KC,

thanks for the pic and advice Will try.

The BVM fittings look great, nice job!

Hi Eastern

first off thankyou for the quick reply and making me feel welcome, its one thing im finding venturing into new areas of the rc industry, if you dont know anyone and your not annoying anyone you often get ignored.

Im really looking foward to flying my first jet, I still remember the first time i saw one fly and thought to my self that has to be the coolest rc thing ever and im goin to get me one one day. Well that day now has finally come Yahoo!

Im pretty right with the everything its just the turbine and retractsthings that im a bit vague with because there really the last thing im yet to have in one of my models.

In the servo department i was thinking of using Hitec 7955tg rated at 24kg with titanium gears on the elevators and ailerons and dont really know about the rudder and theor the rest. It was suggested to be by the guy im getting the jet through to look at maybe getting one of the FlyEagle 5 in one valves things, apparently they eliminate 3 servos and also allow you to time the retaction of each wheel and door independantly. What are these like? has anyone had anything to do with them? are they reliable? Is there another brand to consider?

Power systems, i have always been in favor of running reduntant lithium Ions so I will more then likely through a pair of Fromeco 2600's on the RX but for the turbine ecu i havent a clue as im not familiar with them enough yet.

Does anyone know of a cheap place to aquire a Merlin M90, im just shopping around, there seems to be quite a difference in prices, im thinking its goin to comedown to local knowledge of whos the best and cheapest, (if its not suitable to post please PM me or email me at [email protected])

Irealise that this model is far from a beginners model however that said i like i mentioned earlier, im lucky enough to have quite a few competant jet flyiers in my club so i will more then likely run buddybox for the first one, it will really be the landing thats the issue, the rest doesnt bother me, but ive test flowin many crappy built models for other people and have never crashed one or even nosed one over yet in 10yrs of doinbut on the otherhand theres a first time for everything. I will certainly pay close attention to the break systemsEastern based on your recommendations.

The valves work great, not only flyeagle use them I've got the EV-5U that works great (though it gets a little warm).
The Pro-version with digital gauges/air failsafe looks even better, going to use that on my skymaster Viper.

see www.airpowernet.com for more info.

Hi Wes, I think your servo choice is more than adequate, Im using tailerons and JR servos that are metal geared with no problems. I was reading the test on the Jets Munt last night and its probably not as user friendly as a Jet Cat or Graupner, so the tester said, its certainly got a lot of power for its weight. According to their test they got 21.5 lbs of thrust out of a unit that weighs less than a Wren SS at 1008 gms (a hawk 100r is 1622 by the way and gives 22 lbs thrust) so you can see its a really good choice of engine especially for the F16. We are very lucky ar our site that we have a disused WW2 airstrip that is in remarkably good condition to land & take off from so I have been practicing landing and yes its very easy to say oh you jst pull the nose up and bleed speed of at high alpha. All i can say is practice makes perfect and with jets you cant just keep going round till you get it right, I would love to land my jet perfectly every time, taxi back, shut the engine down and then go for tea and a chat. Unfortunatley I live in the real world and that has only happened a few times, if you have experienced flyers you are in good hands so good luck. Enjoy the thrill theres nothing like it, its very addictive!
Nick

Hi Wes
Have a look at the Jet Central Rabbit from ausjets.

Hawkflyer

Hey guys,

one quick question,
the turbine mounting rails in the F16, is the top of them the centerline of where the turbine should end up? (and thus the center of the pipe)
My jetcat mounting straps have a 9mm offset in them, that's the reason I ask. (so I should probably get a new mount or raise this one 9mm)

Hans

the rails are centered and all JetCat mounts require shimming.

Why are shims needed? I've seen 2, both with JetCats, neither are shimmed.

Craig

JetCat mounts are designed around the old Ramtech fan units which were offset, if you mount them to rails that aren't specifically designed for that offset (and most are NOT) then they won't sit centered.

here's my old FEJ F-16 w/ P-70 and the required shims.

KC,

What's with all the white (foam?) in your setup?

Also, didn't you use the original intake bell for the pipe? Looks like a JC bell.

I think I'm gonna order a jetcat pipe + bell for this one (titanium).

As far as the mounts, I often order a 'jetcat' mount from jet-zubehoer - they are black, and are centered. Saves some shimming

Nightswan - Don't think that's foam, looks like ceramic paint. The pipe bellmouth will be farther back and out of the picture.

KC - I have a 80SE in mine and don't know that I can shim it and still have room to put the hatch on. Only 6 flights so far but it seems fine.


