Here's our latest project - a turbine-powered "Northstar." The basic shape is the same, but it has been enlarged by about 130% and highly modified for turbine power. Its got an AMT-180 airstart, 8611 servos, Futaba FASST, and 100 oz of fuel on board. Dry weight is just under 18 lbs.

It was built by Don Koonce here in Richmond and I supplied the turbine and RC gear. We know its a bit "unusual" looking so to say, but seaplanes are rarely "graceful." The original has a lot of flat surfaces that didn't look like they would be strong enough in the larger version, so they were angled for more strength. It looks like it will fly OK though...

Hopefully the test flight will be this coming weekend and it will be on the pond down at the Joe Nall the weekend after that...

Bob

Bob,

I'm speechless (and that's a good thing)[X(]


George


P.S. Take some video at the Nall.

Looks beefy Bob. Almost sci-fi like. Cool.

Marty

I remember seeing a picture of a Northstar with a turbine on RCU a few years ago.

Found a link with photos. The F18 seaplane looks cool.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_48...tm.htm#4827576

That's really cool.
It looks like the turbine may have some trouble getting intake air at high speed?

Interesting plane. I suggest doing something to protect the elevator and rudder servos & linkages from exhaust heat. Also use metal servo arms for the rudders. Aluminum furnace tape on the bottom of the stab would protect it. If you ever have a hot start you'll fry that stab.

Good luck with the maiden.

Joe

Mark,

I was originally going to put the turbine in a complete tunnel like the one that in the thread posted above, but I was worried about it being able to get enough air, so that's why I cut the top back so that the front of the turbine is exposed. It gets enough air to run OK statically, so I think it will be OK at low speeds and its not really built for super high speeds anyway so I intend to keep it fairly slow. I'm hoping that there won't be much, if any spray that goes over the top and gets sucked in. Its a draggy airframe anyway (thick wing, boat hull, etc.) so I doubt its going to be very fast.

Its all an experiment! I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes... [8D]

Bob

Joe,

I'm going to use the stove pipe that we have for Louie's Reaction 54 just in case, but its pretty hard to get a hot start with an air start engine if you have a really good air source (which we do). I'm going to check the temp of the rudder and stab servos after running it for a bit on the ground and I'll protect them if they seem to get hot - they should stay much cooler in the air.

Bob

ps. Now that I think about it, I was going to put guards on the rudder linkages like I did for the ailerons, primarily to keep spray out, but now that I think about it, I think that they would also help keep the heat off of the linkages too, so I'm going to add them to the rudders as well...

Thanks George! If it makes it to the Nall, its guaranteed to make the SKS video [8D] Not that that's why we did it (made the Joe Nall SKS video two years ago with a simple GP Seawind ARF)

Say safe!

Bob

Don't laugh but.....don't forget to remove the exhaust plug!!! i bet you wouldn't be the last person to forget to remove the tail plug.

FWIW, I forgot about one of my intake plugs prior to start up and during run up quickly realized where it had gone while attempting to set max rpm. LOL nothing funnier than watching your wife just shake her head and walk away muttering something that rhymes with idiot as you reach for the extinguisher and manuel fuel shut off valve.

c'est la vie

Oh, I was thinking that if I left the plugs in, it would help keep the water out... With a dry weight of only 18 lbs, I won't need that much thrust, so I figured I could sacrifice some. How much thrust would I get from an 18 lb engine if I left the plugs in?

Bob

VERY cool!!! Please provide us with some video of flight.

Here's Bob's maiden flight video. A little shaky and no editing cause I'm lazy that way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Efy...e=channel_page


Marty

nice work Bob

congrats on the first flight

WOW!!! Congratulations on that maiden. Really looked good. Nothing wrong with that "un-edited" video!!! Looks like it might need a speed brake on final.

wow nice video , a sea jet very cool.


Ron

Good maiden!!

Yea that was fun! Thanks Marty for taking the video and the guys for coming out for moral support. Many thanks to Don Koonce for the excellent building!

Now it off to the pond at Joe Nall! [8D]

Bob

I like it

Good stuff!!!!!!! now who will build the ARF version?