Doug Cronkhite

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I'm still puzzled why the Republic airplanes haven't caught on more with model makers. The F-84 line in general produced some truly beautiful airplanes.

samo

Hi Kraivuth,

We're ready to put our F-84 in the air. It required 63 oz of lead in the nose to balance - providing the CG is correct @ 5in aft of the leading edge of the wing. Did you need that much nose weight in the models you've built? I installed a Rhino which is a little heavier, but man, 4lbs of lead is crazy![X(]
Please let me know if that doesn't sound right to you.
Thanks,

Steve Morris

mselby

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The factory test plane had a bit less than a kilo of ballast up front. The CG is correct. I am not sure of the weight of the Rhino. The J1300 is about 1.7 kg with all equipment. We put as much of the electronics and batteries up front as possible.
Mike

samo

We finally flew our maiden flight today! Wow! What a smooth flying jet. The first flight was a litttle scary due to the fact that the cg was measured at 5" aft of the leading wing edge. It seemed very tailheavy and it really jumped off the ground on takeoff. We flew around for 5 mins and set up for landing. We decided to use 15 degrees to land because full flaps made it nose up too much. After we landed we put 5 1/2 ounces of lead in the nose and tried it again. The second flight lasted 8 1/2 mins and we could tell immediatly that the extra weight in the nose helped. It flew beautifully! Our F-84 weighs in at 33.5 lbs dry, and 42.5 wet. With the Rhino on board, power was not an issue. However after rearranging things in the front, we ended up 55 ounces of lead in the nose. I think the Rhino is a perfect match for this jet. It took off in 300 feet or so, and landed like a Reaction 54. This is the smoothest jet I have flown. The nose wheel is a bit squirrelly and it took some getting used to when taxiing around. The takeoff was a lot smoother and landing with full flap required no elevator mix. I would strongly recommed the cg being at 4.75 inches.

The only problem we had, was with the wing tanks. The molded seams split open and some of the screws came out. Any suggestions on how to better reinforce these tanks and the way they are attached to the wing tips would be appreciated. All in all it was a good day and I am very impressed how nice it flew and looked in the air. We will post pics and video later.

Steve and Andrew

Stratotanker

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Congrats Steve!!! Glad to hear that things went well. That is good to hear about the wing tanks, I think I will be reinforcing the seams for sure now! I hope to have some more pics of progress soon, just lots of filling and sanding! Sunday and Monday are going to be heavy build days for me as long as my other job does not call me in!

Chris

Molar mender

Steve and Andrew

Congrats on the maiden of your "heavy metal" (F-84G). I was impressed by the kit when I first saw it at Woodland. It's always nice to get those first flights done so you know that you can get it up and down with no problem. Look forward to seeing it fly this year.

Roy

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

i am building an f84 as well. i will have lights in the tanks. so i decided to add rods in the tanks and receiver tubes in the wings and slide on the tanks. i havent done that step yet except in my head, but it should be easy enough. barry ps, congrats on the maiden.

B777

Congratulation !!! Steve...

CG is between 4.5 - 5 inches and 4.75 inches would give the F-84G a more gentle handling. Once you are used to her, 5 inches CG will be ok. I fly mine around 5 inches CG at Top Gun.

As for wing tanks, we will take a closer look at the problem.

Cheers, any picture of the maiden flight?

Kraivuth S.

samo

We are going to head out today and put some more flights on. We will post pictures and videos (if we know how) later today. I think Andrew is comfortable flying the F-84 with the CG set at 4.75". That is were we have it. We will probably move it back to 5" when were used to flying it. Hopefully all goes well!

Steve and Andrew

samo

Here's a few pics we took yesterday:

B777

Nice....

Here are a few pictures of our F-84Gs. Two are ready for Top Gun 2008.

Unfortunately, we don't have Flight Metal here but our polishing aluminum look comes out quite nicely....

Cheers,
Kraivuth S.

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

kraivuth, the 84's are looking good. is selsby flying one? cant wait to see everyone at top gun. barry

B777

Barry, Mike/John will be flying the A-10. The young boy, Pudit, will be flying the 1225 F-84G in ProAm. I will fly the 1215 F-84G in Team Scale. See you soon...Kraivuth S.

samo

Here's what I'm doing to reinforce the wing tanks:

First of all, I poped open the seams and re-glued them. Then I log cabin glued .210 CF rod (14cm) with .157 CF rod (15cm) and inserted them inside the pylons with Hysol. These then insert into brass tubes inset into the wings. They're solid as a rock now.

Steve

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

I've personally always found the F84 to be an ugly jet (sorry - that's just the way it is), but this model looks pretty darn good. Nice job, you guys.

Stratotanker

My Feedback: (3)

Sorry for the long delay in pictures and posts but work has been keeping me plenty busy. I have done a lot of body work, which I am sure no one wants to see! Here is soe more canopy stuff, I did not like the leadscrew flopping around so redid a bunch of stuff. She operates perfectly!!!

Chris

B777

Great stuff Chris.

Gordon, how true with the shape of the F-84G but its a classic. Its like a collection!!

I am looking at one everyday and I'm in love !!!

Stratotanker

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Thanks Kraivuth, I have put a lot of thought, time and beer into this one!!! more to come soon!!!!!!

Chris

Stratotanker

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Here is a link to the video!!!! Finally figured it out!

Chris


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1KjwNyKWJY

BobH

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Looks excellent! very nice.

Stratotanker

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Thanks, it has been a lot of work!


Chris

Stratotanker

My Feedback: (3)

Here are some pictures of the wiring set-up.

Chris

schroedm

My Feedback: (1)

Chris,

Any update for those of us following your build???

Rgds,
Mark

samo

He's been a bit busy with this jet. Take a look at the nice paint and weathering job he did!

We put 2 flights on her today. Everything went well except the retracts. It seems like there's too much wind resistance on the main strut door (due to it's size and angle) to allow them to retract and close??
I notice PST's 2nd F-84 at Top Gun didn't have the strut doors attached. Maybe this answers why?

Kraivuth, what has been your experience with this? Have you experienced a problem with your retracts?

Thanks,

Steve

Stratotanker

My Feedback: (3)

WOW, finally back on this plane! Feels good to be working it again. Had to get that plane painted for Mr Morris and had a TDY so I was out of town. I starting to lay out the internal parts, fuel system will be first. With the canopy mechanism the way it is, the stock upper tank was a no go. I was going to modify the tank but started digging around and found a set of Stingray tanks that did what I needed. The capacity was still lacking a bit so there will be DF saddle tanks on both sides of the engine. Here are a couple pics of where I am going with it. Should have a lot more as the night goes!

Chris