Craig

yes it's ceramic paint, the scale gear has the air lines right up next to the turbine and without the paint they get soft from the heat. soft airlines + 120 psi = no gear function

on the bell mouth i did use the original but my pipe started rippling after just a few runs and i replaced it with a Tam pipe.

Craig, if you don't have the shims installed your pipe isn't in line with the turbine. if by chance you were able to get it in line then you have a negative incidence of thrust built into the pipe (will climb at higher thrust settings)

Mine doesn't climb at higher throttle but drops at lower throttle I think I'm still nose heavy.
I take it you have/had the advanced version. What did it weigh and where did you have your CG?

Craig

had 2, one NIB and the other was 21.5 lbs dry, it flew nice once in the air but could of used allot more power. the gear was a POS and collapsed on most take off rolls and on those few occasions it held up on the take off, it collapsed on landing so i sold the both of them for less then the cost of one

i started off in the middle of their recommended CG which IIRC was 150mm and i shifted it back a few times mostly to help it get off the ground quicker because of the gear issues.

Hi guys, I know before I start that I'm in the wrong thread for this but I have a question to ask the experienced jet guys on a kit I am looking to purchase. I have been offered a BVM Bobcat, its not the composite model that is currently available but the previous model with the sheeted wings. It looks in 1st class condition and is for sale complete less a Wren 54 which I have. Are these older BVM kits ok and is there anything I should be wary of, its not particularliy cheap but then it is ready to go once turbine is installed. Any thoughts guys.
Nick

Hi Guys, my F16 finally arrived yesterday, i unpacked it today and desided to glue the surfaces and horns on and noticed in the HTMLmanual for the rudder that it has a hatch for the rudder servo to go into, mine hasnt got a hatch, whats the go there? do you have to cut it out a hatchyour self, is mine a different version, its certainly got me stumped.

I think in the newer versions, the servo is glued/screwed in the fin from the bottom.
you'll have to make slot for the servo-arm in the bottom of the fin.

Nightswan is 100% correct. Not hard to do and makes for a slop free rudder. You will need to make sure the servo you use is thin enough to fit in the bottom of the fin!

Mav

somewhere in this thread i show pics of where i mounted a jr ds3421 in the fin, the fit is perfect and it worked great.

EDIT: it was back on page 41:

My LG is not as springy as I would like - it binds a bit when it sat for a while - no more spring action until I free it manually.

Saw a fix on the FEJ site, but don't get it

Anyone out there has a fix for this? I've got the non-scale gear.


Going to mount the turbine/bypass next. Tight fit with a P120.

How many actual channels does this jet require, im going shopping for a reciever and a power setup for my f16 and dont want to go buying a powerbox that wont support enough channels, also what batteries are people using, has there been a need to run dual sub-c Nicad packs in the nose or will Dual 2600 lithium ions be enough

Cheers
Wes

Hi Wes,

channel depens on your setup / preferences.

I'm going to fly with taileron control and flaps, so:

2x elevator
2x flaps/ailerons
2x turbine control (jetcat)
1x rudder/nosewheel
1x brakes
1x retracts

So that's 9 channels.

I could also imagine (with some servo-programming/matchbox magic)

1x elevator (2 servo's)
1x ailerons (2 servo's)
1x rudder/nosewheel
1x brakes
1x retracts
1x turbine control

so that's six channels minimum.

About the weight in the nose required - Can't tell. But I have a feeling I'm gonna need some weight up front with a P120 in it.

Hans

thanks Hans just making sure

I'm flying mine with a Wren in the tail and to balance it out I have two 2200 Nimh in the nose along with a big turbine battery. This combo balances the aircraft perfectly. If you use LiPo's then you wont get the weight and may need lead. I use an Emcotec switch and both RX batts run through that, I wouldn't dream of flying with out the redundancy, always use two batts in a jet. On a different note I'm currently having a major hassel with FEJ in getting spare parts. I had a nose leg collapse and it wrecked the nose door/ cone and pito, so I e mailed them asking for the parts along with a new nose leg. They managed to get everything apart from the nose cone wrong, problems with translation they told me. Trouble is if you look at the spares they call a wheel rim an axle so it all gets a bit complicated. Hopefully getting it sorted this week.
Nightswan are u using the ailerons as flaps?

Hi Eastern,

I'm still building it

But I'm going to use the elevators as elevons, and the ailerons probably as flaps.
Don't think the flaps will do a whole lot, but they may shorten the takeoff-run a bit

Hans