I do not usually use extentions, I solder new wire directly to the servos and terminate them
at the receiver, so it's all just a matter of measuring the distance, add a couple of inches and
that's your length!

Hi Tor,
Do you do use the twisted pairs cables for the servos? It is safer, because you will suppress some of the RF-noise they may encounter.

Gerhard

Hi Gerhard (sound German??)

No, I use the usual HD servo cables, but I keep them far away from the ECU and as far away from the turbine as possible.
For this purpose, I also made a 1/2 bypass (bottow only) from carbon fibre, so the cables are shielded from the turbin by
the carbon. I now have approx 40 flights on my F-16, and apart from one occurance of flutter on the rudder caused by a
faulty set screw, every flight so far has been perfect without as much as a glitch. This could also be tributed to my Weatronic
receiver and the dual receiver/dual antenna setup. It is still my all-time favorite jet!!

Tor

Hi Tor:

MAy I know what size festo fittings you use for your fuel lines, 6mm or 4mm

For the F-16 I am using 6mm all the way to the fuel pump where I have to go down to 4 mm. I have also
dropped the rubber tank stoppers and epoxied brass tubes with clunks directly into the tanks. The brass
tubes that come with the plane are too small inner diameter.

hello guys, had another great weekend of flying the big f16 (at least paul did, i can't see it because the paint job is so scale!) had a main landing gear hang up due to air leaking past the plunger in one of the mains, minimal damage though and it was flying again next day. i've posted here today because i've started on making the elevators removeable, they're almost 1 metre across and a pain for me to transport, i can see them shake and vibrate in the rear vision mirror and am petrified that the servo gear train is being damaged with all the travelling i seem to do with the model. will obtain new batteries for the camera and post some pics tomorrow if anyone is interested, its a lot of work actually, new elevators need to be cut and glassed + all the blah blah blah, plus i'm going to do a new colour scheme i can see

Hi blackcat,
First option would be to make a device that supports the elevators during transport and when it is not being used. Full scale airplanes have gust locks that either block the controls or on older aircraft they locked the control surfaces to avoid damage from gusts. They would serve you the same purpose except that your problem comes from unbalanced control surfaces. Gust locks usually support the moving surfaces against solid parts of the aircraft.
If you are going through all the effort in making new elevators, consider balancing them weight wise. That will give you two really good advantages. First it will take off the stress that any kind of acceleration will put on your elevator along the vertical axis. In addition it will also decrease the load of the servos in flight, as CG of the elevator and the aerodynamic forces are closer together. Third - it will prevent flutter.
Technically you can design them in a way that with a little weight in the front area you can counteract the weight of the rear part. If your weight and balance does not allow for that, you could create a linkage that allows you to add a bob weight inside the fuselage to use a larger moment arm with less weight on it to counteract the weight of the heavier rear panel of the elevator.

Gerhard

Blackcat - my F16 is way too long to be transported in a standard way in a Norwegian truck - we have these silly rules that make us have
a metal mesh behind the seats if you want a work car without back seats - this saves a lot of money (my Chevrolet Tahoe costs approx
US$100.000 instead of almost $200.000!!) - however, I had a jet friend make an opening where I can put the nose of the F-16 through -
it sticks out almost 25 inches between the front seats, and even then, the fin is 5 mm away from the rear window! The turbine intake lip
rests on a styrofoam tube between the seats, and the main wheels are placed in a soft foam "cradle" with openings that exactly matches
the wheels. I can run over gravel and pretty lousy roads (of which we have a LOT in Norway) - still, I have never seen the elevators shake!
You must be travelling over some pretty tough Australian outback roads to see the elevators shake!!

