Dave Wilshere

Denis

Congratulations on your first jet experience, I wish you many more happy days. The Xcalibur has proven the perfect starter and sports jet, it has inertia like you say, so it is great experience for future model choices.
I'm sure we will meet next time you are in England to talk through your jet flights!

Dave

DenisFerrari

Thank you Dave,
sure, see you there end of October ...question for sure will be "which jet model next ?"

Denis

dmattmul

Can anyone tell me if their is a distributor in Hong Kong where I can buy the Xcalibur? I live in southern China and was looking for an airfame that I can fly in a small field nearby. I fly in the US now but I am in Asia 60% of the time. Will they be avaiable next week at JetPower in Germany? It would be easier to purchase in Hong Kong. I have a Jet Central Bee II here now. (7 kg)
Thanks

Dave Wilshere

We have supplied a few into Hong Kong. Will also have stock at JP next week, but shipping would probably be easier.
Please email at [email protected] and give me a full address and preferred scheme and I'll look at costs and time frame

Dave

dmattmul

For the thread earlier about asking if Intairco electric brakes can be greased DO NOT GREASE Intairco brakes !! I have been using these for quite some time and I know the manufacture says not to do this. I have 6 sets on turbine airframes now. They work great and probably to strong. (They can always be dialed down) Typcially I set my proportional outputs to the minimum and use pulse setting so not to flat spot the tires.

SR117

Hi all
Well got my undercart finally...so the build continues...as Dave will be aware I have a few jets on the go at the moment...in my "mess" I have noticed I dont have screws or bolts with the kit to my knowledge to put the undercart in...ie the 4 per retract unit.
Were there bolts in the kit...? Im not sure if I misplaced the "screws" or the "bolts"...before I substitute I just want to be sure...the manual seems to indicate screws...I can get those no issue...

So if Im supplying, no issue, but I gather everybody is using wood screws? or are bolts some option..cant see how you could get to the top....
Still have to buy my power plant...been waiting for $$$ to go back up but Im guessing ill just have to give in and buy it...

Si_B

There are no bolts in the kit for the retracts, you will need to sort them yourself. Following a previous post by Dave, I drill and tapped the mounts for M4 bolts, and mine have been perfect (a few others I fly with have done the same thing). The wood is pretty good in the retract bearers and takes a thread well. I guess you could use wood screws depending on your preference.

Simon

Dave Wilshere

Either 2.9mm self tapping sheet metal screws, or like simon says I always tap the wood M4 on all my models Ripmax or CARF

SR117

thanks...never tap-ed into wood before...metal yes.
I usually drill through and use blind nuts for security.

SR117

Hi Dave.. I noticed the wing bag/boom/elevator sets are out of stock everywhere...any idea when you or others will have them back in stock.
Getting closer to roll out for my bird...so starting to think about the "hanger rash" affect of leaving the house.. Im guessing you guys recommend you get a set...pretty obvious.

Dave Wilshere

There was a problem at the factory and they cannot manufacture them at this time. I also use CARF UF or cut down Hawk wing bags...

g_boxwood

I had my maiden today and everything went fine. My intention was to fly the Xcalibur in a bigger field during the week-end but I couldn't manage. So I decided to do it this morning at the local field in total solitude. It was a very short flight due to the aggravating weather conditions but long enough to rule out any doubt I had about being able to fly it at the local field close to home. I'm very happy about it because it means I'll be able to fly it way more often than I had anticipated.

It was a shaky experience and not my best flight ever but the plane handled all my mistakes very well. It was too turbulent in the air to tell about trimming, I'll need to check it in better conditions.

I had to do it today as the wind forecasts are very good for all the week (30 to 40 knots): in fact, I went windsurfing afterwards (that was the original plan for today). I might be able to fly it again on Saturday and Sunday and I'm looking forward to it.

Kudos to Dave and Ripmax for a job well done!

Dave Wilshere

Excellent, another happy member of the X club.

