RCU Forums - KMP F-7F Tigercat

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RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Hi Tigercat Pilot's, Thanks to Chris for his idea of rotating the Nose Gear strut in a bearing and having the nose gear door held firmly in place,only to rotate UP and Down. I left my Nose Gear door unchanged with the metal guides. I can adjust the threaded rod that pushes and pulls the Nose door in length and angle to accommodate variations in it's movement. I have a Youtube video of this system functioning. I hope I can put it on this site. I used aluminum flat blocks (Drilled, cut and filed) to make these parts. No cost, just TIME. Any questions contact me. Col. Chuck Winter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97b1Mk8HmVs

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Very nice work Col. I really like it! I imagine you had a lot of aluminum shavings to clean up after creatinf that little gem! I also like the way you did the nose door hinges. I see you thought out of the box. Very nice indeed!

Chris

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Hello everybody and greetings from Switzerland!

It took me quite some time to go through all the postings in this thread and I am 'blown away' by all the helpful inputs about the KMP-Tigercat. Very interesting also the 'Youtube'-presentation of Col. Winters plane and, in particular, the many pictures shown of his career as an Air Force pilot!
Last year whilst visiting a modelling fair I was attracted by an untouched kit/set of a KMP-Tigercat a guy wanted to sell. I could not decide to buy it right away. This year, as I found out, it will still be up for sale - the price even more tempting.
My question: Did KMP make the Tigercat with two different wing constructions? Wood/ ribs or entirely resin? Were there any changes in construction or structure improvements made on later kits? Do you think it is worthwile to go for an older kit with no disadvantage or should I buy one of the later made kits ?
I appreciate your help (-and sorry for my English, I speak German),
Swissy

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

If you can get your hands on the older KMP Tigercat, it is a better model. It is full composite and has the correct gloss paint on it. It also comes with gear doors. Just do not use the retracts that come with it. The air up and spring down with the brass air cylinder.

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Hello

...and thank you!
Will have a close look then at this plane and if it is the one with the composite wing I will probably buy it...
The kit is sold without retracts, this I remember. Do you think the actual landing gear is ok? Were there improvements made?

Thanks again, Daniel

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

The plane will be a bit heavy, so the only two options for retract landing gear that I know of are the ESM Generation 5 gear or the Sierra Giant retracts made specifically for this plane. I have also retrofitted several sets of ESM Gen 5 retracts with the new Lado RS666 electric conversion kits. I wouldn't use the brass cylindered retracts that use to come with the plane,.

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Hi Swissy. Thanks for your nice comments about my inputs and pictures. I concur with Magnum RC. If the Tigercat kit is from the first or second manufactured runs (All Fiberglass plus landing gear doors) it would be a good buy. I also recommend highly the use of Sierra retracts. My tigercat with fuel weighs 32 pounds. Very high wing loading. Recently I have added "Droop Ailerons" when I drop full flaps. This means that when I have Full Flaps down, the Ailerons drop 10 degrees giving me more flap area. Seems to help on landings. Landing are EASY if you have a grass field or a long hard surface runway. I can fly off a 600ft. runway, but it is tight. I'm using 2 Fuji 23s 1.5 cu.in. engines. They are adequate power, but I would like a little bit more power. If you have any questions I know people will try to help you. Col. Chuck Winter

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

1st flight of my Tigercat. RTF weight 25 lbs. Hacker A60-6SX motors on 6S 6800 ma Lipo pack swinging a 19 x 12 APC prop. Pulls 89 AMPS at 6000 RPM. Nose collapsed due nose wheel locking up on axial. Has three recievers, XPS Nano in each wing and 8 channel in fuselage.
Bob
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnWxEcCqXRM&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Nicely done! Congrats on the maiden. Now you can start enjoying how it flys!

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Bob,

Did you think about possibly putting a pusher prop on one side, and have the motors counter rotate to one another? It will eliminate any p-factor you might have. That's what I'm doing with mine. Using electric motors, we have this "luxury"...

Yoram.

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Very nice! I like the way you connected the servos. Too bad I didn't think about itI installed the servos two weeks ago. I guess I can still do something about it, but not worth the trouble at this point...
How did you get the color shine? This is not the all-composite model, is it?

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Quote:

ORIGINAL: ysolomon

This is not the all-composite model, is it?

Hello,

Thank you.

Your right, this is not all composite!

Alain

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

So how did you make it so glossy?

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

<div class="textArea">It is sold as it!

2 models in sell. one Glossy, the orther not!

Sorry for my english! ;)</div>

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Interesting... I didn't know there were two options. I thought the original, all-composite, was the only one glossy... I guess I will just figure out some kind of glossy paint for it...

Thanks!

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

It is about time ESM gets the paint somewhat authentic! This is so cool if the plane is now distributed with the glossy paint job like the full size....

