FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Kevin Marks test flew his FEJ F/A 18 ,It had a few problems which I'll let Kevin explain. It was a great maiden flight,found a few issues which I know Kevin will fix

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Kevin & his Cheshire Cat Grin... Great job

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Man that thing is big.. Looks very cool. Rudder fell off though?

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Mark,

Looks very nice... Congrats. :D

Rick

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

looks like the gears might have stripped.

can't wait to hear the

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Buck this thing almost sounds:D like a real BUG. Kevin is pushing it along with a BIG ***** AMT.....
The rudder did not fall off, it's still attached but little or no control

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Great pic's as always UJ

That is one big bug

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

great to hear UJ, that thing needs a big ***** AMT it's gotta weigh a crap ton.

nice work Kev!!! congrats on the successful flight. give us a thumb nail sketch of how it performed. I got to see one in Mississippi last month. that is one biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig muther

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Buck

The one you saw in Mississippi is a 1/7 scale the one that Kevin is flying is 1/6 scale[X(]

David

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

holy double smokes[X(]

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Hello All,

So here is the down and dirty. I need to use "Lock Tite".

The maiden ended up succesful but I could have lost the entire bird because of 2 major problems.
1. Both rudders are set up that an aluminum rod slips into a sleeve in the rudder and has 2 hex nuts holding it tight. One rudder loosened up, and the other rudder loosened up so much that the entire aluminum rod slipped out of the rudder sleeve and was dangling inside the tail section of fuse. So problem #1 I had 2 fluddering rudders, say that fast.

2. Same principle different location. Each elevator shaft is held on by an aluminum box mechanism. This box is what the 2 servos attach to, and this entire unit is bolted to a ply former with 4 hex bolts in the rear. Once again I needed locktite. The 1 bolt completey came off and was on the bottom of the fuse and the other 3 bolts where lose. By virtue that the entire elevator did not rip off is amazing. I have since gone over all area's in question and have found that there is no damage what so ever besides a wing scrap on my wing tip.

The take off was ok, it did not jump, but once in the air it needed some trim adjustments. Thanks to Vin D. my trusted wingman for correcting input into my transmitter as I am flying.

This is a really big jet, and the color scheme can be seen by a blind man. It shows up awesome in this AZ blue sky. When we realized something was fluttering, I reduced speed and was at the opposite end of where I needed to be, she slows down really nice, and the new Fire Breathing Dragon the AMT Olympus NL performed flawless and with awesome power. I did not feel this puppy was under powered for a second. I only did one higher speed fly by maybe 85-90% full throttle and she was moving.

I Hope to have all area's checked and secure for more flighty testing weather permitting this weekend.

Oh, also any comments on the fact that this bird is sucking down close to 1100 MA per a 7 minute flight and maybe 3 minute run up and down. It has 18 servos, 4 JR 8711's, 12 Hitec 7955's, 1 JR 8411, and a small servo running an air mechanism and an EV5 unit. As comparison, my Big Fej F16 uses 370 MA per flight. This is just one thirsty hungry bird.

I lOVE IT.

Kevin

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Kevin, what is that white thing on top of your transmitter?

I know I said it before but man that thing is big.

Andy

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..

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Hey Andy,

since i went to the new style of JR 2.4 antenna I needed to find a way to mount my talking timer. I just used sticky velcro on the face of TX and velcro on the back of timer and this seems to work great. If you are not using a talking timer I find it a must!!


Yes WOW, this thing is big. Now that I have been working on it for a while, my new Mig 29 at 103" long seems really small. Go figure, LoL.

Kevin

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

You bringing it to KY? I hope to see it there. I heard that you are getting Rex and John to transport your jets. They are taking 3 of mine too. Congrats on the maiden. Your new jet looks awsome.

Wish I could fly this weekend but I've got business in Chicago this weekend.

Andy

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Congrats Kevin on the maiden of your new jet. Uncle Joe great photo's as always. Thanks for posting.


Ron

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Thanks Andy for the nice words.

I plan on bringing the new Mig 29, which I have not even started yet, and maybe the 1/6 scale F18. I need to get the bugs worked out on this one first.

Andy which jet do you think other pilots would loke to see, the Huge F18, or the Mig 29 ??

Thank you Ron for the nice words. Uncle Joe Thank you as always for the photos and for helping out today. Thanks to Wayne and Vin also.

Kevin

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congrats!! man that bird is big.many great,flawless flights to you,sure looks good.

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Kevin,
Congrats on your maiden. For Kentucky Jets, bring the Mig and the big Hornet.

[8D]
David

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Amazing aircraft Sir. Congrats!! Still training with my nexstar. Hope to get to the jets someday. What do ya think? Would something like this make a good second plane? :) Yea i know........dream on. Congrats on a work of art!!

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Hello Kevin,

You have my favourite color scheme. Very nice. Well done.

Did you move the CG forward to 180mm?

Tassos

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Hello Tassos,

I actually placed it in the middle at 200mm. I may move the battery forward and make it 190 for the next flight.

I also needed to give left ailoron, she wanted to bank right. So I have adjusted flaps and ailorons and will try this for second flight.

With the Olympus this jet moves, I did not get a chance to do vertical but the one fast fly by i did seemed to be cooking.

Also she wing walked a little bit. Did you shorten springs or get harder shorter new ones.

How many flights do you have on yours, and do you need to add up. or down or nothing to elevator when you apply landing flaps.

Thanks

Kevin

RE: FEJ very large F/A18 maiden
 

Good to hear that the plane came back safely although you had these problems.

Well now the plane we have here in Greece has around 20-30 flights.

Yes we had the same problem and the plane wanted to bank right. I think the problem is in the plug. Try to look at it from the front and see if it looks straight to you in the eye.

Once trimmed it flys well. But this is the least problem. The most was the wrong CG. Now with the CG @ 180mm the plane comes in as a beauty. No tail sinking anymore with the correct CG and landings are very easy.

Also we had problems with wing walking. We just cut the stock springs shorter and put loads of grease in the struts and the problem is reduced but not totally eliminated. As Oliver (olnico) is saying all the time the problem here is that the distance between the main wheels is too short causing wing walking.

We have set conditions on our radio (14MZ) which allows to trim differently during takeoff, normal flight and landing. I think you can do it as well on your JR. Thus we have set a lot of up trim while slats and flaps are down. But once set the pilot moves slightly the elevator stick.

Tassos

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Hi Kev,
Congrats on the maiden, gald i was able to help. I was holding my breath hoping the jet would hang in there during the fluttering episode. Good job with the mayday and landing, you will get 200 flights now for sure !!!:) We talked at length about the first flight problems and going over the bolts with some blue locktite. This was not a FEJ issue, just something you missed during the assembly, you got lucky. All things considered the jet is HUGE and looks awesome in the air.FEJ has the best painter(s) in the arf industry, your hornet really looks the part. It will take a few more flights to get her dialed in so i hope you can get out there again soon.
V..

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Kevin, my Man...

Excellent flight even with the mishap.I may fly you up my way for my maiden but you'll have to take the Grayhound bus going back http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...ey/msn/lol.gif

Congrats, my Brother...

Mr DJ