David Jackson

My Feedback: (15)

Kevin,

Thanks for the post/pictures. I can beginning planning the assembly process for my 86 based on the information you have supplied. Looking forward to this one as it should be a jet that can be flown from the local field without a problem. [8D]

rbxbear44

My Feedback: (86)

I'm with Kevin on the servo box thing! A hatch cover has t be a monster to be able to stay secure and hold a 300 in/oz. servo with a moving surface load on it too. Imagine that set up on Flaps with "blow back" potential too!!! These wings are designed with these boxes as part of the structure in mind.

I even go as far as putting as much length as possible on the corner filler pieces to make as much bottom skin contact as possible...as far back into the wing as I can. The spars run through there so a few of them you can't really get much more in there but it is a good idea to do these boxes as Kevin has stated. As a matter of fact, FEJ is pretty vocal about REMEMBERING to do these boxes correctly on their instructions.

Go Kevin, Go!

Rex

Malcolm Kay

My Feedback: (11)

Kevin, I like your step by step sequence, good stuff , i just received my rear end , unfortuneatley the front half ( separate box ) got left behind in Hong Kong,I am extremely impressed by the new build quality and the solidarity of the fin and horizontal stabs,,, and the paint quality ....well never seen anything so good come out of China,,, excellent stuff really looking forward to the build...looks like a keeper....please keep us informed....MK

Tom Antlfinger

My Feedback: (24)

I also received only the ***** end of my Sabre......best looking non-BVM Asian kit I have acquired, including a SM MB-339 and FB Mig-21. Forward section scheduled for tomorrow or Wednesday.

Paint is superb......while watching the snow fall today, I rubbed kerosene, acetone, and laquer thinner on the invisible underside of the fin and nothing came off on the rag......goood paint...rivet detail is very good....

I cleaned up the carbon fiber pins on the fin of a little paint and glue, chamfered the ends, and waxed them....slid in smoothly with a perfect fit....the fin clamps are well made and hold the fin tight....

The pipe construction is excellent.......three rows of sine wave contoured standoffs between the inner and outer pipe.....straps are finally made of some good thick material......literally about 100 +/- spot welds on the inner pipe seam......As long as the metallurgy holds up to turbine temps, I think they now have a winner.

Speed Brake doors are simple and fit and work perfectly.....no leak on the cylinders up to sustained 100 psi....

I now see why Kevin et al don't recommend using the hatches for mounts.....they are paper thin.....nothing like Tom Cook uses.....would have to really beef them up....guess servo boxes are necessary...

The ***** end on one of the photos is from an 80" BVM Sabre for comparison.....

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Proceding:
1. Trial fit servo in box and get idea of where the horn will be placed.
2. Drill guide holes for mounting screws.
3. I changed to the dremel, but needed to put tape on drill bit to fit.
4. Drilling much easier and faster with the dremel.
5. Drill out one of the horns, and place over another.
6. Tape only two together at a time, and drill all horns this way.
7. tape off area on flap and aileron to be bored out to fit CF horn.
8. Drill holes in horns to allow epoxy to soak in, trail fit into slot.
9. Remove horns and sand bottom area.
10. Fish servo leads through wings, some extension leads are needed, I used 24" on furthest aileron servo and 18" servo lead on outer leading edge flap, a 6" on inner edge slat, and 6" on inner flap.
11. Drill hoes in servo arms to fit clevice bolt.
12. Glue bottom of horn, push epoxy into flaps and ailerons and be generous, you dont want these horns coming off.

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Now to finish off horns:
1. Insert horns into flaps and ailerons.
2. There will be excess epoxy ozzing out the sides.
3. Clean off all excess epoxy.
4. Make a simple guide gig using the drill bit, and a block of balsa.
5. Side view of how Gig holds horn at proper height.
6. Each horn needs to be positioned in the same exact place as the opposite wing. These measurments are just guides.
7. After horns dry in place, remove tape and clean area of debre. Some servo wires need to be cut, only cut when you are 100% sure that the servos have been centered with the radio and power to servos is on. An adjustment to angle of servo horn is done first so that each side matches the other.
8. Flap assembly hooked up and complete.
9. Just a view of how I measure where the servo horns go.

