RE: Converted Y/A F-16A to from DF to pusher
Yeah, I get that question a lot. Mostly because it hasn't been done before. With the older F-16A airframe you get about a half inch less internal room and with the new gear there is no room for a DF fan shroud. Also, from what I've seen DF set-ups are just too temperamental and only yield five minutes or so of flight. A pusher will give me longer flights with less hassle and reduced risk of engine out situations.....seen too many DF jets auger due to loss of power. Anyway, as I see it, most guys will step up to turbines if the AMA geeks pull thier heads out of thier collective derrieres and time and mass production reduce turbine costs. There is still enough room in my plane to fit a turbine later on. I'm putting the plane together just as if it were a DF so if this idea flops I can pop out the new scale gear, add some SpringAirs and a fan and go fly it that way. The whole engine mount will be screwed onto a pair of rails which will distribute the thrust generated through three of the internal bulkheads; this rail mount can be easily removed by removing six bolts (no modifications to the existing internal mounts was required, other than to make room for the new gear).
As far as your other concerns, I didn't want to go with a CBM F-16N because, as Razor-RCU noted above, they are too easy to damage. Additionally, after all that finishing work they just don't look as nice up close as the old Yellow kit does (although they are impressive flyers and I still may get one just for the fun factor). I fly "real" planes and have learned at least one thing, NEVER, EVER add weight which isn't useful or cargo. I had a special larger battery made for the nose and have offset some internal components forward...this should help balance the plane (fuel tanks are mounted above the air intake forward of the CG just as in the DF set-up). As for prop strikes, if they happen they happen. Not sure if I will mount a fixed stinger in place of the arresting hook or a retractable set-up. If aft weight isn't too much of a concern after balancing I may add a mechanical retractable stinger similar to mechanical retractable landing gear. These stingers worked fine on the CBM plane.
As far as pusher performance, I've seen enough CBM F-16N video footage on this site to motivate me to try. Look at the Belgian Tiger scheme plane footage the guys in ??Taiwan?? have posted to the Jets forum and you can see amazing high speed flight, low speed-high AOA flight, and impressive turning capability. Another poster to the Jets forum made a beautiful CBM F-16N in a Thunderbirds scheme and attached a video. I think his name was ??Kelvin??--you should download his video and watch its performance. He can slow it down to a brisk walking pace just before landing and the plane only had a five foot roll-out. Impressive is all I can say.
No, I don't consider this a waste of an airframe. Just a neat project. One day I hope to get a turbine, but I think this will be a heck of a lot of fun until then.
Tim