Hello,

I just got my F35 from jet legend.
Very nice plane well made and realy llight construction!
Turbine is going to be a JetCentral Rhino KS
Servos im thinking on Hitec!
http://www.jetlegend.com/index.php?Page=107

Thanks

Hi

I hope you continue the build thread as i am interested in buying this one myself

cheers, Michael

Hi igorcar, I hope you enjoy putting it to gether, I built one in 2012 and loved it. Unfortanatly it had a mishap due to a problem with the Tx that I was using at the time but had enough flights to get it trimed. If I can help with anything please ask and ill do my best.

Hi Igor! great to see a build thread and flight test of this jet.. and are you going to maiden it in Joinville?

Hi Mark

Do you have any other photos of the F35 ?

I'd also like to know if it was overly heavy and if it leaped off the ground or rotated easily.

How did it handle ?

cheers, Michael

Hi Michael I have attached a few more pics taken with my phone on its first outing after having four/five successful flights. Unfortunately it died on its second outing second flight before I could take any of a better quality :-(. It was not heavy at all and the Wren 160 was more than enough for a good vertical climb. It was not a fast airframe but fast enough to impress and had good presents in the air and on the ground. The take off was smooth and not too fast and except for needing a lot of aileron trim (more later) it rotated easily when set up with the recommended CG and 30deg flap. Landings were also very easy and it was set too 45deg flap, it came in not too fast at all evan with reasonably steep approach and no tendency to balloon on the flare. Evan though the CG looked very forward on the plan it flew well at that position, im sure it could have been moved back a bit but did not get the chance to explore. My set up on the first flights were with elervon and flaps with no aileron. I did it this way as I had limited channels at that time but it worked well except for one small issue. When the gear was down the large nose door that sits at an angel to the flight direction made the airframe roll quit hard, this required a "lot" in fact more than all of the elevon trim to fly level. I was particularly concerned because on the last turn onto finals it "HAD" to be in the same direction as the door was trying to pull it over or risk stalling the elervons. The cure was to split the front UC door into two, one each side "left and right" which cured the problem completely on it second outing and I "HIGHLY" recommend this mod. Another small problem I had was the rams struggled to shut the main gears and doors in the right sequence in forward flight and the the first three flights had the wheels up but outside the doors!. It had all worked well on the bench and on pre-flight checks but with the forward flight just did not cope well and I ran out of adjustment with the UP vave I was Using. You can barly see the whells evan when they were out side but falmost flat against the fuz and it behaved ok.The good thing was the Mains drop readily evan with low air presser so landings presented do drama. I would use "trip" valves next time so the doors could never shut until the mains were away. I managed to acquire a new Tx with an extra ch for the second outing allowing me to use ailerons, this meant sacrificing some flap but it still rotated off the deck nicely. Unfortunately this new Tx revealed a major software issue with DMS2-DMX compatibility and I suffered lockout briefly on its first flight resulting in a dead stick that I wrongly blamed on the turbine. On the second Flight I had a full lockout soon after take off, I was lucky not to completely rite it off. I was impressed enough with the F35 its self to now want to buy a replacement Fuz but need to save a wile first. I now have a new and well tested TX so look forward to it flying again some day.

Hi Mark

Thanks for the reply and photos. Shame you don't have it and glad you knew what the issue was.

The front gear door is massive - I can clearly understand what gave you problems.

Don't you just hate it when the air rams are too small ?. I prefer to not install doors on my jets but I not sure a 'no door' F-35 would look good

Did your F-35 come with plastic tanks ? Was it 2 saddles tanks or 3 ?

cheers, Michael

Hi Michael, Yes its good to know what went wrong and be able to cure it. Horizon were very good and updated the TXs software, replaced the RF board, upgraded the gimbals and sent a complementary RX all FOC. It did help soften the blow but certainly did not cover the cost of a replacement Fuz the work to repair it and the damage to the turbine. Fortunately the full size F35 has both twin and single nose gear doors depending on the type so at least it looks the part. The JL F35 came with twin 1.9lt tanks and these were the new poly tanks that are very strong, in the crash they took the full weight of the impact which was flat and level on its belly in a slight dive onto tarmac without splitting but I would now not be able to reuse them.There's loads of room in the F35 for more tanks if you needed them on or close to the CG, prop another 3Lt or more if you really wanted it . The fuz being so large and "boat like" absorbed most of the blow saving the flying surfaces and UC that at least this time were tucked well away out of harms way. The Turbine had shut down 5-8 seconds before the impact but kept traveling and struck the bottom of the Fuz from the inside, it only sufferd damage to its mount and starter mount/fod guard. In use the door rams themselves were fine and coped OK, It was the huge and very substantial main legs that were a little bit slow to retract when working against the 100mph breeze so the doors ended up at times closing a bit early. In the sort time I had flying and with some adjustment I had all but sorted it out but fitting "trip" valves to the main doors would have been fool prof. The pre installed JL rams I've had on all my JL Jets are some of the best I've seen and when the correct size is used have proven to be very reliable.

Only the first production F35 had a single NW door. Unfortunately, this the baseline model that FEJ and J.L. used. The rest of the shape features are very similar. Lockheed was quick to realize that going into a double door confugration had more advantages.

I've started one of these by FEJ,but for the time being it is just looking good on my very cluttered garage.

Hello,

Mark thanks for the pictures, and a friend of mine told me about the gear door! im going to spit it up!
Any idea on equipment set up for CG?
Henrique, how are you? probably i'm going to maiden @ AeroCircus!

Hi Igorcar. The recommended CG it very easy to achieve without any extra weight in the nose. The Turbine all but sits on the CG so it dose not matter how heavy or light it is. As you can see from the first in the set of pics the Rx and ECU lipo were under the canopy and a UP2 and UP6 just in front. I fitted the ECU just in front and along side the turbine on a shelf extended from the turbine mount. I also fitted a 200mm UAT in the same position to the left with the pump and valves underneath the duct. this kept all the fuel lines and cables very short and left the front bay under the canopy free to fit the RX to the rear again keeping the servo leads as short as posabel and battery's easily accessible. I did find room for four more air tanks so had six in total, not really needed but they weight next to nothing and you cant have too much air:-). It was a very quick build and was flying the second weekend after it arrived. The only hassle I had with it was getting the sequencing for the main UC and doors right. Wheels lift OK but are "steady" certainly not fast especially when in flight. A sure way to be sure the doors don't beat the wheels would be to use a trip valve fitted to the mains so the doors don't close until the wheels are tucked away. One good thing about the way the main UC are set up is even if the air pressure is low they all but drop out on there own and need very little pressure to lock. Looking forward to hearing and seeing your build as you go along and all the best for when you finally get it flying. Regards Mark V

Hello,

Could anyone please post the command throws, including flaperon settings, used on the JL F35?

Thanks a lot!!!
Benito - Brazil

Hi Mark,
Can you give me some photos on how to install the f35 's nose gear steering servo? I'm having trouble installing it. I'm grateful for your help.

Hi Mark,
Do you have a manual for installing this aircraft?

Hi
I just happen to have the nose gear out of the airframe at the moment.
Im carrying out a bit of a refit following a forced landing (crash) as a result of a bad Specky Tx.
I hope they help?

Thanks for your help Mark.

Hello...can you tell me the CG position? Thanks a lot!!!

Hi everyone!

I have a request: can anyone tell me what the correct center of gravity is for the F-35? I'm also looking for a manual. Thanks for your help from Austria,

BR Helmut

Ask Joel Vlashof on Facebook...he's a expert on the F35