My new Phase 3 F-16 thoughts...

[winchweight]

Try one of the models from Alfa; the Sabre, or the A4 or the Mig next.

[Tim Mackey]

SABRE rules OK !

[Myron Beaumont]

Timbo    Does SABRE that stand for     --  "sad aviation battery reliant exponents" 

[Tim Mackey]

Nope it means

Shame About Beaumont Refuting Electric

[winchweight]

Fairly cheap price for an Alfa A4 on the bay

A4 £69.99 + P&P

[Tim Mackey]

yep...not bad price

[Peter Budd]

I like the phase 3 F16 foam jet (well the jet that they use and as supplied by BRC, foamyjets etc)  It is well made and desigened.  Are there any others made in the same way that can be built as kits, airbrushed and finished yourself.  Very simple to make but good quality.

[winchweight]

Have a look on the BRC and Foamy Jets websites. There lots to choose from. To be honest you can spray up any foamy in a colour to suit as long as you use foam safe paint (Tamiya acrylics etc)

[Peter Budd]

I use homebase emulsion sample pots, black and white and any shade of grey.  Fighter aces satin varnish finishes it off lovely.

[Mark Jones]

Just thought i would add some more to this old posting

got myself another Phase 3  F-16 airframe covered it in tissue with many coats of Poly C rubbed down and sprayed up.now for the best bit, i fitted the Red Velocity cyclone metal fan with 4s,and  flew it last weekend. 

Never thought it would go quite as fast as it did,vertical performance was stunning.just waiting for more Lipos so i can fly more

[Grant Wright - Mr Foamyjets]

Mark,

 

I have the red velocity in mine as well and was clocked over 150mph

I needed a good scheme to show it in the sky for display purposes and to see it actually flying

 

here is what i did with some self adhesive contact paper and vinyl transfer paper

 

Grant

Foamyjets UK

[Mark Jones]

Looks good Grant. Must get some pics of mine on here, ive done it similar to the Edwards colours. Not sure how fast mine went  but its the fastest thing ive flown so far

Just cant wait to fly it again 

[Dusty]

c/o grant @ fj

[Aero120]

Hi,

 

I've just built one of these and it only lasted two exciting minutes in the air before a servo failled and it met the ground vertically. I assume it was the servo as it is now dead but the rest of the radio works fine (an advantage of flying it in a foam package) I had spent some time glass clothing the underside of the air frame and the leading edge of the wings. I'm thinking of getting a new one and to save some time, sawing the wings off the old (very short nosed) airframe and epoxying them onto the new one. I was wondered if anyone has tried this and what sort of additional reinforcemnt would be needed at the joint as it wouldn't have the tongue/ slot of the original joint.

 

Plus has anyone any advice to recommend a servo make so I can feel a bit more confident that I won't have the same problem again. The servo that failled was an Ultrafly 9g ST9. I have two of these in a Fantom that I have been flying for well over twelve months so I might have just been unlucky.

 

Fortunatley I hadn't painted the plane before its maiden flight, but the scale dash and Hud I made now look very second hand!

[stuey]

I have used the BRC high torque 9G servos. I have had one fail in a wing whilst testing, but have 10 others working ok.

[Dizz]

Hi Paul

If you are going to cut the wings off and butt join them to the new fuz I would use some CF tube as stub spar/joiners.  Also worth adding some 0,8mm  ply plates top and bottom to beef up the taileron mounts.

Following the demise of my first Fantom to the same cause as your crash I now use HS65MG servos in all my foamy EDFs.

Pete

[Dizz]

Was stuck inside this w/e so progressed this:

 

AIr Power basic airframe with some vac-formings from the USA.  Belly pan is removeable so I can experiment with different fans.  First one will be the redundant 64mm unit that same out of my Graupner Typhoon on 4S.  Belly, wings, tailerons and fin all glassed.  Big paint faf with different materials so the white is Dulux quick drying gloss and insignia red enamel from Focus DIY.  Made most of the decals myself with my vinyl cutter.  Should get it ready to fly in the next couple of evenings.  I managed 97mph S&L with the first EF16 on stock fan and a Don's wicked, hoping for ~120 with this one, maybe 135 if I use the Wemotec mini+ARC 28-47-1. 

 

Keeps me off the streets

 

[Aero120]

Dizz,

 

Thanks for the info. Your F16 looks really good. Nice practical but authentic colour scheme. How have you attached the belly to make it removable?

[Dizz]

Hi Paul

Did my last EF16 in Israeli colours and it was a bugger to see! This scheme was the highest vis one I could find. 

Belly pan is attached with 8 servo screws in to recessed 1/8" ply plates.  I bought the vac formings kit from Moargan Mills in the USA:

http://morganmill.com/RC/rc-site-10-7-08_028.htm

 

It has added quite a bit of weight, but I filled the ventral fins with gorilla glue and have glassed it as well, so it is very strong. 

Rigged the tailerons this evening and played around with fan and battery positions to get the C of G right.  

 

Following my FAA theme, did you notice the Observer's wings?

Pete

Edited By Dizz on 21/09/2009 23:12:19

[stuey]

Looks good

[Dizz]

At last I pulled my finger out and finished my EF-16 Block II today.  Having glued the fan in and added the intake farings 2 weeks ago all I had to do was adjust battery position to balance and glue in some velcro, but I just didn' t seem to find the time.  Anyway, gave it a test firing this evening and scared the dog, my ears bleeding too.

 

I went with the Graupner 64mm fan from the Typhoon that was displaced when the Velocity cyclone went in. This one has a nice clean intake duct with a 83% FSA nozzle running on Tornado 2500mAh 25C 4S pack. 

All up weight is 903g (31 3/4 oz) with that set-up and initial static thrust is 1030g (36 1/4oz) T:W=1.1,  settling to a steady 920g (32 1/2oz) T:W=1.02 and a measured efflux velocity of 138mph.  Think I'll get 120mph S&L with this one, fingers crossed, maybe more when the 35C 2600 packs I have on order from Stan arrive. 

Possible first flight tomorrow.

[stuey]

Should move then! What 2600 packs have you ordered?

[Dizz]

Overlander extremes, a late birthday present from my dog :

 

http://www.overlander.co.uk/product.asp?cid=2&scid=43&pid=48

 

should give a noticeable ncrease over the current 2500 25C professionals.  Stan Yeo of Phoenix Models is my LHS and Overlander stockist, so he has added them to his next order for me.

 

Went to the field this morning and waited for 30 mins, but no one else turned up and the wind was a bit strong plus 90 degress off.  I had a quick flight with my Squall and decided to give it a miss.  If the wind drops later this pm I might try again, will record the first flight for some Doppler speed analysis.

[Dizz]

Wind died away nicely about 1600, but daughters No1 and No2 called around at 1555    Too dark now.
Put new connectors on my Wattmeter before GP qualifying.  Still using the Tornado 2500 25C 4S pack (which is 15 months and 2 seasons old now) it started at 810W, quickly dropped to 740W then climbed back to a steady 785W, 13.0v & 60amps as the pack warmed up.  I need to check/confirm the ESC timing is set to soft.  Really looking forward to the 35C packs arriving.
Pete

[stuey]

Thanks for the link Pete. I would love a couple of packs of those, but not at £67 a go. It hits my value for money limit with electrics, where bigger packs get too expensive for what you get. If Loong Max did a 2500-2600 pack, I could justify it as they are better value for money.