Scratch built Mig-29...sorta...

[ATIS]

I destroyed my YB-22 so DCobra let me use his templetes for the RCpowers MIG-29. This is my first attempt at "scratch building" (I use that term loosely since I had templetes from someone else :rolleyes: ) (thanks Paul!!)

I used 4mm Blue core and 3/4" blue core foam.

The fuse is 2 pieces of 3/4" blue core and a single 4mm sandwiched together and then sanded to shape. (canopy is built the same way). All other areas are just 4mm blue core with CF rod epoxied in to add strength and all edges were rounded to reduce drag.

No maiden yet as I have a thunderstrom moving in and the wind is getting bad.

Motrofly 1700kv outrunner
EFlite 20 amp ESC
APC 7x5 prop
2 S75 servo
1 HS 65MG (elevator)
TP 3s 2100 lipo

[thedeuce]

great looking plane, do you have the plans for it or know of where you got them.

john

[birdlives1955]

Nice going. :)

[ATIS]

Thanks for the kind words.

John, www.RCpowers.com has the plans. They have a bunch of picts of customer planes but I added a full bottom to mine to protect the RX, ESC and servos and give the grass something to slide on.

[corsair nut]

sweet!

where is paul, its been a long time since ive seen him on the groups...knock on his door, and tell him Hi for me :) also...tell him im building ..."ultimate F-20! " :p

[ATIS]

CN,

thanks for the compliment. Not even close to your work but I have been bitten by the building bug. Paul's hidding in his garage...he crashed his Mig-29 and the Lynx two weeks ago and has been rebuilding them (I dont understand why some people like flying as close as possible to the ground). The F-117 is sitting around collecting dust and the F-20 has been giving him (and me) a hard time with not being very stable in flight. I may try and maiden the Mig later today and told him I would call him if I did... and make him HL it for me!! LOL

[ATIS]

MAIDEN REPORT:

I was able to drag DCObra out to HL for me.

Winds approx 5 mph, 75*F

The HL went well. Nice climb out at 1/2 throttle but she kept dropping the left wing. I fought to recover her and did manage to gain altitude and keep her level. She was a little touchy on the elevator (tail heavy despite setting to factory recommendation of 18 1/2" from nose tip... I recommend 18" back as the farthest as that will be my next attempt).

I got her leave and half way around the field fitting the dropping left wing...she was fast especially since I never got over 3/4 throttle. I tried to bring her back to me but during the left turn she inverted and went nose down... I did recover but when I popped her up from 3 feet of the deck I realized I was looking at the top and not the bottom of the plane on climb out. I tried to turn her back to me but she was all over the place. Chopped the throttle over the tall grass and tried to flare her on touch down.

Damage: broke tthe first 1" of the nose off and the left aelrion push rod seperated from the control surface. All easy repairs.

the entire flight lasted 20 seconds... but it was on eheck of a flight for those 20 seconds...time to figure out how to relax the pucker effect that still hasnt subsided!! LOL

[J Morgan]

CN,

Paul's hidding in his garage...he crashed his Mig-29 and the Lynx two weeks ago and has been rebuilding them (I dont understand why some people like flying as close as possible to the ground). LOL

You tell nephew that he'd better sharpen up those thumbs! :mad: He's supposed to fly my stuff at Vegas. :eek: I won't have any of the ground impact crap! :D

J

[Zombie512]

Heres a great site that has park jet plans you can download. scroll down to about halfway down to see the plans available. http://www.parkjets.com/free-plans.html Heres one of many I have built using the plans provided.

[ATIS]

John, I will advise him this morning when I pick him up to head to the field that two left thumbs wont cut it!!:p

Zombie, thanks for the link. I will check it out.


Thinking back over my maiden I think the left wing drop was a torque issue. I am spinning a 7 inch prop with a 1700kv motor. Since I sorta scratch built her I didnt verify the thrust line...so I will add a few fininshing nails into the right wing tip and cover them. That hopefully will help keep the wing from dropping.

