JHH-A7 with the new Kingtech K45
01-10-2016, 06:20 PM
#127
Made a little more progress. Had to mill quite a big chunk out of the strut to get it to seat as close to the cylinder as I could. I think the strut was designed to go on a retract with a narrower cylinder. The scissor still isn't gonna clear the gear doors. You guys have the same problem? I think I'm gonna have to cut a hole in the gear doors. This is a wonderful kit...except for these damn landing gear. I might be cursing the gear doors soon as well.
The 2.25" dubro wheels I used for the front are TIGHT. Are the horizon's narrower? Love a tip on drilling a centered hole through that hub! Or, a reamer that is wide enough??? I cannot find one.
I know its supposed to sit low in the rear end, gonna put a carbon strip back there, don't see landing without bumping it occasionally. Maybe when I get it fully loaded the nose scissor will come down a bit?
Here's how I did the drop tanks, thanks Chris! I used G10 for the fins, thanks again Chris ;-)
Love seeing it up on its wheels for the first time!
The 2.25" dubro wheels I used for the front are TIGHT. Are the horizon's narrower? Love a tip on drilling a centered hole through that hub! Or, a reamer that is wide enough??? I cannot find one.
I know its supposed to sit low in the rear end, gonna put a carbon strip back there, don't see landing without bumping it occasionally. Maybe when I get it fully loaded the nose scissor will come down a bit?
Here's how I did the drop tanks, thanks Chris! I used G10 for the fins, thanks again Chris ;-)
Love seeing it up on its wheels for the first time!
01-11-2016, 05:00 PM
#128
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Looking good! If possible, I would recommend putting a softer spring in the nose strut. The nose fully compresses on my airplane which helps. Also, you can shorten the length of the strut too by gluing a small piece of 1/64" plywood under the stop on the strut portion. You don't want to have the nose gear touch first on landings, it'll hop you right down the runway on you. Once you've got it fully outfitted, you'll have a better idea of what might be needed based on the stance.
02-13-2016, 04:49 PM
#129
I made some progress on the A-7. The gear doors were a motivation killer, I think that is the same on a lot of kits ;-) Copious amounts of elastic string made everything work. I found a low profile servo for the nose steering, the directions call for it to be off to the side, that didn't make a lot of sense. This one fits right in the little indentation on the bottom of the fuse, tank sits on top. Because of the two wheels on the nose, I pulled the cables towards the middle and up instead of pulling them laterally, worked out really well. Have to paint a bunch of the add ons, and it will be ready to go. All I have to do now is wire and plumb everything, my favorite part :-)
Here's a video of the nose steering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNeLaVUWLk0
Here's a video of the nose steering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNeLaVUWLk0
02-22-2016, 09:26 AM
#131
All I need to do is throws and program the gyro. It balanced spot on. I put the fuel pump in the nose with the two batteries. Couple questions. Which one of these pics is even for the elevator? Guessing the one with the trailing edge even with the notch on the fuse?
Ready to fly with header tank full, it weights 14.5 pounds! My Mini Avanti is right around 10. What does an electric weigh with batts? Is this on the porky side?
Should I follow the recommended throws? I recall reading that someone suggested only 1/4" of rudder?? manual says more.
Ready to fly with header tank full, it weights 14.5 pounds! My Mini Avanti is right around 10. What does an electric weigh with batts? Is this on the porky side?
Should I follow the recommended throws? I recall reading that someone suggested only 1/4" of rudder?? manual says more.
02-22-2016, 02:21 PM
#132
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Mike,
The airplane will need to carry some up elevator for trim, so use the centering that has the TE more or less even to the aft elevator fairing there. Regarding controls, the manual should be a good place to start. I can double check the throws on mine. Otherwise, on the rudder surface, keep the deflection to no more than 3/8". The airplane does weird things with rudder inputs, so reducing the rate down tames that quite a bit.
Here are a few recent pics of mine. I've got a JetFan 90 EDF in it. The airplane is quick and quiet! We caught some vid too, so hoping to get that edited up soon.
The airplane will need to carry some up elevator for trim, so use the centering that has the TE more or less even to the aft elevator fairing there. Regarding controls, the manual should be a good place to start. I can double check the throws on mine. Otherwise, on the rudder surface, keep the deflection to no more than 3/8". The airplane does weird things with rudder inputs, so reducing the rate down tames that quite a bit.
Here are a few recent pics of mine. I've got a JetFan 90 EDF in it. The airplane is quick and quiet! We caught some vid too, so hoping to get that edited up soon.
02-23-2016, 12:17 PM
#134
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14.5 lb is what mine weighs with the electric setup. Interestingly, it weighed basically the same fully fueled when it had the turbine in it also (it was around 12.5 lb dry I think).
04-23-2016, 12:48 PM
#137
Got two flights on it last week. take-off and landings were a lot easier than I had read about ;-) Did not fly it with drop tanks. K45 was perfect amount of power. Flew around at half throttle. I may be letting this one go, just too many jets right now and I think I'm more of a sport jet flyer than scale.
12-10-2018, 09:26 AM
#138
Nothing like bumping a 2-3 year old thread. 
Can anyone confirm, is the wing on this model (the ARF version) glassed or simply painted directly over the wood? I would never have guessed it wasn't glassed, but I can see an awful lot of balsa grain through the paint and after a little hangar rash and a wingtip scrape I'm really thinking it is not. I'm going to be repainting mine soon enough, curious how I could go about glassing the wing if I choose to...i.e. try to strip the paint first, or glass over it as is, etc.
