Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Sounds like I’m spot on then. If not I can slide the motor back from it’s forward position to fine tune.

flaz

Thanks for all of the CG conversation. A balance point aft of or at the back of the wing tube will save a chunk of weight for me.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

All of the fuel is fwd of the cg, so you can guarantee you'll be nose heavy on take off. If it starts to feel too touchy, land sooner while you still have fuel. This jet lands itself, even at 16lbs take off weight.

flaz

With a lot of help from this thread I've got all my gear in and ready to go. Since learned a lot from pictures of others, I thought I'd share my install layout. It took a bit of work to level the equipment tray with the wing incident (for the Jeti Assist receiver) but the end result seems to work well.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

Nice, I like the leveled gear tray idea. Got an all up weight?
put yep more flights on mine today. Flies so well, I might have to get a bigger one!

flaz

Airframe & electronics (completely dry and without batteries) is 12lb 8 oz
Battery weight = 12 oz
Total dry = 13 lb 4 oz

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

virtually identical to mine.

Midas D.

Hi All,

Was just wondering,

Is the Electron gears worth the extra $ compared to the JP gear, as in durability and maintenance free operation?

I know out off own experience that the JP gears witch come with the Joker work very nice and fine, but man they are HIGH maintenance and a pain..... lots of times due to weakness of pins and bearings. (Operating from grass)

Will the electron gears hold up grass fields better or just stick to JP cause Both will run in to same "Issues"?

Cheers,

Ed

Dave Wilshere

Ed, I have 100+ flights on my Joker, at least 50% on grass and the only thing I had to do was lube the pivot links to allow the leg to fully straighten. We have 3 other Jokers too in the same club and only one has needed a nose pin after an off runway landing.

i think the JP gear is amazing, I expected problems but they have not come.

Midas D.

Hi Dave,

That's good news and guess your grass field might be better than ours ;-)
Mine I had to change out all the bearings 2x times (aprox. 50 + flights) and the pivot links indeed need lube to keep going.

Witch all is not a big issue and not that much of a cost, but I was just wondering would the electrons hold better compared to the JP's so are they worth the extra $

Cheers,

Ed

Oh, one more question, 45N or 70N what's gonna be the speed difference aprox.?
My thought go out to the new X45 in combination with a "Bag" for fuel to keep the weight as low as possible, but i fancy speed as well so tough choice I suppose....

Dave Wilshere

There are no holes for sure I’ve flown on Four different grass sites, but touching down nose high is the trick.

Electrons are the best, but heavier. So more load. In this case I would say I would stay with the JP gear.

Level speed I guess is very similar 45 or 70N but vertical speed with the 70 would be the way to go...and I would think longer flights as full power would be required less.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

I'm not sure straight and level speed would be the same, at least not on the first pass. The 45N might get up to speed after a few laps, but my 85N powered Rebel is out of sight in a hurry! I'd say it's teasing the USA 199mph limit, probably 185-190ish. So if you fancy speed
I got a lot of flack for being "heavy", but this jet flies very light, even at 16lbs take-off weight. I could easily drop a pound off that if I cared to, with a smaller tank(After about 6 minutes of flight I still have 1/3 tank. This is probably because I rarely can use, or need to use full throttle!), and some different equipment choices(I have a Intairco UAT and Spektrum powersafe receiver that probably added 4 ounces or so).
If you're flying off grass, I think the 45 would take quite some distance to get up to speed. Go with the 70. I'd even venture to say go with an 85, since they are usually the same weight, but I will admit that the residual thrust at idle makes it a little harder to slow down. But if you're flying off grass, this shouldn't be an issue.
On the gear, I would say that the real benefit of electron would be the brakes. I don't have experience with Electron, but my understanding is their brakes are much better, whereas JP are more on/off and hardly proportional. I took care of that by changing out the JP controller and going with the Xicoy LG-15 with gyro controlled brakes/steering, and ABS/pulse braking. Worth every penny.

Dave Wilshere

Even with lots of power it takes more than one circuit to get to full speed, my 160 powered UF needs 2 full laps wide open to get everything installed.

Brakes on grass...I hardly use them and even then it doesn’t matter if they lock.

T3chDad

I've read the entire thread, but I fail to see where everyone is getting theirs from (in the USA). carf-models.com?

Thank you.

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Yes, Carf-models.com Ray LaBonte was my rep his number is on the website

hybris

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, and they are awesome to deal with. Great communication. Ray call me often for updates on shipment, customs receipt and freight hub receipt.

T3chDad

Thank you guys!

Helijet

Agreed! Ray has been excellent to deal with through the years and my most recent purchase of a Rebel Hot was no exception.
The Hot has been an unexpected success for CARF so don't be surprised if you need to wait a bit.

cheers
dw

Dave Wilshere

Mike Mcconville has just been announced as a new CARF Rep. super experienced guy.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

I know Mike! Had positive dealings with him as a rep for other companies!

husafreak

My Feedback: (3)

That’s great news as I know Ray was buried in work after Andy’s untimely passing. And with CARF picking up (PAU?) models it’s been much more work than usual. I would like to say that you can certainly deal with CARF directly, they are very responsive and it is not necessary to go through a US based rep, but I like to get my reps involved so I go through them.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

Speaking of reps, can you say if there are specific limits to custom schemes?
Essentially, looking to put a Rebel Max scheme on a 2 meter Rebel.

Dave Wilshere

Reps are the way to go, obviously they are communicating with the factory too and sometimes there are two lots of emails to be dealt with about the same thing! It adds a huge work load. CARF was built on having people in as many countries as possible to deal with the customers.

Scheme. With any scheme the masks have to be drawn and cut, some just are not possible, but in this case I would think the resize is possible without too many hours computer work.
At the moment Ray and Mike are at the factory (I was supposed to be there too-but other work commitments meant I couldn’t make it) the new Bolt model flew for the first time and the lighter F-100 too.

Dave

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks. Just got that info from Ray. Looks like we might be able to make it happen! He's been my rep for my Hot and my UF.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

10 more uneventful flights on my Rebel at Coachella jet jam! Well, mostly. The front tank mount came loose from the tank but that was caught and fixed post flight.
The runway centerline is also exactly at sea level, which made for a couple double-landings after attempting to wheelie the first landing(I'm used to around 3,000ft elevation runways). This jet is a floater at sea level, and fast! I got yelled at after one pass because they thought I might be teasing/ breaking the 200mph speed limit, lol. It's fast, but I don't think it's that fast!