[ATIS]

I have finshed grafting on a new nose. Paint is drying, but she isnt as pretty as she was before the prom.

I added 6 little finishing nails (1.5grams total weight) to the right wing tip. I hope it will help keep that wing down (or should I say keep the left one up). Gonna double check the CG now that she is fixed and move it forward to 17" from the nose to see if that stabilzes her.

Weather premitting I will report back tomorrow night with another flight report.

On a side note: DCobra is busy scratch building a :censored: so the F-117, F-20, and Mig-29 are sitting. :eek:

[DCobra]

You tell nephew that he'd better sharpen up those thumbs! :mad: He's supposed to fly my stuff at Vegas. :eek: I won't have any of the ground impact crap! :D

J

Hey now!

As we all know, when I crash a John Morgan plane, I leave no evidence!

As far as the crashes ATIS is talking about....my Lynx is a dog with less than 3/4 power....and I lost power completely about 30 feet up, stalled, and tried to get enough airspeed on the descent to get the nose up enough to pancake. No such luck...that plane has zero elevator authority unless you're running full blast!

Speaking of full blast, the MiG-29 ate it screaming across the field at 3feet up...gust of wind knocked her off line, and my twitch correction finished the job.

I was mad about the Lynx....after all, thats the :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: that left me with a nice scar on my left hand and a doctors bill for the stitches.

Rest easy Uncle, I'll fly your planes nice and easy over show center (out of AAA range) and omit my loops, rolls, high speed dives/passes, and definitely not fly around inverted ;) Well, I might try an inverted pass with the F-4....just kidding!

Also, I dont want to say much about the scratch build ATIS mentioned...not building anything top secret...nothing we haven't seen done before. I just want it to be a black project and surprise a certain individual with it when it's done. Unlce John knows which one I'm building...I asked about it a month or so ago.

Paul

[DCobra]

I have finshed grafting on a new nose. Paint is drying, but she isnt as pretty as she was before the prom.

I added 6 little finishing nails (1.5grams total weight) to the right wing tip. I hope it will help keep that wing down (or should I say keep the left one up). Gonna double check the CG now that she is fixed and move it forward to 17" from the nose to see if that stabilzes her.

Weather premitting I will report back tomorrow night with another flight report.

On a side note: DCobra is busy scratch building a :censored: so the F-117, F-20, and Mig-29 are sitting. :eek:


MiG-29 rebuild is gonna be ready to go tomorrow. I'm thinking of researching a Georgian Air Force paint scheme...I'm too :censored: at the Russians right now to do a Russian scheme. Why we don't grant Georgia immediate emergency NATO membership, and tell the Russians to get the :censored: out of Georgia before we show them how third world their hardware is, is beyond me. Sending a carrier task force to the Black Sea might even the playing field just a tad, but thats why I'll never be prez.

Paul

[corsair nut]

ive been itching to do a mig 29 myself...that one guy(forgot his nam..sorry!) has plans on here for a pusher, and it looks pretty cool! of course..then theres pauls 117....then....geez, id love to do another skyray at some point! :p but boy, am i smitten by Bens cougar..sure am glad he felt nice enough to send me the plans...then felt nice enough to enlarge them! thanks again Ben, you are da-man!

atis, i was i live next to you and paul...i dont have many flying buds! or a flying field out the back door! damn california! :p

[beanie]

CN- no prob. i'm honored that you're beta'ing the plans. here's my MiG-29 plans thusfar. she's part way built. the plans turned out to be very similar to John Bright's well thought out plans. my version has a more scale boxy-to-curved nacelle transition and also that transition between fuse and wing. i used the tabs after seeing his design. i probably won't post the plans as they stand now because they ended up being very similar to his (but i swear, i didn't look at his plans in detail!). i'm gonna be blowing up the plans to 1/11th or 1/13th to match up with the rest of my fleet and feed the size addition J's got me hooked on!!! :D
i added a pic of the CAD plans of the MiG-29 and also a couple shots of my rendition of the nacelles. i really wanted to capture the scale canted appearance of the nacelles and also that squarish boxy front end of the nacelle that transforms beautifully to the curved nacelle.
-beanie

[ATIS]

DCobra... I figured I would keep the secret just incase you hadnt planned to talk about your "black project". Want to fly this evening? Rain is in the forcast for tomorrow so its tonight or thursday. My Mig is itching to break its nose off again and give me a heart attack!!

