Crazy4Flight

My Feedback: (540)

Joe,

PLEASE keep you tip sheet handy. (the qiuck reference guide to the falcon 120).
Santa brought me a Falcon 120. And I will have an Artes Bee for it by the end of january.

B58

My Feedback: (43)

flyguide, don't worry with Tam. He is the man. Give him a call if you need to. He has always answered right away for me. Bob

flyguide7

Tam is working on my problem now, I am sure he will get it straightened out. I love that A-4 he's got. That plane is sweet.

flyguide7

I talked to Tam just now, great guy! All is well. I will definitely do business with him again.

airspeed917

Hi Guys,, Just got NoRays replacement canopy,,, it's AWESOME, hardly flexes when sqeezed,,,Super Clear,, well worth it..... Much better than the stock canopy that will crack if you look at it the wrong way... Thanks Ray

Crazy4Flight

My Feedback: (540)

Airspeed,

can you send me NoRays Email?

bob

airspeed917

Sent it check your mail Bob

kimani

How big of a trubin can go on the falcon will a jet-cat P-80 be to much

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

Keep in mind that this is a Chinese ARF designed for a 120 sized glow engine. The quality is OK or the money but it needs to be gone over carefully, hardware upgraded, and structural improvements made for any turbine application. With all that a 14# class turbine is an ideal match. It could be done but IMO a P80 is overkill for both power and extra weight. If you're seriously thinking about converting one I suggest that you take the time to read this entire thread.

Two of us have been flying Falcon 120's in the Detroit area this past year. I am aware of about 10 others in the area who now have one and are planning on flying it next season.

Joe

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

you have a fair bit of up thrust there!

BaldEagel

If you are prepared to do the work neccessary to strengthen the UC etc for the extra landing and take off weight I think the P80 would be a good choice, personnaly I don't think you can have too much power, the only problem may be the residue thrust at tick over and trying to get the thing down, make sure you can get the flaps too 90 degs for landing to act as drag brakes.

Mike

Crazy4Flight

My Feedback: (540)

I have a Falcon in the box, and I have a P-80 for sale.

I will not put it on the Falcon it is just too much.

Yes, it can be done. But will the P-80 overload the airframe ???

For my Falcon I am buying an Artes Bee 14 lb turbine.

Remeber the Falcon was designed for a 1.20 Glow fuel engine and pusher prop.

Massea, you best bet would be an airframe that was designed and built for a P-80 class of turbine. Like a Rookie II from Composite-ARF.

Bob

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

I'll have to disagree with Mike. A P-80 is not a good choice for this airframe due to its weight, power, and fuel consumption. As I said before it's a cheaply made Chinese ARF intended to be a 120 pusher that weighs 12# and doesn't go any faster than 80 mph. Also it suffers from poor construction, missed glue joints, and design flaws typical of Chinese ARF's.

We are pushing the limits of the airframe by putting any turbine on it. Mine weighs 14.5# dry, 18# wet and can do about 160 mph with my Wren SS. With a P-80 it would weigh about a pound more dry and about two pounds more wet with extra fuel.

Sure it's possible for an experienced builder to make the necessary structural improvements and follow many of the tips in this thread, but it's easy for even the most experienced builder to overlook something like missed glue joints inside the wings or booms. I've seen two of these explode in the air and if you look through this thread you'll find several examples of structural failure. My other concern is that a guy with only 4 postings on RCU who has to ask such a question might not have the required skills, and even if he does the airframe may not be up to the task.

Joe

BaldEagel

Well the only way to resolve this is for me to put my P80 in the Falcon and prove it one way or the other, I think I have the required experience to make this a viable proposition, I have a 2Ltr bottle that fits for a fuel tank and I have the wings in bits to strengthen them already, the whole point of getting the Falcon was for a cheap everyday model, I will obviously de rate the turbine which means less fuel consuption and a sensible speed envelope.

The whole thing about a turbine is less vibration than an IC its the flight loads that have to be taken into account wheather these are aerodynamic or direct loading through the airframe on landing, as a retired Structural Engineer I think I have this well in hand.

Mike

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

I would not use the P-80 for the reasons previously stated. BUT, were I to do it with the P-80, I would NOT de-rate the max thrust. You can NEVER have too much thrust for going vertical (up) and for when you desperately need it (unknown crappy situation, usually a blown landing). But you must ALWAYS be throttle aware and only use max throttle when warranted.

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

Mike,

As I stated I don't doubt that it could be done, nor do I doubt that you have the capability. What I was disagreeing with is your statement that a P-80 would be a good choice for this airframe. My comments were directed at the guy that asked the question, whose profile says he has zero years building experience.

Joe

BaldEagel

Joe

Point taken, its just that the P80 is the most prevelant turbine out there, more sold than any other and lots of them like mine looking for a new home, I will possibly start a new thread showing all the mods needed to make the Flacon usable with the P80 you never know it may help a few people.

Mike

GreenAcre

My Feedback: (13)

I have a P-80 in mine. NOT FLOWN IT YET! I did as Joeflyer did and put basswood supports back to the engine mount, to make it stronger. (the pics do not show the supports)

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_59...n%2C120/tm.htm
post 1890

Vettdriver

Thought I'd finally throw my pics in the ring.
Falcon 120 w/ 17lbs of Simjet thrust. No issues here but have kept it under 2/3 throttle except on Takeoffs, Go arounds and Verts.

This is absolutely the best flying plane I own. No elevator input on inverted passes and rock solid on approaches.

Robart Retracts & offset struts, Tams wheels & brakes, Hobby Lobby servo covers, a little extra trim color and vinyl decals.

Grodus

Nice. The white trim made a world of difference on that color scheme. Looks great

Cody

sweetpea01

My Feedback: (10)

Looks very nice

warbirdmustang

My Feedback: (21)

Man,
That extra trim makes all the difference in the world! I got the black and orange one for Christmas, and was debating on whether to strip it and come up with an entirely new color scheme, or add to what is there, and now my decision is a lot harder! Thanks for the pics!
Bryan

Vettdriver

Thanks for the kind words.

I'll tell you. It sure shows up well in the air.

I origianlly got the Black & Orange because someone at our field HAD one of the white ones.
I was more than a little worried about how I was going to make it so I could live with the color scheme.
However, after sorting through all my monocote rolls I had left over from other planes and the cutting strips for the trim I was very pleased.

jet junkie

Howdee Folks

This is Giggo,s Falcon P60...it used to be the Orange and Black version...shows what you can do with a little TLC!
Giggo completely stripped it down to wood and did some dope magic and some of that really expensive cloth type covering (forgot the brand)
then painted it and then a 2pac clear coat and its as tough as nails now!

wicked job there giggo!

BaldEagel

Agreed, I used the wrong description when I said de rate the turbine, what I should have said is use the Airspeed sensor to restrict maximum speed.

If I remember correctly both incidents of wing damage where caused by excessive speed, one bent the wing spar the other blew the wing to bits, IMO the wing blowing to bits was possibly caused by the extreme negative pressure generated by the very large curvature of the top section of the wing at the excessive speed sucking the top surface of the wing off the internal structure, that wing section is not designed for the speeds that can be achived by a turbine, but what it does tend to indicate is that the internal wing structure is fairly well put together, I am going to be stripping my wings so will be able to report back what I find.

Mike