HET Super Sniper ARF

[Tom Foreman]

Well the 90mm model seems to fly best on 6s cells without retracts (bungee I'm afraid) from what I've seen over on RCgroups (was a UK guy as well Mark Brown) see here.

 

All the guys that fitted retracts are running 8S setups and it seems to need a lot of runway to get airborn, got to keep the weight down, CoG hard to hit with all that battery weight. On the plus side they have improved the Fibreglass they use for the Fuse and the wing doesn't need strengthening, although its early days. I was also tempted, but got the cheaper Jepe Raptor instead.

Cheers

Tom

Edited By Tom Foreman on 30/06/2009 23:12:58

[Dusty]

Tom nice pics and  to the maiden!

 

Right mine is ready to boogy, couple of snags, motor ends up to be a 2W.. errr for 3s so I have had get a bigger 3s pack than my excisting 2200's... mine were to fat to put on the sides of the ducting too...

 

Anyway am nose heavy at 90mm, I am balancing more like at 80-83mm, there is a tonne of lead in the rear already so not planning on putting more as AUW is 1100g. Do you reckon I will be ok nose heavy? What control throws are you using on the flight surfaces? If all is good i will fly the wigit over the weekend. I just need to run the 2w up through the watts meter later to get some exact power output but i am sure it will be more than happy on that motor!

 

Dusty

[Tom Foreman]

Hmm need to get that C of G back somehow otherwise it will be a bit sluggish on the elevator and need a ton of up trim. At 1100g you need to aim for 350 Watts min, but that should be achievable. Throws as below

 

Elevator throws are as follows:

High Rates: UP 8mm / DOWN 6mm

Low Rates: UP 5.5mm / DOWN 4mm

Aileron Throws:

High Rates: LEFT/RIGHT 8mm / DOWN 6mm

Low Rates: LEFT/RIGHT 6mm / DOWN 4mm

[Dusty]

 

Tonne of lead in the bum already!

 

Thanks for the rates Tom... I have no manual

I have not got round to running it up on the "watts up" yet, will get round to it as weather sucks so it has been a hanger day. I still need to add the rx so I will get that as far rear as I can, but i think I am still going to have to add another 15-20g to the rear, maybe 10g, rather tad nose heavy than tail heavy, see how she flies at that?

 

Have been making a dolly for the bungee today so... When you flew off the dolly did you have any probs with the tailplane dragging in the grass?

Edited By Dusty on 18/07/2009 15:13:52

[Dusty]

432w

 

42a

 

with a fresh charged 3s pack so should be ok, feels like it wants to fly so confident  

[Tom Foreman]

No problems with the dolley, it doesn't start climbing very quickly but it does get away ok. Just seems to be flying very low level, i.e. 10mm off the ground

 

Nice looking Sniper, did you build it, or was it already built?

 

432W will be fine about 180W per lb, what size battery are you running?

 

Tom

[Dusty]

Tom I never built it, who ever did was a good builder as its in good nik and did a neat job! I got it of fleabay...£119 so cant really argue with that?

 

I ran it up on a Turnigy 3000 3s pack, however I dont think my flight times are going to be anything to write home about  so some thottle management will be needed, the previous owner used a 3700 pack... I have now moved that beasty cermark 70a esc further back, installed the rx, have been soldering like hell since last post to get things sorted, hopefully c of g should be ok-ish now...

[Tom Foreman]

Well 42A out of a 3A pack is ok in my book, I'm pulling 60A out of a 3.7A pack and only fly for 5 mins using throttle management. Battery comes out warm as well, which is a bit worrying but nevermind. Mine's looking battered already as the polyester fuse is very brittle and cracks for fun, but I love flying it.

 

Landing is a bit tricky, if I come in too slow, it will drop out of the air and crack the fuse, pretty tough though as it landed on the nose and left a 2" hole on the strip, if I come in hot it will bounce a few times as it slides the full length of the strip before arresting itself on the electric fence wire lying amongst all the grass cuttings on the perimeter, nice

 

Still our club probably has the smallest strip in the North West, about 30M diameter, so when I do manage to get the nose up with power on and do a perfect landing in the middle of the strip I feel pretty good .

Top tip don't cut the power completely on landing,  leaving the fan idling seems to slow it down more than cutting it completely!

Tom

[Dusty]

Ya its ok, but I am sure for the thirst of speed it's going to be limited...? Sad about your strip but hell you must be a king of spot landings lol!! Cheers for the tips, should be ok, I manage to get my Bobcat into our strip most of the time, long grass at one end and wheat at the other so a good pillow either side..

 

Hear what you saying at the poxy fuze, could be a little tougher even if it added the weight, it has a short c of g moment like the Het Tucano's, they not tail heavy friendly like most planes and have a fine movement of a cats hair to get it bang on... Mybe the 90mm size will be abit beefer. As long as the wings hold on its good for me... Will try fly Sunday if the weather is sweet...

[Tom Foreman]

Good luck on the maiden. Yeah the strips too small, means I can't have a jet with retracts, just not enough room for take off / landing. Will have to join Blackpool club instead they have enough room to fly turbines! Would love a turbine size EDF, maybe in a few years time

 

Tom

[Dusty]

So would I, why not try a Lander edf jet out or a big foamy like flyfly range, as timo proved with some mods the retracts will handle the grass tracks... I know its not a true jet but the presence is felt?

 

My nearest jet joint would be a hour and a half down the road and only fly at certain times so a turbine would sit around for a long time, there was a airfield closer to me but someone got a bag on and stopped all model flying from there, but that would have accomadated a jet alas.. ah well, some are just luckier than other's i guess..

