rcmiket

Hey Benny I'm taking the Panther out again in the morning. Yesterday I pulled it off green and pulled a retract. No real damage. Danny said you showed then left right before I got there. Mike

BlueBus320

My Feedback: (57)

Some pics of this thing make it look not to scale. Like the nose is too short, or canopy too big. Can you tell Greg? I ordered the 90mm from EJF, but have seen some pics & video of a finished plane that looked a lil off.

Greg Covey

I haven't looked for scale comparisons on the HET F-18. My assumption on smaller models of this size is that they deviate from scale to make it fly better.

Strega1

My Feedback: (7)

Hello Greg,

How is your HET jet is comming along? I haven't seen any postings from you? I hope you haven't given up on it. I like the way you are going about it.
Hope to hear from you very soon.

Ben Cubillos

evan-RCU

Said he had to wait on a couple items, motors I believe, and that with the weather and needing a runway he won't be testing it soon anyway. Maybe the wait was for a different plane though, the Nitro Plane one...

Strega1

My Feedback: (7)

Thank you Evan-RCU

Thanks for the info on Greg.

Ben Cubillos

Greg Covey

Hi guys,

Yeah, the AMMO motor wait was for my Preditor EDF project.

I'm just stalling for time as the weather here has been in the single digits this week. I will likely start finishing my canopy and battery bays soon and wait to test fly the F-18 until springtime. I feel that I will likely need to bungee launch it so I want better conditions like a clean grass runway.

Regards.

Strega1

My Feedback: (7)

Hello Greg,

Great to hear from you. I never thought about the weather. The weather out here is in the upper 50's to lower 70's. This week the weather will be in the lower 60's.
I don't have anything to fly, but I still go to the flying field and fly someone elses airplane or help other flyers with thier airplanes. I'm not glouting, But it is a way of
life in the Southwest, El Paso, Texas. Keep up the good work on your F18 jet.

Ben Cubillos

Greg Covey

Ben,

We'll catch up to your nice days in the summer when it is too hot to fly in El Paso.

I started working on the canopy and found the instructions to be rather confusing. I expect that the manual has not caught up with the design changes since my canopy has magnets and did not have a plywood framework in the kit.

That being said, I decided that the magnets would not sufficiently hold the canopy in place at speeds over 100mph so I used the supplied dowel and latch. The plastic canopy was cut to size and then sanded around the edges. I marked where the top fiberglass strap covered the plastic area with masking tape and also sanded inside the strip area. After gluing the dowel and aft hardwood block in place with 5-minute epoxy, I then glued the plastic piece in place with epoxy.

I'll likely continue working on the canopy by finding an appropriate pilot and seal the bottom with a black base so you can't see through it.

gjmjoe017

My Feedback: (1)

Just wondering if anyone is bungee launching these?

Greg Covey

The manual recommends the best bungee hook position to be between the front of the two intake openings. The fuselage inside is not supported in this area which is why I am trying the nicely supported nose gear location. We'll see if this ends up being too far forward. The manual also recommends using a bungee to start the jet on its first flight. I am not sure why they recommend this if you have gear installed.

I didn't have an appropriate size jet pilot so I made canopy bases out of both painted black corroplast and black felt. The black felt simply slides inside the canopy. My F-18 is almost ready to fly!

Time to do a balance check and look into mounting the two battery packs...

gr8taz nitro

My Feedback: (7)

Hey Greg, for a pilot you might try your local toys r us. I found some cheap action figures that had a couple of halo jumpers that had masks and all. I think I paid around 7 or 8 bucks for the pack of em. A little dremel work and your in business. I used em in the HL corsair and in the HL f-16.

Strega1

My Feedback: (7)

Hello Greg,

Looking at your F18 jet set up, it looks like you are placing the lipo batteries in front of the landing gear former ( foward landing gear bulkhead ). I can see the two controlers behind this former. How are you piping cool air to this controlers? Won't the batteries get in the way? Do you have any idea as to what the final weight of this bird is going to be? How heavy are the batteries, each?
I have to admit, how you are going to balance this bird? The instructions are not very clear as to how to do it.
The final weight of my f18 will be in the 5 to 5 1/4 lbs. I'm anxious to see what the final weight will be.
By the way Greg, the temperature was 72 degrees and wind was at 5 to 8 mph on Sunday,today Monday the 26, will be in the high 60's. It will be windy this afternoon.
Looking forward to you next posting.


Ben Cubillos

Strega1

My Feedback: (7)

Hello Greg,

Looking at your F18 jet set up, it looks like you are placing the lipo batteries in front of the landing gear former ( foward landing gear bulkhead ). I can see the two controlers behind this former. How are you piping cool air to this controlers? Won't the batteries get in the way? Do you have any idea as to what the final weight of this bird is going to be? How heavy are the batteries, each?
I have to admit, how you are going to balance this bird? The instructions are not very clear as to how to do it.
The final weight of my f18 will be in the 5 to 5 1/4 lbs. I'm anxious to see what the final weight will be.
By the way Greg, the temperature was 72 degrees and wind was at 5 to 8 mph on Sunday,today Monday the 26, will be in the high 60's. It will be windy this afternoon.
Looking forward to your next posting.


