speedbrake

JohnVH
The R54 has a powerful wing.....read the comments from many of the flyers in this thread. The R54 will float on landing if the speed is too high. The purpose of trying a speedbrake is to add just enough drag to make the landing more precise and predictable. Since it hasn't been done before then it is a modification worth exploring. Does the R54 need side intakes? Does it need a cockpit? Those questions are best answered by the builder. To not explore new and different ideas is to remain status quo.

Keith

JohnVH

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Hi Keith, Ive flown the R54, and seen it flown alot, I think practice would help more, but I can understand wanting to make it easier. Ill be flying my new (to me) one out of 350-400', seeing how slow it will go, I know Ill have no problems.

Thanks
John

Eddie P

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Nice work Jim, looks very clean and nice [&:]

SHE is a beautiful piece of work. I like the bit of anatomical commentary in the news letter, by the way

Eddie P

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Nice looking jet Joseph. Have you flown her yet...

F4 d best

Nice picture Joseph, where was that display held in Gozo as I cannot figure the place?

Building is getting on OK, slowly as I do not have a lot of sapre time. Will post pictures for everyone to see.

Please do let me know when you are flying your R54, unless you want to make the trip and come over to our flying site.

Mario.

kkn

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Eddie,

flown her about ten times now, cannot ask for a better Jet to start with. Mine is glass covered and painted, weight shot up to 22 lbs, but she handles it with no problen whatsoever.

Yours is a slick looking reaction too. Congrats.

regards

Joseph

kkn

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Mario,

event was held during the Gozo 1234 activities, we brought about 60 models altogether and had a good time. Will give you a call as soon as our site surface is in good shape and we'll give her a go!!

Happy building...


regards

Joseph

flyinfool1

My Feedback: (2)

I can assure you that the R54 will not fly with NO vertical fin (don't ask).
I would also be concerned with the speed brake blanking the vertical fin.

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

Jeff, sorry to ask but what happened to you vertical? I am about to set one up and any hints are appreciated in advance.

Thanks,

speedbrake

Sorry to hear about the loss...what happened? How did you lose the fin?

Keith

flyinfool1

My Feedback: (2)

I said don't ask.

But since you did.......

Well first it was not a huge loss, due to the designed in strength of the airframe there was very little damage.
Knocked off about 6 inches of the nose and 3 rib bays off one wing tip, and most of that was from hitting a tree or two on the way down.
It is all back together and you would never tell by looking at it that anything ever happened.

I was using full rudder inputs with more than recommended throws, for extended periods of time. Just playing.

Lets just say that if you actually glue the rudder to the top of the fuse there should be no problem.
Relying on just the 2 sticks to hold it, with NO glue holding it to the top of the horizontal stab or the top of the fuse, is not adequate.

But then on the other hand, it does do a very nice flat spin with no vertical fin on there. Looks really cool.[:-]

speedbrake

Thanks for sharing...I'm glad this story had a happy ending. My R54 is nearing 200 flights and still as solid as the first flight. Just an amazing design.

Redline7000

My Feedback: (2)

I'm setting up my PST600 turbine on my R54. Instructions are vague. The solenoid valve has 2 fittings, a FESTO and a brass barb fitting. Which goes toward the onboard gas canister? Does it matter? Thanks in advance.

ltdorn1

My Feedback: (39)

Festo to turbine.....

nipple to propane tank.

Molar mender

That's interesting as I have had it the other way for the last 5 years. So I went and dug up the manuals for both of my J600R's and my J1300R and on page 29 (in both manuals) it shows Gas - from onboard canister going INTO the Festo and Gas - to engine OUT the nipple.

I no longer carry the on board canister and it sure makes it easy to connect my supply can to the valve with the Festo instead of trying to get it on and off the barb each time I start.

Anyway, if all else fails, here is a copy of my instruction book.

Hope that helps.

RH

Redline7000

My Feedback: (2)

Molar,
Why did you trash the canister? Easier starts?

Molar mender

It's just easier to plug in the canister, externally, rather than trying to find space for it in the airframe. I have had the Boomerang XL (since they first came out) which has a lot of room but I also have not installed the canister on board. It is a personal preference. I don't have any problems starting with external propane.

RH

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

It finally happened. Not under ideal conditions, but my R54 flew for the first time on Saturday. It needed a two click down trim and that's all. Wind 10 to 15 mph right down the runway but gusting to about 20. I'm not a waiver holder yet so I had a friend do the test hop. He was gentle with it not wanting to scratch my paint job but the P70 gave it plenty of authority. Landing was uneventfull asside from the full runway float. Next we hooked up the buddy box and I got anxious to fly it so we put it up again. Some minor difficulty with the buddy system warranted a return to the ground. Then the conditions got us. It looked like a grease job on landing and then it ballooned. Got it back under control and planted it on the runway rather roughly. Scraped a wing tip and bent the main gear struts. The tail also slammed the runway jamming the elevator horn and forced the elevator into the bottom edge of the rudder. End result, a stripped servo gear and a cracked fuselage just behind the tail pipe. All easily fixed.
Thanks to the quick response of my test pilot he saved what could have been a real disaster. Next time I'll know to wait for better conditions. But that's what 20 - 20 hind sight is all about. A few minor repairs and a set of servo gears and it will be back in the air again.

racer8297

My Feedback: (13)

Hi John,

Sorry to hear about your damage. I too have had problems getting the Reaction to settle into a landing. Today we had winds up to 20 and the Reaction handled it great. The trick is to never let the nose down. In other words, don't force the landing. If you are not hitting the marks, go around. When I started flying the Reaction (my first turbine and the only one I have) I kept thinking like a prop flyer and pushed the nose down hoping to flair it and get it down. It only picks up to much speed and then when I force it down it goes into hoping mode. Now I have it figured out that I keep the nose just above level and work the throttle to get it down. In a 15mph head wind the Reaction can almost stop moving forward. At least it appears so. It lands so slow it is a bit un-nerving at first.