Well done

Dave

g_boxwood

When it comes to wing bags, I'm very fond of the KUZA ones and for the X I use the 30cc size. As you can see from the pictures, both wings are inside a single bag with a thick separator, there is a wing tube pocket and one additional zipped pocket on each side that in this case works great for the elevator.



HTH,

g_boxwood

About the fuel tank size.

In the end, I decided to go for the huge tank I had purchased from Carlos of CM Jets and cut it in half: original capacity was around 3.4 liters and now I have half of it. The intention was to use both halves as a fuel tank and as a smoke tank, one on top of each other.

Here is the tank cut open:



I laminated the open bottom and pressure tested it under water up to 2 bars. I'm not really happy with the sharp corners so I'll mold my own tank in kevlar with generous rounded edges.



The tank as it is unfortunately does not fit in the airframe without some modifications to the bulkhead in front of the air ducts. This is most likely due to the not extremely accurate building of the bulkheads inside the fiberglass fuse (the only flaw of the model). Some are at an angle, some others have huge gaps. Nothing to worry about though.

Here is the minor mod to the bulkhead, a 1.5 mm birch ply backer plate was glued to the back for extra strength.



Since the stopper assembly is now lower than the original position, some clearance has to be achieved at the front as well:



I really like that the tank now sits so low in the airframe with plenty of room above it for equipment and optionally an additional smoke fluid tank.

I put the K60G on a stand and ran it with a 1.5 liter tank to see how long of a flight I could get: I tried to simulate the throttle usage of a typical flight but I'm not sure I did it right since I got around 12 minutes of flight time. First flight was really short, approximately 2 minutes excluding taxiing around and it used 1/3 of the total capacity.



Have a nice day,

Fly Mower

Nice Job Giacomo..!

The link below has a test on a Kingtec K-60 that gave a fuel consumption of approx 300ml / min at full throttle. I guess you would use 50-60% of that with 'normal' flying. That might help calculate what will be a safe 1st flight etc.

http://www.kingtechturbines.com/stor...roducts_id=132

Cheers,

Lee.

Dave Wilshere

The 60N will use more fuel and fly less time than a 100N so with the stock 2.9ltr tank people fly 8mins.
With the 100N when full power is used less and shorter time I fly 9.5mins

izzy

I have now built and test flown 3 Xcalibur jets
all 3 fly great , however I have a question
all 3 needed more down thrust on the turbines as the plane would climb with full thrust

also 1 plane needed me too change the angle of attack of the elevator so that the plane would not climb at full throttle

I have been following the thread since the start , and have not come across this , so it seems weird that only the planes I set up have needed this
anyone else ?

thanks

Dave Wilshere

Shot this on Saturday evening, shows the three sizes

mort78

My Feedback: (1)

What an awesome flying site Dave..... Brilliant.

Dave Wilshere

Its one of my favorite sites from back drop. Horrid in a cross wind as Friday, but rest of weekend was fine

i3dm

My Feedback: (51)

Mini Xcalibur is very cool ! where can we see details?


Would like to join Izzy's question before i maiden mine.
Dave, can you comment on this please?

Dave Wilshere

Different turbine design will have an influence. 85-90% of what I have flown are JetCat P-100 powered, other turbines might achieve their stated thrust at high exhaust gas speeds, this travelling under the tailplane will make lower pressure and pull the tail down (as the lower surface is moving faster than the top, so tail down, nose lifts. Its why the turbines are angled down, not trust angle, tailplane separation from the exhaust gas. Why on a Bobcat with low tail the turbine is so angled...
When you guys screw the model together is it standing on its wheels? or on a stand across the booms. I have seen some people supporting the model like this and doing the screws up with it like that it will lock the booms in a raised position.

i3dm

My Feedback: (51)

Dave, on the ones you set up - no spacing has been used on the turbine?
all of them fly straight without a pitch up tendency?

Dave Wilshere

All are stock, two 6mm blocks (each side) under the motor mount at the angle set by the motor plates.
Throttle on off its straight and level till the speed bleeds.
Balance at 170mm 15mm of fuel in main tank header full

Dave