Note: I placed the flap horns aft the hinge line so that the servo movement can travel a greater distance in essence using more gears to move the flap the same distance. Of course using more gears means less torque per sproket on servo, and a greater fulcrum strength. Same for ailerons but the aft distance is to a lesser extent. If your placement is right on the hinge line it is ok, just that your servo will work slightly harder to keep surface at neutral and while traveling. These Hitec servos I am using are 333 oz at 6 volt, if you are using JR 8711 you will be fine at the hinge line. With Jr 8611 I would place horns as I did. This is not written in stone just my opinion based on my own experience.

It has been brought to my attention, that if you prefer to have the horns at the scribe hinge line then that would work well also. Your choice. Thanks William.

hboost

My Feedback: (15)

Hey Kevin,
What are your thoughts on the nose gear, its seems that in the pictures the shock absorber is fully extended.
Can this be made shorter, or just needs weight.
Take Care,

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Hi Hboost,

The nose strut seems very stiff, when all accessories are installed I can get a better idea of how this is acting. If need be, I will adjust the spring tension on the struts. Keep this in mind, you can't lower just the front nose strut, this would result in a negative AOA on take off, so I guess I will get to this point further down the road.

Kevin

jetnuno

Hi Kevin

Is FEJ making now hidraulic struts or just the same old spring?

This plane looks awsome. Can you please post some pics of the interior, where to put UAT, PB, RX, etc.

What is the fuel tank capacity? Also do the slat servos linkages work concealed in the wing?

Regards

Nuno

hboost

My Feedback: (15)

Kevin,
I am buying all servos I need for flying surfaces.
I am planning on using JR 8611a on Ailerons and Elevators.
Maybe JR ds811 for flaps and slats
and rudder the 8611a.
What do you recomend? Are you using the titanium gear Hitec HS7955 servos.
Since this is a big plane what are you thoughts and how many servos I need in total.
Flaps
slats
elevator
ailerons
rudder
Thanks,

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Hey there Mr. Hboost,

I purchesed all my servos before I got this bird, but I have actually been considering some changes. Here is what I am using and considering:

Nose sterring wheel- JR 8411
Elevators 1 each side- Hitec HS 7955TG
Rudder- JR 8411
Flaps - Hitc HS 7955TG
Aileron - Hitec HS 7955TG (bought and installed) however I may change to JR 8711 This surface is large and I am not sure if a 333 Oz servo is best, any suggestions here??
Front slats need 4 Hitec HS-635HB

Thats the important stuff, smaller servos to work air valves and such.

The Receiver is a Spectrum 9100.

As far as the struts, for this Jet FEJ is using the front nose Box configuration like the F16, and the legs are spring actuated.

The whole set up looks strong, and really thought out well. The paint job is SUPERB !!!!!! and plenty of carbon fiber where needed. If only I had more time to build...Hehehehehe.

Kevin

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Next step is the servo covers.

1. Take a fiberglass cover (make sure it is the correct one) use erasable pen and make scribe lines to be cut out.
2. Use a drill bit a tad bit larger then the width of the servo horn and drill end points.
3. It should look like this.
4. Use dremel wheel to cut out center portion.
5. I used BVM file board to smooth edges.
6. Use round file to contour end points.
7. I used a really tiny BVM drill bit to drill corner holes through FG cover into wood corner tabs. If the drill bit is too tiny, I wrap some masking tape around it so the dremel or drill can clamp onto to it. Just FYI.
8. After drilling hole take larger drill bit BY HAND, and campher out a beveled angle into the FG cover.
9. Install small philips screws supplied with kit. Do this all the way around.

