Next step:

I am not the biggest fan of coke-bottles in jets. I used them several years with great success, they are damn cheap, but: the use up a lot of space inside the fuselage. They spread the fuel on a large surface. We have cut the middle former, after we made a template of it (you never know). The fuel-cells will be held in place by honey-comb-plates. They lock under the wing-tube at the rear and two bolts at the front-end hold them in place. The fuel-cells are laminated over positives. They will be glued onto the h/c-plates. The tanks hold 2.2 litres each, makes a total of 4.4 litres. The trhee coke-bottles hold 4.5 litres. And there is still lots of room for a header and one or two smoketanks. They will be made the same way as the fuel-cells. Not as stylish as the Jettech kevlar ones, but cheap. And it feels good that you have made something unike

David

Just forgot these two:

If you didn't know how it looks with the coke-bottles: left and right are 1.5 litre bottles, in the middle there is a 1.0 litre bottle and the one in front holds 0.5 litre. The rear spars are made to suit three of the 1.5 ltres bottles, but I just had two.

The Tutor in the pisture belongs to either MArtin Foster or Martin Sannwald from swiss model shop. The flew a very nice display at the german masters. This picture shows how nice and slow the Tutor comes down for landing. I can't wait to see mine in the air.

David

David,

Test flights on my Tutor went very well! This is undoubtedly the best, most fun flying jet I have ever owned! Glides forever! Very precise in its handling. Beautiful presentation in the sky! You really couldn't ask for a better scale jet for everyday flying!

The only change needed is to move the balance point in front of the wing tube. Mine balanced right at the wing tube and flew slightly tail heavy. Overly sensitive to the elevator with a tendency to drop the tail on landing approach without power. I added another 1lb 1/2 to the nose and it flew perfectly!

My day, however, ended badly, when, after a deadstick landing, the rear fuse caught fire while sitting on the runway, and was consumed before I could reach it with a fire extinguisher. Everything from just rear of the wings was destroyed. I hope to be able to order a replacement fuse and stab from Peter and rebuild, as after flying this one, I really can't imagine not having this Tutor in my hangar!

David S.

David, sorry to hear of your bad luck. What type of motor problem caused a fire?? maybe some unused smoke fluid still in the tailpipe?? V..

Vince,

Don't know exactly what caused the fire. There was some smoke coming out of the tailpipe after the deaqdstick landing that looked like residual smoke oil in the pipe because it was white. Then as I got closer to the plane the smoke turned brown then quickly black as the fuse started to burn. Don't know why the flameout either. That's the problem with fires, they tend to destroy most of what you need to see to determine the cause unless you're a fire expert. Which thankfully I'm not and don't wish to be.

David S

Hi david!

I am really sorry to hear the bad news, but I am happy that you want to build a new fuse and stab for the Tutor. As I told you, I once almost lost my Strikemaster due to residual smoke-oil catching fire in the tailpipe. Two or three Strikemaster burned down completly during flight/impact.

If you don't get Peter Mayer (he has moved to austria and somehow busy these days), you might want to contact Roedelmodell directly, as the Tutor is their design/product. I just got a call from Petra at Roedel and told her about your bad luck. She was very sorry but said that they have replacement parts in stock, so if you want them quick call

Tel. (0049) 0 82 68 - 713
Fax: (0049) 0 82 68 - 715

or drop them a line at:

[email protected]

Best regards,

David

David,

Peter just sent me pics of the cockpit. Looks really nice. I should get my replacement parts next month. How's yours coming along?

David

Tahfeit,

Where did you get the big threaded fitting you used on your fuel tank?

Thanks,

Dick
England

Hi Dick!

The tank-fittings are made by Erwin Tratz aka airtech-germany. Try webmaster[at]airtech-germany.de They are not on his webside, he is probably to busy making retacts for the jet-guys....

Hi Dave!

Well, you have the pics, I am gonna have my cockpit delivered the next couple of days . We have made the mounts for the wing-landing-lights and some other small things. I will fill the gap between the fuse and the wings these days and start priming it next week. I hope to have it painted by the next 3-4 weeks. I just ordered the paint-masks from Steve Ricket.

BR,

David

Guys

Steve Rickett put the first two flights on his 114 in AETE colour scheme at RAF Leuchars on Saturday. The model flew beautifully, absolutely rock solid in the air and very scale performance on Jetcat P120. Landings were superb, this model is very realistic as this the "sit" in the air was perfect and it is very easy to see in this colour scheme.The landing gear is beautuifully made and operates very smoothly.

John

The Tutor is a great looking jet. Any chance on some pics or better video of the maiden?
I hope to see the Tutor and Strikemaster on the Jetpower 2006 fair....[sm=72_72.gif]

Staale

Should have pics and video soon.

John

Hi Dave!

You got pictures of the cockpit, I recieved mine on saturday..... Only difference to the one in the picture is the missing Snowbirds-sign on the head-rest, as I am doing the AETE colourscheme.

Good to hear that Steves Tutor flew alright. I am getting paint-masks from him. Still some sanding and filling and sanding, but it is getting close to a painted jet

David

David,

I just ordered the replacement fuse for my Tutor thru Peter Mayer as well as another full kit. He is including the tailpipe with smoker installed as well. This should get rid of any danger from smoke fluid igniting inside the fuse and starting a fire.

Peter has made an offer on the replacemnet parts which was quite unbelievable! I doubt that he could offer such a deal on an ongoing basis, and stay in business, but I'm very grateful for the support he has shown me! I'm hoping to receive the parts in time to finish and have ready for SuperMan Jets the first weekend of October. This is one of our major events here in the US and I'm sure the Tutor would show very well!

