I FLIES!!!!!
 

I just got back from the field where I had my first turbine experience. That was one of the most exciting things I have ever done! After checking and double checking everything I was out of excuses. The Rookie taxied perfectly straight and everything looked perfect so I rolled the P-120 to full throttle (RPM limited to 16# of thrust). It rolled down the runway gaining speed until I pulled pack on the stick, it rotated very smooth and climbed out at about 60 deg. I never touched a trim tab the whole flight, it flew beautifully. I didn't fly really fast or do anything except smile. After flying a Y/A f-18 for so long on fan power this plane did really feel like a trainer. Even at 16# the plane flew with authority and never looked underpowered. It did come in a little fast on final and did bounce a little, but nothing to be concerned about. Thank you to everyone that answered so many questions and helped me through this! Spending all of that time fighting fans was definately worth it, this is what it's all about.

Now I will start on my other Rookie. This one will be sent in for airbrushing and the whole enchillada! One to learn on one for shows! I can't wait until tomorrow!!

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Good job Kenny!! ...

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Congratulations!

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Way to go!!! Welcome to the club. LOL

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Feels good dont it:D

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Thank you all! Yes it does feel good, and it's about to feel even better... on my way back out there!!

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Woketman,

Sent you a pm

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Way to go Kenny!! Glad to hear everything went so well!

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Kenny,

Allllriiiiight!!! Mine is just about ready to fly. I just need to tidy up everything and balance the Rookie. Tell me....Did you have trouble getting the recomended throws??? The most I can get on the elevons (elevator) is 1 1/4 inches. If I put a longer arm on the servo the arm will rub on the inner skin of the wing. My travel is set to 150% (all you can get) on my JR PCM 10SX-II. Aileron travel is fine. What travel do you have and did you fly it at max travel??? I'll post some pics of my completed bird tomorrow evening.

Kevin

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Good Job Kenny and congratulations!!!!!!

Regards

Ben

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Kevin,

I am running a little over an inch elev travel and its been fine for me. Plenty there for a good flair on landing.

V..

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Vin,

Thanks Bud!!!! I was just a little concerned as you can understand. How are your aileron throws??? Is one inch enough for some wild roll reversals while accelerating straight up???

Kevin

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Thanks everyone again for all the congrats!

Kevin,
I am getting 1 3/8" travel on the elevators. I did have it set at 1 1/2" but it started popping and making a bunch of racket at anything beyond 1 3/8". The plane flies fine with this setting, I never thought I needed more. My plane CGed at 5 1/4" in front of the wing tube, or 1 1/4" in front of the main gear. I felt that would be fine because I read a post that Tam made some time back that said to put it at 1 1/2 in front of the main gear.

My plane holds 100 oz. not counting the UAT. I had the turbine turned down to 107,000 RPM which is somewhere close to 19 pounds of thrust. At moderate throttle settings I was able to get an 8 minute flight and still have over a quarter of the two liter bottle left. At this thrust setting the plane flew very well.

For landing, I put the speed brake down to full, throttle to idle, and gave it a full lap before coming in on final. The plane looked like it was going slow enough to land smoothly but it hopped a few times after it hit the runway. Every time I would land I would slow it down a little bit more but it still bounced. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to get this plane to slow down enough not to bounce or does thrust factoring help?

You are really going to love this plane! Can't wait to see pictures.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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1" travel for aileron would be way to wild for me. I am set at about 1/2 that.

V..

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Kenny,

Hold off the landing and continue to increase the elev throw until the jet stops flying. Sunday i was able to make several landings just on the mains and ride them with the nose off the runway until the energy was bled off. Also your cg is nose heavy at 5.25"?? the instructions are at 4" in front of the wing spar. This may be giving you some problems??.

V..

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Vin,

Thanks for the heads up!!!

Kenny,

You sound like a tried and true polished turbine flyer now!! As for your fast landings...What is your idle set for??? Is it still at the factory default setting??? I believe that you can lower the idle a couple more thou to kill some residual thrust issues you might be having. The trade off is that the turbine won't spool up as fast at the lower idle setting. Are you getting the nose up and flying the plane using throttle to control altitude??? Turbines are a little different breed than the D/F's you are used to. Once you lower your gear and the speed brake try flying TWO laps around to slow the model down. Don't get it too slow though!!! I can't wait to try mine.:D

Kevin

PS---Vin has something there with his C/G question concerning your plane.

