 010 mustang and when it flew right off the 'drawing board', man it was all worth while. That was nothing compared to your endeavor tho. I hope CP takes back his reference in my post about a 'Slo Poke' (grin).
Great work!!
al

xanaphyst

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WOW..I'm speechless...It's good to know that all that hard work has paid off !!! All we need now is some video or perhaps a F-86 version !!
I would have hate to seen all that hard work not pay off ..BUT payoff with dividends it has !!! If I flew the Mini-Dust hands off for more than a second it would eat dirt !! I would imagine your the envy of the flying field....

xanaphyst

Larry Driskill

Super!

How was the field on landing?

Was the engine on the pipe?

Any orientation problems?

Well Done.

Japanman

Hi,
Big Al: I had a few concerns when I was about to launch for the first time... but luckily it was getting dark so I just did a check and let it go- no time for butterflies in the stomach...! In some ways that was good- no time to get nervous. But with your own plane it is hard to know how it is going to respond.

Xana: The closest thing I can compare it to is a glider- it was just incredibly solid.

Larry: I flew it to the side of the new field- where there was nice, long grass. No damage on landing even though the second landing was into "tall grass" that turned out to be bamboo! Glad I put in that carbon rod...

The V.A was running on a pipe but de-tuned by a bit over an inch- I think it was only turning about 26-27k- I think it will come up onto the shorter pipe in the air- but just for now this is an easy setup.
No problems keeping track of it! the MiG has a large fuselage + all the ineffeciencys of the duct kept the speed to that of a normal 1/2A plane or a bit faster.. It was probably faster than any of the other planes at the club.. but it was not a mind numb-er!

Well, the slightly bad news of all of this is the second flight ended with the engine stopping mysteriously- It was getting dark so I stopped then and there.
I have found the cause- the engine mounting developed a crack in testing and I fixed it but it has deformed enough to drag on the propdriver. DAM! one of the two components I didn`t make is the one that breaks!! It looks fixable, And I can see why it has developed further. I tell you, even if I had to re-make the entire unit twice, I`d still do it to get that baby in the air. It was addictive!


J.M
Thanks for all your kind words.

Japanman

BTW.. True 1/2A ducted fan planes fly quite well...

J.M

combatpigg

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CONGRATULATIONS JM! I couldn't be happier for you! What ever the mechanical problems are you will fix them, the important thing is that the plane flew very well! I guess the next most logical project for you to tackle is a B 52 STRATOFORTRESS[X(]! Your 400 gram masterpiece has enough "head room" weight wise where you might be able to splurge on a couple of RUSSIAN markings. I think this plane has mass commercial value if it could be mass produced at the same weight that this one came in at. Imagine yourself getting so rich off of this thing that you could hire me to start your engines, charge your batteries and clean your planes![8D] I hope you get 10,000 flights off of it, way to go guy!

ptulmer

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http://www.ulmer-rc.com/rcu/JMMIG1.wmv

Video of the Mig -- about 3mb

jose415

The kamdax mig 15 price at towwer hobbies is 149.99 copmplete kit.
WOW what a deal i just ordered 2 more

vauxhall

Hi Xanaphyst, if you want a free 36"Sabre plan, follow the free plan links
[link=http://www.uknets.co.uk/]rcplansguide/free2.htm[/link]
You'll need WinZip, and Windows "Paint" to print it out on 16 sheets of letter sized paper. Looks real pretty, I've slotted it in for a future project, even though it's 20 powered on the plan, I think it would be great with a N*r*e*, or a good old Cox 051. If you've got any problems with the aforementioned programs, I can e-mail the Bitmap, might take a while to download, but when you see the plan, I'm sure you'll agree its worth the wait.

Japanman

I am just back from the second flight session at the field. It took me a good 2 hrs to sort out the cracked stator block with a wrap of wire and some silk and C.A.
This time I was flying in somewhat radical conditions. A large black cloud front was looming and cutting out the sunset. The wind was really, really strong- those of you who have seen the vid. that Ptulmer most kindly hosted - at altitude it was only just going forwards... it was HOWLING!! Must have been above 30knots high up!
The MiG flew brilliantly for the one flight I got in before the rain came down. And the landing was uneventfull in a slopesoaring kind of way- with a strong headwind it pretty much just hovered down into long grass. I am looking forwards to the weekend here to though we have another hurricane on the radar. Thats two more than the all time record for Japan if it comes.


J.M

BTW in regards to smarty pants, if you have ever built a kit, people have done it before you- but that dosen`t make it any less fun. Ask any of the guys in this forum- all kind of planes from kits and plans (and of course scratch built.) Of course I knew of the kamdax plane when I started this project- making cheap shots in this forum will only end up with you look extremely average.

ajcoholic

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JM,
Thats just plane awesome! Knew you would succeed, and you certianly have a winner..

If CP gets to clean the planes can I at least refuel them??

Off to work!

Once again, CONGRATS!!!

AJC

Andrew

JM --

You certainly undertook a project of substantial proportions -- truly it exemplifies the skills of the scratch-build modeler. I've followed your fabrication of your fan unit with admiration and envy -- you've done an excellent job.

My congratulations, too!!

