My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

The big yellow truck came today and delivered a rather large box to me!!! Inside was my new Large Liberty from Fly Eagle.
I did take pictures, but I left my card reader at the shop so I can't post them tonight, sorry about that...... :(
Overall the airplane looks really good. The paint finish is ok, but I'm picky, it's what I do for a living ;)
However, I am VERY impressed with the amount of carbon fiber they have used in this airplane! I had some concerns about the fuse and wing structure, but the entire center section has carbon in there top and bottom, there is carbon reinforcement in the landing gear bay, the entire rear fuse section is carbon fiber, etc!!! The wing spar system looks pretty strong, coupled with all the carbon it should be very strong.
My only disappointment is my own fault. I had purchased the engine I wanted to use before I talked to James. I bought an AMT Olympus to put in there and after talking to James, I found out that it would be to big. Well, I figured I could stuff it in there, but after looking at the airplane and trying to get the engine in there, I don't think it's going to fit for me :( So, I have to decide if I want to put the Oly on my Kingcat and put the booster in the Liberty, or look at selling the Oly and buying something else...

Anyway, the gear doors are beautiful and fit perfectly. The landing gear looks very good, I haven't hooked anything up, but using my hand held compressor at 60psi I was able to make the gear to up and down very well. The wheels look great, only thing that would make them better would be if they were solid tires instead of inflatable.

I will get some pictures up here tomorrow. Just waiting for servo's to come in now!

Anyone need an Olympus? :)
Jeremy

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Can't wait to see the pics Jeremy.. i'lll trade ya a new (old) Ram 1000 for that OLY :D:D

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

haha, if it was a New (old) AT400 or P160 or something we could talk ;) I want 34lbs thrust at a minimum :D

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

i can paint it purple. lol

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

LGM........ YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!! I DROOL everytime I look at them!!! Did you get the Liberty-L ??? That is the one I want!!!!! Tell us all about it!!

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Hi Gerry,
Yes it's the Liberty L, mine is the black bunny scheme they have on their website, I asked for that scheme so that's what they did, although, hindsight being 20/20, I should have maybe looked at a more high vis scheme LOL.

What all can I tell you about it..... hmmmm

As I mentioned earlier, they have used a large amount of Carbon Fiber in the airplane, it looks very strong. The gear plates for the main gear even look very good, they are 1/4" plywood, but they appear to be laminated with a thick fiberglass plate on the back side, they look pretty robust.
The nose gear mount looks very strong as well, the only way I could see improvement in the gear mounts really is if they used flex plates like BVM but with the trailing link gear it probably isn't needed.
The tail surfaces look very small, but from the video's it looks like the airplane flies quite well so I won't judge that, besides, it's probably my own fault if they're to small, I drew the dang picture LOL.
The method used to hold the nose cone on is great, it's a pitot tube that screws in through the end of the nose cone into a bracket inside, it looks awesome and makes for a very simple method to access the batteries and other assorted stuff in the nose.
The gear doors fit perfectly and the main gear doors look great in design as well. Nose gear door is nice and simple, should all work without fault.
The tail pipe, the FEJ's pipes have been the source of controversy lately, this pipe however looks very good albeit a little heavy. The spot welds are very numerous and done nicely. The thickness of the steel is pretty heavy, .020" on the inside and .010" on the outside. It looks like it should work very well. If I manage to fit the Olympus in there I'll probably get Tam to make me a pipe but only because the FEJ pipe is not designed for that much thrust. If I can find something smaller I'll use the FEJ's pipe.
The fit of the wings and tail to the fuse is excellent, the roots all match up perfectly with no gaps, just a nice seam. I will be gluing all my tail surfaces onto the fuse, although the fin is easily removable if you don't want to glue it.
As for weight, I don't know what it weighs yet, the tail section feels a little heavy, but then it's very strong and with the extremely long nose I'm sure it will all balance out just fine. The overall jet seems quite light when you pick it all up, it's a big jet.
It looks about as big sitting on the ground as the Ultra Bandit but much sleeker in the fuselage.
There are 3 fuel tanks in there, I don't know how much capacity there will be but it looks like a significant amount, could probably even use 2 tanks for fuel and one for smoke and still get 6 or 7 minute flights.
Overall I am very pleased so far, I will get some pictures up here tomorrow evening for you to look at!
Jeremy

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

I will tell you that I found out that they test flew theres with a Rhino and it was WAY over powered!!! They said it was to FAST!!! flew at half stick!! They said that the SuperEagle would be GREAT for it. Just FYI

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

As long as the airframe holds together there's no such thing as to fast ;) Looking at other options right now though :)

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

After talking with Chen, He says that this is built very tuff and has no problems flying off grass and the gear will also hold up!!!! If you need any info. let me know! He said it wasn't fun to fly with the Rhino.

