Lozza,
I had a similar issue with the gear not wanting to lock in the down position. I ended up grinding a flat spot at both pivot points. Those being shown in your pic as the black and red lines. I found this by using a sharpie to make a line across the pivot and arm. If it's slipping then the line becomes separated, or not a line anymore.

For the 3rd cylinder on the mains...I am not using it. Couldn't find a way for it to be effective (work) without adding another valve/sequencer. If your main cylinders are not leaking then you will have plenty of air pressure to prevent a colapse.

Craig

Hey Craig thank for getting back to me, but not quite sure i understand about grinding a flat where the red line ends in my pics, what did you grind, also whats a sharpie, im guess you mean you scribed a line down the ali drag link


lozza

Pardon the confusion about the red line. I saw it intersect the pivot point at the other end of the cylinder and that's the area I was talking about.
A Sharpie is just a brand of felt tipped marker. [link=http://www.sharpie.com]Sharpie[/link] Good for writing or marking up all kinds of stuff.

Craig

Cheers Craig understand what you mean now

lozza

Just changed the door cylinders for the PRO LYNX ones from Digitech, wow what a difference, only draw back is the mounting holes are 2mm, 3mm would have kept it simple, anyway very pleased i changed.

lozza

Hi.

Flyeagle's manual said that,

So I did it this.

hi guys

im in the process of setting up the servo travel and went digging for it through this thread. can some throw up a link to it or just repost up the recommendations, im after aileron, and elevator used traditionally.Alsohow arepeoplefixing the 3 fuel tanks in placeCheers

Wes

I'm using the recommended throws and mostly happy. Only change I'll be making is adding a bit more aileron throw along with some differential.
All I did for the tanks is add a small bead of silicone to keep the mains from moving and a piece of hard foam under the center tank.

Craig

Well progress at last, F16 1/8 advanced version

Right as many of you are aware theirs been concern about the landing gear not locking down and folding upon landing something i did not want happening to mine, so having read through many post on here thought i'd have a go a sorting it out once and for all.

#1 the front retract, what i found her was that if you pushed the cylinder and rod together (pic R1) you can see that the drag link does not fully straighten, hence the folding on landing, so what some people have recommended here is to refile the flat spots on the spindles that the two bell cranks attach to, what this made me realise was that the cylinder needed to close a tad further, this was further proved by disconnecting the bolt attaching the clevis at the end of the cylinder rod to the bell crank, now if you push the cylinder rod all the way in then manually push both bell cranks together your notice that firstly the drag link straightens no problem and locks the gear, but more important aling the centre of the clivis hole (bolt you just removed) with the bell crank hole it just came out of and they don't line up.

So the easy fix looking the (pic R2) what i did was the file away a section of the clevis (indicated by black lines R2), what this allows for is the two bell cranks to pull closer together and allow the drag link to straighten and lock, with no ill effect on the retract operation, this was tested about 50 times with a lock up every time.

Job sorted at last or so i thought, reinstalled the front retract, tested once again but it would'nt lock up, reason being the cylinder catches on the body shell (pic R3) indicated again by black line, so simple solution here is the place a packing piece under both front and rear mounts to keep things equal, with the test card underneath, locked up every time.

#2 the rear main retract assembly, this as well as the front has been stripped down cylinders stripped cleaned, silicone grease installed and all put back together, basically these worked fine the the left hand unit was'nt always locking down, so just like the fronts i found that by fileing at bit off the drag link clevis ( pic R4 again indicated by black lines), this has rsulted in a lock up on every operation since, looking at it now i can see that the geometry was'nt quite right.

What i've also done is replace the door rams with PRO-LYNX units these are by far better quality ( pic R5) only draw back being the 2mm mounting holes with no room for drilling out but no major issue in fitting

Lots of pipes but with a bit of carefull routing things soon look tidy and in order (R6)

Hope this helps and makes sense i know my system is now working great, was worth all the hassle of the last few months.

lozza

Very helpful Loz, I'm just at that stage now. Can you tell me , do you have drum or disc brakes on your set up? Gary.

drum i think, you going to Classic jets next month

lozza

Reason I ask is my drums are hopeless so I had some disc type sent by FEJ, supposed to fit but they just don't look like they will.
CJ is a problem for me at the moment, one man band model shop and I can't afford to close it for even a day!
Now I'm amassing a squadron I hope to get to all meets next season, Sprint, Hawk, F16 and Elan kit just started.
FEJ also sent me their new F16 door rams so I hope they work!
My field is too bumpy for Hawk & F16 so I need some smooth stuff!
Good thing is my gear seems to lock out ok!
Gary.

Yes they sent me their new rams too, they leaked worst than the first ones

lozza

Typical! My new rams are 1 cm longer than the old ones let alone leaking. Not checked them yet as the originals are actually working, on the ground that is!
The disc brakes they sent me are brilliant, they are an interference fit with the wheel rims and the disc hex does not fit over the anti rotation hexagon on the hub!
With a bit of work I suppose I can make them fit, FEJ says they do not use the drum type any more but the disc hubs do fit the axle/strut ok though. Be interesting to see if your drums work, good luck, Gary.

