tp777fo

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Isn't is nice to have a jet that flies so nice you don't want to take the time to finish it. I can see this thread is going to cost me some $$. It's time for Starfighter II for me!

smchale

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Thanks Tom. Btw, I see your new location in your profile, hope the move went smoothly!

tp777fo

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Thanks. It did. Sold our house in TX quickly and found a nice one here. It actually has a shop I will move my modeling habit into. Found a nice club with a pretty good facility (1000' grass strip). I look forward to meeting some of the guys from the south and east coast I have only seen on RCU. My first event will be Super Jet South in Sept. I have already started getting the squadron ready. I flew my PA F-15 Friday after a 6 month rebuild, as with all PA jets it went perfectly.

smchale

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That's great news Tom. I've only ever heard (and seen) great things about the PA F-15. Looking forward to building the F-16 this winter.

Here's a couple video clips:

First is the maiden that I re-edited to clip out the dead air space: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7wjV...el_video_title
I also played with some timing to get the music to match the pics. [8D]

Second is from the 3rd flight where I forgot to raise the flaps after takeoff, I flew the whole flight with a little more than take off flaps!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Cam...feature=relmfu

In fact you can hear me add 4 clicks of uptrim after takeoff...that should have been my clue that the flaps were down!

smchale

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Got some finish on the F-104 and couldn't resist taking a couple pics and including my Skymaster Sabre in there as well. [8D]

smchale

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Just got back from e-Jets in Ohio and I'm thrilled to report the F-104 was recognized with the 'Best of Show' award.

I only had about 4 flights on the model before the event so Pablo was kind enough to fly the model and did a great job, especially when one of the mains hung up. Thanks dude!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBZq0...&feature=relmf u

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqwhN...&feature=chann el_video_title

Pictures courtesy of Ken Park (Model Airplane News).

smchale

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Couple more pics....thanks again Ken, awesome work!!

Ron S

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Looks like you did a great job on the F-104, Sean! Congrats! I would like to build one too, some day. Here is a pic of TP777FO's F-104. He is too shy to post a pic of it. Tom's always flew great! What kind of flight times with yours on electric??

smchale

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Ron,
Thanks for the comps. Tom's F-104 looks great, very visible scheme (smart choice!).
I've shared a few emails with Tom and found him to be very friendly and knowledgable on Avonds kits.
I'm only using 45C 5000mAh packs at the moment and getting a max 4 min flight. Over the winter I plan on increasing the pack capacity and moving the fan back to keep the balance. I have lots of room to move it back.

Stobe777

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Hmm...this makes me interested in putting the old red beast back in action.
I take the EDF needs to be the DF version with larger intakes? Mine has the smaller ones
but extra air could maybe be drawn from a cheater hole somewhere.
I run 12s 5800:s in my T-Rex 700 heli and would just need the fan.
Can You tell the motor KV and the fan diameter?
Now I'd need to pull out everything extra, put a simple landing gear in it,
forget gear doors and make the exhaust from carbon?

BR,
Tuomas

smchale

My Feedback: (67)

Tuomos, thanks for checking in. Why would you change out your current power system?
The DF inlets are larger, and as a result I couldn't run scale gear. What do you think your airframe weighs without the turbine support? I have the fan out of mine at the moment and can give you a weight comparison. The current ducting is about 100cm2 with the shock cones installed. The Schubeler DS-77 HST may be a good option for you, it has an FSA of 77cm2, and if you put the fan behind the end of your inlet ducting about 3-4" and added a 'bellmouth' on the fan you may have a nice solution. Leaving the doors off and putting a simple set of gear in it would also give you more air into the fan...which I feel is only critical on takeoff. You don't need a carbon exhaust tube, rolled mylar works just fine.
My motor kV is 684 (neu 1915/1Y) but I think the dynemax is too large for the ducting you have. In fact, I may be pulling mine in favor of a ds94 on 12S this winter.
Cheers, Sean

Pondus

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Sean, what do you think about using a SM100 fan in the F-104, same as you have in the Skymaster F-86? I would think that should make it possible to use the turbine inlets and also the scale main gear since the OD of this unit is just 105mm, and the fan is a great unit so it should offer plenty good enough thrust on 5kW. It would also be a lighter setup than the larger fans so that's a plus as well.

Pondus

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Double post.

