Robert Groves

My camo scheme helps a lot when it is far away.

My flying field is a beaut isnt it? It has a 300' runway, the second runway is about 200'

Rob

Robert Groves

Sorry, if you click on those pics, it makes them smaller and easier to view.

Jim, I got your mail, sorry I have been scarce, my work takes me into Africa and I am extreemly busy at the moment, I will browse the other site when possible.

i wish I had all day to fly and build.

Rob

NICKELUP

My Feedback: (82)

how hard is it to put the cermark f-16 prop jet together especially if you don't have to much experiance in buliding. can it be done

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

It can be done if you follow the instructions. This is not a beginner airplane. It does not have any real bad habits but it is very fast. Speed makes mistakes very fast.

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

Gotta love that another $8.00 glow plug. ;<{ ) My 108 spit one once but luckily it was on the ground. You should retighten them when the engine is hot. Like we do with muffler bolts.

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

Spinning an 8 pitch up to 20,000 should move it out. Using my formula it comes out to 151.52 Let us know how it goes

It's never fast enough More's law applies If some is good more is better

Revver 52

gsoav8r

My Feedback: (6)

NickelUp,
I agree with Luds comment that if you follow the instructions you would probably be OK. Though the instructions were not exactly written for newbies and wont hold your hand thru the build like GP or H9.
However, I think the real challange is how good are you at repair. Not having much experience building, Im guessing = not much experience repairing/fixing.
I would read back thru some of the landing gear repair jobs/modifications that have been posted and see if thats something you think you can tackle.
Im not trying to bash or put you off because it really is a fun airplane but it takes an experienced "heavy metal" pilot to not ding it.
Cheers,
James

KC36330

sounds like you're leaning out. blowing the plugs out of the hole is an indication the head is getting extremely hot.

as far as the assembly, my 5 yr old could put it together, it's quiet simple, IMO it's not classified as a fast plane either.

miklos

My Feedback: (38)

Hey Luds..... how you coming with your repairs? I should have mine ready to go this weekend. The epoxy dried overnight on my newly fabricated mounting plates and I got the front gear installed last night. All that's left is to mount the two main gears and reconnect the pressure lines.
Hope to have the P-47 ready to go too. Balanced her over the weekend and now I just have to break in the engine with a couple of tank fulls.
See you at the field.

Mik.

phjoker

My Feedback: (4)

Man I think you guys jinxed me!!!! I hade 5 great flights the other night. On my laast
flight landed like every other time but this time the front gear just folded like a book[:'(]
the front gear mounts snapped. and I had them doubled already.
Oh well gotta fix it and get back in the air FAST!!!!!

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

Hey Phjoker. Look at the pictures in my recent post. I put a complete piece in the center of the nose. 8 screws. Seems to be holding up!

phjoker

My Feedback: (4)

I like that, but I can't use the solid piece for the nose gear. I had so much play with the stock nose gear that I yanked it
out and replaced it with a spring-air gear and a dreamworks trailing link for the nose. PERFECT match for the grass runway.
I just got done beefing it up a little bit more.Have to see what happens next week.

msweeten

One of the main problems peaple have with this plane is that the engine leans out and the landing gear breaks.
I have the version #2 f-16 and found that the wood was sub par to say the least. As part of the the build you should ether take out the original gear support wood, trace it on some good strong ply and replace it or double up the wood. This seems to be true on all versions of the plane. Replacing the wood is the best because of weight and the original wood is just so bad.

The other major problem is that engines tend to leen out. This is due to two situations. #1, the tank placement is very tight against the frame that the engine is bolted to so you have a lot of direct vibration to the tank and foaming. #2 The spinner that comes with the plane is very out of balance for a high RPM engine and creates a lot of vibration. This makes for all kinds of problems like foaming, small screws backing out of landing gear etc. Do yourself a favor and use a good spinner. It's hard to find one that looks as scale as the original one but it just doesn't perform. Using two tanks and bubbles less tanks help as well but the main problem is the spinner. You can look back on this forum and find all kinds of references. Remember to look back at this forum it has all kinds of good info not just the last few posts.

P.S. make sure you check the head bolts if you spit a plug because they are probably loose as well.

Once thses problems are worked out the plane will perform well and reliably. It looks good in the air and is always fun to fly.

Good flying.

Sparhawk

There is nothing wrong with the stock spinner. You just have to balance it. Don't expect any other spinner to be balanced either, from any manufacturer. It is just something that you have to do. It takes very little time to balance a spinner, and while we are at it, don't forget to balance the props. I have seen it too many times where people just bolt on a new APC prop and expect it to be balanced. This is just not the case. Balance the spinner and balance your props and you will not need to worry about foaming lean runs. I have no issues with my setups, and I use the stock fuel tanks. A little foam around the tank can help too.

