Hi, received delivery of the kit last week and am very pleased with the workmanship and general finish. Nice kit and great value. I am particulary impressed with the tailplane operating mechanism. Its so simple and strong and compared to some other systems I have seen for the Hawk its"bullet proof".
I have started to try and put my ideas into practice and thats all based around the premise I have 3 10 s cells for my pattern ship and those are the batteries I will use or not attempt this project. I cannot simply justify buying a set of saddle bag style cells for this plane alone when I have 3 of these units costing ....! So the theory is since the fan/motor assembly and the 10s cell are very similar in weight if I can place them roughly equidistant from the balance point then the idea has some mileage. Thats what I am trying to achIEve so I enclose some shots of the progress in that direction. I firstly replaced the rear bulkhead with a 1/2" liteply former as this will bear the weight of the fan/motor and the existing one is not designed for that purpose. It helps to have the width for a socket style fit with draft strip stuck to the outside of the fan to insulate it from the w/work and try to stop it resonating. ( to be proved later!!). from the rear of the bulkhead I have laminated with thin ply a rim which will take the pipe from the rear. I have fixed the ducting to the intake and extended it towards the fan, but the fan has to be removable so there is an extension piece which is the ducting Jim supplies. I then glued blocks for the fan bearers to the sides of the fuselage. So far so good it all seems to line up and its on to the next stage.