Byron FA 18
 

Hi Guys
I have a Byron FA 18 with a Rossi engine in it ready to go that has not been in started or flown I'm a little hesitant on flying this plane do to the fact of the not so good feed back on the stock
Rossi's. I've even considered selling it ( the plane ) because of this. If anyone does fly this particular plane do you use the alivators, and how do the make the plane handle? I was going to use the ailerons as flaparons for take off and landings since I don't have flaps. Any info will be appriciated!

Byron FA 18
 

I'ved used rossi engines in the past but have found they flood very easy in the inverted position. I've had times at the flying field that I can't get them started. I'll remove the motor at home, mount it on a test stand upright and it starts on the first spin. The o.s. engines I have no problem starting inverted and don't have the tendency to flood as easily.
I'm not familiar with the byron f-18 but on the other byron jet kits they are set up with ailerons separate from the elevators. The byron jets I fly, flaps aren't necessary for landing. Jim

Byron FA-18
 

I had good luck with Rossi's until about 1994 and then I switched to OS. Never went back to Rossi's except to try the 1.05's a couple years back in my MIG. I swapped them out after 6 flights and replaced them with OS's and was very satisfied with the OS performance. Stay with the OS's.
I have a Byron F-18 with twin K&B 82's which I am now converting to turbine. Here is the text from the actual Byron F-18 manual.

"CONTROL SURFACE THROWS:
Elevator 1 " up and 1 " down. Full travel with trim lever in full up position 11/4" up. Recommended up elevator as measured at the leading edge of the stab next to the fuselage to be 1" minimum. 11/4" up elevator is ideal for takeoff. Settings greater than this amount must be handled judiciously by the pilot during landing flare. Over rotation during flare can bring about a total end of forward movement and subsequent stall of aircraft.
Aileron throw to be 3/4" up and 3/4" down.
Rudder throw to be as much as you can get.

FLYING: This 18-19 lb. single engine ducted fan jet model is not a 150+ MPH aircraft. It has been built with one simple thought in mind: "A large stand-off scale model that is not only
fun to fly but also graceful and easy to handle". Take-off distances average approximately 250 feet from a hard surface runway (no wind). Stable in-flight characteristics make it a real joy to handle. F-18 drivers will be able to duplicate many exciting maneuvers such as slow flight, rolls, loops, knife edge and combinations thereof. Landings are highly predictable, set up the approach (power back, nose up), as the Hornet starts to settle, add power to maintain a steady rate of descent to the numbers. The F-18 (when handled correctly), will land nose high at a slow air speed every time. I would caution F-18 pilots against sudden and abrupt use of full up
elevator in the landing flare, as it is possible to completely stop the forward motion of the aircraft. Treat the controls as if they were a lady. GENTLY!"

Hope that helps.

Roy

More on the twin K & B .82's please
 

Roy,
You said you had twin .82's in your f-18. Could you give more details please. Were they with Dynamaxes?
Ed

Byron FA 18
 

Ed
They were Ramtec fans. I bought the jet from a guy in 1996 who had converted it from a single to a twin. He had made his own fuel cells from pop bottles and had 90 degree rotating main retracts. The wings have double aluminum spars and the fuse has been reinforced with a couple of ply formers but everything else is stock Byron. I managed to do some high speed taxi tests before I decided to convert it to turbine. That will necessitate a rebuild of the horizontal stab area and a reinstall of the servos for elevator and rudders. Still have a lot of work to do.

Roy

Byron FA 18
 

Ed, eventually we're going to do this same mod on our Byron down here. Probably start sometime next year. Would you be so kind as to post pics and discussion of your progress? If you need some website hosting or even a website devoted to this, I maintain a webserver at my office and would be glad to give you the space and appropriate help in setting it up. Our F-18 is in poor condition right now, I have pics of it posted at www.reitmeyer.com/planes we'll be test flying the model as a ducted fan version on or around May of this year.