Art Tech Mig 15

[Tony Read 2]

Last weekend I just got round to putting together my Mig that I’ve had now for a few weeks.

 

Opening the box revealed a well packaged bright red and blue airframe with a basic 2.4ghz Tx provided. There is not a lot to do but one or two issues cropped up in the assemble process.

 

The front and rear fuselage sections are held together by plastic clamps secured by two small screws. This is to allow easy access to the fan/motor/ESC unit. There was a bit of flex in the fuselage so I put a small dab of POR at the 12 and 6 o’clock positions on the mating surfaces as a ‘belt and braces’. In hind sight this may not have been necessary as the fitting of the wings seems to stiffen things up a bit.

 

The wings already have their servos and push rods fitted. All that is needed is to push the supplied carbon fibre rod through the fuz, connect the servo wires, slot the wings into the fuz and secure with two small screws both sides. Humm. Try as I might I could not slot the wings in. The servo wires were in the way. I had to dig out a shallow groove in the wing locating tab for the wires and that allowed the wings to slide home freely. The fixing screws secure to the plastic clamps holding the fuz together. It is very difficult to get one screw to line up with its hole, two seemed near impossible but after a bit of time I seemed to do it. Several people on another forum have glued their wings on and I may do this myself. The wing fixing system does seem like an accident waiting to happen.

 

The steerable nose wheel just slots into the bottom of the nose, supposedly no glue is required, but more on this later.

 

No operating rudder is provided. The two halves of the horizontal stab/elevator push into the fin and are held together with a tight fitting cf rod. The halves slotted home fine without the rod but when this was inserted into the hole it expanded the foam a bit and the whole thing became a very tight fit, so much so that I creased one side pushing it in. Other people have reported this. I added a drop of glue to hold things in place. If I was doing it again I would sand a bit off the locating tabs to ease the fit. The wire push rods were connected to the elevator horns and a bit of electrical wire sleeving glued to hold the push rod ends in place.

 

All that had to be done was to adjust the flying controls and charge up the battery. It was when I was bench testing that another small problem cropped up. Beneath the canopy there sits the battery, the Rx and the elevator servo. It is very difficult to get the canopy to sit flush when everything is in place. I noted that other people had resorted to cutting out a section of the bottom of the canopy moulding. This I did and all was then much easier. BTW the canopy is held in place by front and rear tabs which have to be bent as it is slotted into place. The first one is easy, but the second is difficult without some form of poking device. I can see these tabs tearing the foam in double quick time and might resort to replacing the rear tab with magnets.

 

When she was finished she looked stunning. The Art Tech Mig is a good size, with a wing span of 800mm. The red upper surfaces should help with orientation. This is my first ducted fan plane and I could not wait to fly her. The weather looked good for the Sunday so everything was charged up ready to go. More next time!

[Tim Mackey]

Tony....why not make this a review in the proper review section

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Thanks Tony, be interested to see how she goes. 

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 26/03/2010 13:30:57

[Tony Read 2]

Could do Timbo - not quite sure how.

[Tony Read 2]

Belay that Timbo - just done it!

[Tony Read 2]

Ok, here is the flying bit.

Well Sunday was a really great day for flying so me and the Mrs went off to the nearby farmers grass airstrip with a couple of models. Flew my good old Sea Fury around to get my eye in and then there was nothing for it but to fly the Mig.

 

Now 99% of my flying has been done by hand launching and belly landing so I was bricking it a bit to say the least, but as the memsahib was there I had no excuse but to go for it.

 

Applying throttle she tracked straight and was airborne after about 20m climbing away very well. Brilliant! A couple of clicks of down had her flying level. There are no dual rates on the Tx so I was expecting her to be a bit of a handful, but none of it.  My first jet flew really well. If you are a speed demon then this plane is probably not for you (you could swap out the fan/motor for more power though), I cruised around at ¾ throttle for about five minutes (no aeros first flight) before thinking about the landing.

 

I set up quite far out and cut the throttle like I normally do (the Sea Fury glides so well). Big mistake. The model sank like a lift and hit quite hard and fast. She bounced into the air for another 10m before coming to rest. No real damage, however the nose leg spring is a bit weak and the servo itself moved a bit allowing the wheel to strike the foam underside of the plane. Nothing that a small bit of filler can’t cure. I would recommend gluing the servo in place and also gluing a strip of plastic behind the nose leg to take care of any strikes. The battery was hardly warm.

 

Getting back home I had a look at YouTube and I’m not the only one to bounce this model (makes me feel a bit better!). I must get the hang of balancing the sink rate with the throttle and the models attitude with the elevator. The good thing is that foam is easy to repair and spares are easily available. Wifey was impressed, all in all a great day.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Yup they do bounce quite well Tony, the bounce of death sometimes as with no prop wash over the control surfaces they can be pretty unresponsive just after the bounce.   

[Tony Read 2]

So the secret is throttle/elevator management???

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Yes and not letting the nose come up too much or at all, in fact sometimes a little forward pressure on elevator helps do this so don't be afraid to 'fly' her in so to speak. The flare (on the stick) might be pretty non-existant when the time comes.

 

Landing my F-16 in a gust the other day had me pretty much holding a smidgeon of down-elevator all the way in.  

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 26/03/2010 14:48:08

[Tony Read]

YouTube vid. American humour but it made me laugh.

Edited By Tony Read on 27/03/2010 07:33:18

[Tony Read]

Dave Powers 'flying' his Mig. He added wider elevators (just not required - watch the crash) and a rudder. Just shows I'm not the only one to bounce!  Don't agree much of what he says, flys fine as it is, would have helped if he recharged the battery from time to time though!

 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Hmm, seems a bit ..er...chaotic

[Tim Mackey]

Very politely put David

[Tony Read]

Agreed that Dave Powers vids are not to everyones tastes, but he does do some interesting things with VTOL models.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

He does indeed Tony, just not with Mig-15s by the looks of it.

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 27/03/2010 19:08:58

[Tony Read 2]

Had three good flights with the Mig (apart from the bouncy landings!). Went to the air strip for flight four yesterday, weather was perfect. Plugged the battery in, ailerons - check, rudder - check, motor - nothing but a buzz from the fan unit. Blast! Re plugged the battery, again just a buzz.

 

Went home and stripped it down. Thankfully there is easy access to the fan. It was then clear that the fan blades had been scoring the casing, this seems to have damaged the motor as even with the fan blades off it will only turn very slowly.

 

Hopefully those good 'ol boys at Century UK will replace it (I Hope!).

 

Anyone else had a problem with Art Tech fans?

[Tony Read 2]

Just spoken with Century UK - they have told me to send the DFU back for examination. With a bit of luck I might get a replacement.

[Tony Read 2]

Sent the DFU off on the Tuesday and got a replacement back on the Friday. Well done the Century boys!

 

It would appear that dust/dirt had gotinto the motor. Don't know how as the grass strip would put a bowling green to shame. Can't blame the volcano either!

[Tony Read 2]

First flight after the new DFU was fitted was awesome. I had given the plane more elevator throw and it made a big difference as the landing was the best ever. Held her off the deck and bled the speed off with the elevator. She touched down and rolled for a couple of feet. Well chuffed. Don't know why this plane is not as popular as it should be.

 

Looks like Freewing are bringing out a Mig15 as a sister to their Sabre. A bit smaller then the Art Tech one and no undercart - it lands on the fuel tanks.

 

 

[Frank Skilbeck]

Here's my (old) Alfa Mig 15, who needs wheels.......

 

[Tony Read 2]

Great video Frank!