Hope the hurricane bypasses you --

the "other" andrew

ptulmer

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I can say amen to that!

JM- you know I looked pretty seriously at the kamdax unit for a project I had in mind. It doesn't come close in power to what you've built. Of course, it builds a little faster...

combatpigg

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HEY JET JOCK! Hey man, I doubt if any of the KAMDAX boys could even lift your jock strap! Nice to hear that the MIG flew another successful sortie, you're well on your way to 10,000[8D]! I hope you stay with the 1/2A jet theme for awhile longer, what about your entire modeling career? As far as I know, the FAN TRAINER was the only published 1/2A fan machine and it flew OK, but not spectacularly. If you were to send out some letters of introduction about this project to the major magazines, I bet you could have your pick of who gets to publish your work. I would lean towards RCM, FLYING MODELS and FLY RC. It's funny how emotionally involved we all can get with another guys' project who we've never met, and I can honestly say that I am RELIEVED that everything has gone so well!

Japanman

Thanks Guys for the good words: I can only say that I`d definately say go for it if you are thinking about making a D.F plane yourself. I imagine it is to do with the elevator being out of the thrust line, and the fuselage being a flying tube. But man, it seems that D.F planes have a very special quality in the way they fly and it is jetlike, smooth, fast and extremely cool! Make one!

It became apparant to me yesterday that I`ll have to replace the stator of the unit at some stage in the future.
I am thinking about making one from aluminium- it would act as a really good heat sink for the engine (it seems to me that in all my DF engine experiments the engines have run hotter than out of the duct) sort of like a speed pan but with finning.

Reading over this thread from the beginning last night I realised I wasn`t very clear about the fact that I used the tube and stator from the electric jet factory D.F unit I bought to play with- I did start out talking about making my own unit but decided in the name of getting the plane in the air more quickly that I`d chance it with the stator- that I knew to be weak- with the idea that I could use untill it proved to be a problem- and then make a new one. (at least I`d get to fly the plane in the mean time and hey, it may not be a problem.)


One thing that really held me up was that I did not have a lathe to mount the stator unit in and machine it so that the stators were the exact diameter of the unit tube- get everything central.

However- I will be getting one in the mail soon...A huge thanks to Xanaphist [8D][8D][8D]

I may see about making a couple so that I can offer them up for trade to anyone else interested in a making a D.F project. .. But don`t hold your breath.. I am not famous for making things quickly!

J.M

xanaphyst

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(in case they didn't make it in the REPLY )

Japanman

Today is Saturday here in Japan, and what a good day it was. little or no wind, almost cloudless, about 25degC and no one at the flying field! I finally had a good couple of hours to really work that plane out! I think I put in 7 flights, but maybe 8... enough to lose count anyway[8D]
Excellent day.. I really had the V.A singing... in those low flypasts....just majic!

The V.A continued to run well- on the few occasions that I did idle back, it willingly responded. Further, it seemed to get better the more flights I had- I was able to go lean it out a bit and it was really starting to go! I think I might try the shorter pipe and see how it takes to it. One thing that I am a little surprised at is that I am still running the same plug I put in to do the final tests for the unit- so it must have a good 10 1/2 tanks under it`s belt. I am pretty sure that the fuel I am using is almost all castor- the good haze out the exhaust seems to indicate that there is more in there than with the fuel I was blending before- and I think it is keeping the plugs alive that much longer.
Another thing that has worked out well is the carb mods i did to take it out to 3.8mm and it seems to run super well on suction- even on straight up climbouts- while it cannot go unlimited (dam!), the engine has not shown any sign of getting over lean even on the leanest runs. I have also yet to have the engine stop due to leanness or sucking air from the tank.

I am starting to think about getting more thrust- I suspect the intake is restricting things- the thrust seemed to drop off after installing the unit in the plane. I think I`ll try a few experiments running it up without the plane nose section installed, and maybee look at that pipe again. I know that engine is putting out some decent power but it is getting lost somewhere.

J.M
P.S Xana, thanks a lot for the Pics...

scubyfan

Nice plane, man!

t_kwink

Exactly what is 25 degrees clesius?

ptulmer

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Don't know, but I was sure that a gram was a type of cracker...

ajcoholic

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You funny Americans...

Of course everyone knows what a Celcius is.... 25 of them means its not cold enough yet to wear long johns and a toque. 10 of them means its not a good idea to wear a T shirt and shorts anymore.... NO Celcius (0) means that you can put the lawn mower away for another 6 months and take out the snowblower (dont bother asking me what that is) and when you have -40 of these little Celcius things, well then its time to stay in the shop, put the heat on and work on the models.

I like them gram crackers myself also!

AJC

t_kwink

So, if a tachometer measures RPM,
and an odometer measures distance travelled,
and a speedometer measures your velocity,
what the heck do you use a milimeter for?

ajcoholic

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Duh.... to measure mili's with silly!!!

AJC

Japanman

Actually it is a term devised by the Machinists union. A "millimeter" is a device (whose increments are 'mills') to accurately measure the movement of a milling machine. [or `milly` as they are affectionatly know by machinstis of the old school]
Hence the term "just knock off a few mills from the sides and she`ll be true" - It dosen`t mean knock off a few milling machines of course....



J.M