RE: Skymaster F-86 1/5 first products
Rav,
I am with you on this and would like to hear more from guys that have been flying their's for a longtime now. From what I hear Morne crashed his. My build has just started and I have the new tanks - total of 6.5 litres - way too much, but on the CG (as recommended by Brian O'Meara). In fact the front tank is a bad shape for fuel pickup as it is basically a brick shape, sitting across the fuselage. With the fuel pick up line coming in on the front as usual, the clunk can at most only reach about half way to each side. So if you get down to less than one third in this tank (total 2.75 liters) the cluck will be out of the fuel. Personally, I will swap this tank for a smaller one as the two saddles are 3.6 litres already and my flight times hardly ever require more than 3.5 litres. FYI, the turbine is mounted over the top of the front tank and the two saddles now sit behind and around the pipe. I will be using a full P-200 bypass and AMT Pegasus HPe - more than enough space for all this.
Fitting the retractable landing lights under the front intake is going to be a challenge and I would like to hear how anyone using the Details4Scale bits, have managed. My wings are done and working out the correct geometry for all the internal linkages were difficult but in the end looks and works fine. The final results ended up surprisingly slop free, especially when considering the relative small angles between short servo arms and minimal horn leverage. Again, it will be good to hear what most guys think about your comment regarding the droop angle of the drop tanks - I tend to agree. My tanks are done, but as you say, easily changed.
Overall I am very happy with my kit and I am looking forward to flying it alongside my other great SM jets.
Cheers,
Jan