Ragz

I plan on test flying mine this afternoon if it doesnt rain. Mine has a p120 and all stock hardware. JR servos all across. I did not use the second fuel tank and only use the stock 2L tank. I will set the timer to 6 minutes for the first flight. The dry weight with fuel in the UAT is 26lbs. Looks like we have a superb plane here. Cant wait to test fly her. Wish me luck!!!

CHeers!!

Ragz

I test flew the Reaction this afternoon. All went perfect. Its a really pleasant airplane overall. Take offs are very uneventful, just open power with flaps 1 (mixed with 1mm down elevator) and she is airborn within 100 feet on a blacktop with a p120. I need only 2 clicks on ailerons and 1 click of down. I have added almost 650gms of nose weight, and I will have to add some more as the elevators are a "bit touchy". With the current cg the plane flies "almost hands free" when inverted...I like that touch of down, so I will be adding atleast another 100gms of nose weight. The p120 has AMPLE power for near unlimited verticals...I wonder what the 35lbs category engine will do to this plane!!!!! take it to the stratosphere i guess. The super thick wings are rock steady and plane slows down a lot with flaps. I realized that when I came in for landing on full flaps, I had to come in with about 30% power over the threshold and then gradually chop power to let her settle down nicely...she stopped within 20 feet (amazingly)...I had a good component of strong head winds to assist the landings.

The second flight was not as great, as I broke a strut on landing as I got too slow with her...you have to come in with substantial power with full flaps..IMHO. I will fix it in a few days, and with little more nose weight, the penetration will be better and perhaps landings will be not so slow.

Overall a winner in all aspects.... [sm=thumbup.gif]

oistein

My Feedback: (1)

I also maiden mine today. It has a PST 1300 in it. A very nice first flight, but I had no wind and actually having trouble slowing her down. Landed with almost 0 alpha which is probably a little fast, specially on our grassfield. Takeoff without flaps was about 180 feet on grass which a believe is very short. Trimmed a bit down so I guess mine is also a little tail heavy. Flew her at 15.5 cm, but i guess I will try to put the CG back 0.5 to 1 cm.

But man, what a straight flyer.

Ehab

My Feedback: (44)

Congrats on both of your maindens. Are you using the additional air brake?

Enjoy them, it is a great plane for every day flying!!!

Ali

My Feedback: (5)

Well. After 3 longish evenings on the building board. I managed to squeeze in 3 flights this weekend ( In between the showers and gales that are the typical UK Summer )
Just as I remember it from the one I flew at Top Gun, if not a little better ( mine is a lighter set up and of course it is my own model so I can fly it a little harder )
First flight was a little tail heavy, which it handled really well, just a little touchy on elevator. I added an extra 3 cell lipo in the nose and this made it a little nose heavy for the second flight ( About right for a newby jet guy )
Great fun plane that I look forward to getting lots more stick time on. Nice one PST!

Regards Al

Ragz

Here is a short video of the test flight.

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

Ragz

I may like to add that most of the flight was at half power with a p120 except the take off and vertical. Not bad...fast enough

oistein

My Feedback: (1)

Yes i used the airbrake on mine and I probably needed it as we are very short on space during summertime here due to som salmon fisher guys that does not like RC models over their heads when fishing. It is a pain with the jets as the space is really small. 75 meters final on a new jet is not very is easy, at least not for me.

Ehab

My Feedback: (44)

We flew the prototype with a PST 800R, then mine was flown with a PST 1300R and Kraivuth's (B777) was flown with a PST 1600R....guess which one flew the best

B777

Glad to hear that your Reactions are performing the same as ours. We are having a lot of fun with this trainer. We have many new comer getting a go at the stick and with a little assistance, they can land the trainer. Remember to keep CG between 14.5 & 15.5cm. Landing flaps/down elevator mix may be adjusted to suit your flying style.

We lost our J1300R powered Reaction ARF due to mid-air collision with another jet. She had survived many mishaps including unsymmetrical flaps landing. I know that the Reaction is tough but she will not fly with half wing !!! []

Enjoy.
Kraivuth S.

oistein

My Feedback: (1)

Mobil phone videos of the 2nd flight:

Take off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILb0yOX-qKE

Landing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWyN5mqmHqc

B777

Nice takeoff and landing [8D]

BTW, here is a link to the Reaction ARF on-line assembly instruction manual:
http://www.btemodels.com/rarf-instructions.html

Ragz

How much (in gms or lbs) of nose weight has been added with a typical 1300R installation?

oistein

My Feedback: (1)

Around 350 gr more than the typical PST 800 installation. This leaves CG at 15cm.

