Hi!

In September of 2002, I entered my first combat meet with a metallic silver JKAerotech P-47 Thunderbolt. In the fourth and final round, I mid-aired, head on at full throttle, with a dark blue JDBAerotec Bearcat. Picture is of the mid-air (Thanks Kirk!), and the second posting has the pic of the end result. If you look at the mid-air pic, you can see his engine and firewall above and to the left of the collision, as it separated from his plane and landed about 100 feet away! I suffered a broken prop and a stripped aileron servo. His plane was gutted. JKAerotech makes one tough plane!!

Hey Dan!

Good to see you on here. That was a heck of a mid-air, and I'm glad I managed to get that picture. It's been getting posted all over the place, actually, and it seems to be the current "best mid-air of the season" picture.

Have you managed to get any Open class planes going yet? We have 4 contests scheduled down here, shouldn't be too far of a drive if you are intersted. There are also some 2610 contests in the works.

I just got a JKA P-47 for Christmas. I really liked how yours flew, so I decided to try one out myself. I'm looking forward to the 2003 season, that's for sure.

btw, have you heard anything about contests up your way or in NY this season?

Hi Kirk!

I haven't built any Open planes yet, but I still have the Tufflight Predator in the box. Believe me, I am interested in Open combat, but I have other projects going. I am currently building a Great Planes P-51, and afterwards, want to build one more JKAerotech plane...a P-51! I'd like something with more speed, and that should do the trick. The reason for the 3rd scale plane is that I'd like to go to the NATS next year with a minimum of 3 to compete.

If I have time (before the NATS) after building the combat P-51, then I'll start with Open planes. Unfortunately, I am a slow builder.

I just checked the contest calendar for combat meets up here, but none are listed. I did see the meets in Maryland, though. I'll definitely make an effort to attend at least one of them.

By the way, here are a few tips for the Thunderbolt, or any scale plane. Use metal geared servos...I stripped one plastic-gear servo during test flight crashes, and the other during that mid-air. Secondly, I don't follow the instructions as far as using a single aileron servo. I use one in each wing, laid flat in a cutout (see Corsair instructions on the JKAerotech home page). The reason is that if something goes wrong with this servo, you'll have to tear the plane apart to get to it (my wings are not removable). Also, I epoxied carbon fiber tape to the leading edges of my Thunderbolt and Corsair. If you look at the mid-air pic closely, you'll notice that the leading edge of my right wing panel sliced the other plane. Upon examination, I noticed a little damage to the leading edge of that wing on my plane (the carbon fiber/epoxy had cracked a little). Without the carbon fiber, that leading edge would have been crunched in quite a bit.

Look forward to seeing you in upcoming meets!

Yeah, I know what you mean about not being a speedy builder. I'm not either, beleive me. And I barely know which end of a spray can to hold, so scale finishes on my scale planes are going to be "interesting". Open planes do build a lot faster than scale planes though, which I really like.

I also plan on having at least 3 scale planes this season, maybe 4, depending. Right now, I have the JKA P-47. Last season I won a discount on a Warzone (I think, I always forget) foamie, which will be my #3 plane, I think. To round out the fleet, I am looking at a Lawless Spitfire for something with some wingarea but sleaker than the Jug. Once I get them all built and put some time on them, I plan on settling down with one design that I can tweak out and start making myself. I have a basic foam cutter almost done, which should help for some of this.

About the Jug, I also have a few mods I plan on putting on there to imrpove the kit. #1 will be replaceing the wood wing spars with fiberglass rods. I am thinking of adding a rod to the LE and doing ripstop instead of tape as well, as that results in good impact resistance in my open designs. I'm just not sure about the weight though.

I will have removeable wings, as I have a small car and a smaller storage area in my townhouse. I can't really manage one-part airplanes, unfortunately.

I haven't decided on what servos to use yet, but I am leaning towards the HS-225. I don't trust the HS-81 or HS-85 on flight surfaces, metal gears or not. I just have way too many mid-airs.
All my other combat planes all have standard-size servos on aileron and elevator. I'd do the same with the P-47, but I need to keep the weight down.

I also have a few mods in mind to make the P-47 faster in the air. I'm not going with the stock coro cowl arrangement. I will either make one out of a soda bottle like Darrin does, or I will come up with a foam half-cowl. Either way, the idea is to reduce drag and air-dam effect. I am considering mounting the engine at an angle so that the pipe wings up burried in the fuse as well, getting it out of the airstream. Not sure it will be worth the effort though. I might also replace the coro ailerons with wood. Not as durable, but I didn't get hit on the aileron very often last year, and I like the stiffness and taper of the wood.

Oh, speaking of contests, how long of a drive are you willing to make to a contest? There are several in NOVA, including one 2610 that are on the schedule locally, but not on the RCCA site yet.