Stobe777

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Sean,

I just had a thought of glueing the wreckage together and not investing in a new turbine. Mine has the scale gear, but its rather heavy.
Yes it flies with a turbine, but I´m a little tempted in getting the CG back and well with the batteries. I´m into the 12S batteries now, as I run my camera heli T-Rex 700
with them. The easiest thing to do would just repair it as it was, but it was too complicated for a sport jet. If it was a little lighter now than what it was with the P80 SE
I believe it would fly well.
Ok, the EASIEST thing would just to leave in the attic, but I feel sorry for its bad shape!


TP.

smchale

My Feedback: (67)

Tuomos,

I'm guessing my model weighs about 15-16 lbs without the fan and batteries. The dynemax fan and 12S packs add about 6 lbs. Pondus offers a very valid option, and that's to run a Stumax SM100-45 fan and you may not have to modify your current ducting. What is the dia of your ducting? Do you know the estimated inlet area?

If you ran the SM100-45 with Neu 1521/1.5Y motor (that's what I have in my Skymaster Sabre), you could run it on 11S and that would save you about 0.9-1.0 lbs vs. the dynemax on 12S.
On my sabre this fan pulls 5870W at 148A peak and runs at less than 3000W (67A) for most of the flight. The ducting is greater than the fan requires and is straight in and out vs. the 104 but it still makes great power. The other nice thing about using a smaller fan is that you may be able to fit two 3S packs back near the fan, and only a single 5S pack infront of the inlets. I can take measurements if you'd like. The other nice thing for balance is that there is space with that generous fan hatch to put the fan backwards. In fact, I've just made up an adapter for mine to move the fan back 8" so hopefully I can add larger capacity packs.

Here's a couple pics of the SM100-45 in the Sabre. That plane weighs just under 18lbs rtf. You can see the holes where I had originally mounted the DS94 fan (this turned out to be too heavy - 25lbs on 14S - and the inlet area wasn't ideal for it) and going with the 100mm fan gives lots of room for the batteries on each side of the inlet.

Hope some of these thoughts are helpful. I got my Robart retracts from Aeroloft as Robart has discontinued them. I have been able to purchase most of the parts for the gear from robart so they may be able to put a set together if you asked.

Btw, if you pull the used scale gear out and wish to sell it please PM me. I don't think this will be my last 104.

Pondus

My Feedback: (1)

A 12S motor option for the SM100-45 would be a 1524/1.5Y, or a HET 700-98-935. Both of them should provide similar performance on 12S as the 1521/1.5Y does on 11S, but they are a bit longer and heavier and IMHO better suited to this kind of power. If you had a P-80 in there then this fan should drop right in as the OD is slightly smaller. Only question then is what's the inlet ducts like, this fan has a FSA of 62.5cm2 so if your ducts are close to this then you're good to go.

Stobe777

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Sean and Pondus,

Thanks for your effort! I'll measure the intake area and weigh the pieces. There are no servos now.
Repairing will of course add still some weight.
The landing gear is a bit broke, but Philippe can provide the stuff that needs to be changed.
My workroom is filled with other work right now, but once I have the window,
I just may fix the red beast...
BTW, just talked to Philippe, who has no EDF products yet. He may do a conversion in the future.
TP.

tony5548

Looking forward to your build and I am very interested.

Regards .

Tony

smchale

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Guys,
I'm in the midst of converting my 104 over to turbine power and was wondering if anyone has the turbine plans handy? Mine is the DF kit so those are the plans I have. If you can email me a scan even better, but a few pics of the turbine area would be helpful. What I'm particularly interested in is the incidence and thrust relationship, if there is any? Thanks!

j.duncker

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Philip Avonds is around and is usually very helpful, he certainly was when I put mine together then again when I needed a new nose. Why not go direct to him?

smchale

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I agree, I have always found him responsive. I sent it to him as well.
Sean

smchale

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Philip came through and quickly sent me a copy of the turbine install from the plans.

So, barring any glitches, the F-104 conversion/install is complete. Just need to test the fuel system and run the turbine, perhaps today if the weather warms up a little. All the other systems have already been set-up.

Here are a few pics. Two trays separated by six 4" alum standoffs is really solid. I wanted the common service points near the hatch level for easier access.

AUW dry weight is right on 22 lbs. K100G turbine produces 22 lbs. As an EDF I was closer to 23 lbs (fueled of course) but with only about 15 lbs of thrust....and short flight time. The fuel cell on here is 80oz, which should give about 7 mins at wide open throttle, but the F-104 won't need that much power all the time.

(For some reason I couldn't load the files in the normal method)

k_sonn

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Nice Sean.

smchale

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Thanks Kirk!

jescardin

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As an owner of an Avonds F-104 turbine kit I will keep an eye on the progress and tests.

Best Luck with the maiden!.


Best Regards,


Jesus Cardin