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Also said they used the thick wall pipe and have had no issues with it

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

I managed to slide over to Jermey's shop yesterday just in time to see him sliding the wings on.

The airframe looks well built and the gear is stout. Some highlights for me:

-Lots of re-enforcing around key areas including gear mounts
-Nosewheel steering is direct mount servo (no wires)
-Large wing surfaces attached to fuse so gear stays on plane when you take it apart - stands on its own wheels
-nosecone, tail cone and fin all can be removed so easy to get at things to work on.
-generally lots of room for gear
-very slippery airframe

Some not so good:

-intake ducts inside the airframe kind of a goofy shape - not great for airflow
-front nosegear slop - maybe this can be fixed
-all black paint visibility
-tail surfaces seem too small for the size of the airframe

If I wasn't buying a Viperjet I would be ordering a Liberty-L

PaulD

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Haha, hi Pawl (since you insist on spelling my name wrong LOL), the more I think about it, the more I think the intake shape will not be an issue, when I think about some of the open installations I've seen on jets in the past, there were no intakes leading up to the engine. I think this one will be fine, there are some sharp bends in there, but I think it will be ok.
The nose gear slop, yup, that part is to bad, but I'll see if I can tighten it up, I don't think it's much worse than many of the Robart nose gear units I've had in the past.
The all black paint, well, that's user optional :P As I mentioned to you, I'll probably add some white to the bottom
As for the tail surfaces, they do look small, time will tell how it flies, the video's look good and it certainly doesn't appear to run out of any authority on landing so we'll see :)

Thought you hadn't made up your mind on the Viperjet yet ;) hahaha

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Damn.......I meet you at JOW. You get a new jet and I can't got to Princeton to see it.

BTW your paint jobs are sick! You do dull camo ones as well?

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Yep, I generally thing that most model turbine installations are relatively immune to issues with inlet shape. In the turbine-powered Northstar that we did, the turbine sits right behind a flat bulkhead and there is a water-shield almost all the way around the inlet. Almost everyone who see it asks "how does the turbine get any air," but the turbine runs fine...

Bob

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

some pics

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

There looks to be a butt load of carbon in the plane!!! LOOKS GREAT!!!!!! Can you say, SWEEEEET??????

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

The Liberty looks look a bullet and will probably be as fast. Looks good, glad to see the CF reinforcement. [8D]

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

I will have the Liberty for display at the Princeton Jet Rally September 18 to 20 if you're coming up and want to see it! I'll probably work on it during the evenings at the jet rally. I haven't had a chance to do anything to it yet, don't think I'll have much of a chance before Princeton unfortunately.

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

What are the main and nose wheel sizes? I ask because I mostly fly off grass.

What does this kit cost? FEJ's site lists the small one at $1690, but no price on the large one.

Thanks...Scott

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

The large one is $2888 USD plus $150 to have the gear and doors installed plus $250 for shipping.

I haven't measured the wheels, but I would GUESS right now without having the jet here that the nose wheel is 3" and the mains are 4" or there abouts. They're bigger than my Kingcat wheels anyway! Should be a good jet on grass fields too I think.

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

I measured the wheels today at the shop and the nose wheel is 2.625" and the mains are 3.75". Should be plenty big for grass I would think. The trailing link struts it comes with should help on grass too.

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

I haven't forgotten about you guys, I just haven't been able to do anything on my Liberty yet. I'm waiting for my servo's to arrive (expected them a week ago) and I have to find an engine to use, as I mentioned earlier, the Olympus I bought won't fit, would like to find a Titan or P160 but need to get rid of the Oly if I'm to do that, otherwise, after this weekend (princeton jet rally) I will put the Oly on my Kingcat and use the Booster in the Liberty.
I will be taking the Liberty to Princeton this weekend and will probably start some assembly at the hotel in the evenings, I will be sure to post pictures and do a full build thread. I am still very excited about this airplane!

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

So as of yesterday I now have an engine for the Liberty, I will start the build thread soon now.
However, after flying my Super Bandit, I have decided that all black is a bad choice, that being the case, I am going to throw a quick bright color paint scheme on the Liberty before I start the build, hopefully I'll be able to do that next week. In any case, I'll be getting on this one soon I hope!
Jeremy

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Im suprised your sitting around with ur dream jet and not getting it in the air!!! Come on Jeremy!!
Scott

RE: My Fly Eagle Liberty arrived!!!
 

Well Scott, as I say, I was stuck waiting for servo's, and then an engine that would fit haha. Now I decided I want a brighter color LOL, so a quick paint job is what this one will be getting :)
Wouldn't call this one my dream jet, but I am excited about it!
Jeremy