Also, the 25 kg servos and the solid links make it virtually impossible for the elevators to shake during transport - but apart from that, it would be
interesting to see how you could make them removable! [8D]

Tor

PS - my elevators are not balanced, and after 45 flights, all is still good and the links as solid as ever..

g'day tor, my elevators shake, i promise!! heres a few photos, a lot of work to do it, but it will be worth the effort. whenever i get into this sort of work, i'm reminded of how much i like arf's!!! i also do not mass balance, i have done in the past, mainly when servos were 4kg, not 25kg, i don't notice any difference, maybe there is but it doesn't worry me too much. if you look at most fullsize all flying stabs they almost all droop to the rear when powered down, i hope this doesn't start a tirade about balance!
the bracket is, dare i say it, jetlegend, and the pivot is titanium, nice little set. a 9mm outside and 8mm inside dia brass tube is placed in the existing (copper!) bush and helps with alignment, servo position needs to change to align with torque arm.
its all pretty straight-forward, if a little time consuming. will update as progress continues,
over and out

So you actually made new elevators from foam and balsa - I'm impressed!!
Personally, I can hardly wait for the day when all great jets like this are almost
RTF - just put your turbine in and fly! Tanks, cables, air, retracts and doors should
all be in place, and you should be able to tell the factory which servos you want!

That looks like a nice setup - and very useful if I should ever travel with my F-16,
as it would be impossible to make a crate that was as wide as the elevators and as
tall as the fin...

Keep up the good work!
Tor

Hi guys!
How about this for your F-16's??

Hi Tor

That looked really good!

Christian

Tor
That looks awesome, what have you done!!!! tell us what the trick is!
Roberto

Hi Roberto - check it out in the "Afterburner effect" thread!

Tor

I'm just starting mine this weekend. How are most of you mounting the nose cone? Removable with screws? Any other methods you guys are using please let me know. Trying to decide. I had to take 1/8" off the bottom part of the nose cone formers to get the cone to settle down around the seam.

Andy, I have glued the formers in and reinforced the joints with carbon, as it seemed too weak.
As for the nose cone itself, it is just pushed on and held in place with the aluminum nose "spear".

Tor

Hi Tor:
All in All,,,,, is this plane worth the purchase,,, I am looking at getting one

Dave

That is all you are using to hold it on? Wow. I have a nice snug fit to the nose spear but I can't see that as the single method of holding the cone on. I will glue the formers and see if stays on.

Andy

Dave -
after the first flight I knew this was going to be my favorite jet - and after 40 flights,
that feeling is just stronger than ever! I have come to the point where I have already
decided that if I ever retire this one (for some reason or another!) - I will build
a new one immediately. The other guys up here who fly the same plane agree - it's a
fantastic plane and well worth the money!

Andy - since there is a snug fit between the nose cone and the fuselage, there is no
place for the cone to go during flight, and it stays on as long as the spear is screwed
on finger tight - don't worry, there are a few of this F-16 model flying in Scandinavia,
and the nose cone has not been a problem with any of them!

Tor

Hi Tor:
Thank you for that info, I will work on it

Dave

Was there ever a response to whether there are hardpoints in the wings for the ordinance package? I see pictures on the website with the ordinance package installed. Just wondering how much work is involved.

Problem with alerons on wing. The hinge is splitting. In order to get the required 20mm throw the tension on the hinge is spitting it. Has anyone else run into this and if so what was your fix? This is a huge problem and I can see the aleron completely splitting and comming off in flight given enough up and down movement. The other wing did not do this.

Anton I think this needs replacing. The more I try to fix it the worse it gets.

Andy - we have 3 guys here who have run into the same problem. There are a few ways to fix this:
1: Get a replacement from Anton, and make sure the workers don't over-stretch OR paint the live hinging!
2: Remove the entire aileron, glue in balsa blocks and new Robart hinges
3: Glue the entire aileron and just use tailerons. I have not glued them myself, but in my 40 flights, I
have never used flaps to land, and the landings are very smooth and slow.
(watch the videos at www.av-art.no/filer/modellfly )


Either solution will work fine - don't try to fly the way they are as they WILL spilt all the way and come off.

Tor

This also happened to my 1/8 F16. I fixed it by epoxying kevlar cloth to the inner aspect of the hinge line in the split section. Only use 5 minute epoxy as it retains a degree of flexibility. So far so good. I would be interested to know if anyone has used silicon as the adhesive with good effect.

I am not a great fan of the live hinging for this reason and check mine regularly before flying.

Craig.

Glue them permanent. Use tailerons. Save yourself the cash on the servos. You never need flaps.
Scott