FFF Pusher F-16

[Trbdsl96]

Ok here it is, my new baby!

It's AUW is about 19oz. A little heavier than I wanted but decent. The weather here has been nasty the last couple days so it hasn't been flown yet! :o I wanna get the maiden over with! lol This is my fourth F-16 design, and in my opinion by far the best looking. The final look of the aircraft surprised me! :D

The controls are, all moving elevator, and full span flapperons on the wings. (The tiny lil' wings they are!)

Specs

21in wingspan
31in long
19oz
3 hs-55's
GWS 6ch RX
Himaxx 2025-5300 4.4:1
APC 8x6 prop (will go to 8x8 if it flies)
CC Phoenix 25
TP 2100mh 3s1p

[RcAroPlanes]

good luck I would like to it fly are you going to get some video??

[Trbdsl96]

If it flys I'll try to get some video of it. My camera lady (my wife) needs the practice anyway!

[Ralph A. D'Amelio]

Very nice, nice job on the intakes

[Trbdsl96]

Thanks Ralph! I most of the improvements I made since the last last model are in the cockpit / intake area. Glad someone noticed!

[gazza2003au]

with a pusher prop that size u might get rolling effect

[Trbdsl96]

This is my second F-16 with the exact same wingspan and prop, the other uses a HIMAXX 2015-5400 for power though. The only major torque effect is after very long verticals when the model is running out of airspeed.

[Tomcat Fan]

Pretty dang sweet looking.
I agree about the intakes; very nicely done.

[Trbdsl96]

It flys!! :D


Good too. After I got it sorted out that is. The first launch left my hand and shot straight up, it needed a ton of down trim. It went well until I tried to turn. The aileron deflections I thought weren't enough turned out to be WAY too much. I over controlled the plane straight into the ground. The model impacted at a 30 to 40 degree angle. The only damage was a superficial crack over the intake. :o I reset my control throws on my tx and had a wonderful 10min flight! This model flies great! I am very happy with it. It's fast, on an 8x6 prop climbing into a 15-20 mph wind it still disappears quickly. :D The vertical is simply awesome! Hit the throttle and watch it turn into a spec!

The only down side of that 10min flight was a error in pilot judgment that led to a broken drive shaft! The threaded shafts from MPI are fragile. I've broken more than one. They are hardened like they say. But that just means they snap instead of bend like the GWS shafts. To make matters worse I think I broke my little Himaxx trying to get the broken shaft out of the gearbox...... :mad: That was my fault for trying to fix it before I went back to work. Now when you turn the motor shaft it sounds like something is rubbing inside. I'm going to try and send it off for repair. In the mean time I have ordered another! :p

While I have the down time.... Anyone got paint scheme ideas?!

[Ralph A. D'Amelio]

Good show!

[Trbdsl96]

Thank you Ralph! I've been looking at your su-27 build. You've given me some options I never thougt of in building this model!

[gazza2003au]

Trbdsl96, im glade you prove me wrong ;) will there be any changes to the design now you now it flys? what a shame to wreck your motor they seem so popular

[Trbdsl96]

No Gazza I think the basic design will stay the same. I have thought about making another canopy though. This one is a little narrow. Soon as I get a motor I'm going to work on fine tuning the mixes in my tx for this plane. I love the looks of the model as it is. The one change, or addition I should say may be rudder control.

[Trbdsl96]

Gazza-I was wrong....I did change some things!!! The all moving elevator was changed to semi-rigid elevon's. I am more comfortable with the control they give. To do this, I built a whole new plane!!!! The only orginal pieces I used are, the intake/lower-fuse and the upper hatch cover. The new model flys great and looks almost identical to the last one. Here are some pictures of the new design.

P.S...It still goes like crazy!!!!!!!

[Trbdsl96]

I finally have some video but I don,t know how to post it! Any suggestions?

[gazza2003au]

nice ;) how big is the video? you can upload it to this web site but im not sure what size video they will take heres a picture of my Align F-16

http://www.skunkworxrc.rchomepage.com/tarmac/viewforum.php?f=51&sid=76d8c673fe3c1ef3c2a1518bfd3134b9

[Trbdsl96]

Here you go folks! This is the link to a very short vid of my F-16's second flight. (Ok so I've been flying this wing platform now for almost a year, but it started as a profile model and grew into what you see now. This is the second design with a full fuselage.) Hope you enjoy the video!

