barnowljenx

Has anyone got any first hand experience of the new BJ Craft Anthem?

underdw

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I have a buddy who just got one. He's building.....

barnowljenx

Any news on the Anthem build?

underdw

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It will be a few more weeks. I won't be able to help him with the motor installation for a couple of weeks. He should have most of the rest done by then.

barnowljenx

Great. I shall look forward to your report.

underdw

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We flew Lanny’s Anthem on Wednesday. We put an Adverrun contra in it.
I was VERY impressed- felt like a few control throw adjustments and I could fly it in a contest!
Felt very solid and smooth. Rolls on a string. I surprised that I liked the look of the swept wings in the air. The Red bottom is highly visible.
Today we experimented with a more rearward cg in hopes of tuning out minor canopy pulls on KE and upline- seems insensitive to cg location in all regards (good I think).
Was dropping a tip on pulls- wing weights were a little off.
Love this plane, look forward to trying the F23 sequence stuff with it.

barnowljenx

Thanks for sharing your experience of the Anthem. It sounds like another BJ success!

Champ-RCU

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Hey Underdw,

You don't know me, but I have a favor to ask of you. No I don't need a loan;-) Could you ask your friend Lanny if there are any building instructions included with the Anthem kit. I have a kit but no instructions. Of course I will pay any expense, such as copy/ shipping costs.

A little explanation is due. I've been flying R/C for 50 years now, mostly sport aerobatics and sailplanes. I have competed in pattern a few times and have done reasonably well. But at 72 I'm not going to be starting out to be Nats. champ. At this point I would like to fly a current F3A pattern plane, just to compare it to past planes I've been blessed to enjoy. When I went from the Super Kaos, Dirty Birdies to a 2 meter plane it took a month to wipe the smile off my face.

A few months back an Anthem showed up on Facebook marketplace only a few miles away. Wow! However I was scheduled for a surgery within days. So, I said to myself, if I survive the surgery, I'm buying that plane if it is still available. (Surgery went OK, I'm still here.) So the day I got home I contacted the seller and bought the kit. As the buyer I didn't do my due diligence. I was fresh out of the hospital and during the stay in the recovery room (8 hours) I lost a LOT of blood. Which made a second surgery necessary. Due to those factors I was constantly dizzy and would occasionally pass out. Picture this, some old guy shows up to buy a toy airplane from you and the first thing he does is pass out on your garage steps. Needless to say I scared the S##t out of the seller. After coming to, the kit was still wrapped in the plastic and foam which looked intact, so I went thru with the deal.

Wife got me home and onto the couch. I couldn't get up enough energy to take a closer look at my new prize for two days.

Once I got a closer look at the kit it was severely damaged. The fuse was banged up but very repairable, the canopy was smashed, the wings are, well, toast. Everything else is perfect. (I wish I could cover a plane as good as this plane, what a work of art.) I can reverse engineer a set of wings. Foam core not the unreal light weight wood wings it comes with.

So, I will end up with a good F3A plane, just not the world class plane it started out as. The only thing I think it's lacking are any guides as to the putting together this plane. Thus I'm asking for some help. I did send an e-mail to F3Aunlimited but have not gotten any reply. (Which really surprises me.)

I hope I didn't bore you with my story, and I will appreciate any help you and Lanny can provide.


Mark
e-mail is [email protected]

underdw

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Hi Mark. Glad you are recovered now and have a project to keep you busy this winter.
Bummer about the damage.
Ideally the shipping damage should have been dealt with between the original owner and the shipping company, but in the case of a 2nd owner I'd guess you are left with what you've got.

Unfortunately, no composite pattern plane manufactures provide instructions. We are lucky if we get a CG location! In their defense, volumes are small, most customers have experience putting together pattern ARFs, and many customers like to use their own techniques and hardware.
Best bet is to ask an experienced pattern guy in your club or ask on these forums. Have a look at some build threads on these forums for other BJCraft planes - the construction hasn't changed much in a decade.
I'll make sure that Lanny sees your post and can contact you off-thread.
Dan

Champ-RCU

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Thanks Dan. That's what I thought, but I still had to ask.
Got a good deal on the kit. So will enjoy getting it into the air.
Thanks
Mark

flywilly

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Try going to the BJCraft website and look for a downloadable manual. If not for the Anthem, then possibly something similar. Construction is pretty similar across the various models they produce. Glad you’re feeling better! Good luck with the build.

Champ-RCU

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Thanks I'll try that.
Feeling good is great!
Yeah I'll need a lot of luck. First order will be to see if I can duplicate the wings.
Mark

ted32776

For what it's worth, Juan Ronbaut just put out a very nice vid of his first flight with the model. He likes it very much of course, he's an importer of the line. Nonetheless, he is one of the top pilots......

Flowmotion

Hello,
can someone tell me the CG position with which you fly the Anthem.

Gerhard

FLYERSG

I have the Epilogue and a good friend of mine has the Anthem. The Epilogue and Anthem are very close to each other regarding construction. Take a look at J-Ps Epilogue build in this forum. You can use that to get you through the Anthem's construction.

Mike

ram_z

I know it is a bit late. But for the records...

According to BJ Park, 30cm form leading edge on the wing root is the right place to start.
He is flying with a CG of 35cm...

I did my maiden flight last Friday. looks very promising!

Flowmotion

Hello Ram,
best thanks for the info. It is not too late for me. I am still building and your information is very helpful for me to position the battery board correctly.
With us in the north is currently unfortunately more build than fly and so my first flight will still take a while
You still nice flights with the Anthem.
Gerhard

BJM

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Ordered mine last week. Anymore flight reports.

Falcopop

Hi,

Thanks to J-P, I Have a serious interest in the Anthem.

Do you have a comparison with the Oreka+ , or new reports concerning the Anthem ?

Furethemore, I'm hesitating between an Adverrun single V2 and the Adverrun contra. I perfere the single due to its simplicity, but is there a real advantage with the contra ?

Is the ADV single V2 (without belt) really better than the previous ?

Thanks for your help.

BJM

My Feedback: (4)

Have had my kit for a few weeks. Trying to do something on it each day. Slow going without instructions.

Falcopop

Too bad there are no instructions. However, it would not be very complicated to add a few instructions, but would save a lot of time for customers...

barnowljenx

Most folk who buy these aircraft don't need instructions on how to put them together and as they make up most of the customer base I can see why there are no instructions. However, they should at least give a CG range and target weight. For FAI work, everyone knows that the weight limit is 5 Kg but what is useful is knowing what a standard set of equipment will give weight wise.

BJM

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Almost have my Anthem ready. 30 cm is way back there for a cg. What are you guys using for a cg?

barnowljenx

Hi BJM, as I read it the CG range is given as 280-320 mm so starting at 300 mm should be quite safe as it's in the middle.. Have you flown and trimmed a 2 mtr aircraft before?

The BJ comment on the CG position seems to be to go for a neutral CG position. That is pull to 45 deg up line with enough power to maintain the level speed and half roll to inverted and expect the aircraft to maintain its flight path without dropping its nose.

On my Element, the CG is set at the rear of the wing tube - I've not got the measurement to hand, and this gives a KE that holds without needing any mixing in aileron or elevator. I started with the CG at the middle of the wing tube and needed mixing for both elevator and aileron.to maintain KE.

I'm hoping to get my Anthem in the next couple of weeks and I'll be starting with the CG at 300 mm to begin with although it might end up at 320 mm after doing the BJ test.

BJM

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Thanks for the reply. Flying a Alchemy Pro right now. This is my first swep-wing and not use to the cg being so far from the wing tube. Hope to fly my Anthem this weekend or early next week.