Ragz

I have almost 1.5kgs now...thats like more than 3lbs...

F-16 Skywalker

Im still ducted fan flyer and have the nack for more scale like airframes, but now this has most def-changed my mine, VERY EMPRESSIVE !!! GREAT JOB!!!!
I was planning on turbine in the future for my F86 or F-16 but now I may have to get one of these.

rcpete347

My Feedback: (251)

HI all, I had the pleasure of flying the new Reaction Arf for 2 flights this weekend at Capital Jets. My best friend, Len Mcintosh who is the US, New York rep for PST Jets let me take it up and see what it would do. All I can say is wow, this jet tracks like an arrow on take off, has no bad habits, flys fast, flys slow, lands slow and best of all, it is a relaxing jet to fly.
We also had a chance to look over a new kit, in the box, and where very impressed with quality and pre work that had already been done.
I was a bit concerned about the lead in the nose, but that is a none issue, it flies light and lands great.
Rcpete

Xantos

Hi All,
My Reaction been a little slow in the build but coming along quite well.
Im planning to put in a PST1600 ,overall quality is superb
I made a few changes along the way which may be useful.
When you mount the Nose steering servo an the airbrake servo you will find a fair bit of flex when the servos move a surface this is due to bottom skin which is not rigid enough.
A simple ply brace alonside the 2 servos eliminates the flex.
The standard kit doesnt call for a component tray so I also put in a Polycarbonate component tray for the Powerbox ,Rx , Valves etc

Ragz

Reaction Flight #4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG4ORAqr-Go

I think its quite fast with the p120. ONly one word for this airplane.....I LOVE IT!!!!

B777

Ragz, you need to put some decals on that Reaction!!! Nice flying.

16kgs thrust turbine on this jet is a lot...I did it just to test the airframe. Overall, I feel more comfortable with 8-13kg thrust range turbine.

Regards,
Kraivuth S.

Ragz

Yes I will put the decals soon. The ones that came with my kit were of the Panther....and they were white, rather than black lettering....Nandan is getting some custom ones made for the 4 reactions we have...will sport our names etc. We will practice formation flying on these

ChuckC

My Feedback: (24)

Got an AMT Mercury SP in mine and had to add what looked like a ton of lead to get it on the CG, but the plane really handled the nose weight well.

The Merc. is probably too much turbine for the plane, if you can believe that. Flew well at 1/2 throttle all day. It would be "the right amount of thrust" if one were to install wheel well liners, to prevent delamination of the wing, and go to slightly stronger struts. Conversely, if you made smooth landings on pavement, that wouldn't be an issue..... But that's another story.

Absolutely a great - straight flyer and stil lands nice and slow even with the weight I added.

BTW - be sure to double check all those screws and clean the brakes of oil before flight...

SimjetAU

Hi Kraivuth

I received my Reaction 54 kit today...literally 48 hours after it left your shop in Thailand it arrived at my door 35km north of Brisbane in Australia this afternoon at 2pm. This is outstanding service. I am extremely happy with the way the kit was packed and shipped, I wish other manufacturers would take a leaf out of your book. The kit quality is excellent and the fit between parts is excellent. I am looking forward to getting this flying. I will have a Simjet 3000 in mine thats 30lb of thrust so it should perform well. I gather I should build it with all the parts as far forward as possible to try to not so much nose weight. My boomerang XL has 700gramms of lead in its nose and it doesnt affect how well it flys

Regards


Mark Kyle

Ragz

Mark, it would be a good idea to put everything up front. I have 3 lbs of nose weight..but the plane still flies so well...but lighter the better!!

ChuckC

My Feedback: (24)

I have to echo everyone's statements about how well the plane was packed and how easy it went together - about 30 hours build time, on the high side.

A word of caution though - Everyone remember all those kangaroo and other composite plane's wings delaminating in flight? On the recommended power plant (less than 20 pounds), we're probably O.K., but I'm betting we'll get a blow-up pushing above that without wheel-well liners. Don't get me wrong - It looks for all the world like the PST guys glued the thing together right - good beads of epoxy on all the ribs and joining surfaces, but that only takes you so far when you're pumping that much air pressure in the wings.

I know I'm going to build the liners, mostly because I think I HAVE to open the throttle all the way...and I don't know why....

Very, very cool airplane.