Here it is! (http://rcgroups.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11684)

[Thomas Nelson]

Nice job - solid flyer too! The F-16 is one of those birds that is starting to get to me!

[Trbdsl96]

Thanks Thomas! :D The F-16 has always been my favorite fighter. I've been playing around with F-16's for a while now. I think this model is the closest I've gotten to what I wanted when I started. The first model was a profile bird with the exact same wing / elevon group. AUW was around 10 to 12oz I think. This F-16 weighs in at 21oz ready to fly. You're right it is a pretty solidflyer. The only bad tendency I've seen is some wing rock at high alpha and low speed. It rocks side to side but it still goes where I point it. Oh and it'll torque roll if you nail the throttle too close to 0 airspeed. :p I wanted a plane that was fast and manuverable,this is it.

[Trbdsl96]

Here's some more video I got today. It looked dreary all afternoon but I think it made a decent background for this flight. I had a blast!! ;)

Hope you like it.

The Viper (http://rcgroups.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11711)

[Trbdsl96]

Gearbox failure (http://rcgroups.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=12419&sort=1&cat=500&page=1)

Here is the video to what WAS a great flight. Right up to the gearbox failure! :p I'm learning to knife edge this plane, its awesome!

[Spinner]

Trbdsl96,

Very impressive! Congratulations. :)

Joe

[Mr. Boogie]

Trbdsl96,

Those vids were very entertaining, and nice flying as well!

Mr. Boogie

[Trbdsl96]

Thanx Spinner and Mr. Bogie! I;ve been messing around with this plane for a little while. I'm finally getting comfortable with it.

:) Glad somebody thinks I'm a decent pilot!

[Trbdsl96]

It's been a while but here is some new video of my favorite plane. It's got a sibling now complete with an airfoil instead of flat plate wing, and dual bomb drop ability! :D Hope to have some video of it soon!

F-16 Tricks (http://www.rcgroups.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14930&sort=1&cat=500&page=1)

[Mr. Boogie]

Trbdsl96,

Nice flying, I particularly enjoyed the brief Knife edge! You don't see that very often on foamie jets.
Time to add rudder control to my next project :) .

Mr. Boogie

[Action Jack]

Great job!

That Viper really grooves! Great flying too! Your high alpha flight looked really sharp.

Jack

[Trbdsl96]

MR. Boogie,
Thanks for the compliment! The knife edges with this plane are fun. It's got plenty of rudder power. I just have to balance the plane with roll input while it's on it's side. This model was built without a rudder and I added it later, one of the best changes I've made!

Action Jack,
Thank you! This plane makes me look good! I'm only an average pilot at best. The high alpha in this vid isn't as high as it'll go either. It's pretty stable considering the platform.

[Thomas Nelson]

Very smooth flyer. And that was some high alpha landing too ... I had to replay it a couple times to make sure I was seeing things correctly. It looked to be nearly vertical when the tail touched down!

And I'm convinced - I'll have a rudder on my next '16 too. Good stuff!

[Trbdsl96]

Thomas,
This plane is a smooth flyer. It's pilot just had to learn to work with it! :rolleyes: Thanks for noticing. The landings are rather abrupt, I know. Through trial and error I've found the type of landing in the video to be the best for this model. I just glide in and pitch up as low as possible to kill forward motion. Ideally the tail will contact the ground with the nose still pointing skyward. Looks funny but I go home with my plane in one piece, and usually with the prop I came with. ;)

I'm glad you decided to put a rudder on your next 16! It's lots of fun, you'll love it.

[DCobra]

Very cool!
Awesome!
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Man I can't wait to get my 16 in the air after seeing these videos!

[Trbdsl96]

I finally got some video of the improved F-16 today! It was awesome! :D This plane is so much fun. I have to thank my wife for the camera work, I wouldn't be able to share without that. If you look closely you can see the bombs falling. Sorry I don't know how to make it slow motion. Anyway, here it is!