I also need to try DrScoles method of steering servo install. Mine has never failed me too horribly being off to one side, but I think I could improve the nose gear retraction with it centered. I am constantly battling with the nose gear not fully retracting, I think the tires are contacting the front of the fuel tank in the well so maybe I can look to make some adjustments there. And I would probably get better nose gear door closure by notching out the doors for the scissor link of the nose gear as well. What was the most popular method for closing the nose gear doors? I have been using thread/floss most recently, but it always seems to stretch or give in some way, leaving the doors halfway open.
For the main gear doors I could never get the elastic cord to last more than a month or so before it would lose it's "spring" so I use a couple of rubber bands and then have magnets on the front corners of all four doors, so once they close in flight they tend to stay shut. I don't know if I was using the wrong elastic cord or what.
All in all I still really like the plane, just looking to make some small improvements over the next few months, and maybe give it a quick paint job as well. Anyone else still flying theirs?
Can anyone confirm, is the wing on this model (the ARF version) glassed or simply painted directly over the wood? I would never have guessed it wasn't glassed, but I can see an awful lot of balsa grain through the paint and after a little hangar rash and a wingtip scrape I'm really thinking it is not. I'm going to be repainting mine soon enough, curious how I could go about glassing the wing if I choose to...i.e. try to strip the paint first, or glass over it as is, etc.
I also need to try DrScoles method of steering servo install. Mine has never failed me too horribly being off to one side, but I think I could improve the nose gear retraction with it centered. I am constantly battling with the nose gear not fully retracting, I think the tires are contacting the front of the fuel tank in the well so maybe I can look to make some adjustments there. And I would probably get better nose gear door closure by notching out the doors for the scissor link of the nose gear as well. What was the most popular method for closing the nose gear doors? I have been using thread/floss most recently, but it always seems to stretch or give in some way, leaving the doors halfway open.
For the main gear doors I could never get the elastic cord to last more than a month or so before it would lose it's "spring" so I use a couple of rubber bands and then have magnets on the front corners of all four doors, so once they close in flight they tend to stay shut. I don't know if I was using the wrong elastic cord or what.
All in all I still really like the plane, just looking to make some small improvements over the next few months, and maybe give it a quick paint job as well. Anyone else still flying theirs?
12-10-2018, 09:35 AM
#139
Mine is permanently on display on my shop ceiling.... Could never get the main gear to play nice... Not sure I ever had a successful flight where they both went up and both came down... tried all kinds of tricks... just wasn't happening. Once side always stuck. Super cool plane, I just gave up on the gear.
12-10-2018, 10:21 AM
#140
For the most part I've never really had trouble with gear going up or down reliably, just the age old gear door pains that have plagued this kit for nearly everyone who's ever owned it. It is definitely a very cool/unique plane though, can't envision not taking it to every jet meet just for that aspect alone.
12-11-2018, 05:02 AM
#141
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I still for the life of me can't understand why nobody has done a big-ish A-7 kit? It's got everything you need to make a successful jet.. Good wing area, TONS of different paint schemes, lots of different armament configurations.. The gear isn't terribly complex..
12-11-2018, 07:25 PM
#142
I still have one of these hanging from my ceiling; but so many projects and so little time. I was going to put a K-45 in it, but now I'm wondering how a K-30 would do. Maybe the engine could be set further back reducing the length of the pipe or even eliminating it altogether? My biggest worry with this jet is all the videos seem to show it landing at quite a quick pace and my runways are fairly short. If I could reduce the weight significantly with a K-30 it might land reasonably slowly.
12-11-2018, 07:26 PM
#143
I still for the life of me can't understand why nobody has done a big-ish A-7 kit? It's got everything you need to make a successful jet.. Good wing area, TONS of different paint schemes, lots of different armament configurations.. The gear isn't terribly complex..
12-12-2018, 07:22 PM
#144
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If anyone is looking for a NIB Jet Hangar A-7 ARF, I have one I would be willing to sell. Andrews red and white test scheme, includes the stock retracts. $750 plus shipping and I can do Greyhound. E-mail me directly for pictures and fastest response.
The now out-of-business Century Jet Models A-7 was a nice plane! Good size and really captured the lines of the full size well. I saw one fly a number of years ago on an 18 pound thrust turbine. Definitely underpowered but it flew. I think it would have been an awesome flyer on 28 pounds.
The now out-of-business Century Jet Models A-7 was a nice plane! Good size and really captured the lines of the full size well. I saw one fly a number of years ago on an 18 pound thrust turbine. Definitely underpowered but it flew. I think it would have been an awesome flyer on 28 pounds.
12-14-2018, 03:37 AM
#146
I still for the life of me can't understand why nobody has done a big-ish A-7 kit? It's got everything you need to make a successful jet.. Good wing area, TONS of different paint schemes, lots of different armament configurations.. The gear isn't terribly complex..
Craig
12-14-2018, 05:34 AM
#147
Lewis Patton (KYJets organizer) indicated to me a few months ago that Fly Eagle Jets was working on an improved version of their large A-7. The original version was apparently one of the faulty honeycomb designs. Lewis said that he stopped flying his when he noticed structural cracks in the wing mount.