Malcolm Kay

My Feedback: (11)

Guys... got my front half yesterday, paint quality not as good as the tail section , there have been some obvious blow in type repairs here and there,, but i guess i'll have to live with it.. I'm following Kevin step by step bout a day behind him.. except that I strengthened the inner balsa wing skin with a strip of carbon fibre cloth that i resined in place and i'll glue the boxes onto that surface when dry.... just my preference.... overall I'm humbled by the quality of the build and the fit and finish of the parts i can't believe it's not butter ! looks like a six thousand dollar kit to me... infact better... the amount of carbon fibre reinforcement in the wings is spectacular.. and the new type of construction using carbon fibre sandwich formers throughout is both light and immensely strong....... back to the building table.. keep up the good work Kevin!....MK

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Tom,
Can you laminate a piece of G-10 to the inside of the cover? Then use the JMP mounts

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Ok I have found one of the first corrections we must take. Its not a biggie, but in my opinion needs to be followed. Here is what I found. The Aileron servo boxes and the flap servo boxes seat too far below the outer skin line, when attaching the aileron and flap servos as illustrated, I used the third hole on the Hitec servo horn. I used this hole because it was spaced right above the fiberglass cover. After setting up travel, the servo arm bearly moved and I was getting full through from the aileron and flap.

Here is an illustration of fix for the aileron, do the same for flap. I found only one shim was needed for flaps.

Here is the fix.
1. Cut out wood shims, I used one thick and one really thin.
2. CA to servo box
3. Sand edges and trial fit servo.
4. Re-drill mounting holes.
5. I found that using the BVM hex screws will fit into the beveled hole in the FEJ aluminum servo holder, and seat flush with the top of the aluminum holder.
6. Re-install the FG cover. If cover is not flush with outer skin, sand wood tabs down a bit so it fits perfectly flush.

In essence what we have done is raised the aileron servo, so we can now use the hole closest to the center of the servo horn. Trim excess plastic off servo horn.

You may also need to adjust length of rods so that ailerons are perfectly aligned with wing edge.

Bill Hatcher

My Feedback: (2)

Kevin, Great Thread so far. My plane will ship next week. Can't wait.
Knowing in advance that the servo needs to be raised you could add a bottom plate to the box to raise it like I have done in the attached photo on one of the F-15s I built.
You need to get the servo as close to the hatch cover as possable.
I just used a extra top plate that was included in the first kit I received but any 1/8 or 1/16 ply would work.
Keep up the good work.

Tom Antlfinger

My Feedback: (24)

Absolutely, Bob........I still have not made my mind up.....I just got the front end yesterday before the blizzard hit, so I have not had much time to look at the wings......all of the wing and elevator servo covers are flat, so it would be easy.....then, I like to make up my corner mounts out of 3 mm carbon fiber, and tap them for 4-40, using flat head 4-40 screws countersunk into the cover, exactly what TC does on his Hustler and FB.

David Jackson

My Feedback: (15)

Just received my "Mig Mad Marine" version of the F-86 today. Planning to begin the assembly at rear fuse section, but one question for those of you already working on the plane. Has anyone given any thought to reinforcing the area around the speedbrake? Thought perhaps a layer of CF might help it to hold its shape over the long run. May not be an issue, but would be interested in your opinion.[8D]

Malcolm Kay

My Feedback: (11)

Kevin.. my wingboxes were exactly the same i had to make the extra height by shimming the mounts on the top, because i only noticed the the height difference after i had glued the boxes in... for future reference , people it would be better to shim the boxes from the underneath first to get the height right....MK

foster4u

My Feedback: (112)

Well??? We want more....

