Ok got a pilot
It was a 'small' 1/6th size Elite Forces pilot.
I need to paint his helmet to match the Reds but i think he looks the part!

All we need now is some weather on Sunday

Paul

Hawk went 2.4 FASST today
Fly tomorrow all being well.
Install was easy.

Paul

Paul,

Also charged my Hawk so see you there no matter what

Trevor Skedge.

Chaps
You got skis? Snowing in London!

Matt

It is done...[8D]
This morning we loaded the car in a blizzard, a good 3 inches of snow and dark skies.[>:]
As we drove west to Oxford the sky cleared and eventually sunshine!

It turned out to be one of the best flying days we have had this year
Cold but relatively calm and what wind there was was down the runway!
I range checked the Fasst 2.4 and all was well.
Now no excuses left, …….final check of all functions and open the throttle [X(]
All i can say is it was a total non event
The FASST system worked perfectly and the Hawk flew the way it always does....beautiful
I am now no longer a 2.4 JetVirgin and the Hawk has no whip aerial [8D]

Happy days.

Paul

Well you wouldn't have got it in the air in Tampa Fl where I am right now with the torrential rain and monster thunderstorms that have filled the day!

I’ve made slower progress with my EDF conversion than I thought I would, but it’s coming together well. Your extensive how-to earlier in the thread has been an invaluable source Paul, and I thought that I’d show the things I did a bit differently for my version.

The power system is as follows:

Stumax SM110-52 110mm EDF unit with Neu 1915/1Y motor and CC110HV esc

Drive packs I have standing by for the Hawk are:

One 12S (2x6S) TP Extreme 6600 lipos (72oz weight)

Two 12S (2x6S)Airthunder 5000 lipos (62oz)

Two 14S2P A123 (4600mAh, 76oz) which I will self-assemble from Dewalt 36V drill packs.

The fuselage is too narrow for saddle packs to be used, and there’s no way I would buy saddle packs for any model as that would leave my present brick-shaped lipo packs unused. In any case, the Hawk has a huge long nose which would be empty if saddle packs were used. It makes much more sense to mount the drive battery in the nose area and move the fan unit well aft to maintain balance. My balance calculation showed that the Stumax fan had to be located a foot or so further aft than the ICDF location. Consequently I've cut out a new access hatch in the fuselage underside aft of the wing, and new ducting moulded from scratch.

Having decided the fan location, the next step was to make the ducting. I hot wire cut a pair of blanks from pink foam, and curved them to an “S� planform and an arched shape in elevation to clear the wing by means of saw-cuts, with parcel tape pulling the blanks into the required curve – Pic 1. My new ducts comprise an inner layer of 3oz glass cloth and an outer layer of 6oz twill weave glass, spiral wrapped with carbon tow at 20mm pitch.

Pic 2 shows the new fan unit location, the ducting, and the approximate location of the 12S Airthunder battery (2 x 6S 5000s). Note how much shorter are the original ICDF ducts. Clearly there’s no way that the original ICDF fan location would work.

Pic 3 shows the separated fan hatch, cut from the fuselage along existing engraved panel lines using a razor saw. Removing such a large section from the fuselage reduced its torsional rigidity. To restore fuselage stiffness I edged the hatch and the fuselage aperture with a double layer of 1/32in plywood strips 3/8in wide, and added laminated plywood lugs on the fuselage onto which the hatch is firmly screwed to restore fuselage stiffness. These lugs are curved during lamination to match the curve of the fuselage.

I rolled the tailpipe from Mick Reeves thinnest Pro-Skin, seen in Pic 4.

I chose the Robart 105deg unit for the nose retract. I cut off one side of the steering arm and soldered a length of steel wire to the remaining one for the sliding steering servo link. The Eurokit 15080 sprung steerable noseleg is just right for this model.

To avoid having to angle the nosegear bulkhead back a whole lot to get the wheel fully retracted, I installed the unit on 15deg beech wedges so the bulkhead could be more or less erect. Pic 5.

Pic 6 shows the steering servo pushrod supported by the slot so that the nosewheel centres during retraction. The siding horn is a nylon strip aileron horn and the pushrod fastens to that with a screw-up servo connector. The vertical wire rod is soldered to the Robart steel tiller arm along with a brass wheel collet for extra support. I’ve programmed the Tx to inhibit the nose steering channel when the retract switch is selected “up� and this automagically centres the nose steering servo too. Thus the nose steering servo doesn’t move with rudder when the noseleg is retracted.

In conjunction with the geometry of the retract block and its pivot, the nose leg “grows� in length as it retracts. So the bulkhead needed setting back a bit, another reason for not sloping the bulkhead backwards. This resulted in the notch seen in the fuselage underside. Pic 7.

I hinged the nosewheel doors with Robart hinge points and they are opened and closed by the noseleg. Pic 8. An over-centre spring holds the doors open or closed. Operation is rather clunky and I might use a micro servo and sequencer instead – the Orbit sequencer is nice and light.

I glued the air valve and its servo to a bit of plywood, and this assembly will Velcro inside the model where needed to help achieve the CG. Pic 9.

Dick Spreadbury gave me a pair of really nice Sullivan Pylon Brand sprung gear legs that he’s had unused in their packaging for about 20 years – thanks Dick, you are a star!! Dick used a similar pair on his Pete Nye original prototype, and suggested that I remove one side of the U-shaped wheel mount. With this done they look remarkably like the full-scale Hawk’s trailing link legs.

I epoxied 1/4in ply doublers beneath the wing brackets, seen in Pic 10. Then I made new mount plates from1/8in tufnol and installed the retract units straight and as far forward in the bays as I could. Pic 11. The plates screw to the ply doublers. When the gear is extended, the wheels are about 3/4in further aft compared with wire legs. Pic 12 shows the retract bay covers installed.

Disappointingly, the aileron horn support was unusable, comprising a sliver of liteply slapped into place with some filler which was too weak to hold the threaded rod horn which rocked about – Pic 13. Simply blobbing epoxy in there wasn’t a solution as I couldn’t have controlled its installation satisfactorily. So I made new aileron horn mounting blocks from beech engine bearer as seen in Pics 14 and 15.

I’m still working on the cockpit, and have been following Paul’s thread for that as Jim's instructions give no clue regarding how to assemble the bits. Here’s pic 16 showing the plane assembled and awaiting painting. After making the effort to fit nosewheel doors I forgot to lower them for the pic [>:]

That's all for now until I get back home.

Cheers from a disgustingly wet and thundery "sunshine state"

Gordon

Just one more ... here's the rudder installation. A 90oz.in JR 4131 just fits nicely. I have 4131s on flap and elevator too, and DS161 on aileron.

Looks really nice with those legs

Paul

Gordon,

I think the 4131 may be a little ''light'' on the elevator. I run an 8411.

Trevor Skedge.

Thanks guys.

Re the 4131 on elevator, you could be right Trev as I've just remembered that I did have two 4131s, ie one on each elevator, in my 1/6th scale Pete Nye Hawk. I do have some 8411s awaiting a plane so I'll put one of those in. Better safe than sorry.

Gordon

FWIW, different plane but similar size. I used a 4131 on the stab of my .91 GDF powered AMD Hawk a couple years ago with no issues.

Thanks for the input

paul

Chris,

Yes it's a JR servo and I wouldn't expect failure issues but do feel it isn't the correct servo for this particular application.

Trevor Skedge.