Ben Cubillos

rcmiket

Figure I'll chime in on Bungees. Wile my Panther is only 3 1/2 pounds if found the retracts were just not up to par for ROG. So I pulled them and made this launcher. Had a few issues at first with the proper amount of tension and elevation but it works great. Mike

Greg Covey

Yes, I love the toy store option for support parts. Pilots and missiles are often less expensive once you venture outside the R/C world. Great suggestion!

Nice launcher, Mike. I'm glad that you don't Fear the Bungee!

Ben,

All good questions. I will answer some now and some later.

Using two 12oz ThunderPower eXtreme V2 25C 3300mAh 4s packs, my F-18 balanced with the packs shown at 105mm back from the leading edge. This is at the aft most balance point of the recommended 100mm to 105mm range but will be easy to adjust. The packs surround the sturdy nose gear former and can easily be secured to it using the power wires and charge connector. A simple way to keep them from moving is to use some thick foam pieces as shown. I will likely install some plywood bays to secure them with Velcro straps and open the area for air flow which will enter in the three nose indents on the top. I will detail this later but you shouldn't need large holes to move air through the fuselage at the speeds the F-18 will be going.

reyn3545

I read the "off the beaten path" article, and found your build thread... thanks for all of the info!

I've been toying with the idea of an EDF jet for a while...

looked at ARF's from BVM, kits from Yellow and others.... lots of money, but very capable planes.
Then I went to the other end of the spectrum, and haven't been happy with what I've found there either.

This looks like what I probably want to get started with... large enough to see, but I won't be dumping $5 Grand into a jet that flies only 5 or 6 minutes.

I'm looking forward to your flight tests, but based on the build notes so far, may go ahead and get the kit.

Greg Covey

Thanks for reading my column. If you want to go outside the smaller mainstream 3lb and smaller models, without spending $5K, then HET is a good place to start. Keep in mind that there is now a second version available for a single 90mm fan. Some folks prefer it for cost and efficiency, some folks prefer the true twin sound, so the choice is yours.

I applied the decals that came with the kit. They simply needed to be cut out and then applied. To find the proper position of each decal, since the manual was not useful here, I used the Blue Angles site link in Post #58. It gave my F-18 a more finished look!

I measured the all up Ready-To-Fly weight at 100oz (6.25lbs) using the two 12oz TP eXtreme V2 (25C) 3300mAh 4s packs. The setup provides a nice (1400w/6.25lb) 224w/lb. Since the airframe has low drag, I expect this model to be very quick!

Rescue32-1

Greg,

I'm wondering where the CG is located on your aircraft so that I've got something to aim for as I'm building my HET F-18, also what was your final weight on your aircraft?.

Jason

Greg Covey

Hi Jason,

The answers to your questions are just above your post. My F-18 balanced with the packs shown above at 105mm back from the leading edge.

I measured the all up Ready-To-Fly weight at 100oz (6.25lbs) using the two 12oz TP eXtreme V2 (25C) 3300mAh 4s packs. The setup provides a nice (1400w/6.25lb) 224w/lb. Since the airframe has low drag, I expect this model to be very quick!

Regards.

BlueBus320

My Feedback: (57)

Greg, have you ever seen a jet with a flat bottom airfoil like this Het has? I'm really curious to see how this jet flies. Everything I've learned about airfoils in my career tells me this design will not do good in aerobatics, & will probably not be able to sustain inverted flight well. I'm very suprised it's not a full or semi symetrical. Any thoughts?

bandit13

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Greg,
I have been reading along abut the HET F-18. I have a few questions for you if wouldn't mind. I am getting a 90mm version, if I want to put a differnet set of decals on it
can I use a set from a model. Do I have to blow them up and how do I do that. Next I am going to use Futaba micro servos S3153mg, if I install the retracts can I use a similiar
servo. Also you mention on the 70mm twin you are using 4s 3300 lipo's. Did you go with 14.8 or 18.5 volts.

Thanks,
Bill

Greg Covey

Brickyard,

Actually, it is quite common for the airfoil on models like these to be flat on the bottom. This allows the model to fly faster with less drag and it will still fly inverted just fine at higher speeds. The higher end Skymasters F-18 (in post #72 [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5055313/mpage_3/key_skymasters%2CF-18/tm.htm]here[/link]) has a near flat, or flat, bottomed airfoil as well. There are some good pics on that post that show the airfoil.

Bill,

Yes, you can use any decals you want to because the model arrives without them applied. One technique is to scan your existing decals into an image and then increase the size in a copier or go to a graphics store to have them done.

The Futaba S3153 servo should work fine for all controls and the retracts. The 4s (or 4 cell) LiPo packs are 14.8v.

Regards.

JR16

Im really interested in a set of retracts for this plane but i fly out of a grass field any recomendations for a set?

bandit13

My Feedback: (1)

Greg,
Could I run two 14.8 4s 3200 on the 70mm twin with the 2w-20 and Het fans.