JEEMO Turbine Glider Set Up
 

Looking for "Real World" setup info for the JEEMO Turbine glider from those who have set up and flow it.
I have a JEEMO that I am using the Xicoy X-45 for the power.
With the turbine and fuel tank installed I am finding that it is going to take a bunch of weight up front to balance it to the manual recommended CG point 120 mm back from the leading edge.

Is the recommended 120 mm CG point a good starting place?

I hate adding dead weight such as lead so I was using two large 5000 mA 2S Lipo's as far forward as I can place them but even at that I do not have enough nose weight.
I also filled a UAT bottle with water to simulate the actual weight distribution, moving that as far forward as I could.

I am looking for some equipment install photo and info about the actual CG used.

Thanks

So in order to get the balance at 120 mm as per the manual, I placed 442 Grams of lead all the way up in the nose.
Then two 2S lipo packs stack on top of each other as far forward as allows, the combo weighs 593 grams.

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I created a laser cut balance fixture for the JEEMO.
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The wing spar is sold steel round bar weighing 932 grams, not sure why they didn't use a carbon fiber spar which would be a fraction of that weight?

I reached out to Ali M. and he told me that this is quite common for a model of this type to require a lot of lead in the nose and this is consistent with the Jeemo that he has.
Additionally I asked about the spar, he said to think as it as ballast, this type of model needs the weight to keep up the inertia for flying speeds.

Hi Rich, I am waiting for my X45 but it looks like that the weight in the nose is normal. Also, the steel tube should help the CG. Nice pieces you have made for balancing.

‘’Behzad

Can you tell me if these engines, on a glider setup like this on top of the wing, require a neutral thrust line, or a little down thrust to compensate for the engine location?
Thanks, Jim

Hi Jim, this one is purpose built and the turbine is inside.

Thanks, didn't realize that.

Attached is a 1:1 PDF drawing of the CG fixture I drew up.
Just ensure your printer setting are set to 100% scale when printing.

Well its been awhile since I posted any photos, the Jeemo is basically done, just waiting for spring to arrive.

I did add some vinyl graphics to dress her up a bit.

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A few internal photos of the trays I created, I made the fuel system modular so the UAT, Pump, and shut off valve come out with one tray.
With the two 4000 mA batteries in place I still needed to add around 530 grams of lead shot all the way up in the nose to balance at the factory recommend CG position.


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My Jeemo came with the stock turbine mounts for the Kingtech 45, apparently Glider IT sells optional mounts for the Xicoy X45.
I was able to modify the mount by milling the recessed area a bit larger to fit the wider tabs of the Xicoy mount., additionally I found out later that I needed to also mill out clearance holes for the Xicoy strap bolt heads, not shown in the photo, so I drew in the location. Photo shows one stock mount and one modified mount. The hole spacing works with the Xicoy X45 if you file the holes slightly on the stainless steel mount tab of the X45



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Hi Rich, thank you for this information. I am waiting to get the Xicoy and have to do the same but don't have milling capabilities. I contacted to buy a set for Xicoy and they are 60 Euro but they only accept bank transfer which is a pain.

Behzad

Another Tip for installing the Turbine, pick up an extra long 2.5mm allen ball driver.Bondhus P/N 3754


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I fly the Jeemo with a K45G4+. Very fun airplane to fly. Yes, the steel rod is required for inertial but also for strength! A carbon tube with this small diameter will break during high G manoeuvres I guess. I added 700 grams of lead in the nose and my CG is a little bit more forward then the manual says. The Jeemo wanted to climb inverted a bit. Now ok. Total weight, less fuel 7,5 kilo.
I made the trolly steerable and use my throttle stick during landing for flaps/crow breaking. Works awesome.

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Hello Didier, your Jeemo looks great.

I was thinking of making my dolly steerable with the rudder channel for small corrections.
It looks like yours has a lot of travel, do you use yours for actually taxing out from the pits and aligning up on the run way?
Thanks for the info.

No, the travels are very small. A couple of degrees left and right. A friend of mine flew his Jeemo the first time and the take-offs were a bit “dangerous” as the Dolly did not track straight on grass. So I designed the steering Dolly and now the take-offs are very easy and manageable.
On grass it is almost not possible to taxi so lining up on the runway by hand. Taxiën on pavement I did but I have no brakes on the Dolly, so I make “running take-offs”.

Didier, thank you for that info.

Today I made a foam stand with some PVC pipe, the foam is a kneeling pad from Harbor Freight.



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Nice stand. How did you cut the foam pad?

It cuts best using a band saw.

I agree with Bob, but I did not have access to a band saw so I used a Jig saw.
For the holes I used a hole saw, one of my buddies said he used his wife's electric craving knife, that sounds dangerous from the wife point of view :D

I used 1" PVC but that's over kill 3/4" would be better.

So I attached two PDF drawings that can be printed on letter sized paper and then taped to the foam for a cut out pattern.
The actual part is larger than letter sized paper so you use the top right corner for alignment on the foam.
I provided hole patterns either for 3/4" or 1" PVC pipe.
This pattern is based on cutting the Harbor Freight pad in half.
Note there is a hand hole pre punched in the foam, after cutting in half I used 5 minute epoxy to glue the cut outs in place.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...cfffa32afa.jpg

Cool. I am gonna make one myself! Thanks. 👍

I decided to make another stand for my Viper and Avanti
So I photo documented

Prep for cutting in half

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Parts ready to assemble

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Templates taped in place ready for cutting

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Cut out to be glued in place

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