Jack I loved!!!! what a nice plane! and I can see that "Santiago" did the maiden flight Looking forward to see you at CA Jets!

Gonzalo

Hey Gonzalo:
The plane flies awesome and looks gorgeous in the air.

Santiago didn't do the whole maiden. He only did the take off, landing, and some knife edges.


See you soon.

Jack

PS Thanks for taking care of Gerardo ......... lol.

Hi, all

here are some pictures for the Skymaster Large Hawk at Florida Jets 2010, powered by Jet cat P-160SX, demo pilot :Ali Machinchy...

www.skymasterjet.com/HawkFL.wmv

Best Regards

Anton

Its nearly finished now, just hinging the flaps and making the horns for the ailerons then a few loose ends to tie up and it should be onto weathering early next week ready for Al to collect when he recovers from his travels.

A few shots of the finished equipment trays and a few on its wheels for the first time.

Cheers, Alex

It has been said before that the Large Hawk has troubble retracting the gear because of not enough power in the retracts/ air cylinders.
In the video from Florida Jets above, the gear does not retract so Ali eventually has to roll it inverted to get the gear in.
No doubt it should not not be this way, but the question to Anton/ SM is: Are there any upgrades to the gear on the current planes being built and shipped??

As you know, I have one on order, and would really not be happy if I have to pull tricks to get the gear to retract on every flight[X(]

In Florida Ali used someone's pressurized air tank to fill up the air system's in the hawk, this only allowed like 100-110psi to go in the plane. Only on one occasion did he have to roll the plane upside down in order to retract the gear, the other flights he would do a slow fly by after take off and retract them at show center. I do remember one formation take off with Thomas Singer that they both retracted the gear right after he broke ground, so I don't think there is any problem with the gear/cylinders. I think if he was able to put 120lbs of air in the plane it work flawless each time right after takeoff, but since the gear have so many doors hanging out in the air it takes some good air pressure plus being able to retract the gear right after you break ground.
Ali let me have a flight and I fell in love with this plane, gear worked fine for me as well, and I think Skymaster has another winner with this bird.

the issue is the way the scale doors are made.
the doors sit at an angle outwards so the faster you fly the more trouble you will get retracting them.
Ali showed that after you take off , you turn and speed down and then retract worked perfect every time.
so it is not a real issue , the composite suffered from the same problem.

I took one of these home with me from Florida Jets. (no thanks to Ali)[:'(]
Desert Camo Hawk 100. Great kit. really nice aircraft. Looks like nothing to put together. These kits keep getting better and better.
Im going to power mine with a P120SX. Ali's was a rocket with the P160.
Scott

I love that plane in desert camo...

Hi Sap

Don't worry about the gear. The key is volume rather than pressure. I've used two large tanks at 100 psi, when testing it I thought the gear was going to rip the wings off. It goes up and down with real aggression. It requires alot of strength to hold the gear by hand so should be fine in the air. I would fit restrictors but will let Ali decide after the test flights. The rams for the gear doors should be changed and the ram attachment moved outboard. If you do these things you won't have a problem. I'll write a list of mods I've done on this build in a few days and post it here. Had to go away at short notice so the builds stalled a bit atm. Where would I be without my i-phone?

I do love the Hawk 100 in this scheme! I thought about one for myself but holding out for the A10.

HTH

Alex

Hi,

the Ali's Hawk was first products and pick up it at Jet Power last year, when we back from Jet Power last year that we updated the new big retracts for Large Hawk,

Best regards

Anton

Great news Anton!
Really looking forward to getting it

Hi guys

The more of these Skymaster kits I build the more I love them! The molded detail is excellent, one of the nicest examples I've seen on an ARTF. Makes my life easier when transforming it from a toy to something a bit more realistic. I've finished the paint wash just waiting for some supplies to arrive before I add the decals and some other little details.

The white has been highlighted by the flash it's not as prominent as it looks and the same can be said for the orange. I like paint washes to be subtle otherwise you risk making it look odd. (in my eyes anyway)

Cheers, Alex

I need some lights for one of these Hawk 100
Scott

Any video on the photo one?


can offer a t-45 version in future? Watch this video, Simply love it!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGP4VW9I63E&feature=related[/youtube]

Remember at the start of this thread I complained about the position of the flap fairings. Well I fixed this by milling six new slots along the aircraft's longitudinal access, this worked surprisingly well as I was a little concerned by the new angles involved. It was worth it and will make a difference to its in flight appearance.

