Hi to you all, I want to share with you guys some pics of a modified Hotspot, we are calling it here Hotcat. This plane was inspired in the BVM bobcat, the Tango and the Rig from Eddie Weeks. the plane was just finished and I am going to test flight it in the next weeks. The specs are: 78" wingspan, 91" lenght, 23 Lbs dry weight. a old p-80 was selected for the initial flights, and there is a p-120 ready for it if everything goes well! :-)

Looks very cool! But what part of it is Rig inspired?

how about doubling up on the wings one on top of the other, roots at center, and give the bottom one -15-20deg of dehidreal, and upper the oposite of positive ! go for the X-Wing look ! .....


let us know how it flies !


Wojtek

hi, i have also some pics of my modified hotspot, in su27-look of corse....
hope it works
harald huf www.su27projekt.de

Hi Wocketman, the Rig was certainly a main inspiration of this project, because of his engine disposition, his twin booms and the elevator at the top of the rudders. I didn't intend to go VTOL
yet, but Eddie's disposition to try new things and doing it very well was also a inspiration.

Regards, Enrique

Hi Harald, you can't go wrong with this mods, It sure looks good too!

Sure you will know how if it flys well or not, I am anxious about this too, to say the least!


now, let's hope that the tie fighters didn't show up at our club!

Hello you all. Today was the first flight of the plane! at the very last moment we choose not to make the first flight(s)? in our regular club, Instead we went to a little used airport, at a beach resort of Guaratuba, at about 100 Km from our city, Curitiba. we were a 3 person team: owner,builder and pilot/designer. Sorry about not posting any fotos, we where too anxious and busy to take any today! :-) The plane had a air leak at the retracts that went unoticed until today, so we decided to fly it anyway with the gear extended and without wheel brakes. We started the P-80 without problems right in the middle of the landing strip, (unfortunately we had a crosswind) walked away of the plane about 30 m and slammed the throtle to 100%. after a 50 m run it was airborne and almost perfectly trimmed! it flew very nicely, with excellent stability and well balanced commands and then, after about 4 circuits my heart almost stopped. I saw the right aleiron shaking like crazy and I almost instantly thought it was flutter, but it was not. this is my first airplane with digital servos and the aleiron was shaking exactly like my thumb! :-) at this point, I had a great relief and started to make some rolls , and point rolls, just to relax a bit. After about 4 minutes flying at 100% throttle, I chopped of the power to 50% , slowed it somewhat and opened the speed brake, and nothing happened , the s.b. didn't open , (later we realised that the servo didn't have enough power to open it) ,so, started a landing circuit
at about 30% power , put the turbine at idle in the final approach and it glided a lot, until it touched very gently the ground. and then, it rolled,rolled, rolled (no brakes) until the nose wheel axle departed the nose gear, and then the plane stopped! wow! we where really happy after this first flight, and the plane performed like we expected. In my opinion it is a lot easier to fly than a kangaroo or hotspot, (and they are already easy to fly) and it seems easier to visualize it too. It was very easy to build.and cheap (this one was ready in 2 months of work of our local builder). I will post more impression in this thread of the next flights and hope that in the next one I will remember to take a foto! :-)

Regards, Enrique

p.s the Tie fighters are not a match for the Hotcat :-)

sounds like a good time was had by all. i just returned home from a day of flying my hotspot. i used the large robart air cylinder to operate my speed brake and it works everytime. good luck. barry

Hi Barry, for sure was a great day, not to mention the tons of shrimp we ate after the session!
:-) we are going to install this cilinder for the next flights.

Regards, Enrique

ill take a few of the shrimp as well. good luck. barry

Congratulation for the first flight. I hope to see the next one, call-me....

Lol Ernani, funny to write you here in english. the next one will be saturday evening (01/05) at our club. see you there.

Regards, Enrique

Now with a decent digital camera, I am posting some less crappy pictures of the Hotcat. We are having a ball here with this plane, absolutely a joy to fly. The only problem found on this plane is the hours spent fiddling with the landing gear. Even on the most greased on landings, the legs get a little bent, and then we have to spend time on fixing it. This problem
was apparently solved with the addition of a rubber strip under all the gears. This rubber apparently makes the leg a less rigid structure, so, it can bend a little without damaging the gear mechanics. (so far).

Rgds, Enrique

This is beacuase you are using a landing gear that is not built to withstand repeated landings of an RC jet.

Try Robart gear next time and the issue will be completely solved

Regardless, cool jet! Glad it's flying well.

Thanks Sean, the plane looks good and when it flies it looks better! :-)

About the gear, there are many availability issues here in Brazil, and finding suitable jet acessories is rather difficult. But I am rather curious now, this gear was sold to me as being Robart, and the landing legs from the giant scale midwest T-6 also from this manufacturer, the only one suitable (?) at the time of the purchase. I later checked in the robart´s site the especification of this gear and it seemed to me similar at their sport jet combo. Did I made any mistake?


Rgds, Enrique

Looks good. I really like it! What is the new elevator made of?

Hi KF, the elevator are all buildup of balsa, with hardwood spars. then sheeted with 1/16 balsa and fiberglassed with light cloth. The booms are solid balsa laminated from 1/4 sheet and fiberglassed too.

Sean, those loomk like Robart 630 series to me. They should be fine. How heavy is that thing? It is VERY beautiful, congratulations!

Those look exactly like MM gear. Even the Robart 630 that aren't blue look differnt than that. The sides give it away. Let me guess, haviing problems with bending the side walls? And the trunion seems a little soft.

I can post a pic later of a MM gear I have, I'll do so in a little bit.

FWIW, The MM gear almost look identical to 630's.

And are often sold as being "robart" [:@]

That sucks!

Really? I have never seen the MM close up, but I know that Sean knows what he's talking about. But even the Robarts will bend in the sidewalls, maybe not as soon as the MM though. But the struts look Robart all the way. Look at the scissors link.

In this case, I don't think Sean is correct.

The gear pictured in post 14 above are Robart gear with Robart struts.

Here is a pic of the MM gear in my Eurosport, which incidentally have held up to grass field opps better than the Robart gear did in my Roo.

Notice the Robart gear has a pin holding the end of the cylinder whereas the MM cylinder has a machined boss that fits into holes in the end of the side plates.

Thanks Woketman, the Hotcat is 23 Lbs dry. Sean, from where is the MM gear? I only know the chocolate ones!

Rgds, Enrique.