757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Beautiful and fine work! Very nice.

Alex48

looking good!

MNModels

Time to update...

From J3 pilot to F104 pilot....wonder who did the conversion.

Tomorrow is maiden day. Hope all goes well.

Rgds

Alex48

Have you raised the turbine like Roland suggests or are you flying it stock from Skymaster?

MNModels

Alex,

I will do both and report back. All the F104 's in Taiwan incl Anton's fly with the std setup. Anton say he has over 40 flights now and he feels comfortable with setup. I trust his word as he has more exsperience than any one of us... But i would like to check out Roland's setup as well. I also had a small avonds f104 ducted fan back in the stone age and would like to compare notes.

Hope all goes well. Another 5 hours to go and counting...

Rgds

Morne

In the Haze

Good luck Boet

Alex48

Nice of you and Anton to chime in and mention that on the 104 thread.

Good luck with the flights, let us know how the two setups differ.

WhoDaMan

My Feedback: (164)

I like this scheme, not even sure its scale

MNModels

Hi,

Well i am back! What an amazing adrenalin rush. Awesome jet to fly. Arguably the F104 is the only "true" jet of the jet age. I will recover first then post again....

Regards

Morne

gunradd

My Feedback: (9)

Well done!!

Alex48

congrats!

etibedossa

Congratulations Morne! I hope to receive mine
before next month. Regards. Etienne.

MNModels

Hi Etienne,

Glad to hear. What color?

Thank you for all the good luck wishes....

Now doing some scale detail work before the markings and transfers...

Back to the maiden flight. It took me a long time to get my mind around to what i was going to put on paper. I see a lot of these forums and web site where pilots say "easy to fly"!! Reminds me of a new comer to RC modeling who always wanted a warbird. Then go to the hobby shop and buy the spitfire as 1st rc model. The f104 is not a jet for a pilot who has no exsperience in jet flying. That being said - i am sure there are plenty that will differ. But thats life. Some fly mode 1 and some fly mode 2. Some fly big black TX's with 6" long gimbles and swear by it and some fly small shining TX's with mp3's &4's.

Just about the same i can say about the 2 setups as decribe on the forum. The stander setup, like all setups on SM jets is NOSE HEAVY. It is safe and predictable and some pilots like jets that fly like this. It is rock stable and you definately do not need a gyro for this setup. But you will need to move the sticks more and work hard on the elevator. I was very confortable with this setup. If you use too much flap for take -off on this setting - it will need ALL elevator to get it to rotate. After you clean her up - she is very graceful and smooth in the air. Once dirty again - you will need more power than you think. But all in all very satisfying with no bad habbits.

Roland's setup is perfectly well described by himself. It is like a racing boat on water. It is much lighter on the sticks and aerobatics will be easier with less movement on the sticks. I will recomend gyros if you use this setup.

Both setups work - some will love it - some will hate it. It all depends on your flying style.

If you like how a F20 tigershark flies - you will love the F104...

Awesome jet with awesome presence. Thank you Anton.

Regards

Morne

PS - Maiden with p160. It is not enough power for this jet. It will fly it but at full power all the time including landings. P180rx /k180G perfect for this jet.

Alex48

Hi Morne

Congratulations, Can you show me some pictures of how you tried both thrustline setups in one day please. Hoping I can incorporate this into Ali's before the test flight then he can decide for himself.

Test flight on Al's next week so fingers crossed for the weather.

MNModels

Hi,

Make the 40mm stand off removable for turbine rails. The brackets/formers that hold the pipe's front section is reversable. One is short and one is long. I am not sure how your kit is build, but mine have 2 bolts holding the formers. You need to remove these formers to get pipe out. So just turn the pipe assemble through 180 degree and refasten. (not just pipe - the front former mount and rear nozzle)

Only take 8 bolts.

I think Roland setup is great for aerobatics...

Dustin will maiden his F104 with std thrust line and a aft CG location. Will be interresting to compare.. But i think the std setup with forward CG will be too nose heavy for Ali's liking...

Regards

Morne

Alex48

I think your right re Al's style

Ali didn't want the aft section removable so he's stuck with what Ive done.

Cheers, Alex

F104Germany

Hi Morne,congratulation for first flight, nice Plane.Alex make my update for Ali, Ali fly my style.Your CG Question. I have into the noce 2 2s Life 2500 mAh and 1 lipo 3300 2 sWith strong Turbine over 20 kg thrust go with CG to 11 cm under 20 kg you can go to 11,5-12 cmFlaps/slats for this update Landing slats 18 mm flaps 85-90 mm/ start 11 mm/ 45 mmElevator 3 and 6 mm +Morne thanks for good explaneation..for future nice flightsrgRoland

MNModels

Hi,

Changing turbines now for the next flight. Should be huge difference. Kingtech 180G install weight is less than stock Jetcat P160.

Thanks Roland. Will mix the elevator / flap for next flights and install the I-Gyro.

Regards

Morne

PS - Alex can not upload pictures at present - 500 - Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed

In the Haze

So any more news?

MNModels

Hi,

I think everything was said very well regarding the F104. Dustin flew with 23kg thrust and Roland with 25Kg thrust and 110mm pipe. Ali also upped his to K180, same as my setup now. Huge difference. I think the more thrust - it better to lift the turbine 40mm. I fly same as Roland and Ali and it is solid. No feedback from Dustin yet. No need gyros. There is no wings for the wind to destort.. Best JET ever.

Flying with DSM J + 4 x sat RX's setup with flitemetal. No fail safe count yet..

Hopefully will fly it at Graaff Reinett in 2 weeks. See you there...

Regards

Morne

pilot tw

me too,

i just asked paint factory for paint this color scheme for my second F-104, but i want to find these decals , can some one help me ?

smchale

My Feedback: (67)

Anton,
I believe the Hasegawa C model kit in 1/48 has this scheme.
I have the 1/32 G model kit and they aren't in there.

More info here:
http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Stars/wU891C.htm