[Tom Foreman]

Well I've got the Fly Fly Hobby F22 Raptor to build, Jepe style (cut down wings, new airefoil, thrust tube, ailerons, fully glassed, bungee launch) got to finish this Wasabi glider sat on the bench first, but not making much progress today, been looking at 1/4 Scale Fox gliders instead

 

Bad Tom

[Dusty]

ahhhh you can never have to many models on the go...  If I had the Jepe F22 sat around I wouldnt be watching America's go no talent and browsing the web...

[Dusty]

Finnaly the weather took a turn for the better, got out there is a.m and flew this little beggar! no drama's off the bungee and my home made dolly! was nose heavy so needed a few clicks of up but no drama's once its trimmed out. This thing shifts, finnaly found something to get the blood pumping! Wish i got one of these a long time ago, second flight I thrashed this thing around the sky and no nasty vices! Landings are hot, got to power back about 500km before you want to land lol... I like

And there is some proof...

Edited By Phil Wood - Moderator on 21/07/2009 11:51:50

[Tom Foreman]

Cool, glad you like it, best fun you can have. Its even better when there is 3 or 4 of you flying these sort of jets Happy days!

[Dusty]

Ya edf pylon racing  take your ear defenders too...

[Getpm]

Hi Tom,

 

After having destroyed my West Wings Hawk, I'm considering the Sniper for my next project (the clipped wing version).

 

Now that you have had it for about a year now, would you recommend the kit and where did you order yours from?

 

Cheers,

 

Patrick

 

 

[Tom Foreman]

Hi Pat, it is a good jet but its far from perfect, here are the problems / sollutions to consider. Bear in mind mine currently awaits repair as the fuse snapped just in front of the wing on a bad take off (no wind, long grass).

 

Fuse is polyester and very brittle, consider strengthening with carbon or glass fibre just in front of the wing and the cockpit opening, also you need a polyester compatible glue, normal epoxy does not stick.

 

Wing needs strengthening with a full length carbon spar otherwise it will snap where the supplied plywood spar finishes at the aileron servo bay (see further back in this build thread).

 

Consider going 3s1p or 2s1p x2 (to make a 4s1p pack) the reason being that a 4s1p 3700 pack is too heavy and a very tight fit in the nose, I had to add 60g (2 oz) of tail weight. I am considering changing to 2x 2s1p 4000 saddle packs, these will fit further aft in the fuse behind the air intakes. It means that you will have to remove the wing to change batteries, but at least the C of G will be further back and the fragile nose won't have a heavy battery in it.

 

Its fast and small and dissapears fast, go for a bright contrasting colour scheme so you don't loose it   Don't slow it down too much on landing, better to land fast and smooth instead of it dropping the last 5ft like a stone. 5 mins is never enough, have plenty of spare batteries ready! Enjoy it and be the envy of your mates as they make jokes about it sounding like an angry wasp!

 

Tom

[Getpm]

Thanks for that Tom.

 

Het RC are advertising a "clipped wing" version with a 700mm wingspan. They have advised me that they have strengthened the wing spar and that the clipped wings are for more speed! I have fitted to my MPX funjet an Eagle Tree airspeed microsensor and it has recorded speeds in excess of 110mph. So the clipped wing version of Sniper really interests me.

 

Thanks for the tip about the batteries. I will keep that in mind should I get it. I'll keep you posted when I finally decide to buy one.

 

Regards,

 

Patrick

[Chris Card]

I'm now the proud owner of Dusty's ex-sniper, well it's still a sniper, but it's ex-Dusty if you see what I mean.  I made a throwaway remark in a thread on here that I had a yen for some fast EDF action this summer and the next thing I know Dusty was sending me models left, right and centre!  Thanks Dusty! 

 

Wow, what a thrill this plane provides!  Launching off the bungee like a harpoon, she zips around the sky like a true jet and with wide smooth turns you can carry a lot of speed around.  Do not attempt to fly it at a tight patch, this thing needs open skies!

 

I've had no trouble with landings yet but maybe the fact my battery is in the cockpit area and hence the plane's a little nose heavy is helping to stop it from biting me as I feed in more and more elevator to hold off the landing till it's on a nice slowish glide.  

 

I love fast EDF planes,  the sniper at top speed makes a whooshing sound much like a jet and tracks so smoothly through the sky.  Mine runs on 3S so I hope not to have any trouble with wing spar strength, certainly it's well proven as I'm now the third owner.

[Tom Foreman]

Well done, glad you like it, must clear my build table of F22 so I can fix my Sniper

 

Tom

[Dusty]

Chris

 

trust me that model was built to last as I have cart wheeled it on landing and didnt even dent the paint!

 

Must try the 90 size!!

 

Tom = worlds slowest builder lol

[Chris Card]

I love it.  Just need to find a jet club close to where I live so I can get a 90mm version!

[Tim Mackey]

Posted by Dusty on 14/06/2010 19:16:11:

Chris

 

trust me that model was built to last as I have cart wheeled it on landing and didnt even dent the paint!

 

Must try the 90 size!!

 

Tom = worlds slowest builder lol

 

Oy! thats my title thank you

[Dusty]

Sorry Tim but Tom has had that model on the bench half built for about a year now +++ Infact he is so lucky that Jepe is only going to have a few more of that type of a/c available that Tom might go down as a Vintage at a young age!!

 

So Tom = Youngest, slowest builder

 

Tim = Even younger, little faster builder

 

if you feel you out the loop give me a buzz Tim and you can have my Gws a-4 with the metal fan, made it remoable for you anyway! Rather it flown than sat collecting dust whilst I am in Canada and the Gan later this year/ next year so...