Get it fixed and keep flying it. I just love mine with the P70.

Jim

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the words of encouragement Jim. I have cut a panel out of the bottom of the fuselage so I can get at the interior and lay some carbon graphite weave onto the interior sides. I'll reinstall the panel and recover the bottom with aluminum tape. It won't even show.

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

Congrats on the maiden, John.

Regarding the floating .. can some of you who are using crow comment? The BVM Kingcat flyers will go so far as to say its "impossible" to land the KC without it and they seem to use a LOT .. looks like 3/8" to 1/2" up deflection to me. I've heard some comments about 1/8" up aileron crow settings on the R54s.

Any comments on crow deflection and trim changes?

Dave McQ

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

Congrats on the first flights, John! Sorry it didn't go picture perfect, but it sounds like you will be back in the air soon. Let me know if there's anything I can help with, parts, etc...

Landing techniques have been discussed quite a bit in this thread; there's a whole section devoted to it in my thread index (link below). The R54 is different from prop jobs, and different from most jets too. It can be a good short-field model, but I always suggest test flying at a long runway until you "see" how it behaves in the landing pattern. It can be floaty, especially if built extra light. Make sure the flaps deploy as far as the geometry allows (60 degrees). I'm not a fan of using crow, but others swear by it. Set it up and try it. What I didn't like was remembering yet another switch to throw, but maybe it would be easier for my brain if it was programmed to be automatic with full flaps.

Most of all, you just have to be patient during the final approach and let it settle in when it is good and ready. Any attempt to force it down will probably not end well.

http://www.btemodels.com/r54threadindex.html

bob1393

My Feedback: (10)

Dave - Bruce is right - there has been much discussion on the landing technique - follow his link to it. Personally, I have found it easier to land with the CG nearer it's forward point - about 6 inches, rather than back at the rearward point of 7 inches. Also, I only use about 45 degrees of flaps rather than 60. That (flap setting) has also been up to great debate. I'm sure it will be one of personal preference, and what you get used to during your learning curve of landing the R54. Best of luck to you.

Bob

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

Thanks Bruce and Bob.

Actually, I have had no problems landing my R54 (it weighs in at 20#, with a 54SS Turbine), just noted that it was very "floaty" for a jet, can get blown around on final on a windy day, and was wondering what the gang had found about killing some of the lift and letting the landing occur with some throttle. Perhaps humously, my best landing might have been the first one on the maiden .. maybe the concentration or perhaps the pucker factor :-)

Thanks for the comments and resources. I agree w/Bruce .. I'd dial the crow in to come on with full flaps, and make whatever adjustments to the flap to elevator trim that is already there. I'll give it a go and report the results.

We now have two R54s at our field, my "classic" and my friend Doug's composite R800 (see flight report on that thread) with a P-120 (he bought the demo plane from PST at Top Gun less turbine .. they had their "160" in it .. that was .. um... impressive!).

Dave

Eddie P

My Feedback: (4)

I use crow on all my jets. I have a Bandit/Electra type that uses crow mixed into the flaps, no extra switches, and on that jet it is required IMHO. My Reaction uses crow as selected by myself on an airbrake switch. I have this set up like this becasue I am not sure I really like it - I'm 50-50. In wind, it's nice to have it as the 1/4 inch of raised aileron spoils enough lift and creates enough drag that enough extra thrust is actually required on approach and faster spool up times are available due to throttle setting. But since all that I've upgraded my P-60 to SE standards so spoolup is less of an issue now.

The activation of crow on the R54 gives a slight nose up trim change. The reason I don't know if I like crow on my R54 is it seems to make the airplane pitch feel a bit touchy and I dont have the elevator mix dialed in right yet enough, nor do I have enough landings using it yet to feel one way or another. I think I'm inclined to keep using it until I get more landings and then I'll either put it in the automatic flap and elevator mix for good or deactivate it. I use about 35-40 degrees of flap travel. I fly on the forward edge, 6 inches on CG.

The single best thing I did to make the airplane more stable in the flair and float/baloon less just above the runway surface was to move the CG forward from 6.75 inches to 6 inches.

The straight wing and thick airfoil, combined with large flap angles will make the R54 have a very nose low approach angle compared to most jets I have experience with, and a normal landing attitude may actually be the same as the ramp sitting body angle depending on how the landing gear and flap settings are configured. One precaution might be to make sure the Reaction54 sits ever so slightly nose low on the ramp so that even if you come in slightly fast, you will not likely make a nose wheel first landing and then a subsequent dangerous low speed nose up bounce followed by a potentially damaging porpoise.

Congrats on getting her in the air JP [8D] Once you get waivered up and comfortable with her you will have flying days that will more than justify all the hard work and will be the most memorable RC experiences yet. This jet is a lot of fun, let us know how it goes.