RE: s/m 1/6 f16 in my hot little hands!
Hello Tor,
Scott.........Jay.......and the rest of you guys who have PM'd me about the Skymaster 1/6 scale F-16. As I mentioned in my replies to all of you with questions, I would try to answer everyones questions at once here on this thread instead of having to to repeat all this again.
The questions I have received from all of you deal with the following:
Center of Gravity
Stab position......(balanced? or not?)
Armament..........hardpoints?
Flying characteristics.......loaded up, empty
Building issues..........formers, modifications?
I'll start off by saying..........I do not advise deviating from the manufacturers recommendations on any building procedure, flight control set up or flight envelope regime.
That being said, most of my early modeling life I've designed, built and test flown just about anything I could imagine that should be able to fly......(and some things that were'nt). Over the years I've learned, mostly through trial and error.........what works and what does'nt and have adjusted my building and flying techniques accordingly. These days, manufacturers have seemed to finally all have it down for the most part as to what types of materials and building techniques to use so that these machines we're flying around stay together and are safe.........PROVIDED YOU FOLLOW THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS. Now I'm not a manufacturer so I won't recommend what you should do in order to mount the armament to your aircraft.......however, I will tell you that mine are mounted via removable pylons on dedicated hardpoints built into the wing. It is a complicated process with multiple composites being used and several laws of physics being respected. (hate to sound like I'm keeping a secret here, but for obvious reasons I have to leave it at this.........thank you)
The center of gravity with the armament on and off of the jet is in the same spot........I don't remember the exact position, but there is a photograph (see below) of the jet on an overhead pass loaded up where I had left two pieces of tape underneath........this is where the CG is on mine.