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SM F-4 postings on RCU

1. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5664807/tm.htm

2. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5623019/tm.htm

Lee

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I hope to fly mine tomorrow. Looks like the weather will cooperate.

hope all goes well, let us know- shoot vid?????????

Is this one larger than the bvm f4?

YES! It is a very very nice jet. I saw it at FJ and so far as I have seen, it is the nicest F-4 out there. The elevator setup on the airplane is exactly the way it needs to be. Very robust, and from what I understand they have a very forgiving wing airfoil on the jet.

Good luck with your maiden Keith. It is a great jet and fun to fly...

Michel

Flew the F4 today. It lifted off very nicely, very little trim needed, nice and stable in the air, aileron response at factory recommended throws was very good. Unfortunately, I suffered a flame out before I really had time to get the feel of the Phantom. I was downwind, full of fuel and farily low ... I did make it back to the runway but the landing was heavy and I have a little repair work on one of the main landing gear mounts.

I am still diagnosing the problem, but it was not an air bubble.

WOW, I am sorry for that.... Keep us posted on what happened...

Damn, another flame out on maiden!!

I'm sorry Pilot28, the exact same thing happened to me.

Raf

whats up with all these flame outs is it me or
when all the turbines were lets say p120 size 27 lbs or less
there were a lot less flame outs now i think it happens
more with the bigger 35 lb class motors all makes
or maybe i dont know what i am talking about
vinny

I'd be hesitant to automatically blame the engines. I'm going to blame my flame out on an unforseen problem in my install.

Raf

raf
i dont think it is the engines
but the bigger planes carry more fuel to sloch around in the tanks
making more static elec maybe rethink the install on bigger motors
etc bigger fuel lines for fueling-baffels in the tanks- static discharges on wings etc
dont realy know just seeing it happen more not less
vin

Interesting point Vin.

Raf

Vinny,
That's a popular misconception. Fuel sloshing around in a tank will not generate static electricity. It takes FLOW to generate static electricity in fuel. The higher the flow the more static is generated. Even the higher fuel consumption of the larger engines will not generate a significant amount of static.

Most static is generated during fuel fill. The reason we are seeing more of this on planes with bigger engines is that they have bigger tanks and if you try to fill them in two minutes you can generate a significant charge. The amount of humidity in the air and the conductivity of the fuel being used also have an impact on the amount of static generated.

Keith's problem sounds like it could be static related. The best way to minimize static is to slow down your fill rates. Use a lower voltage battery on your fill can. Larger diameter fuel lines will also help. If you wish to learn more read this thread: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_49...%2Cfill/tm.htm

Joe

So what's the honest-to-goodness scoop on this bird? Worth it? It LOOKS awesome. Does anyone know if they plan to offer it in gray primer?

I am assuming that Keith flew his F4 in FL hence high humidity. Raf and David S. flew in a moderate humidity in California. ESD in less effective in humid times. The UAT on Raf's was not full after inspection. I can't speak about David S. install, I did not have the chance to see it. At this point, I must say that some of these flame outs are NOT ESD related.

Currently skymaster is offering the F-4 in a white primer, Jolly Rogers, and Camo scheme.
If you're interested we're offering free shipping this month if ordered through us.

Hope this helps,

Steven Turner, VP
Jet Black R/C Models
www.jetblackrc.com
[email protected]
716-602-4345
U.S. Authorized Skymaster/JetCat Dealer

Another thing to consider is most of the ESD problems that have been traced to ESD have caused engine shutdown at rotation (when the static tends to discharge), not mid flight.....

What did the Flame out look like...i.e. smoke signals or just quit? What did the ECU error message say? There is a 99.9% chance Static discharge had nothing to do with you turbine quiting.
Lee

My problem was not static related. The engine appears to have shut down due to a low voltage situation and there are some indications as to what was causing the excess current drain, but we have not confirmed anything yet. I think this is an isolated issue and nothing to be concerned about... just one of those things that happens occasionally. I doubt it has anything to do with the airframe.

As I said, I didn't have much time with the aircraft in the air but I can tell you my initial impressions were that the plane flew rock solid. This is pretty consistent with observations from Raf and David. Mine should be back in the air quickly.

It actually had a bit better glide than I expected, but I was a long way from the runway when the engine quit and I lacked just a bit of airspeed I needed in the flare. It handled like a heavy scale warbird ... predictable, but somewhat dependent on power. One plus ... I saw no indication that the plane has a tendency to tip stall when it gets slow. It just mushes.

When I maidened the F-4 for a customer here it was rock solid as Keith says. I tested low speed handling with no flaps and all the jet did was come with the nose down when it stalled. Recovery was very fast and safe. But it does need power to land so a glide landing must be done using as much speed as posible.

Here is video of the maiden:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2hLpSFpYpk

Michel