JustFlyIt

Just about ready for the maiden flight. Still have some gear to add but this jet is going to fly this Spring.

For propulsion I am using a Wren 75 converted to Kero start. Landing gear are a combination of Prolink and Robart. JR/Spectrum radio equipment including the higher end JR digital servos.

This is my first jet and I am looking forward to getting the initial flights under my belt.

Don S.

F4 d best

Hi Don,

Nice colours you have there and a very nice finish, go for it and have fun.

regards
Mario
[X(][X(]

ppljr

My Feedback: (94)

Very nice job. I like the color scheme should be very visible in the air

JustFlyIt

Thanks for the comments on the color scheme. The underside has blue stars for contrast.

Have to admit the pictures look better. I had a heck of a time getting Monokote to lay on Monokote. Lots of tiny bubbles etc.

cjshaker

Gorgeous R54!
Chris Shaker

ArtW

I have the same fire risk issue and had considered changing it to electric ducted fan. What were the issues that precluded shifting it to electric ducted fan?

bw5493

My Feedback: (36)

I have joined the R54 fan club. An older gent here in Boise, decided to make me one heck of a deal on his hanger rashed, kit built R54. I am in the process of stripping it down to make a few repairs, and clean it up. I bought a Cermark F16 with a P60 that only has 2.35 hours on it, and bought the plans for the turbinator, when Rudy offerred me his R54. Already ordered replacement gear legs, Brake and the P60 adapter from Bruce, So give me a few weeks, and we'll have another new R54 owner applying for his waiver.
I am curious with this one, as he has made the flaps on it ala Curare pattern ship, with Spoilers attached to the top edge of the flaps. So when flaps come down, the top 3/8 inch rises like spoiler.

Any thoughts?

speedbrake

bw5493, welcome to the Reaction gang. I think you are in for a real treat...the Reaction is a great airplane. I wouldn't worry about the spoiler/flap, the plane is a bit of a floater so the extra drag will help. You will understand this after a few flights. I'm working on one with actual spoilers installed on the top of the wing. I also owned/flew the Cermark F-16, it also is a nice plane... eventually sold it to a guy in Peru to finance another project.

Welcome to the group and keep us posted on your Reaction.

Keith

PaulD

My Feedback: (39)

It would be interesting to see a picture of those flaps. I do know on mine adding crow or some up aileron helped a lot to cut lift so it would land nicely. Those flaps may do the same job.

PaulD

KC36330

Crow works, although a lot better on the ARF then the kit (ARF is heavier), the kit built are floaters even with a ton of crow dialed in but very predictable on the spot landings.

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

With only 3/8 rising on top, it probably will not be much different than stock. A bit more drag, and maybe a bit different amount of elevator needed to trim it.

The issue MIGHT be at high angle of attack, the wake from the flaps might it the horizontal tail, and you would lose tail effectiveness, but I really doubt it. First flight, try some slow flight up high with full flap (something you should do regardless). If the previous owner flew the plane and used the flaps, and there was an intact plane for you to buy, then that means the flaps must have worked reasonably well! The extra drag is going to be more significant at higher speeds. My guess is that by the time you get close to stall, that little extension on that big wing is just going to be lost in the boundary layer and wont do anything at all.

BTW, on all the various comments on flaps and crow changing the lift... thats really not the issue. The R54 has PLENTY. You dont want to do too much "spoiler" or the loss in lift will increase the stall speed. The lift on final approach equals the weight... ALWAYS. "cutting the lift" really means increasing the stall speed. Not a huge problem on an R54, but you certainly dont NEED to do that.

What you want on an R54 on landing is DRAG. The basic airplane is clean and doesnt want to come down... particularly with the residual thrust of the engine. And with a turbine, the more drag you can get the higher the throttle setting you can use for approach, which means faster throttle response if you have to go around. On my engine, (old Wren 54 mk 3), its about 6 seconds from full idle (half pound thrust) to full thrust... but if I can get an extra pound of drag, and fly the approach with the engine at a pound and a half of thrust, then its only about 3 seconds to full thrust.