Is anyone else having issues with fly eagle at the moment, I have had several quality problems with my jet that i have been dealing with james and i tell you what im getting sick of being messed around, ignoring emails etc and expecting me to pay for stuff that comes with the kit that doesnt work, I have had to send the same email several times before i get a reply. Due to crappy packing my fuse had stack loads of marks on the paint work to which they want $70 US for touch up paint, the exhaust tube was crap with crappy welds etc and wanted $90US for a replacement and now one of my retracts will retract maybe once every 10 attempts and thats if theres any air left in the tanks and they want me to send it back at my cost to be fixed. I will also add the manual valves were useless and had to be replaced, the air rams for the doors have to be replaced because they leak so badly, all the airlines had to be replaced because they were so brittle they would crack the moment any force was applied and most of the work done with hinging the doors on etc i had to redo anyway and there has been a heap of hardware missing such as control arms, nose spike etc. I have spent nearly $600 in stuff to replace crap that this kit claims to include and its disgusting to say the least, if they simply replaced what didnt work and gave me some touch up paint then i would have been happy as a pig in mud but seeing as they want to charge me for it all that ticks me off

Dont get me wrong i still like the jet but the guy i got it from and 2 other guys that sell them cant get straight answers out of these guys and treat them the same as me, I certainly wont be looking at purchasing another product from them and certainly will be steering people away from them unless theyre already flying and I will reserve that judgement for when/if mine ever does get airbourne

I came so close to buying an 1/8 FEJ F-16 a few weeks back. Unflown pre-built example. Weighed 16lbs without the turbine and tanks which seemed heavy compared to a mates F-16 that was 17lbs dry. The retracts didn't work because they leaked and the pressure wouldn't go above 65psi. So glad I kept my money in my pocket.

Welcome to the owning of a fly eagle jet, club.

My recent experience with FEJ.

I needed to change my F16 Adv. brakes from drum to disc and required touch up paint, door cylinders etc.

I spoke to James by e-mail and arranged to pay and have the stuff sent over.

Within 5 days the goods arrived but the disc brake system would not fit together correctly and also would not fit inside the wheel rim.

I must admit I thought the worst but nevertheless contacted James again who apologised profusely and promised to send another set, he thought the factory had sent the wrong ones.

Sure enough 5 days later another set arrived FOC of course and these are correct.

I personally cannot fault that kind of service and am happy I can get parts in that short period of time.

I found FEJ very helpful, courteous and friendly, James's english is 100% and I will buy another jet from them in the future, Gary.

Yes Wessa02 I have had similar issues but have kept quiet till I heard if anyone else had similar problems. My nose leg collapsed resulting in damage to door /nose cone/pito probe and rams, so I e mailed James with very good pictures of the damage and ordered a new nose leg complete, except retract mechanism, a door and a nose cone. What turned up bore no resemblance to what I ordered, door was too big and wrong colour the nose leg parts they sent were a joke and no wheel or tyre. So after many e mails they sent another nose gear door which was also the wrong size and colour and the rest of the nose leg assy. They blamed translation problems, which I would believe had it not been for the fact I sent very detailed photos. As a result I cancelled an F18 I was going to buy and a friend decided to buy another jet other than their Hawk. I persevered with the parts they sent and managed to cobble together a "fix" so I got the plane flying again. Fly Eagle Jet are very reasonably priced and barring some quality issues are great jets, its just that they don't have any decent after sales help, so if you damage parts you are basically stuck and if you can get them they are very expensive, my bits cost over $200. Buying cheap always has its downsides so I suppose I should have known better.

Horses for courses. Buy cheap expect to make some Mods! Buy a Korean made Kia Motor Vehicle, dont expect the performance and quality of a German made BMW. I have a FEJ F16 and yes had to make Mods including tail pipe, but as an experienced modeller (which all jet flyers should be), enjoyed the challenge and now have a fautless F16. BTW the FEJ F16 flies extremely well and is generally the most impressive F16 at the jet meet! I went for the Plus version to keep it light as possible and is very cheap compared to competitors. The Merlin 90 kero in the standard F16 is IMO the best set up you can have!

Happy flying gents!

Mav

I agree with what you say Mav, some mods are necessary but would it not have been better to have them sorted in the factory before shipment, especially things like inferior rams etc which they then rectify. If there is one good thing about FEJ coming to the market its that the others have had to sort their act out, so much so that nearly all the manufacture's offer pre install of most items etc. My biggest grumble and I took this up with James directly is their poor aftersales, some people have had no problems which is great but I have and I speak as I find. Also because they are constantly updating existing models they do not carry parts for older kits,so if you have a repairable "accident" you can't get the bits. Personally I would rather spend a bit more and get a well sorted model with a dealer who I can buy components off the shelf such as BVM or Aviation Design.

Eastern,

I hear you!

At the end of the day we all need to do what keeps us happy!!

Mav

Hi Mav, can I just ask is the Merlin 90 as good as the hype? I have been really taken with this engine in the reviews and I did think it would be the perfect engine for the FEJ F16, so how have you found it in performance ease of use etc? I flew my F16 on an MW54 so a M90 must be the business, please give us a users perspective. Nick

Eastern,

The Merlin is an agressive engine. My Rabbit is smoother and cooler, so its kind of like a souped up Rabbit which is why it puts out 21/22 pounds. I have had both in the FEJ F16 and prefer the extra punch of the Merlin.

IMO this is the best set up you could ask for, light, powerful and economical (only main tanks required)

Mav

Seems to be one thing after another, connected all the fuel tanks up today outside of the plane but as per install to check they filled and drained in the right order, all three tanks leaking, middle one around the seam join and mains in the corners where the material is thin and due to lack of resin the material is porous. so another thing to fix.

lozza