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

I have the matte one and a friend has the glossy one. Both ordered at the same time. The only difference is the glear coat after the decals go on. If you re-spray with gloss clear it will look the same.

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

That's what I was thinking...

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Is it just my Tigercat or do all of you with the KMP first or second shipmnets have a plane that the skin is so thin you can crack it or just about punch a hole in the skin just by picking it up?

I have found splits in the wingtips, I picked up my fuse alone right in front of the prop warning strip and it bloody well cracked/split the skin!! I hardly applied any pressure to it...

This kit seems to fragile to really fly and that is one reason I have not yet put mine into the air. I fear it will stress crack in flight... I even have added in a T6 spar in the center section to fix the weak center section...Should not have had to do that with this kit.

When I picked this up it was almost $800.00 USD as an ARF. Then add in Sierra custom retracts, twin Saito 170 radials and all the digital servos etc. I have a very expensive RC plane that does not seem to be air worthly and that really makes me an unhappy KMP owner.

I am considering stripping it and build another twin from a kit that will not be so plagued.

I know many of you, especialy Col. Winters, have had great success or failures with this kit. Maybe I got the runt of the shipment....

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Quote:

ORIGINAL: chasrb

Is it just my Tigercat or do all of you with the KMP first or second shipmnets have a plane that the skin is so thin you can crack it or just about punch a hole in the skin just by picking it up?

I have found splits in the wingtips, I picked up my fuse alone right in front of the prop warning strip and it bloody well cracked/split the skin!! I hardly applied any pressure to it...

This kit seems to fragile to really fly and that is one reason I have not yet put mine into the air. I fear it will stress crack in flight... I even have added in a T6 spar in the center section to fix the weak center section...Should not have had to do that with this kit.

When I picked this up it was almost $800.00 USD as an ARF. Then add in Sierra custom retracts, twin Saito 170 radials and all the digital servos etc. I have a very expensive RC plane that does not seem to be air worthly and that really makes me an unhappy KMP owner.

I am considering stripping it and build another twin from a kit that will not be so plagued.

I know many of you, especialy Col. Winters, have had great success or failures with this kit. Maybe I got the runt of the shipment....

I also own this aircraft and it has many flights on it. What a lot of folks don't realize is the strength of the airframe is designed in the composite skin. Outside cracks can happen. I had the same wingtip separation myself. I simply repaired it. Once, in transportation, I had the rail that was resting on the wing bust through the leading edge and stop where the spar is. I repaired it by restoring the integrity by using foam to insert into the gaping hole to lay the fiberglass in. I made sure the fiberglass cured in contact with the spar and all surfaces to restore the "skin" integrity. Finished it out with bondo and it continues to fly impecably. The overall weight of my plane approaches 30 lbs. and I judge it having stronger airframe strength than the built up one. The center spar business as far as I am concerned was not neccessary in that the strength is derived from the outer skin, not the inside structure. In the flight operations, however, one must keep an eye on the structure as a result of a hard landing in the event you deeply crack the structure if you crash land or something because that is when your wings will fold in flight, from damage to the structure. One should not open up the center section other than smaller ROUND holes to exit your lines and wire from the nacelles. This wing is designed as a one piece wing, it should be epoxied toghether to transfer that strength thoughout the wing skin. Yep, it is expensive when you are all done. I have about $4000 in mine total. That doesnt' stop me from shoving the throttles full out,,,,just make sure you have reliable running engines and I recommend the twin sync.

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Hi Chasrb. Sorry to hear you haven't flown your Tiger yet. Yes it's BRITTLE but is still very strong. I had a cabinet fall over on my Tiger and puncture holes in the wing and crush part of my canopy. After using every curse word I knew I made up some new ones. I started to repair the damage. After many hours of work you can't see the repaired areas. I flew it at a IMAA Giant Scale fly in and it still flew flawlessly. I suggest you dust it off and GO FLY... Col. Chuck Winter

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Hey Tigercat pilots

Looking for some help! I'm looking to buy a KMP Tigercat composite kit with 3rd generation KMP retracts. Does anybody have/use this type of retracts? From what I read so far the retracts are a weak link and cause a lot of crash landings. Here is a couple of pic's Thanks for any help you could give me.

BadLemon

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

I would not use the stock gear. Junk, Junk, Junk.

RE: KMP F-7F Tigercat

Quote:

ORIGINAL: n9331v

I would not use the stock gear. Junk, Junk, Junk.

Thanks for the input n9331v

I'm going to buy the kit sense it is the KMP composite F7F and remove the KMP retracts and see if someone wants to buy them. I'm going to get the Sierra retracts for it, I have owned a few sets of Darrel's retracts and have them in my OV-10 Bronco, he build them like a tank!