With crow, the idea is that you loose some lift outboard, but gain it inboard. The ideal crow setup for gliders is that you dont change the lift as you deploy crow... you just add drag. The down flap/up aileron combination makes a LOT of induced drag (drag due to lift) by really messing up the lift distribution of the wing. And it also retains pretty good aileron authority. If you get the deflections right, then it means you can close the flaps at any time without worrying about sudden loss of lift and possibly stallling. BTW, the Navy version of the F-35, which has separate ailerons and flaps (vs flaperons on the USAF version) uses crow for drag brake.

I happen to like doing touch and goes, so my plan is to get a LOT of drag... more than stock flap deflection, plus crow. And yes, my 2004 first production batch kit is getting close to done. The wing got covered yesterday.

Bob

Woketman

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Jeez Bob, you are embarrassing me. You are far closer to completion and more active than me!!!!

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

I got the plane framed out right after I got it in late 2004... then it sat until 2009 when I got the wings skinned and most of the shaping and sanding done.. but by that time Warren Hunter had done the inlet mod, so I wanted to do that, but being an obsessive aero engineer type, I wanted to try doing it really "right".. but that took a while to work out. And by that point, Eddie P had done his Royal Navy mod, which looked really good to me... so more mods... and everything got stalled again.

So, over the last year, off and on, I got the CAD model done of the inlet mods (thanks to Bruce for sharing his original CAD plans!!), and a couple weeks ago, I laser cut the parts (only took 2 sheets of 12x48 lite ply, plus some birch and sheet balsa!). Its all assembled now and starting on the covering and equipment install. The inlet parts all fit very well, which is a testament to the accuracy of all the parts Bruce made (I merely had to not screw it up too badly!)

I "area ruled" the duct, with separate inner and outer walls at the back, which also sends the air where it needs to go (into the engine). Also, enough duct area so that the air isnt going too fast (I suspect that some of the smaller inlet mods are actually pulling air in from the back, which is a lot of drag). The engine now mounts directly to the side walls.

The rest of it is doing 1950's jet styling, which is borrowed from a bunch of different planes I like.

Anyway, some photos attached. (If anyone wants the CAD files for laser cutting, I can post them. They are not perfect, a bit of fitting and trimming is needed, but I figured that for my use, just getting it DONE this year was more important than getting it perfect.. in 2015!)

Bob

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

Love the dust collector sanding widget! I forgot about that!

And how much flap are you talking about? Are you glassing it or monokote?

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

The dust collector doesnt work as well as I would like. Part of it is that it just doesnt have good airflow, but the big issue is that the cloth bag type dust collector "vacuum" just does not like balsa dust... just a bit of it really clogs up the pores in the bag and the airflow drops way down. So, it catches about 90% of the dust, but that still leaves a lot drifting around. I probably should set up some sort of pre filter thats easier to clean. You really need to wash the bags to clean them and thats a REAL mess. Note, I have a cheap dust collector, with just one bag.. one of the fancier ones with 2 bags might do better, but I dont have room for it)

I reshaped the main flap LE and the wing TE to get about 65 deg throw.. we will see how it works out once I get them hinged. For plain flaps, on a wing like this, that gives a bit more lift than 30 deg deflection, but about double the drag. I expect to need about 20 to 25 deg of up aileron to go with it. I have a similar setup on a discus launch glider.. really different kind of plane and light wing loading, but on that plane, its enough drag that I can fly final approach to landing in a vertical dive with no speed buildup. (you just have to time the flare really right!).

I would love to be able to fly a reasonably steep glide slope with the engine at 65k RPM or so... we will see.

Aside from the inlet lips, I am doing UltraCote. I do too much composite and paint and "scratch built" stuff for work. Thus, for me, wood, a well engineered kit with parts that fit and film covering are "recreation". I hate to admit it, but for years I have been treating UltraCote as a different brand of MonoKote.. I finally read the instructions, and started using 2 irons, one at 225F for bonding with just a bit of shrink and one cranked all the way up for max shrink and going around compound curves. Really works well. I was able to do the wing tips each with 1 piece of covering and no need to slit and overlap it.

Color scheme is late 50's Navy test plane, fluorescent orange and white, using Bruce's decal package. Hey, its got to be a 50's airplane for those decals.. the only Hornet that operated jets was retired in 1970! (and is now a museum in Alameda, CA, well worth a visit if you are in the area)

Bob

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

Bob, PLEASE post pictures when done!!!

