I'm sad to report the loss of my Jet Legend Mig 29. The model was well into it's 49th flight when the fuselage folded as I entered a loop. This resulted in the total disintegration of the back end of the model. The Mig was 160 powered and had been a love hate relationship with me. I had originally placed an order for the Sukhoi SU27, I was led to believe this would be for a single engine but when it arrived it was a twin. the order was then changed to a Mig 29 which subsequently arrived, albeit some 6 months after the original order. After only a handful of flights the undercarriage became very problematic and I had to change to a hydraulic system, to ensure reliability. (JL have since modified the original undercarriage to sort this problem). The model always flew very well and the only comment I got from Jet Legend, as to my loss, was that it flew well because of the lightness of construction. I have previously owned a JL F22 and still own a L39. These models have a totally different thickness to the fuselage skin. The Mig fuselage is extremely thin, and with the model sitting on its belly it would distort to the point that it chipped the paint. The failure occurred just behind the F8 former. This is the former that holds the back of the engine mounting and the rear wing mounting point. Behind this there is no support until where the exhaust exits the fuselage, to compound the weakness there is a very large hatch above some of this area, thus the strength is derived from the floor and sides only. Other makes of models, that I own, have carbon strengthening to this area and an intermediate former to produce rigidity, and I believe the Mig should be reinforced here. It is interesting to note, as well, that all the formers pulled away from the skin cleanly, making me doubt how well bonded the formers were to the fuselage skin. Of equal concern though is the internal structure of the stabs. Will these people never learn. After the problems with the F20 I had hoped for an improvement to this area but the balsa used is the softest know to man, the anti rotation pins are short and there is NO glue!! (However that is an improvement on my F22 that had no anti rotation pins fitted to one of the stabs!).









John