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Vincent, Thanks for the advise, I will try to keep the nose up higher and let it fly longer to bleed off more speed. I will also check into the CG issue.

Kevin, The idle is set down to 31500 which is 1500 lower than stock. I don't know if it can go down anymore without causing problems? It truely is amasing that the darn thing takes sooo long to slow down! If I were to shut the throttle down on the F-18 and do a full lap at level flight I would have been in trouble. I will just keep working on it until I get it right. The one I saw flying at Fresno was coming in so nose high he was dragging the rear tips of the wings sometimes! I just have so forget some of what the little F-18 taught me. I sure do love the plane though, it is so nice to know that if you need it the power is there!




By the way, how many monkeys does it take to maiden a turbine jet...

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Kenny,

It looks like you needed that many monkeys to get the plane ready as it looks as though you had a race for daylight![8D] Well, I said that I would post some pics today but I ran into a little problem. I took the photos but apparently the disc that these were stored on was corrupted. I couldn't download them.

I did get my plane ready---Started her up and taxied up and down the street. (As quietly as I could!) Everything is a "GO"!:D Maiden is tomorrow morning. I'll get some more pics there with a new disc in the digital camera.:D

Kevin

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Wow that is a lot of help, its a wander the plane is still in one piece :-)

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Kevin,

Good luck your going to love the plane! Make sure you tell us how everything goes!
I just got back from the field again a few hours ago. Everything was fine until the last flight when the left main didn't come down. I almost stopped the plane before it touched down, the whole time I was waiting for it to just fall. It escaped with minor scratches to the wing tip thank god. The wheel hung up on the phone wire connected to the turbine. I zip tied all of the wires but I guess not good enough! I can't believe that it will fly that darn slow!

Have a lot of fun and let me know what happens!

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Kenny,
I know you will be smiling in your sleep tonight. My employee just got his waiver 3 weeks ago. I take him out for first turbine training flight. Next thing he want me to take out 30% of his payroll for making payment on his first turbine.

Turbine enigne is the drugs that approved by AMA 7-8 years ago. Looks how many peoples are hook on already.
Mr. Bob Wilcox distributor this drugs to all the dealer. Now I see more peoples got hook all over the states.
Shame on you Bob.:D

Even how busy I am. Every sunday take my crew out and burn 4-5 gallons of K-1.
I fly Jetcat, TJT 3000 and tiny Bee 50. All this engines been run very good.

Brg,
Tam

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Tam,

Your right about the drug thing!

Thank you for your help on the phone yesterday! I was the one that called about the plane bouncing on landing and the CG question. Thank you for your time!



I have another question about this plane. I have about 1/4" up on the elevons to keep it flying level. The vector tube looks like it going straight out. When I throttle up while in flight it pitches up and gains quite a bit of altitude. It goes to about a 15-20 deg. angle. I thought maybe the vector tube is pointing up a little, but if I were to point it down any more I would have to raise the elevons even more. The turbine is still de-tuned to about 104,000 RPM (just over 17# of thrust) I can't imagine how bad it will pitch up at 26#.

Any advice?

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Kenny,

I have my C/G at 4" as per the instructions....PERFECT!!! I only have 1/8" up reflex in the elevons and mine flew hands off except for a few clicks of right aileron. I think your C/G is off and maybe the thrust vectoring tube may be off a tad. I rechecked mine last night and decided I had too much up in mine. I went into the sub-trim program and changed it. Check out my thread on mine that I flew today. I'm VERY happy!!!

Kevin

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Yeah I am starting to believe that it may be the CG. I will adjust it and try again right now. Congratulations!!

I will let you know how it goes.

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Kenny,

My 1/8" of up reflex is actually only the thickness of the trailing edge of the wing. So, the top edge of the wing is exactly the same height as the bottom of the elevon. I hope all goes well with your flights. :D

Kevin