Well, to make the story short I was again requested to maiden a friend´s airplane... this time a Skymaster L-39. One of the things that I like most from sites like RCU is reading threads like I would try to write (sorry for my English) so I hope that you guys enjoy it too.


This L-39 was planned to be flown without the interior cockpit, and the installation was done partially over the wooden floor. As soon the cockpit arrives it will be re-arranjed to fit. The building was done again by Mr.Patake and it was very quick. The plane has a outstanding rivet and panel detailing, very close to scale and well done... the rivets look of the right size, as well the inspection panels, air scoops etc.The paint was also well done and the landing gear, specially built for this plane looks very scale. This plane weights 12 Kg and it is powered with a Jetcat P-120. The radio is a old 9CAP with a PCM receiver, single 5 cell 2800 Mah battery with a heavy duty switch, and 3050 Futaba digitals on every flying surface.

The main problem that surfaced when the plane was ready to fly was his nose down attitude while sitting on its wheels. The tail was sitting up too high.. looked more like a top fuel funny car instead like a airplane! the solution was removing the original springs and substitute it for a stronger and shorter spring wich starts to be compressed when the suspension is at about 75% of its travel, and a small piece of silicone tube that just extend the legs when they are unloaded and ready to retract. We also made a 1cm thick plywood base for the nose gear retract just to raise a little more the nose, and then we finally got the fuselage paralel to the ground.