I'm not sure if Malcolm Kay will have his there or not, but it would be great if we could both be there and do a little formation flying with SMOKE ON!

David Searles

I'm only just starting the construction on my Tutor I won't be there at Superman , but maybe LAKE Wales in November, could see the light of day. I'm gonna use the amt pegasus in mine.....don't know what scheme to use , but I always tend to go military.......we'll see

Tahfiet. I like to know some more about the light units that you are using, where did you get them / how much.? any pictures.....? I just got to work on my Tutor and I have cut out the front doors as your pictures and also I am going to fit the speedbrakes I have cut out the fuse in that area and it is most unfortuneate that the fin upright support dissects the air brake aperture so I will have to design some kind of structure to replace the strength and still leave room for air brake operation....any thoughts ? Best wishes ..Malcolm Kay

Hi Malcom!

The rudder former and the mould-line were the two reasons, why we decided not to cut the speedbrakes. I would probably cut a square opening in the former, but leave some wood on the inside. Then double it with a piece of fiberglass-sheet on each side. A couple of carbon-rovings between the wood and the fiberglass will give you lots of strength...

The lighting system is made by a german company. As I think a very sophisticated system. The lights are Luxeon Emitters. They are driven by an electronic-board which has connectors for each light. It is good for a 4.8V battery. There are two leads for controlling the different features. By programming you can decide to use either one or two channels and you can set the switch-points. For example: I will y-lead the main function to the throttle channel and set positionlights and ACLs htat they are switched just by putting the throttle trim from min to max. So every time I start the engine the lights turn on. The landing-lights will be y-ead to the flaps and set to minimum flap. No problem to fly with a minimum amount of flap if you like to tur on the lights.

I have the three position lights, two red ACLs (bottom and top), a big landinglight in the nose and two small ones in the wings. The ones in the wings are angled at some 35-45° like on the fullsize. I will take some pics of the lighting-system later and post them here.

Best regards,

David

Hi Malcom!

Sorry for the delay. The lighting is from www.flugmodellbau.biz . Their webside is kind of weird, you better send an e-mail to Hajo Giegerich [[email protected]]. Say hello from me (Dvid Buesken). I don't know if he talks english, if that is a problem he should contact me and I will translate it for you guys. Tell him what you need and he will tell you what you should buy . We use just a standard flashing-emitter as ACL, but they do have rotating beacons! Have a look at the pics.

David

While putting ECU, pump, doorsequencer and Jettronic valves on the rc-board I realized that there is no place to put the fill-valves. So I cut the same door as Dave for easy acces.

The main-geardoors were a little bit tricky. My dad took almost two days to work it out. He used brass-hinges from the home-depot. The doors are actuated by robart-cylinders, crewed to a small wood block in the wing. Works perfect so far. There is not much space for wheels, cylinders and all that sort of stuff.

The outer doors are hinged pretty easy. A piece of plastic-tube is glued to the vover-plate ad a piano wire put inside and bent two 90° angles. The piano-wire is glued to the door. a second tube is glued to the door. A piece of alloy is attached to the strut. A short piece of piano-wire is bent 90°, a ball-link is attached to the alooy piece, the other side just slips into the tube. Hard to describe (especially in english lol), easy done. I will show a picture of the strut....

David, thank you for the information about the lights. I am sorry i haven't replied sooner than this, but I have had my head stuck in an airplane for three solid days, we have a public holiday here monday ( LABOUR DAY), SO I SPENT IT LABOURING ON THE TUTOR ! and since it was a three day holiday , of course it rained for three days !! your pictures are great , given me some pointers on the problem I hate DOORS !....I WILL contact HAJO about the lighting system, keep up the good work, Malcolm

David..... Hajo says hi! and thanks for the recomendation, Hajo sent me the whole catalogue by e-mail, so i am able to pick and choose my lighting, many many thanks for the info...and also thanks for the ideas about the doors, I am using your fathers idea for the main doors I found the tiny Piano hinges , about one inch long in Home depot, and they work a treat ....Malcolm

Hi Malcom!

Good to hear that you are happy with that. It is somehow irritating with all the lights and electronics and things like that. I had a look at all the goodies, decided what I need and told him to complete the package. It comes pretty complete. I have ordered a bunch of these vac-formed lens-covers. very nice and usefull on different projects. I will keep posting a couple of pictures, just in case that you or Dave might find something interesting . I did most of the putting and sanding. Just three more lits bits to sand and then I hopefully shoot a final coat of primer. While sanding, I destroyed a couple of rivets, so I have to redo them with whiteglue, but that is an easy fix. I found that the vent-holes are pretty big and you see them on every pic. I just cut a few holes in the fuse and glued some short pieces of cardboard-tube to the inside. One vent on the hole will carry the overflow for the kero and smoke tanks. Pictures to follow soon....

David

I will look forward to see your pix of your plane, have you checked out my thread on RCU ? about the building,? this week I don't work so I am full time building the Tutor, making good progress......Malcolm

G'day guys!

Took me 3 1/2 weeks to paint the Tutor. But the weather was to good, so I went flying instead of painting everyday. and I had to work, to finance all the turine-stuff. Too bad

Her you see the fuselage and some details. Most things are painted on with paint-masks from Steve Rickett. The small decals are made by Ralle from www.tailormadedecals.com . I hope we will get it ready in the next couple of days. keeps us busy for the next days....

The last for today.

most of the radio and turine-gear is placed on the board infront of the cockpit. Good access through the doors. The anti-slippery-whatsies on the wing-root are made with some 30 minute-Z-poxy and some sand out of the bird-cage. After removing the residua sand, it is painted with a slightly darkend white.

BR,

David