griley

Hi

I am just about to start work on my Y/A f18 single and I am putting a AMT Mercury in to it. I have brought tamjets conversion kit and would like to get any info from anybody who has done a turbine conversion already .

Thanks
G Riley

Cowdog

My Feedback: (13)

I've got a JDE 54 (basically a wren54) in mine and it works great (5 flights so far). It was converted from a DF after 43 flights as a DF..

What would you like to know?

Hank

Kelly W

My Feedback: (2)

Time to dig up a thread from Page 2. I was hoping to see this one grow a little when it first popped up.

I just pulled my new YA F-18s out of the box for the first time last week. I don't even have the retracts/struts for it yet but I do have the pipe/turbine already. The power plant (a pst) is getting bench tested to see if there's a sweet-spot of thrust vs. pipe to cone position. I'm not going to use a bypass.

questions:
(1) This is my first polyester kit. What other glues work well in poly fuselages, other than poly resin (stinky) or the 2-part resin-powder glue they recommend?

(2) Should the Y/A F-18 need the same attention to the wing joint as the F-16 when converted to turbine? (see F-16 strengthening thread) Anyone ever had a spar failure on this kit? I'll probably use 2.25oz cloth on the wings just to be sure.

(3) Has anybody done gear doors on this kit? Too bad the holes are already cut...

(4) Flaps or no flaps? This kit will spend most of its life on grass. Is elevator control sacrificed at all with use of flaps?

(5) Do most people prefer to embed the rudder servos in the fins, or in the fuse with torque rods? I have a set of the new Hitec thin servos (non-digitals) but I may use them on the ailerons.

All n' all its a nice, simple jet kit. Hope its a good weekend flyer!

Thx,
Kelly

Greg_R

I'm in the process of making custom gear doors. I'm just waiting to get a little extra cash for the pneumatics.

Kelly W

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Greg,
Are you custom making each door to fit in place or making a mold of each fuse portion?

I might try filling in the fuse temporarily, re-scribing the panel lines again, then molding each section. Didn't realize just how many doors were on this plane till just last week. I can't see any other way to make it look just right either. So what pneumatics are you planning to use, Robart?


Hey CowDog,
What kind of takeoff roll do you have with the JDE?

Thanks,
Kelly

Greg_R

Filling in the hole is the best way I found. I used some .10-.20 Styren from the local model shop to cover the hole then filled with fiber glass resin from the inside. I covered the Styren with PAM so the glass would not stick. It left a smooth surface and I cut out all the door.

Y/A makes 1/4" pneumatics that should look good for scale.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...scale+retracts]

jedijingle

My Feedback: (45)

Greg_R, can you please post some photos of your work on the retract doors. I would like to do the same on my f-18. Thanks John

AtomicFrawg

My Feedback: (8)

Im Building one right now for my Boss at AEROJET.
Im using 2 part polyester resin and Zaps new polyester 2 part epoxy PT-45.

Power will be a P-120.

If anyone has good inside detailed shots of this conversion Please email them to me. I would like to see some ideas that others used to stuff their turbine in.

Oh and most fiber glass resin will not stick to polyester resin. So watch what you use. (just friendly info)

Thanks
Chris

Bobman

My Feedback: (5)

I'm in the painting stages of mine right now, built for a Simjet 2300. I'd love to do gear doors, but don't see where you guys are going to FIT all that stuff in the fuse?

Kelly, I used Aeropoxy for my fuse joints, & strips of 4oz cloth to secure the formers forever, especially the ones that hold the stab mounts. I covered all the surfaces with 1oz cloth, but put a 2" strip of 4oz on the wing seams. Not sure if its needed or not, but I had to fill in the small gap anyways.

I opted for flaps & ailerons, but didn't decide on servos yet. Would love to use the thin Hitec digitals that you mentioned but I think the torque is a bit low for this application? I also laid a piece of 1/64" ply into the top & bottom TE of the wing & fin to cover the hinge gap of the control surfaces.

I used the stock torque rod setup for the rudders with all ball links & don't think flutter is ever going to be a problem. Make sure you put a piece of hardwood into the rudder where the rod enters it & also glass cloth the rod in place.

If this weather ever gets warm again I'll finish this beast!

Bob

Cowdog

My Feedback: (13)

Old link with some info

Riley,

Might want to check out this older post for some pics

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...=&pagenumber=2

If you ahve some specficit requests, I could probably take some more pics and send it to you..

Kelly,

As for takeoff roll, GUESSING it was around 250-350 feet in Lubbock which is at 3200 feet of altitude. Next time I fly it I'll try and get a better estimation. Performance on climb out is more solid with the turbine than the DF (and a lot more re-assuring that your engine isn't going to go lean or rich..)

Hankk