To line the aileron fairing correctly required me change the set up a little so Ive used heavy duty carbon molded ball links all round eliminating any binding because of the offset geometry. All these horns and ball links were purchased from Phil at Fighteraces. The little ball link servo arms are great and incredibly strong.

Time to get the airbrush out have a go at dirtying up the wheels and oleo's...

Cheers, Alex

The gear is nearly there. First thing I did was apply a wash then used an airbrush graduating the color from light to dark it needs a little more variation but nearly there.

The drop tanks have been completed, they will only release properly in the air as they need the airflow to help. I'll take some more photos to explain. Need to make some sway braces as there loads of movement atm but this shouldn't take long.

Having fun with the waterslide decals . Other than a clear coat and those inevitable little jobs at the end of a build it should be done in the next week

Cheers, Alex

Finally sorted the drop tanks out. They've proved a bit more problematic than I'd hoped but got there in the end. I had to make four sway braces out of sheet metal these are a practical solution so not very scale. The amount of movement on the tank before these were installed was a little alarming [X(] They're in the scale positions except the forward one which is 5mm further forward due to the release mechanism being in the way........and on that subject they get released towards the front of the tank, the airflow then helps to slide the tank out of the rear retention slot.

So then onto decals.........The ones I'm using are from 'Tailormade decals' who are based in Germany. Ive used these before on my own models with sporadic results if I'm honest. These little waterslides add so much to the finished model especially on something like this. The flipside is, if you get them wrong the model looks........well............rubbish

The key is surface preparation. Fortunately SM use a good quality Matt 2 part paint that's been professionally applied but there is still a little work to be done. The surface must be rubbed down with flatting pads starting at 1000 grit and working up to 4000.

Once you've done this in all the appropriate areas apply a little bit of setting solution and slide you decal on then gently rub the decal with a fine cotton cloth to get all the water and solution out from under it. Leave it for about 20 minutes. If it's worked it will be a nice uniform color slightly darker than the surrounding paint. If it hasn't it will appear milky in places, this can be rescued with a bit of softening solution but only about 50% of the time depending on the reason. This same solution can be applied to areas of the decal that are over rivets. Just dab it on leave it and the decal should settle into or over the rivet. The decals should be set in about 2 hours, I always leave it for a day to be on the safe side.

Next I spray a fine coat of clear over each decal individually checking each one carefully to ensure the the carrier film has now disappeared completely leaving that painted on look. I go over them twice and leave another day. Now any airbrush detailing to the airframe can be finished before the final clear is sprayed.

Not how I remember it from my childhood Airfix days but it achieves the desired result even if it does take all week.

Pic 1. A correctly applied decal before the clear

Pic 2. After a fine coat of clear. (sorry about the focus bit of over spray floating around)

Just a quick update....

All the decals are now applied including the MDC's on the canopy, these really bring the whole thing to life! They've all had a seperate coat of clear and look as they should (always nervous with these waterslides).

Just need to do a little airbrush deatiling, final clear and sort out the pipe where it meets the bypass.

I'm hoping it will be completed for the JMA AGM. So........ fingers crossed

Cheers, Alex

Hi Guys

The Hawk is now finished and been collected by a happy customer (hopefully) ........

I was up till around 2 finishing up all those little jobs. I realized late last night I'd forgotten to put the wing fences on. Cutting four straight neat slots with the dremel late at night when tired wasn't my idea of fun, I had visions of slipping and making a nice score straight across the wings. Luckily all went well........

I've attached a load of pictures of the finished model. In the next few weeks I'm sure Al will post a flight report and some photos of it in the daylight.

Cheers, Alex

.

Great build!

Do you have any pics of how you attached the flap fairings and/or aileron linkage covers? There is such a tiny surface area to glue I assume you did something clever??

Cheers,
Mark

Hi, Alex

really, you are a great builder, I asked my staffs for looking these your pictures for better our pro version... Thank you a lot for post these pictures,
keep up the awesome job,,


Best regards

Anton

Hi Mark, thanks.....

I used to peg them with brass tube and hysol them all in that way. It makes them very solid, to solid infact..............Ive had customers knock fairings and it take half the wing skin with it so I now only use Formula 560 canopy glue for such things. It has a bit of give it knocked and if its a bad knock will come off without any other damage.

HTH

Cheers, Alex