The Bomber (http://www.rcgroups.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=15100&sort=1&cat=500&page=1)

[Action Jack]

:) Shut up! :)

You officially rule! I think that your Viper is now the coolest of them all! A vicious roll rate and "live" ordnance? Wicked!

Let's see some photos of the setup, OK? Well done!

Jack

PS Don't underestimate your flying ability. I'm loving the high speed pass into the Immelman. So cool.

[Hans-Joachim]

Oh Trbdsl96,

I´ve seen the video :)
huh, your F-16 is a "balistic bomber"
looks very cool! :cool:

Greetings Hans-Joachim

[DCobra]

Great job on the bomb drop! Have you tried hitting a target area with them yet?

I agree with what Action Jack says, you have very good flying ability.
Tell your wife great job on the camera also, she did a great job of keeping up with the quick maneuvers!

-Paul

[Trbdsl96]

Action Jack, thank you! I'll get some pics of the details for posting.

Hans, I'm glad you like it! This plane is sorta balistic, with it's weight it penetrates wind and zooms really well. ;)

DC, I haven't tried hitting a target yet. However I can drop bombs within a few feet of myself pretty consistantly. And I told my wife you liked the video, she patted herself on the back! :rolleyes:

Thanks everyone!

[Action Jack]

I think the thing I find most remarkable is that you have stuff hanging off your plane with no apparent decrease in performance. I am going to build a second jetset44 F-18 and I had it in mind that I would add triple jugs to make it look a bit more real. Most of our Canadian Hornets fly in this config when heading up north. I was thinking of using Estes rocket tubes and nose cones to build up the tanks and use the centreline tank as a bit of a skid since the botton of my current one gets so scratched up unless the grass is really lush.

Looking forward to the pics.

Jack

What do you think?

Jack

[Trbdsl96]

Not a bad Idea! It would sure look cool in the air. Just be careful, with the tanks being so far back under the plane it'll have a tendancy to tip forward onto the nose upon touchdown. I'm sure ther's a way to work around it though, try it! My plane does require slightly more throttle to maintain altitude and speed with the increased drag of the bombs. But I have enough power and battery endurance that I don't mind.

[Trbdsl96]

This first picture is just a front view of the whole plane.

Picture number two a side view.

Number three shows the wing front and how much of an airfoil the wing has from root to tip.

[Trbdsl96]

Picture # 1 in this group is the back of the plane with the hatch on.

Picture # 2 is the hatch off.

Picture # 3 is the equipment deck with all the electronics , except the elevon servos.

Picture # 4 is the bomb drop servo and linkage running into the wing. You can also see the profile of the wing shape.

Picture # 5 is the bomb, a modified walmart dart gun dart.

[Trbdsl96]

This first picture is the bomb drop mechanism which I like because it's flush with the wing. You can also see the elevon servo and the downward angled elevon.

Picture # 2 shows the bomb drop mechanism in position to retain a bomb.

Picture # 3 shows the bomb drop mechanism in position to release the bomb.

Picture # 4 is my trusty halo2 pilot!! :D

I hope these pictures are good enough to make out what i'm talking about. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them!

[DCobra]

Trbdsl96,

Excellent piece of engineering work to make the bomb drop on this. Simple and gets the job done! Those bombs....they look alot like your F-16 is hauling MOAB's around!

Paul

[Thomas Nelson]

Cool Vids! The ordinance looks great hanging off the wings; really adds to the presence of the bird. Do they fall aerodynamically, or do they tend to tumble?

[Trbdsl96]

Lol! DCocbra, you're right. I hadn't thought of that. They aren't exactly the perfect shape, but they work! ;)

Thomas, I'm glad you liked the video! I like the look of ordinance hanging from the wings also. The bombs fall aerodynamically. If you look at the picture of the bomb you can see that the tail feathers are made of balsa. This is because the originnal tail fins didn't have enough surface area. So I made bigger ones. I played with the size of the fins until I got it right. Now they fall great.

[Trbdsl96]

I forgot to mention, the nose of each bomb is weighted slightly also. This helps to ensure the nose falls first.