BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Wow Sean, 200 flights!!! That's more than I've flown all my Reactions put together!

How about posting some pics of your workhorse?

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

Sean,
Are you planning to attend the Wingham Jet Rally in a few weeks (June 11,12,13)? I will be there with my R54 and I know Jim Brown will have his as well

AJC

viper65

I am expecting to go to leamington and wingham. I was at both of these last year.There should be a few reactions for sure (three possible from down my way)heres a couple of pics (Thanks matt!)The engine is a PST600r which we had to put bearings and an ngv this year but it seems happy now.

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

I would love to get to Leamington as well as Wingham, but its almost 11 hours drive from here (Timmins, in Northern Ontario) so I have to choose one.

I was flying an AD Phoenix and my AV8R last year in Wingham. But I think the R54 will see most of the flight time for this summer Its a great plane, shoudl have gotten in into the air sooner.

See you in Wingham! I am also taking photos for Fly RC for a possible article on the event... will have to get all the R54's together for a great shot!

AJC

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Already sounds like the best article ever

Great flight shots, Sean, thanks for posting!

viper65

five of the six reactions from leamington last weekend

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

WOnder how many will be in Wingham next weekend?

I put another 3 flights on mine at our club's fun fly yesterday... we had a fire ban lifted just a few days ago so I wasnt flying jets for a few weeks.

Good to get her back into the air!

AJC

edit, here is a take off shot taken by a local photographer who was shooting our planes for fun..

JimBrown

My Feedback: (2)

What you can't see in the picture is the temporary duct tape covering the hole on the bottom front of the wing near the fuselage of my R54 (now repaired.)

I inadvertently discovered that a Reaction 54 will fly just fine with an overflow/taxi tank sitting on the wing, although the roll and pitch trims were just a little bit off.

Seems I was so anxious to get into the air that I completely forgot to disconnect the overflow/taxi tank before taking off. And for some reason I never noticed it snuggled up against the fuse. Someone yelled over just after I rotated and raised the gear asking if the tank was still on the plane and at that moment I realized what I'd done. Since the plane was flying ok (but a bit out of trim) I decided to complete a circuit while assessing the situation. As the plane flew past me, I could see the tank sitting on the wing, up against the engine, but it was not near the hot section. So, I decided the best thing to do would be to just land the plane. However, since the tank was pretty much on top of one of the flaps, I decided to do a no flap landing. Due to the lack of flaps, I ended up going long and landing in the grass off the end of the runway. Fairly smooth, but due to the faster stop, the tank slid foward, dropped off the front of the wing and rolled under the wing, poking a 3 inch hole in the sheeting.

That was on Friday. Flew 8 more flights over the rest of the weekend with duct tape covering the hole.

...jim

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

Way to go, Red-green! See you in a few days...

AJC

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Good story, Jim, cracked me up

SteelersRule!

I know this is an incredibly stupid question but can this thing fly with anything other than a turbine? I'd like to pay the mortgage this month...........

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Actually, it's a very reasonable question. The most obvious conversion might be electric ducted fan to maintain it as a "jet". Less obvious is a prop in the nose. Neither has been done to my knowledge, although a reduced-size Reaction with a fan was built by a modeler in Arizona. I'm not much into electrics, but I'd be interested in a discussion of suitable EDF units, batteries, etc. for the R54.

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

The larger EDF units like the Tamjets 100mm, if combined with a reasonable nacelle (mainly the inlet lip) will give static thrust close to what the 54mm turbines give, but the thrust will fall off faster with increasing airspeed, so the "up and away" performance will be less than the turbine. This would put the fan in the same spot as the usual turbine. (note, I have not checked to see if it would fit there!! might be a bit tight)

I have seen the TJ100 done with up to 5 kW of electrical power input. That is a lot of batteries! Now the R54 can easily carry them (and it normally takes off with several pounds of fuel anyway). But its quite a bit of money in battery packs, and if you probably want to take at least a couple packs to the field. Something like a 10 to 12S, 5 to 6 Ah pack.

So, you could do an EDF, and it will be cheaper than a turbine, but its still going to be a good size chunk of that mortgage payment.

Another EDF option could be a twin, sort of like a pair of your typical bizjet nacelles strapped to the sides.

If you would want to do the R54 with single motor and long, scale like inlets you need to make them a lot bigger than the turbine versions would normally have.

Of course, you dont need a turbine waiver to fly it.

Bob

SteelersRule!

Thanks for the info, good stuff. As batteries get smaller and smaller, maybe in a couple of years electric would be a little easier to do. I wouldn't trust mysef with a cigarette lighter let alone a turbine engine!!

Thanks again.......

What would the cost of a turbine to fly this anyway??