So, before you spend money on new spinners, fuel tanks, etc, keep to the basics and see how it works.... you may be surprised at how well it works without all the fuss.

Spar

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

I agree with Sparhawk. I'm running all the original fuel equip. I have a three line tank for filling and draining. Standard clunk tank in stock positon. Standard spinner. Tons of flight's no problems outher than retract problems. Which are easy to solve. Love this Plane

revver 52

msweeten

The standard setup that comes with the plane are fine for some, however if you are having foaming problems than look to these issuse. The spinner that I recieved with the f_16 was way out of balance and I had a hard time to make it true. The paint was thick on one side or something. Cermark may have upgradded the spinners from version #2 because this was a common complaint. And YES always balance your props.

phjoker

My Feedback: (4)

I also agree. If you are having problems with the foaming you can use on of these clunks from dubro
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD741&P=0
I have theses in all of my two stroke engines and have no problems at all. My jett 90 has never leaned out
on me yet(knock on wood), and the retracts well that is anohter issue. Try and fly it off of a SOD farm[:'(]
and see how they hold up thats what I have to deal with.

sbrackets

Hey Guys
I maidened my Cermark F-16 yesterday off a grass runway provided by my local RC club.
Field conditions were pretty good, 92 degrees, wind was coming right down the runway around 10mph, and my nerves were on edge.

I had a nice take off and fly around session, didn't do anything special except a couple of rolls because it was the maiden flight.
The F-16 flew like everybody has said, like it's on rails, I could tell that my expo was set to mushy by the elevator response. I will remove some expo from the program next time.

Now for the bad news! My landing approach seemed OK , maybe a little fast, because I was afraid of stalling the Propjet, When I touched the ground my landing gear collapsed on me. The nose gear retract, and the right main gear folded up, not damage to the left main gear. Thanks to the muffler and the right gear holding the belly off the ground fiberglass damage was at a minimum. Mostly small cracks around the wheel wells.

That plywood Cermark uses is pretty week stuff, mine cracked like a Saltine cracker. I suggest to others to beef up the retract mounting plywood with something like Maple wood to secure your retracts too.

But I am hooked on the plane from this first flight, I will make my repairs and hope to fly her many more times. I knew going in to the maiden that the gear mounting plywood was a issue but I decided to give it a go anyway.

So now it's off to the repair table

Happy Holidays to all, Jim S.

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

Hey Jim Congrats on the Maiden. Sorry about the gear. Welcome to the Club. After you fix the gear and get back up. Try flying it at high altitude and do some practice stalls to watch how it reacts and were it stalls. It is a very stable platform and will fly real slow with out stalling. So you won't have to come in hot. They don't slow down so you will have to set up your approach to be going slow enough to land safely

KC36330

i have to strongly disagree with that. if you can't get it to slow down you're just too scared to pull the nose up to a high AOA like it should be.

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

If your going to fast and you go to high angle of attack the aircraft will climb. If you are going slow enough that a High angle of attack does not make the aircraft climb it will then slow down so you can flare and land. Agree now!


revver 52

KC36330

No i don't sorry but you stated this plane WON'T slow down and that is just simply not true. and if i come in too hot on an approach i simply side slip as well as pulling the nose up and she slows right down, even the turbine ones.

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

That's good news cross control and side slip on approach! It all work's! So does throttle manegment. I pull the power back on the down wind leg. Turn base and set up my approach so I'm going slow enough over the runway threshold that I can level off in ground affect bled off air speed flare and land. Have a Great Holiday weekend!!!

Revver 52

sbrackets

Yeah!
I knew better and still tried to land her like most airplanes and that doesn't work with this bird. I won't be making that mistake again.
Next time I will raise that noise and work the throttle.

Here is my Maiden flight video, when the F-16 hit the ground the gear supports just smashed it and she slid to a stop on her belly.

http://www.rcuvideos.com/item/Q5KMB6TCY7K6958Z

Enjoy, Jim

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

Good Job for you first flight. You will be surprised how slow you can land this aircraft. It has alot of squares and does not have a tendency to tip stall. Slow it down on the down wind and glide her in. The palne is so fast that at half speed it's still faster than most stuff you see flying. Like I said in and earlier post take it high over the field and slow it way down and see it's behaves in slow flight. Pull the noise up and so how it stalls then yo will be ready to grease it in. In a high alpha position.