CN, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton for 6 years (pre flying days) and then went o USC for 4 years so I understand the problem of finding open space. I used to drive all the way over to Escondino (sp??) to play Paintball on the weekends.

Beanie, Nice looking Mig. DCobra had talked about doing a full fuse pusher so your picts should inspire him...he's going to have to do an addition to his garage for all the projects he has going!! LOL

[ATIS]

Maidened her (again)

DCobra tossed her while I was at 1/2 throttle... took off nice but still a little tail heavy. So I hit the throttle and she rolled hard left. I leveled her again and let the stick go and she rolled left. I pulled back to 1/2 throttle and she stayed level. So I decided to slowly advance the throttle and sure enough she started to roll left.... torque roll...time to replace the APC 7x5 E prop for a APC 6x5 E prop and see if that helps reduce the torque roll. I did get her down in one piece so I am happy.

[J Morgan]

Congrats. Let Paul fly her. He will fly her till she disappears :D
Don't ask me how I know. ;)

J

[corsair nut]

black project eh paul?????? is it the SR revisited???? c'mon eh....a clue maybe???

[DCobra]

black project eh paul?????? is it the SR revisited???? c'mon eh....a clue maybe???

Nahhhh...nothing like that!

Just one that's been on the list way too long.

Paul

[DCobra]

Congrats. Let Paul fly her. He will fly her till she disappears :D
Don't ask me how I know. ;)

J


Hey Uncle, we did recover the instrument panel and a few chips of paint right? What do you want? To get the batt pack and electronics back? Hmmm maybe we could find out who the paintballers are this year and take it out of their :censored: :censored: :eek:


By the way, ATIS conveniently forgot to mention that my rebuilt MiG flew nicely...a bit touchy on high rates, and a bit sluggish on low rates, but I used all the setting from the previous build. After the crash, I was able to salvage the verticals, horizontal stabs, and one aileron...everything else is brand new built from greenguard FFF and thick blue foam. I built the fuse wider this time to be able to use my 15C 2200mah Polyquest pack....I was pushing my 20C 1500 mah PQ pretty hard with the original airframe.

First launch was a non-starter...she was wanting to roll left, and the sluggish response from the ailerons on low rates wasn't helping much. I leveled her off about 40 feet out and aborted, then did some trim adjusments on the ground.

2nd launch did the trick....it;s been 2 weeks since I've flown and I needed to get some rust off, so I took it easy with her. Just circuits around the field and a few rolls on high rates when I was comfortable. Roll response is MUCH better this time....before, she had a tendency to wobble on leftward rolls, and roll a bit cleaner to the right. Now, both ways are very crisp.

I just have to shoot some paint on her this weekend, and she'll be fully back in action!

Oh, before I forget, I resumed work on the F-117 Portable last night by starting the pilot build. I'm using one of Boomers pilots, and fleshing out the bottom half...looking good so far, I'll take pics and post when he;s done. Might not be until the weekend...too much Pop Warner football stuff this week.

I'll take the camera down and get some shots of ATIS MiG-29 in the air when we make the next attempt.

Paul

[ATIS]

Hey DCobra... I didnt mention it becuase you failed to test out the FLAPS!! LOL

[ATIS]

Well, another flight but this time with a APC 6x5 E prop....

Torque roll was still present, not as bad but it was there once I broke 3/4 throttle. I fought to bring her in safely. Thank God for the tree, if it wasnt for it I would have landed in the grass. Gee, why would I want to do that?? No real damage.... popped the aeliron control horn but thats an easy fix.

