My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Hi guys,

Thought I might post some pics of my 1/8 skymaster F16 fitout. I have seen lots of photos on the net with tail mounted turbines but mine is centre mounted and thought some of you might be interested. Engine is Jetcat P70. I made an additional heat shield to go over the top of the turbine exhaust nozzle. This keeps the fuse very cool there; without it you can feel alot of radiated heat in the first 10cm of fuse skin behind the engine bay hatch.

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

More....

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

More again..

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

SWEET

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Thanks NUNU. I have some shots of the valves and fuel pump which I installed under the bypass duct....plenty of space to be had there!

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

I modified (extended) the elevator control arm for a longer lever arm and greater rigidity with less slop. Note that the picture shows unfinished setup (locking nuts etc had to be put in yet)...just wanted to show the aluminium arm. The pushrod is now acting at a point almost twice as far from the pivot rod as the original and I am using maximum servo travel now and getting better resolution.

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Nice install Craig
Are you using ailerons?
How about a flight report with the P70? All I've seen so far is the P60.

And of course..."Video F-16??";)

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Should have its maiden in the next couple of weeks. Have only done taxi tests but seems to have plenty of power. One word of advice to anyone owning one......make sure you have vent holes in the root of the stabs, expecially on the dark coloured versions of this kit. It seemd to have loads of power on takeoff roll off grass so it should go like a cut snake!

I am hearing you on the video request ;) Where is the man?

BTW, I am using ailerons and thanks for the compliment regarding the fitout.

Craig.

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Looks outstanding... Have you flowen it yet, and did you paint it or was that included in the ARF??

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Nice neat layout. There are a couple of things to watch for... the first being the tight radius bends on the tubing when it exits the festo fittings. If the tubing does not enter the fitting straight and square, the little O rings inside can leak (I've seen this happen). Secondly, I don't see a FOD screen, but make sure you have one! You would be surprised how much "stuff" that big airscoop can suck up! And if you ever have a gear failure, there is going to be a lot of debris going through that inlet (trust me on that ! :D )

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Congrats Craig... Your installation looks very neat.
I second what Wayne22 says, get and FOD, I once landed on the belly on mine and the amount of grass and particles that this thing sucked was incredible, luckilly I have a Super Bee installed on the tail...;)

Here is a video of my F-16, we took today at the field.

http://www.jetsrc.com/videos/F-16_Tiger_JetsRC.wmv

Michel

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Where do you get that bracket to hold the manual fuel shut off???

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Looks great! Your installation looks very neat I love it:). GOOD LOCK.

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Hi Michel/Tony,

Thanks for the positive feedback. Great video of yours flying, Michel, and I must say you flew it and landed it very smoothly! I will be fitting a FOD guard...just had not received it when I took the photos. How many clicks of up trim do you dial in to get your landing attitude?

Ehab, the purple fitting you saw I obtained through Rob Bennett agencies. He is a local jet products guy. He is currently working on his new website but his email address is:

[email protected]

I believe they are an AMT Netherlands product and I musst say they are absolutely excellent. The ball valve is retained by a small grub screw that you would not have been able to see in the photo. A very good fit and it makes for a very neat installation.

BirdofpraY, thanks. I have not flown it yet but it has had taxi tests. Will maiden very soon. It was the prepainted ARF Tigermeet version (seems to be very popular!)

Craig.

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Thanks Graig, actually the jet makes the job very easy...:D

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Exellent Installation. Great Pix, and I love the Tiger Meet War Paint...

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

during the flight, F16 is capable of catching speeeed fast.

For landing, watch out for the angle of Attack and throttle manage your speed..just as to most jet models

Neat fitting once again.

Albert

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

sorry! wrong pix attached...

Here the pic shown during a final

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Hi All,
I plan to get a F16 this summer.

What's the difference among the Tam F16, JLF16 and SM F16 in size? I like the JLF16's retracts, but prefer the awesome looking Tiger paint scheme offered by SM. Can they fit?

About the turbine location, what's the advantage of having it at the tailcone? Just more thrust? Or should I stick with the conventional, center mount?

Thanks,

Mike

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Mike,

Check your PM

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Craig,

Thanks for posting the pics. Mine just came in today and I am planing a center install as well. I am putting a Behotec J66hp 19lb in mine.
I look forward to your flight report.

Dave

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Hi all,

I maidened mine yesterday. It's fitted with an AMT mercury HP centrally mounted and flies on tailerons. Flight is very quiet as the throttle is rarely above half thrust except for power turns and verticals. Take off roll is a bit long considering the power but is mostly due to the compressed nose gear and near 0 AoA (100m off grass). I have a small oil run along the nose oleo, I'll try to fill it to give it a more positive attitude.I have set the cg at the 145 mm mark dry (uat in the cockpit bay)but I feel that I can go further aft as I have a 1cm up trim at the end of the flight.. landing roll is barely 50m long and is really forgiving. Sorry no video as the cameraman was more shaky than I....;o)

Florent

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Hi Florent,

Regarding the c of g, a local experienced jet modeller and mate of mine has flown his well with the c of g at 165mm dry. When he had the c of g at 145mm dry the model required a truckload of up trim and did not perform well, especially pulling around a turn. Your experience regarding the trim at that c of g is identical to his and is all consistent with the review article mentioned in the latest RCJI where the author states that he flew at 145mm WET. This suggests that a dry c of g around 165mm should be on the money. If you move your c of g back you will find she will rotate better as well.

Mike, tamjets F16 is a little smaller I think. Not familiar with the jet legend one. Tail mount just simplifies the setup and allows for installation of a smaller engine. Your choice depends on the size of engine you want to fly with.

I will give a flight report when done.

Have fun,

Craig.

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Has anyone clocked this plane for top speed with the P60 in the tail?

RE: My Skymaster 1/8 F16 Fitout
 

Hi Guys

Have had a few flights on my F16 now. I have had a couple of problems, some of my own making.

On early flights every time I pulled hard on the elevator she would roll to the left, and the opposite when inverted. I stupidly did not check the lateral balance before I flew and it turned out that this was way out as I had all batteries on one side of the fuse...duh!....all sorted now. (learned my lesson there!)

She needs power right to touchdown if you have the nose up for landing (normal)

I had a not so hard landing that cracked the main former at the rear of the landing gear mounts. These were subsequently reinforced with 1.5mm glass board on both sides as Philip Avonds recommends with his F16 (I have built this one, but not finished so I benefitted from that experience). On a flight 10 days ago I had a hard landing and there has been no subsequent problems. The engineering on the oleos is excellent!

C of G!!!!! THIS IS AT 175MM from front of wing measured accurately with a suspension framework (no thumb balancing here!) with gear down and header tank full. I and another very experienced jet pilot with the same model have found that if the c of g was further forwards, that the model tended to dive towards the ground if banked steeply, particularly at the start of the flight when the tanks are also full....now with the c of g at 175 a small amount of down elevator is required for inverted flight, no excessive up trim is required and she generally flys well.

We have found independently that this c of g works best but this contrasts starkly with that recommended by skymaster. Just thought I would provide this feedback for others who are building them.

Craig.