FenderBean

I am curios about that hydraulic stuff as well, do those hydraulics operate the main gear? If so I would love to get the down low on them because I really want to convert my SM F-14 gear to hydraulic. It looks like its connected to the open/close cylinder of the gear. Thanks

dubd

The F-104 gear are hydraulic, but operated by air pressure. Why are you looking to convert the SM F-14 gear? Are there known problems with the gear?

JJP

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Here are a few pictures as to where the wheel well fillers go. You need to do a little work to get them in and perhaps a bit of trimming but they do add a nice touch.

smchale

My Feedback: (67)

Thanks for the pics Jack, very helpful!
i noticed today that my stab doesn't appear to have any balance weight in it. Is this normal? Does yours?
my avonds has a counter balance weight that sits out in front and below the stab hidden inside the fin. It's like a hockey stick shape keel.

JJP

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Sean no the SM does not have a counter balance.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Wonderful help JPP! Thanks again. I just love how you opened the fuselage cooling ducts also. I want to do the same. Any advise?

I did some research on the stab balance. The big bird does use weights in the leading edge. I will post more detail in a couple days. Work stole me from the shop.

JJP

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Jason as far as opening up the vents it just is time consuming but not hard. It was a bit more time consuming trying to get the flight metal in there properly. The little vents near the nose gear doors (73 of them if I remember) were a bit tricky as they are so tiny but once done the surface looks a little less two dimensional.
Jack

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Any weight fwd is good. I'd say if you can afford the tail weight it would be nice to have it balanced but in reality SM has limited this airframe to 160 mph and many have flown without any additional weight.

Anyone consider a solid steel rod for mass balance, from the servo to the stab?

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

I got the forward cylinders installed on the forward main gear doors. During testing I discovered one, both or all cylinders are leaking internally.
I also have noticed all of these cylinders lock up after they sit for a day or so. Additionally, all cylinders seem to hit something internally, probably rough edges as the piston passes the ports. I'm disappointed with the lack of quality control.
Has anyone else experienced this? I will be hopefully getting replacements from SM but now I have to pull it all apart and determine how many are bad.

dubd

Have you tried running BVM o-ring oil or another silicon-based oil through the cylinders? That almost always fixes leaks for me.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

That's the first thing I do before I ever install the cylinders. Good stuff!

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Anthony Chan and Skymaster were very responsive to my issue. I did some further troubleshooting and discovered a programming issue with the air valve. No leaks in the cylinders thanks god!
Reprogrammed valve and all is well.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

I'm happy to report on several fronts. The Starfighter is progressing along nicely. Your doors are always a headache no matter how simple. I'm excited to say that the forward maingear doors are finished and flight ready. I went through all the nuts and bolts on the landing gear and make sure everything was thread locked and airworthy. Nothing quite like seeing a maingear tire depart the airplane on take off during a maiden flight. All the hydraulic lines and pneumatic lines in the main well. A four way fitting works well at the forward gear bulkhead for sending air to the four cylinders.
Skymaster sent me another Y fitting to replace the one that was leaking. My hope was to be able to bolt both Y fittings into the top of the keel beam as it was designed. Unfortunately the new fitting as a smaller diameter hole in it than the original. Therefore it cannot be secured as planned. If I ever remove the gear from the airplane again I will fill the hole and rethread it for a smaller diameter screw. I hope that Skymaster will change this design in the future to incorporate a smaller diameter screw that will be appropriate for use with Festo brand fitting.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

A good friend of mine and professional builder, Jordan Morse at Morse Aircraft Development sold me on the idea of using a Powerbox Royal SRS. He is a dealer for PowerBox and Duralite so he fixed me up. Jordan does some of the nicest work I've seen and very knowledgable where electronics are involved. I help with some of his test flights. If you desire to have an airplane built, please check out his website!

www.MorseAircraftDevelopment.com

Here are some pics of the SRS and the air system install to date. Still have lots to tidying up to do as well as some painting.
Air systems are extensive for this airplane and I will cover it in my next post.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Merry Christmas! The pneumatic system will comprise five independent systems to minimize failures in the event one system develops a leak. My goal was to have only one fill port for all air systems. The breakdown looks like this:

Pneumatic
Use button valve for nose gear doors sequencing.


