I am finally finishing my turbine Enforcer. I measured the CG on the plans and come up with 16 inches from the very end of the trailing edge. I noticed some of you have suggested moving the CG forward. I did a balance check with the above CG and found that I have to mount the engine way back. All of my batteries, ECU and fuel pump are way back as well. I did extend the front of the fuse 6 inches, mainly to accommodate the nose retract.
I installed spring air retracts, with Eurokit struts and Intairco wheels and brakes. I have a 50oz. main fuel tank and a 12oz, header tank. I have 3 JDE engines one is 12 lb thrust, one is 14lbs and the other one is around 16lbs ( JDE 55 ) I will probably go with the 12 lb. I have not weighed it yet but I know it will weigh less that 12 lbs dry.
I was planning on building a simple turbine model but I ended up adding gear doors that sequence ( main doors are closed with gear up or down). I added a speed brake under the wing. I was going to finish it with Black Baron Presto to give it that aluminum look. This stuff really looks good, but you need to lay it on in panels. I tried to heat shrink big sheets on the surface and the heat really leaves blemishes, so I opted not to tackle the aluminum look at this time. If I used the presto then I would be tempted to also do rivet details. So I covered the top with Chrome monocote with orange and blue trim. The bottom is flat blue. It looks cool but to shiny to look like aluminum. But it isn't a scale model anyway. Once you start bashing a kit, you just keep bashing and bashing, it is fun though. But will it fly?
I had to redo the aft end of the fuse in order to move the equipment back. I'll post some photos when I get it more presentable.
My big concern is that I have the correct CG. If I move it forward an inch as stated before, that means I could be tail heavy if this is wrong.
Any more feed back on CG would be appreciated. Does adding 6 inches to the front of the fuse change the CG? I haven't calculated the CG mathematically yet, but I probably will just to see if the plans are in the ballpark.
Randy