Shaun Evans

.

jet time

My Feedback: (75)

Got mine a week ago when Kevin was out here. It is fantastic to say the least!! Mine is the Yellow one in their web site. It really came out looking great. I have Shannon doing a quick build for me so it will be ready for the AMA show here in Ca.
Kevin and the rest that have theirs....they sure look great!! Let's get them up and going!
Will post some photo's later.
Lowell

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Mr. DJ you are right about the colors, the Mig 29 has em all !! Lowel I could have this bird built in 4 hours for a quick build if I had too,,,,,,,,,, NOT... hehehe. I am sure Shannon will have it done in no time at all and have it done at his excellent quality level also.

Back to building. Here we start at the aft end, and elevators.

1. I noticed that when I tried to insert the elevator assembly that the pivit tubes where hitting on glue goop, dremel to reduce this goop at an angle.
2. Sand inner skin to elevator
3. Do a good job.
4. Mark hinge lines and center of pivit line.
5. Place hinge on hinge line and tape the width of each hinge.
6. On back side use wood tabs to level elevator. Glue 2 together and tape at the inner side and only one tab at the aft end. this will keep elevator level.
7. I have a dewalt Jig saw, if you do not have one use a zona saw. Cut and make as clean edge as posible. When done use a metel micro file to smooth out and make square.
8. Drill holes for hinge.
9. On the first and the last hinges they need to be shortened, this is for the outer hinge made at an angle to slide in the narrow track.
10. Trial fit, and redrill to egg shape on the forward part of horizontal stab, DO NOT redrill on elevator part.
11. Perfect fit before glueing.

Malcolm Kay

My Feedback: (11)

I have just about completed my wings and here is a bit of advice, when you cut the recess in the control surface ( ailerons flaps ) for the hinge points,the wood inside the surfaces is some kind of cheap balsa and in mine it just turned to powder like substance.... totally unsuitable for securing the hinges,, it was very dry and splintery when I drilled the holes .. remedy... leave as much wood as you can and fill the void with En 20 L hysol so that you put the hinge point into a mass of epoxy as well as the wood thats left FEJ please take note...Also when I was adjusting the throws of the leading edge slate the small round plastic holder that holds the ball joint that FEJ supplies already fitted to the end of the pushrod the round part just broke off the shank with no pressure at all.. so I replaced the pushrod with a Hangar 9 titanium rod the same length and a much stronger plastic ball joint.....MK

Kmarks

My Feedback: (36)

Malcolm, I agree and will have a talk with James. When I get to that stage in the process I will address that, you are on page 10, and I'm presenting page 8, hehe... Good work Malcolm I did about the same.

Ok, here we go on finishing up the elevaters and tail sections.

1. Before glueing hinges in, get some paint and paint inside track as shown.
2. When you epoxy hinges in be VERY careful not to get epoxy in hinges, constantly remove excess. I use a small flat head screw driver as shown. I also put a drop of oil on pivit and work it in. This helps keep hinge really free going.
3. Moving to the tail, Drill all holes, trail fit hinges, and align center of rudder to vertical stab.
4. Align top also.
5. Here is a pic of the elevater sections drying with tape to keep them secure.
6.Trail fit your servo into tail.
7. Eyeball where the scribe line will be and mark with erasable marker.
8. Here is pic of the two dremel lines.
9. Moving ahead here is the servo installed and the servo horn protruding from the opening just made.
10. Ok, as Malcolm mentioned, I just got stung on this set up, as I was dremeling the opening on the rudder, the dremel jumped because there is only a slice of wood in this area. BE CAREFUL HERE!!! Ok, so this was a mistake, happens to everyone. hehehe... When I get some auto touch up, I will put some on here and it wont look so bad.

Just a few comments.
[size=3] For the most part, the wood blocks are not where they are supposed to be, when you drill or cut your area's for hinges and horns, you may not get wood, or you may get very little. This is not an area to be stingy with epoxy. Error on the side of too much rather than too little. So far I have used 3 tubes of BVM aeropoxy. You should order at least 4 to 5 tubes for this jet. Over all however, the quality is better then what I have seen on my last 3 kits. I have built more than what I have posted here, and have placed all components back together, all I can say is, This jet looks AWESOME.