End of MegaJet and XF-18

Well due to a crash and age there is no MegaJet or XF-18 anymore. Will need to replace the main picture after sufficient mourning.

The F-22 has given me lots of enjoyment but stress on the wings and verticles was beginning to show so I decided to scrap it for the motor and electronics allowing for a new build. This jet was extremely easy to fly and gave me many hours of enjoyment. It flew just a easily inverted as it did right side up. In the end you can only expect so much from 5 foot jets made of 40" x 30" foamboard. While not the fastest of jets (40-50 mph) it's high thrust to weight ratio made for great 3D flying.

The XF-18 unfortunately met it's demise early. Just after launching it torque rolled causing some wing damage so I decided to scrap it for the parts also. Making repairs on this 5 foot foamboard jet would be risky at best since I was using a highspeed motor setup on it. It was easily hitting 70 to 80 mph and was placing too much stress on the foamboard elevons. In fact I have already crashed to smaller F-18s due to the elevons being ripped off during highspeed dives. Elevons need to be built out of basewood if using highspeed motor arrangements on this ParkJet design.

Just added a new jet to the hangar. It is a very highly modified RCFoamFighters Frill Dragon. It hardly resembles the original Dragon but wing dimensions come from their design so I have to give them credit for the build. Using the basic dimensions allows for a known CG. Recently orange and black seemed to be the new 2011 color but truth be known I was just out of blue tape and started using up the orange tape. More tape will be arriving soon and so will the patriotic color scheme.

XF-18 Comes to Life

Well it has been awhile since my last post. I decided to up the ante on the XF-18 since my maiden flight in December. I flew it for a while just using a BlueLipo 4S 30C 2200 mah battery. It flew nicely but didn't feel or sound like a jet.

On a whim I connected two BlueLipo 3S 30C 2200 mah batteries in series kicking the voltage up to 22.2 volts. It now rockets through the air even while using the throttle sparingly. I'm keeping high speed passes short since I'm still using the 60 amp Exceeds esc. It pulls close to 70 amps at WOT. It shows 1300 watts on my Turnigy watt meter.

I have now bumped the batteries up to two SkyLipo 3S 40C 2200 mah batteries in series. Only getting about 3 1/2 minutes of flight time but loving every minute of it. It is capable of unlimited straight verticle launches. Have run it up to over 990 feet according to my range finder. Can't get a lock on it higher than that.

I'm sure there is more in it but as posted earlier there is only a single 3mm carbon fiber ribbon limiting wing flex.

XF-18 Supersized

Well I finished my latest foam board jet project yesterday and maiden the XF-18 this afternoon. Basically it is a slightly modified Parkjet.com F-18 that I have blown up to about 150%.

It has a 41" wingspan and is about 61" in length. I am using a Turnigy 3648 motor with 1450KV, 60 amp Exceed Volcano ESC and a 2200 4S 30C battery. Currently I have a 7X6 TGS prop on it which makes it pull about 55 amps. This set up gives it a 1:1 power ratio using about 3/4 throttle.

Using just elevons it does extremely tight loops but roll rate is smooth but slow. I will probably add ailerons in the future. Now that it has successfully flown I will either go up to a 5S battery or go to a 8X6 prop to get some addition speed and thrust. Either change will require at least an 80 amp esc. I need to take it slow since the only reinforcement to the foam is a single 3mm carbon fiber ribbon to stop wing flexing.

One more attempt at EDF

Well I took the Hangar Queen (Max F-117 Camo)out last weekend and tried one more time to get it air borne. It finally took off after reworking the landing gear and drilling new holes on the elevon horns to increase upward travel.

It was able to do a few slow rolls but no loops even at full throttle. Just like it stalled out trying to do loops it stalled again landing and damaged landing gear beyond repair. Without landing gear and unable to be hand launch I trashed it for EDF and electronics.

Have now mounted EDF and electronics on a new foamboard jet. In process of checking amp draw, found out that ESC was not allowing for full load. Reset throttle throw setting several time with no increase. It would appear that it was about 25% off maximum (258watts vs 200watts) when compare to another ESC off another EDF jet. Might have been the problem with the F-117 all along.

Should be able to maiden new jet this weekend. It has little more than a 1 to 1 thrust ratio which should allow for hand launch

All Quite on the RC Front

Not much happening lately. No new planes/jets to report on. Have about 30 flights on the MegaJet II with no crashes. Jonnie has reworked his Giant SR-71 and added stearable landing gear making it possible to take and land in the parking lot when empty.

Have a more powerful motor for the MegaJet II but enjoy flying it right now with the existing motor. The additional speed would be nice but it would cut my fling time in half if I prop it out as planned.

FYI Jonnie's experience with the new Turnigy Nano batteries has been less than desirable. It would seem they don't like being pushed to their burst limit. He has fried both of the Nano's but regular batteries pushed to their stated limits seem to hold up. It would seem that the Nano's double the normal rating for a burst limit is over optimistic.

Flying High and Large

Well we finally had good weather this weekend for a change. No wind and upper 80's made flying a joy. Only down side was fighting off the mosquitoes at dusk. Been a while since so many people showed up for flying.

Jonnie brought out and maiden his giant SR-71. It has a 36" wingspan and is 60" nose to tail. The only casualty after several successful flights was a puffed up battery. He was pulling too many amps for the 2200mah 4S Nano-Tech battery. With an 8X6 prop he was pulling close to 1,000 watts at WOT. Several changes are in the works to get the full 1500 watts that the motor is capable of handling.

Hopefully the dark days are just about over for me. I have been without a good transmitter for over 3 weeks. My Spektrum DX6I is due back this week so I can launch my MegaJet F-22 with Jonnie's Giant SR-71. Should be fun seeing these two monster foamies this up coming weekend.

Speaking of dark days there are not too many days left for flying after 6 pm without lights. Everyone is or needs to be ramping up with leds to extend our night flying.

Everyone was up!

Finally had some good flying weather this weekend except for the mosquitoes. We are trying to figure out a way to mount a receiver on one of them to see how well they fly. We will need 6 channels receiver to have functioning blood sucker and retractable landing gear.

Everyone was flying Sunday night. Jonnie launched his new improved SR-71. This monster is approximately 60" in length with a 38" wingspan. He completed several successful flights with no problems other than a puffed 4S nano-tech lipo battery. It needs a higher capacity battery to handle extended high speed runs. Should have video soon.

I crumpled a couple of older foamies this week using the cheap radio that came with an EDF jet. Can't wait for my DX6I to arrive back this week from the repair shop. You can fly with those cheap radios but you can't get too attached to the planes your flying on them. The receivers seem to have a problem with emf off the motors. Had to be careful when coming off throttle because elevons would jump then reset. Not a problem when at 50 feet but deadly