OK guys, I am PUMPED! I was out at the field tonight flying my Reaper. Awesome! I had a few excellent flights with actuall landings on the runway! I can now say without a doubt, that raising the nose wheel about 1 1/2 inches allows a quick rotation to take off, in about 250 to 300 feet of grass runway. With the Trim brakes I can set it down and stop within 20 to 30 feet easy. I really am amazed at the smoothness of the Reaper. It seems to behave very nicely and I plan to do a lot more flying now that I can take off easily from our field. Landings (without any speed brakes or anything special) are quite slow. I am still using only elevators (no elevon mix) but I find mine is still pretty responsive on the idle glide down to landing. What more to say?! I am happy with the plane! I am also very happy with the Wren MW54 engine, has not had a hiccup yet and I am sure trying (High G turns, fast rolls, etc) hard! Later,
Andrew

Oh yes, I bought my Trim wheels/brakes through Great Northern Models www.greatnorthernmodels.com

They work!

Hi Andrew,

What's the climbout and vertical performance like with the Wren and how much throttle are you using most of the time? With around 17 pounds of thrust, mine leaps off grass like a scalded cat.

Have you had it start to bounce yet on a landing? It may be that the increased weight of using a bigger engine provokes it more easily, although the suspended spreader-bar has certainly taken care of that on mine.

Garrett

Garret,
I take off at full thrust, and climb out is at about 30 degree angle. Once I am airborn and up to speed, I can climb much steeper (using my inertia) but I have not yet tried any loops. Pretty soon though. I am cruising around at just under half stick, which corresponds to 105,000 rpm on my MW54 and that should be about 4 to 4.5 pounds of thrust. Thats pretty cool, not much thrust needed (less than I figured) to comfortably cruise around withought altitude loss. When I go to full power, the speed doesnt pick up much but I can really tell the difference for climbing and tight flat turns that are super. I have my low rate aileron set at the recommended 6mm throw, and high rates at 8 or 9mm. On low the handling is very smooth, at high rate I still think it is smooth and roll rate is much faster.

Andrew

Oops, forgot about the landing question: I have not had mine bounce yet, and I made upmy own gear from 3/16 music wire with a 3/32 spreader. There isnt much give in my main gear but it seems to be OK. I did make all my landings so far on the mains with nose wheel touch down a second after.

Andrew

i fly rc with andrew and after having seen a couple of turbine models fly last year at some fun flies i can say that i enjoyed watching the SR fly much more than the other ones, i'd rather see them fly close in than watch them become a dot in the sky and scream by at 150mph and disappear again, it is extremely smooth in all manners of flight (i can't wait to see what andrew tries next)

I got to fly my Super Reaper today at a fun fly and try TWO different things: firstly, there was a stiff cross wind all day and many fixed wing pilots stayed on the ground. I didnt want to dissapoint the crowd since most had never seen a real jet so I flew twice. I was surprised to find the Reaper handled the cross wind pretty good, allthough I was glad I had 30% more throw than recommended on high rate aileron. It was also a chance to test the rudders. Seemed to handle just fine. Second, it was my first try to take off from a smooth hard pack field (not grass) and the take off was much faster than my grass strip. Hope that any info we can share about the plane will help out...

I am still curious to know how that other fellow (sorry I forget your handle) got his Reaper to 14 pounds??? PLEASE let us know!?

Regards,
Andrew Coholic

The model was built to specs no extra any thing. Then the entire model was glassed with .58 oz cloth with polyester resin. Primed one coat and rattle can painted Krylon I believe. The paint is not like glass. But it is in color. It has an alum. main gear,bvm wheels and brakes and a strut frnt gear. Standard radio gear. With a Simjet 1700 for power and a two liter pop bottle for fuel. Thats about it. I really dont know why it is so light. It just is.
I must say it really floats. The residual thrust at Idle is almost too much to land. We turn the rudders outward for speed brakes on landing This works good.
Thanks For the questions.

Hooked.

If any one is interested We are building them as an arf just add radio gear and turbine for around 850.00 depending on covering options.

Do these reapers have retracts on them? And is there a webpage were i can find some more specs on the airplane?

They are not made for them, but you can put them in it.

Here

http://www.mrmodels.fsnet.co.uk/p3jet.htm

In the last issue of Radio Control Jets International (traplet magazine) which you should be able to get through any better hobby shop or book store, they did a review on the Super Reaper. He didnt go into too much detail regarding the flight aspect but he covers the building including adding retracts pretty well.

I think I may try and fair in my fixed gear with balsa and monokote it to match the plane, to see if I can gain a few MPH. In my books on aerodynamics and model design they say that even a 1/8" diam music wire and 3" wheel have a lot of drag, more than you'd think. I like the fixed gear for the durability and simplicity but you do give up speed. Thats OK for the first jet though!!

Andrew