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the input, Bob. For those that don't know, Bob designed the fan unit for Tamjets and from everything I hear, it's one of the finest units available in the EDF arena. He's also right about the cost - once you factor in the fan, the motor, ESC, batteries and chargers, you are approaching the price of a turbine.

Lou, I've got combo deals on the R54 kit and several turbines on my website. In fact, I need to do a little updating because JetCat just reduced prices on their turbines. Ballpark for turbine is $2300 - $2600 unless you look at Chinese turbines. The King-Tech K80 is becoming popular and costs less than $2k

BTE Combo Deals: http://www.btemodels.com/r54combodeals.html
Recommended Engine List: http://www.btemodels.com/r54engines.html

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

Lou,

Dont expect batteries to get much smaller for a while yet. For my job, I spend some time keeping track of battery technology. While there are some things with better energy to weight ratio than LiPoly, I would not expect them to be available or affordable for model use for quite a few more years yet. (examples.. Lithium Sulphur, Lithium with silicon nanowire anode) I think you will see improvements in safety and lower costs (although maybe not from the same vendors at the same time!).

Actually, if I were to do an electric R54, since it CAN carry a lot of mass, I would consider doing A123 type cells instead of LiPoly. Safer, great peak power, reasonably low cost, but a bit heavier than LiPoly.

At this point, I am not sure which would be the bigger risk for you! The super high power electric stuff needs to be handled with a LOT of care, just like turbines do.

Bob

SteelersRule!

Thanks Bob. Guess I will buy some more gas for the present planes.................

Stevembh

Hi All,

Today was the test flight on my rebuilt Reaction (ex Tommy Watson). All went very well with only 1 click of elevator & 1 click of aileron. What a relief it was when it flew so well - lots of hard work to get to this point. I will have a fly on Friday for the final part of certification.

More as it unfolds
Steve

TommyWatson

My Feedback: (1)

Should we call it the Phoenix? You have done a great job on the restoration. I wish I could have got to Maryborough next wekend. let us all know how it goes up there.

Regards

Stevembh

Hi Tom,

Well I don't know about Phoenix - it hasn't actually arisen from ashes . I have attached a link to the video that was taken by a mate of mine on the test flight day. The video was extremely difficult to take as we were looking directly into the sun & made the viewfinder appear to be blank. I guess we are lucky to have got as much as we did.

We have been setting up for the last 2 days for our jet weekend with quite a few guys already here - some are camping on site with motorhomes/caravans/campers & tents. we have reticulated power from a 20kVA genset with 3 phase distribution for the camp area, food prep area etc. All of the guys staying on site are wrapped with the facilities.

I have seen at least 4 maybe 5 reactions on site already including one 10% larger than original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS_OiWV0yOU

I will hopefully be able to post some photos from the field of the event.

Steve

TommyWatson

My Feedback: (1)

Hi steve,

Great maiden flight. Wait until you get hold of the sticks. I would have struggled to fly in those conditions. Looking straight into the sun. Wow. I am sure you will have a great time at the jet meet. My mate Garry Turna from Perth is coming up. Say hello to him for me. I was planning to come but I have to work. Perhaps next year when I am finaly retired I will drive up and bring my Reaction and Turboprop.

Regards

Stevembh

Hi Tom,

I met Gary late this afternoon when he found me & introduced himself & explained that he knew you quite well. Today has been a practice day for the guys to familiarise themselves with the field & also for certification of models. I still haven't had a chance to fly the Reaction as yet. I have uploaded some photos of the field, pits & onsite camp area that we have here. We have a 20kVA 3 phase genset on site supplying power to the camping facilities as well as the canteen facilities & the newly built shower/toilet. Yes we even have hot water for the shower.

Best regards
Steve

TommyWatson

My Feedback: (1)

Glad to see Garry me up with you. He is a good friend of mine. I went to his place when I was in perth for the Red Bull Air race.

Have a good time and have that first jet flight. You will soon sell all your prop stuff.

Regards

Stevembh

Hi Tom,

Would you belive I was in Perth for the Red Bull Air Race also. I have been working down at Busselton & we went to Perth for the Sunday to look at the race. I believe you may have a similar technical background to me from what Gary tells me. I work in the broadcasting industry specifically AM MF/HF area. We have just added another MF 15kW service to the existing site at Busselton. I build & commission the RF side of the transmission system & at this one I designed built & wrote the software for controlling the antenna switching system.

Steve

TommyWatson

My Feedback: (1)

Hi steve,

I work on Ericsson Mobile networks. I commision the radio base stations. I helped built the Telstra NextG network. I retired in Feb this year but I got a call from my old boss and he made me an offer I could not refuse. I worked for Telstra for 40 years and Ericsson for 10 years. Working with the kids keeps me young in the mind. It also gives me the cash to do the things I like to do like flying in a russian Mig 29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppkjx7Iy76s I will finally retire soon and get back to model flying every second day with my old mates.

Regards