Nose gear, nose doors and MLG (5 Large tanks)
MLG fwd doors (1 Large Tank)
Wheel brakes= Black (1 Large tank)
Chute (1small tank)
Speedbrake (1 small tank)

I used check valves to isolate each system and allow a single point servicing. The MLG forward doors were isolated to allow the main gear system to retain higher pressures, reduce the chances of leakage and allow the undercarriage to push the doors open if that system fails. The gear utilizes a pressure monitor failsafe.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Dad made all the wood parts that support the FCT air trap, retract valve, fwd. MLG door valve, brake valve and engine gear. This equipment tray is easily removable to allow for service if required. The FCT trap is very well made and is serviceable. I did some testing with the GBR filtered clunk and discovered its ability to gather up any fuel it made contact with, completely emptying the fuel tank! This style clunk also prevents small debris such as a bit of glue the in tank from preventing fuel flow to the engine. I will run these clunks in all future jet builds! Lastly the clunk delivered zero air even when the top of the filter element was exposed to air. The only time air got into the line was when the tank was completely empty. I will be doing some special things on the main tank plumbing and will cover that before Christmas.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

The fueling service will be via dry break fittings. No more jet fuel on the hands!
thats the big red cap on the panel beside the pneumatic service fitting. Pictured previous post above.

Couple more pics of the fuel accessory tray.
Here is a pic of the tray I installed squarely with the airframe to provide an extremely solid and level platform for the SRS.
Testing of the xicoy telemetry for the engine being displayed at the transmitter. The SRS and GPS telemetry also come back to the transmitter where any number of warnings can be set up to indicate a system issue that is unacceptable for continued flight.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Receivers mounted at the inlet spikes so the antennae can be routed inside the spike that will be painted black. Signal reception would be unacceptable if having to go through the metal finish that has been planned. Two GPS receivers have to be used because Futaba has not updated their software to allow the PB GPS II to be utilized for both the SRS integral iGyro speed based variable gain and traditional GPS information. So the solution is to use one GPS for the iGyro functions and one GPS for telemetry purposes. These will most likely mount under the cloth portion of the glare shield. This will provide an unrestricted reception of satellite signals.

flejter1

Jason,

Make sure you leave room for the Flux Capacitor!!! LOL. Great build so far and looking forward to the finished product. Hopefully I can drop by and check it out while I am in Oklahoma over X-mas.

Dirk

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Got a beautiful tank vent setup from Tom Cook at Jet Model Products! It's top quality and I trimmed the fitting to get as much fuel capacity as possible. The vent is removable and also has the ability to rotate!

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

I didn't like the way the standard stopper looked with the 3/16" tube so I made my on setup. Dad cut the thick round out with a hacksaw and filed to shape. This worked extremely well and provided even clamping pressure as well as an even swelling of the stopper when the tube was inserted. I just added some solder to form a bit of a barb.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Fuel vent is flush and breaks with 1/4 turn. The vent plug had orings to seal and I removed them so the system can breath as temperature and pressure changes occur. This will keep trash out but will prevent air loads on the tank during periods of inactivity.
Vent fitting works in concert with the dry break setup.
Fuel shuttoff valve installed and is easy to reach.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Added a pad for the powerBus and had some help from Buddy dog. We added some servo L brackets with fuel tube slipped over secure the tank. I then added some bubble wrap to the top of the tank to lock it in. I considered using a shaped block if balsa but the wrap is much lighter and does an excellent job. Weight is critical on this as a 400' runway is like operating from a carrier deck.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Brake line plumbed with a bit of safety wire.

757Driver

My Feedback: (90)

Center section is airworthy so we focus on the nose.
First is to reinforce the gear mount. Never understand why MFG's insist on putting mounts in tension instead of shear. This is a paradigm that needs to change. Jet legend accomplished this in the F-4 and F-22. Never a problem and I had h bunch of hard landings.