Mav,

Either location will work. I have a Wren SS in mine, in the conventional location. I too debated where to mount it. The big incentive for a rear mount, as far as I was concerned, was to save weight. I weighed the components, measured their locations, and calculated moments of inertial for each scenario. The result of my analysis was that after balancing, the plane would come out slightly heavier with the engine in the back. My other concern was that even in the conventional location a lot of nose weight is necessary and the nose formers might not take the extra weight, plus the barbell weight distribution would stress the fuse. I have 24 oz. of nicads up front. I don't recall how much extra weight I would need if the engine was in the rear. Do your own analysis and see what you think.

Joe

I am really happy with the rabbit in the F-16 I think its the perfect match and the rabbit is an increadible engine.

Merry xmas to all, I have been reading the various comments on the FEJ 16 and the landing styles, but I would like to share mine first I have set the Cof G at 140 mils, ailerons I have set at 10 mil up and down with 25% expo, the elevators are at 45 mils up and down with 30% expo, no flaps, and it flys inverted hands off sticks the plane flys lovely and I have not had to change anything. also remember the weight difference for the advance and standard versions are different.
My personal view on using elevons on a 16 is crazy if you lose a control surface you have had it, no recovery at all. Ive flown in f-18s etc and to my best knowledge the aircraft does not rely on these two controls alone why do it to a model of scale proportions???
But as I said earlier everbody is different and the way I fly and my knowledge is partly due to my defence background.
I hope you get what you want from santa.

regards to all
Todd

Hi Morro:

My F-16 set up is very similar to yours. The Cg. is within 140 to 145 mm range. The throws are a bit more than yours but very close. It flies great.
What version do you have, advance or regular?
I'd like to share mutual experience with the advance version, specially the langing gear mechanisms.

Thank you,
Juan.

Hi Pratorian:

What F-16 version do you have?
I'd like to know how it goes with the gear.

Thank you,
Juan

I have the advanced version, I had problems with one of the main gear that did not want to retract fully in flight but FEJ took care of it they sent me bigger air cylinders and it fixed my problem. The nose gear also collapsed on the maiden flight landing even tho it was probably the smootest landing ive ever done, no joke it was flawless, there was a problem with the over center mecanism of the nose gear rear brace that allowed the nose gear to unlock, I scratched the nose a little and the nose gear door but nothing too serious. My nose gear oleo is also way too soft it bottoms out with the plane empty of fuel, I'll look into that when I have a minute and the 3 retract doors cylinders were totaly useless but that seems to be a common problem I replaced them with airpower rams.

Overall I am very happy with the plane and glad I got it

You might know you are not alone dear Pratorian and that is the reason I'm asking.
FEJ too, sent me a pair of bigger cylinders for the mains, good friends from China. Any way I have to operate the system at 115 Psi. and in ocations is not enough but no doubt now is better.
Also the front gear doesn't lock. Here I studied the mechanism and noticed that shortening the air cylinder when colapsed or retracted solve the problem so I cut with a dremel tool the ball link a bit and now it works. Sometimes screw the ball link all the way into the cylinder shaft is enough.
The rest of the plane is good, like yours.

Thank's for your input, very appreciated.
And don't miss using your flaps.

I had they same problem with my standard version nose retract. It seemed to lock down but a slight impact would cause it to collapse. The pin that screws onto the cylinder shaft was not screwed all the way down, so it wouldn't travel quite far enough to be in the fully locked position. On an otherwise good landing that caused me to break the nose formers, crack the nose cone, and loose the aluminum screw on nose probe. After tightening the pin fully down on to the shaft the retract now works fine.

Joe

Hi Joe:

Glad to reed you solve the problem.
I beleive you have a Rookie.
Where is the center or gravity of this plane?
I'll fly one on this weekend.

Thank you.

Juan,

Never had a Rookie, so I can't help you there. The CG on my FEJ F-16 is at 145 mm.

Joe

Sorry Joe:

I just though it was a rookie the one in your photo.

Thank's any way,
Juan.