Ron Stahl

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Mark don't tell me you're going to build a plane. Lol. Steve's F-4 is coming right along.

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

I am planning on posting some more photos, and probably some video. I am making good progress on it now. My goal was to have it done by the end of the month, but its probably going to be a couple weeks longer.

The main procrastination item remaining is some cockpit detail... since I am putting on a clear canopy, it means I need something under it. I found a good photo of a Panther instrument panel online, so corrected the perspective on it and will rescale it and print it out and glue it in. Got a good pilot a few years ago from Century Jets. So, I just need to get some sheet styrene and make a seat back and some extraneous clutter details...

Bob

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

Ron, I bought a Reaction right after Katrina. They sent me to Huntsville AL to Marshal Space Flight Center to continue work on PAL Ramp Removal for the External Tank on Return To Flight while MAF was recovering from the storm. I was by myself in a small apartment so I started building in the evenings. Once NASA's MAF re-opened (about 1.5 months), my free time evaporated.

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

Duplicate post.

bw5493

My Feedback: (36)

Here are a couple shots of the wing with the Curare style flaps. It's light ply glued on top of the flap so that it overhangs the training edge about 1/2 inch or so, and when you deploy full flap, it rises like a speedbrake/spoiler about 1/2 to 3/8 inch.
I think it will work to add drag to the plane, and the guy I got it from said they made a huge difference.

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

It will add drag, but the effect will be larger at higher speeds and maybe not that much at slow speed (just above stall), since the flow there is probably separated anyway by then.

Did the previous owner fly it without the "spoilers" before he added them?

Bob

bw5493

My Feedback: (36)

Bob,
He did fly it stock, but said he had a bad habit of overshooting our 460x40' paved runway. I never saw it fly myself. Our field here is at 3180' above sea level, and I could see it having a higher stall speed on a hot day. He said with the spoilers, he had more control and was able to keep spooled up a little higher on final.
As you see, If I don't like them, it's an easy fix to trim them back off. I know the Curare pattern ship back in the day used them in the downlines to keep from building speed, and you could use them on final to slow the ballistic speed down.

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

Well, experience is always the definitive answer, so sounds like they do help. Certainly an easy mod to do.

Personally, I really like having a steep glide slope on landings.. my club field has some 40 ft tall trees about 500 ft off the end of the runway and I prefer to not be anywhere close to them. (I have seen people fly BETWEEN the branches on a long final, then vehemently deny they were anywhere close.. I was standing under the tree when they did it and they were 600 ft away, so I guess I must have been seeing things.. ;-P).

So, if it was me, once I got the plane working and got used to it, I might try making the spoilers even a bit bigger.

Bob

bobparks2

My Feedback: (1)

Still making progress on the Reaction. I had hoped to have it flying in February, not yet, but maybe by February 53rd or so (aka March 24).

I just wanted to post the photo of how I did the alignment when I glued on the tail. I borrowed a Bosch GLL3-80 laser tool from work. It projects out 3 planes of laser light, 1 horizontal, 2 vertical and all mutually perpendicular. It also self levels ( pendulum) within a few seconds. The claimed accuracy (level, vertical, perpendular) is "1/4 inch at 100 feet", or better than .02 degrees.

So, I set up the level on a photo tripod, put the plane on the bench. I then cranked up the tripod so the horizontal light beam hit the wing tip TE. I had to shim one main wheel with a bit of balsa to get the wing level.

Then crank up the unit a bit higher, so now the horizontal plane hits the stab on the inside edge of the stab tips. Then one vertical plane run down the centerline of the fuselage (and also hits the nose gear strut, which does not show in the photo). The same beam runs right up the fin TE once the fin is aligned. Finally, the spanwise beam hits the intersection of the stab tips and the stab TE (without elevators).

Once I had everything fitted and aligned, took it apart without moving the model or laser, added epoxy, put it back together and squeezed a bit until it was aligned again, and let it cure.

The laser is about $400 on Amazon right now.. actually $100 cheaper than it was when I bought it for work a few months ago. Kind of expensive for just doing models, but if you can get access to one, it sure makes alignment easy!

Anyway, I should be done with all the Ultracote coverging this weekend, and I did get an adequate amount of cockpit detailing done already

Bob