I am amazed that you are not satisfied. I have the Rafale and the only real problems were the door cylinders and FEJ have already sent replacements. Their customer respose is very good. This is a new company and they sold the introductory models at way below a true market price while they became established. This was a real bargain. So the hardware packs could be improved, a very minor cost to change them. The U/C works fine and has no leaks, but it was a bit soft so I added extra springs form some spare ones I had. The model itself was superb quality and I have no complaints.

John

Sorry you looked close and got a McCain

Thanks for all the info guys. I can deal with subpar hardware and fix the gear/cylinder issues.

It appears that the FEJ F-15 will be my first jet. I can keep the costs low, get used to flying scale and then start a more scale project down the road if I want to.

I don't think you will be disappointed...

Bob

I think the dissappointment will come when I try to pay for the Turbine. I either have or am going to buy everything else but that in the next 45 days.

There are two P-120's in the RCU ads as we speak for $2000. You can't get more bang for the buck than that. The P-120 is a dead-nuts reliable motor with a great combination of thrust, weight, fuel consumption, and reliability. Its perfect for the F-15...

Find a good seller, get the serial number, and see what the service history is from JetCat. I've bought 2 P-120's and 1 P-80 used from sellers on RCU and they have performed great.

Bob

Sweetpee,
I had a rough time turning loose of the cash for my first turbine. Nearly made me sick at my stomach knowing that for the same money, I could have purchased 1/2 dozen glow engines capable of propelling a $50 airframe at 180mph. Seems like a lot of money to pay for a particular noise.
I maidened my first turbine last month. Trust me dude, you get what you pay for and it worth every *@$# penny! You will wonder why you waited so long.

Cody

I've got no problem forking out the dough for the motor. I've got 150cc motors that cost me over $2k. The problem is all my excess money is going for the plane. Gotta start somewhere.

Once I get the plane, I'll work on getting a motor. Trying to sell some of my large gas planes now to help ease the cost of the turbine. I'll get there, don't worry. Then I'll do a build/fly thread.

What are you thinking about a P160SX in the FEJ-F16 ?
Too heavy? Not matching? Or perfect?
I don't like to instal a turbine in the back of the plane.

Many regards from Switzerland,
Beat (typical Swiss firstname) ;-)

In response to Baetae

What are you thinking about a P160SX in the FEJ-F16 ?

Way to big of a turbine, even though the size is very close to a P80, I would be very concerned about the thrust tube, it is not made for that size engine and you need a larger diameter tube.
The tube that comes with the kit could end up with catastrophic failure ie collapse.
Your other issue is fuel the P80 drinks 9 oz a minute at full power and the Titan 16 oz, the F16 is short on fuel as it comes from FEJ unless you bought the Advanced that has a small extra tank and would still be to little fuel on board.

I have a Euro with a P120 and have 156oz and that gives me about 9-10 min with reserves for a few go around and the P120 drinks 12oz.
I have no idea how you would fit this much fuel in to the F16.

If you have a Titan (P160) on the shelf waiting for a plane and would like to install it in the F16 make sure you dial it way back, 34 lbs of thrust is way to much for the F16.
My F16 advanced with scale gear etc will come in at aprox 19-20 lbs dry.

I know some will disagree here and say more power is better, however my opinion is when it comes to Turbines safety is #1 and protecting your investment is #2.

Let us know how it turns out if you decide to put the Titan in the F16
.

Is it absolutely necessary to use the entire bypass that is suppliedwith the F-16? I am assuming for airflow into the tailpipe it is, but I'm not sure. Also, should I treat it with BVM Shield Shield towards the rear?
Thanks

it's not a bypass, it's more or less a directory of the intake air and keeps you from sucking any FOD up through the main doors when taxing on the gnd.

Ok, so I'm guessing this is something that I can't live without. Thanks

Any one know how much heavier the advance is over the standard FE F16??? I guess the diff will be the scale gear??

Mav

i guess you could but i really don't see why you would want to, it also keeps heat off the retracts.

Response to B767

Thanks for your answer.
I made a mistake, I ment the P120 not the 160. Sorry.
I would prefer the P60, but I guess, there will be a problem with the CG when I install it not in the back.

I'll try, when the F-16 is here.

Beatae.

A P120 I believe will work with that thrust tube, I would email "James Chen" at FEJ and ask him to be on he safe side, but I would think you would be OK.
The P60 on the other hand, wow.... you will be at full power for a lot of your flying at 13.5lbs thrust on a 17-18lbs "wet" jet or 21-24lbs on the Advanced version that is marginal power.
I would look in to a P70 or a P80, the plane is designed around the P80 and this is the engine FEJ recommends and has test flown on the F16.
I enclosed one of the test flight videos of the FEJ F16 with a P80 and as you can see it has plenty of power at 21lbs. http://youtube.com/watch?v=s8505-1KTU8

I have the P80 in my Adv F16 and it fits very nice, with all the ducting in place.
The P120 will fit (very close to the same Size) just a little heavier, the only thing like I said in the post above is fuel supply, you will have to figure out where to put more go juice or your flight times will be very short.

As for the CG this plane has very long moments and a little weight in the nose or tail goes a long way.
If you need weight in the tail balance your stabs, I found that it will take 2.5oz / 76g per side to balance the stab, that is 5oz or 152g in the tail.
I have been advised by TBM this "balance step" is not a required step to fly the jet as long as you have strong servos, however if you need weight in the tail why not balance them.

Good Luck

I thought the literature states the planes where flown with the Jet Central SuperBee......that is a 14lb thrust engine.

sweetpea01

You are correct they must have changed their website, they used to have a P80 or JF-100 listed as the preferred engine.
JetCat is no longer even on their website????
The test video clearly has the P80 as the engine of choice before they changed to "Artes"
I guess that is because they now represent "Artes" .

Oh well the P80 still fly's the F16 well.

I don't disagree there.

Anyone actual have performance report with the Superbee on it?

the 20 dollar additional tank for the f 16, Part#EJF16cft, shown on TBM site.
has anyone got one yet, and did it fit well, provide enough extra fuel to be worthwile?

I have Mike Lin's extra tank in mine. 650cc and fits in the fuse right under the back of the cockpit. My total onboard now is 2625cc or 88.75oz. For my turbine, the Behotec J66HP (19 lbs thrust) thats good for 7 minutes with @ 2 1/2 minutes of reserve.

Ok, here is another question I feel I should already know the answer too, but here goes. How do I do the vent line on the tanks on my F-16? Do I simply leave a tube coming out of the plug bent up at a ninety or is there a better way?
Thanks

Has anyone flown the F-16 yet that would like to report?

I'd like to see a FEJ thread dedicated to just the F-16 or the Advanced one.


Does it have panel/rivets?

I noticed no flaps......does it need them? Or do you set ailerons as flaps?

What type of motors are folks running in it?

Does anyone think it would be hard to sand and repaint one of these? FEJ said they didn't have any in primer.

If you're seriously interested in one of their F-16's I suggest that you read the entire thread. The answers to your questions are there.

There is no reason why an FEJ F-16 would be any more or less difficult to paint than any other model. They have been very accomodating to customer's requests for custom paint schemes, and their prices are less than if you did it yourself. That's also discussed earlier in the thread. Send them some pictures and ask for a quote.

Joe