Juan,

The picture in my avitar is a Balsa USA Enforcer that I converted to run on a Byron ducted fan. I liked the flight characteristics so much that I converted another one for my first turbine. The turbine one has been flying for 4 years now and has well over 200 flights. I don't mean to hijack the thread, now back to FEJ.

Joe

Beautifull planes Joe.
I like delta too. Had a Gripen.
Flies great too.

Back to FEJ. Good.

Another dumb question but has to be asked, do you guys run FODS in your FE F 16??? Pros and cons please???

Mav

personally i won't run a turbine in any situation that doesn't have a FOD screen attached.

there isn't enough room to list all the pros of running one.........

the only cons are the 1/4 oz of weight they add to the setup.......&.....the 0.00000267% loss of thrust due to the restricted airflow.

Another reason on an F-16 is that the gears down expose the whole bottom of the turbine to dirt and grime. Especially if you don't use a bypass. This is not the case on other air frames.

Use of FOD screen in all my jets is mandatory for me, specially on this one, F-16 (Advance version) because of the nose wheel mechanism colapse during taxi, take off or landing.
It is really a state of the art mechanism, beautifull but not the most strong.
When it does colapse jet intake leaves very exposed to FOD's.
If no FOD protection it will damage your engine for sure.

Juan.

If you have an advanced F16 Juan and your nose gear is collapsing you can fix it. I had problems with mine collapsing I just modified it and now it will rip off out of the plane before collapsing. Many others had that same problem. All you have to do is regrind the flat spot on the pivot shaft that retracts/ extends the nose gear drag link to give it more travel when it extends. It'll put more pressure on the drag link in the down position and will make it virtually impossible to collapse.

It sounds good pratorian but I can't understand well your idea.
Could you send or post some photos.
Thank you,
Juan.
[email protected]

Sure I'll post some pictures or a video when I get home tonight

Got it.FOD it is then.

I have a new Artes Rabbit, which I am so happy with so will run a FOD at all times on the F16. The Rabbit is currently sitting on the back of my Falcon 120, but will be swapped over to the F 16 in a few weeks for a jet rally.

Mav

Mav hope to see you at wang, as for fod screens yes and no, firstly a fod screen does not stop dirt or sand so if you are flying off a dry field a fod screen may not help you.
they will stop grass, stones, etc also they reduce your airspeed I have noticed a signifigant change in airspeed on my 16 in other words they restrict the airflow to the turbine decreasing performance.
Now to jusify myself I have a mate who has the same 16 with the same engine and both at the same rpm etc I had a fod screen he did not his went faster than mine but I chewed more fuel when I removed the fod screen the performance was the same.
Fod screens do serve there purpose and at the end of the day if you have a mishap and the fod screen is full of dirt are you going to restart the turbine before you check it its the same when you dont have one you know you have just had a bad landing are you going to again start the engine, simple I think.

Todd

No going to Bowylie which is on the same weekend as Wang!!!

No going to Bowylie which is on the same weekend as Wang!!!

Will be at Temora again this year so will see you there!!!

Good to hear the F 16 is still crankin!!!!

Cheers Chris

My personal experience with the P-80 is amazing in terms that is can sucks a lot of dirt without getting damaged.
Beleive me it has chewed lots of dirt in the FEJ F-16 due to nose gear colapsing issues.
I've give up with this, sold the F-16 and installed the P-80 in my legendary SM F-15. It is performing great, like if nothing had happened.
The thing here is that if you protect your engine from big particles using an FOD it will save you a lot.
About performance, I measure the stratic thrust of the P-80 installed in the F-16 with FOD and it gives 21 Lb. more or less using a bath weigh device.
Not the most precise instrument but gives you a good aproximate.
The turbine is rated at precisely 21 Lb. thrust.
One can deduct from here that FOD's does not restrict the performance in terms of S. thrust.
Meanwhile it is possible that the engine is actually consuming more fuel.
I have not meassure that yet but personally don't expect a significant effect.
Any way will be a curious thing to figure out.
Let me see what I can do.