I have just purchased my first jet which is a starfire. I read Mikes Jet book and articles in R/C Jet Magazine. Every article tells me to use the soft mounts to reduce vibration in the air frame. BUT ! when I contacted Yellow Aircraft they told me not to use the soft mounts in the Starfire because it would cause the intake duct to split. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I start construction on this jet. Any other hints for the Starfire would be cool as well. Thanks!!!!!

david,

congrats on getting a starfire, you will love it,

so, on to the fan soft mount, after the intakes have been joined, wrap carbon around the outside of the duct at the rear where the fan will go inside !

this will strengthen the seam area that is proaned to splitting, now keep in mind that adding soft mounts will require you to lower the fan mount rails to compensate for the space required for the isolaters, and depending on the brand of soft mounts you use, you may also have to lower the elev. servo mounts as these go directly under the fan mount rails .

having said that, if you are going to use the highly recemended dynamax fan os combination, then soft mounting is really not needed, the combo runs very smooth when set up correctly .

hint" follow the instruction manual and you will end up with a very nice jet, the jet books are great for general imformation, but dont get too far off track reading them, and try to stick to the manual of the particular jet kit you are working on, just my opinion .

have fun !

regards, scott
yellow a/c rep

by the way, i'm also in orange county ca. , so if I can help, feel free to contact me .

scott

David - I'd second the suggestion that you don't absolutely need a soft-mount system. However, I do strongly recommend that you make sure the fan rotor is balanced to the best of your ability. If there is any residual unbalance in the rotor, try to set the fan up so that the heavy spot is at the bottom (6 o'clock) position as the piston comes to top dead center. This can help to counteract the unbalance effect and further minimize vibration.

Hi David

We carry Trim's soft mount system. Send me a PM and I'll give you a price.

Ed

Thanks guys for the advice on the soft mounts. since I have the OS / Dynamax combination I think I will pass on the soft mounts for now. THIS SURE IS A COOL SITE FOR JET INFO.