Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

Here are some show and tell pictures of my new project.

These are pictures of the plug almost ready for molding.
The plug was designed in 3D CAD and milled on 3-axis CNC mill from REN board, and some parts are made using stereolithography (epoxy). It is primed in PPG K-36.

The fuselage is 68.5" long and is designed for a 12lb thrust class turbine.

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

more pictures..........

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

With canopy hatch removed.

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

Inlet molds: Stereolithography painted
molded inlets
inlet lip plug(stereolithography), inlet lip mold, molded inlet lip.

rcav8tr

Hi Greg

Cool looking jet. Is it a known jet or is it from your imagination? Excellent use of Stereo Lithography. Must be nice to have access to such equipment! What kind of turbine do you intend to put in it? Questions, questions....!

Ed

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

It is a sport jet designed from scratch. I have a RAM 500 size engine designed in the CAD model right now, but I intend to wait until I absolutely need the turbine before making a final decision. I have not started making the plug for the bypass yet.

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

Very nice work there!! Good job.

lbrannan

My Feedback: (8)

Great looking jet! I'd like to suggest that you continue to post pictures as you do the fiberglass body. Many of us are interested in seeing how to do this.

Do you intend to sell any?

Regards,

Larry Brannan
Grand Rapids, MI.

geneh-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

Nice Looking jet! Keep us posted.....

T28pilot

My Feedback: (2)

Wonderful looking jet

keep us updated!!!

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks for the the positive comments. I would eventually like to sell some kits to cover some of the expenses of developing this type of airplane, or possibly sell the design and/or tooling to a manufacturer. I have the mold boxes made already , so the next step is to start waxing and then begin the mold layups. The problem I am having is finding a suitable location to do the polyester(smelly) layups without getting into trouble with the spouse.

Here is a rendering of the body in the mold box used to make the flage on the first mold half.

jason

My Feedback: (1)

Very sporty looking fus, like the moulded swept fin. There definatly is a market for a decent sport jet for the ram 500 size engine.
If you do kit it what will the wing construction be?

jason

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

As a builder my personal preference is for a foam core, balsa skinned wing. So, I am designing for a foam core construction with support ribs and dual wing tube plug-ins. For a manufacturer there are many advantages of supplying a built up wing. The stab will also initially be foam core construction, and a relatively thick aifoil section was selected to allow direct Elevator servo location.

Here is a rendering of the fuse with wing.

George

My Feedback: (57)

Hey Greg, great looking jet. Where in Va. are you? I'd like to possibly meet up with you. I'm in Va. Beach.

George
SimJet USA

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

Hi George,
I am located in Lynchburg Va. You can e-mail me offline if you like.

Mode1

My Feedback: (10)

Outstanding research and development. I have made molds from wood and carved by hand useing templates. Yours are far superior.

Jackjet

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Greg,
your new aircraft looks very,very nice. I'm sure it will fly good.




Jackjet

Goggles

My Feedback: (4)

That's one great looking jet, good job!!!

Where did you get it milled at?

Thanks.

Kelvin.

lov2flyrc

My Feedback: (24)

SWEEEEEET!...

Nice looking plane, will you be bringing one to FL Jets in feb for test flights?? Would love to see it in person.

NICE WORK....
Todd

Countryboy

My Feedback: (25)

Whatever happened to this project ? Look's like there is quite a market for 12 lb. class airframes, and this one look's good. Anyone kitting it ?

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

That's very neat.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of machine cut the plug? Did you ever think about directly cutting the molds out (I guess that would have been even more of the Ren)

Speaking of Ren that much must have set you back!! Love the SLA detail pieces. Perfect way to make a jet, another guy on here Eddie Weeks did a similar thing, machined each half of the pulgs for all of the parts using MDF I think.

Keep posting the pics it is very interesting, good luck,

Matt


EDIT OOPS 3 years old, still neat!

tschuy

My Feedback: (1)

Last post on this project from Greg G was 3 years ago: Plug almost ready for molding - 1/6/2002 10:20:18 PM


Does anyone know if he has ever completed it?



Cheers,

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

Hi All,

The project is still very much alive, but was essentially put on hold for a couple of years for several reasons.

-Change of job 1
-Relocation to NJ for change of job
-New house
-Baby Girl 1 (Sandra, now 2.5 years old)
-Change of job 2
-Baby Girl 2 (Tanya, now 5 months old)


Here is an update of the status of the project.


The plug, molds and first parts were made relatively quickly before the shift in priorities.
The molds are made of epoxy gel coat and glass/epoxy and turned out very well with virtually no shrinkage or warp.
The plugs also survived the mold making process with very minimal damage and are reusable.

One set of parts were molded using west pro-set and K-36 primer painted in the mold. The first set of parts turned out good with only some minor sticking in the mold and some minor fillet repair required (requires a couple more layers of wax and maybe PVA next time). The fin has one layer of carbon cloth and carbon tow in the seam and is very rigid. The nose has a layer of Kevlar. The cloth types and weights seems just about right for a good balance of stiffness/rigidity and molded weight.
The fuselage mold seam was also done with an overlapping glass layer instead of tape and also turned out very well with no seam cracking(was new for me).
The two hatches turned out good with only some very minor sticking. The fit of the hatches to the fuselage also turned out excellent and has remained stable even after few years.


I began work again on the wings about three months ago and am slooowly making progress when the kids let me.
The foam cores were cut using laser cut two piece laminate templates. The cutouts in the foam for the landing gear support ribs, carbon tube spars, wire lead spar, were also cut using laser cut ply templates. The wing ply parts are laser cut and are ready to be assembled. The part fits are amazing using CAD and laser. The balsa skins are finished.

The plug/molds for the two CG mounted fuel cells has been started. Slightly lower tech here.
I printed out 1:1 CAD cross sections taken every 1/2!QUOT! on 8.5 x 11 Avery label sheets and stuck them to 1/2!QUOT! MDF, then cut them out on the band-saw and glued them together. It was painful to cut these out manually after having things CNC'd!

I was actually going to post here on RCU soon to get some recommendations for landing gear retracts, struts, wheels and brakes. The projected dry weight is estimated to be 12.5 to 14 lbs. I was planning on using Robart 550 retracts and Robart 7/16!QUOT! struts and would like some feedback on the durability of these or other alternatives. I would like to order the gear in the next week or so, as they will make a great fathers day present!


I will post some updated pictures soon when I get a chance.



Greg

Mike James

Nice to see your project is still alive, Greg.

Keep us informed.

rcguy!

My Feedback: (69)

Did I miss the wing area?

Dave