Main gear
 

The down lock strut ram failed at GA jets and that was the last straw to try and keep working with FEJ landing gear. They drilled right through the shaft to insert the 2mm bolt.

Hey Jim I know this doesn't help, but you might consider converting them to electric. I got mine converted through down and locked, I plan to remove that little air cylinder since its no longer needed.

yes it operates ok without the cylinder flew all day Saturday at GA jets with no problems.

Single engine go around at Kentucky jets. Lined up on long final for single engine landing to far out to see well enough so had to go around and that power up yawed me over the crowd line before I could correct for it.

http://youtu.be/I1rydF589H0

clap, clap, clap, clap..............

I advise that you do the same.....................................

F-14
 

F-14

A few more
 

f-14

Congrats on your redesign/build FEJ Jet and a successful remaiden flight... I love the solution thread better than the condemned all Fej owners thread of late.

Hi do you have updates for the f-18 build ,post some pictures.

Been getting lots of questions so thought I would update the posts some .. Have another rebuild of the F-14 with strengthened wings and all ROBART landing gear will post picks and videos

Video http://youtu.be/LWQvUHCLMTM

Virginia jets http://youtu.be/F3NVoIlYT4I

Joe nall http://youtu.be/8ccDlnY9JRA

First in flight http://youtu.be/CNwsYWDojzU

I was wondering what happend to your F-14, Im hoping to have my SM F-14 at KY jets but everytime I get some motivation it vanishes faster than my progress LOL

Hi Jim, Thx for sharing and nice flying by the way!
I was hoping you could help me out as I have the same F14.
I purchased it as one of the first 10 deal, it is the pre honey comb. Could you please let me know what you think I should do from start to finish so I don't put all the time into getting it ready to crash because of manufacturing problems. I already purchased new trust pipes from Tam for the F14 and at the same time I purchased a "Y" pipe for my F15 and my F18 which are also pre-honey comb jets.
Thx in advance Jim.
Regards Jeff D

I do not recommend putting in the work on any FEJ designs. If you do some searches on here and RCgroups you can see all the work I have had to do.

b1bob flew his pre hc f-14 for many years, no problems, there is also a guy in colorado, many flights without problems. Reach out to them so they can tell you what they did.

That being said the F-14 seems to be very intricate plane, 4 of the skymaster have crashed because of flutter, actuator failure or incorrect mods in the U.S.

Thank you for the reply, I have been reading a lot about FEJ's I know alot of People are very upset with them.
I beleive James was a great guy and could not deal with the problems so left the company.
But since (EDFJim) Jim has the latest posts I have read so far for 2015,
I thought his F14 was solid from his mods and it seemed to be flying good for him unless it has crashed also?
I have 3 Pre-honey comb Jets and will eventually want to get them flying some day because I paid a good dollar for them and if it takes my time to correct the problems I would not mind because I love to tinker over the winter months. The easiest is to get an x-ray of the wings but not sure how to get that done yet or I will be forced to open each stab, wing and check the strength of each spar. You can spend a day reading all the info on these forums and not even put a dent in the the stuff to read. Happy Reading :o and thx for your input Alkaline
Regards Jeff D

you can watch these videos of his build:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSsHlssWBIA

I too am finishing a pre honeycomb FEJ F-14 that was never finished/flown. It was a gentleman's pet project who has unfortunately passed. His build quality is was pretty good. I always like a challenge and seems to be one with all of the controversy and drama over FEJ.

Jim, did the pre honeycomb stabilizer shafts have the same problem as the later ones?

I'm sure I will be ridiculed for building this plane but I'm going through it pretty carefully. I have already found some very poor quality plywood parts that were delaminating on their own. Those have been replaced and I'm looking for any other issues.

I have to be honest, I recently finished a build from "the good manufacturer" and they had left.out an important bushing on the stabilizer shaft that surely would have led to flutter and ....

I was just lucky I noticed it in the build and was able to machine and epoxy in a replacement.

Any COSTRUCTIVE advice is certainly appreciated. :)

Steve if you could invent some sort of resin that would wick into that crappy plywood. Something that could slosh all over the inside.

I spoke with one of the importers and I would go as far as saying that is one of the Achilles heels all through Asia ...... poor quality plywood

To be sure! And it's a hit and miss kind of thing. Most parts are rock solid and others seem like they used sugar and water as a laminating adhesive. :)

three of the biggest things on the F-14 ..

1 stabs need to be rebuilt to have the shaft moved forward 1/2" to make it aerodynamically stable

2 the main wing box on mine was twisted the wing pivots had 1 1/2 deg of twist causing bad tip stall and dificult trimming.

3 pre honeycomb wing spars need to be rebuilt and correctly bolted bonded to the aluminum bearing housings .. honeycomb wings skins need to be rebuild around the aluminum hub also

i do not recommend putting any equipment into these models because of the fire/impact damage from the crash that will happen if you do not rebuild everything.