What does BVM mean when he says his T33 kit is LIVE flex hinged?
Also is $3800 A little pricey for kit of that size that needs to be built and painted?
I guess I just don't know.

Also do you need a p-70 or p-80 to fly it well?

Dan

Dan,

The flex hinges on the BVM AFS kits are kevlar cloth sandwiched between the foam wing and the wood skin. Then they cut the foam and wood skin and "viola", you have a flex hinge similar to the ones on the composite wings like the Kingcat, or the Eurosport, etc. Its a pretty neat setup.

BVM kits do push the upper edge of the price envelope, but having gotten the privilege of flying, and now building them, I'm now saving up the $'s to buy one (MIG-15).

I've flown a T-33 on an AMT-180, which is about the power of the P-80, and its plenty. The P-70 should be good as well - its a bit less power, but also less weight, and easier to fit into the plane.

Bob

I fly my BVM T-33 on a P-70. It is about a pound and a half less in weight, and BV recommends speeds of 170 to 175 anyway. Flies wonderful on the P-70. Take off and get on step and then throttle back to about 2/3rds for the rest of the flight.

Dan, if you have ever Seen a Composite-ARF plane's wing you have basically seen a similar setup.

If the wings are unfinished, then how do you finish the hinge slot areas?
I usually finish and paint all the control surfaces separately, before I install them. This area inside the hinge line must be a bear to work around.
I think that at the price he is selling it for, I can get a better deal on another BVM plane ( BOBCAT ).

Dan

Dan,

Live hinge surfaces are easy to work with or finish. The control surface and wing are together as one, you simply finish it as one single piece. Once you see how the live hinge works and how it is designed, you will never want to go back to regular pinned hinges.

During the lamination process as explained above by Bob, the Kevlar strip is added along what would normally be the hinge line. After the wing has cured, a small triangle file can be taken to score a straight hinge line where the control surface would normally be attached. This scoring removes the surface epoxy and allows the Kevlar to bend at that line and creates the hinged control surface while still being firmly attached to the main wing.

Unless you are set on being able to disassemble your control surfaces, dealing with live hinges will not be a problem in finishing.

JR Gautreaux

It depends on what you want. The Bobcat and the T-33 are two different planes. They look and fly differently. If you want a quick-build sport plane, go with the Bobcat. If you want to build a scale plane, then the T-33 is a good choice.

hi Clguru,

Had some concerns prior to buying my BVM T-33 too.

I have a build thread running somewhere on here, got to about a 1/3rd of the way through. Take a look, see what daft questions I have asked and what answers I have got from this wonderful supportive community!

I cannot speak of other jets as this is my first, but boy, the money I believe worth the quality, it all fits, fits well and goes together as it says in the book.

All the wonderful things it contains such as live hinges are well documented in the BVM instruction manual and on top of this you get factory rep support, and of course support from the factory if needed. It describes in detail one way of finishing them and at least you can be sure if you pile it in from a great height, it wont have been the hinge that let go!!!

When you add that up, the extra money I think is very well spent, in fact invested.

I don't believe any of the BVM range to be bad value, although they are at the premium side of the pricing range.

I think rather than worry about the hinges, decide on whether you want a sports or scale plane, and let that be part of your decision. I went for scale, it was a close run thing to the Bobcat, but as a beginner I am more than happy with what I have bought, and the level of support being offered in building it, way beyond what I would have expected.

Good luck on your decision, it is a lot of money being spent whichever way you look at it!

Let us know what you decide!!

Gazzer

Dan, either plane would be a good choice as the go fly price will include every little nut, bolt, and piece that you willneed to finish the plane. Hell the last Bandit I got from BV even had a few extra parts. (Old fan stuff, by mistake). Not only are the kits top Quality but you will not find customer service better anywhere. Patty, and Pat are great to deal with and David is very knowledgalbe, if he can't answer it he get Dana or Tom to do so.
The live hinge is very easy to work with. you can either paint in the opening or I have even sheeted it with 1/64th ply in there. I have built them with the aluminumcovering and al you need to do is stick a strip down in the gap and rub it down. As the aluminum takes paint very well, you could do that and then paint it afterwards.
Good luck with either plane you choose.
Dave.