DCobra recommended shimming the motor which I just did, 2 small thin washers on the left side of the motor (standing at the tail looking forward). It has to be a tq roll issue cause if I hold the sticks to keep the wings level and then suddenly chop the throttle she rolls hard right... hard on the throttle she rolls left.

So if anyone has any other possibilities or ideas please feel free to toss them out.

And, yes, I am still having fun with this build even if it is being a pain in my.....


DCobra had his flyin, got her trimmed out and test the flaps. They worked well at creating lift but I am not she would have come down if he hadnt leaned a little forward on the stick.

[J Morgan]

Is your ws the same as the one on their website...27"? If so, I don't understand the torque problem if you're running a 6" prop? Torque shouldn't be a problem unless your prop is 1/3 or more of the ws. Sure it isn't more of a thrustline issue? if so the washers will help some. Just my 2 cents.

J

[ATIS]

John,

It does have the same WS as the RCpowers one.... the onlything different is I rounded the fuse more.

Paul and I thought the same thing. The 6" prop should have little tq effect but at 1/2 throttle on the HL she flys straight and level. As I advance the throttle from there she starts to roll left. If I trim her to fly level at 3/4 stick and then chop the throttle she rolls right. The crappy part is the rolls arent slow, it looks like I am trying to roll. LOL

[J Morgan]

John,

It does have the same WS as the RCpowers one.... the onlything different is I rounded the fuse more.

Paul and I thought the same thing. The 6" prop should have little tq effect but at 1/2 throttle on the HL she flys straight and level. As I advance the throttle from there she starts to roll left. If I trim her to fly level at 3/4 stick and then chop the throttle she rolls right. The crappy part is the rolls arent slow, it looks like I am trying to roll. LOL


Strange? :confused:

J

[ATIS]

John,

I have to agree... if paul and I scratch our heads anymore where going to be bald!! :eek:

[J Morgan]

John,

I have to agree... if paul and I scratch our heads anymore where going to be bald!! :eek:

That's exactly what happened to me! :D

J

[ATIS]

That's exactly what happened to me! :D

J

Now I know who he learned it from!! :p

[ATIS]

Got another flight in.... the washers made a big difference... the tq roll is down to a managable level but with 10-15mph winds I cant tell if its the plane acting weird or the wind kicking her around. I have a little more flex in the wings then I would like so I will be adding a couple of CF bars into her to stiffen it up. Also noticed she was a little nose heavy so I will also address that issue and remove some of the lead in the canopy (only place to hide it).

After a careful inspection my tape hinges also have alot of up/down play at the tape point so I will be redoing them as well.

I almost lost her twice... nose down and rolling (coming out of a high bank turn) but managed to save her both times a few feet from the ground :eek: ... basic rule of thumb... never stop flying till you see the foam chunks flying.... Paul was laughing and making comments of "If I only had the camcorder".... I thought he was on my side but now have to question his intentions. :confused: LOL

[ATIS]

Flew her this morning.... flying much better. I didnt feel connected to her as I had too much expo so I need to reduce it. Also may need to remove a little more nose weight as she still wants to drop the nose during turns and her glide slope sucks... can you say over weight GWS A-10?? I can. I managed to get a good 5 minute flight on her and get her down safely so I was happy.

I then maidened my Hybrid-Air from the pond... planes maiden, ponds maiden. That was fun but she has a tq issue or lateral CG issue as she drug her left wing threw the water and then in the air wanted to drop the wing all the time (this is starting to sound all too familar). I did get her down safely but not before adding 15 clicks of right trim. Time to sort this out and try and get another flight in.

[ATIS]

Mig is flying strong...

DCobra's Mig is flying even better. He got 4 flights in this morning with her and 3 flights on my modified PZ T-28 (got some practice in with a tractor and LG so he would be good for JMorgans planes.... so rest easy John, his thumbs are ready)

[DCobra]

Well...my rebuilt MiG-29 is history now. ATIS and I went out for a quick early evening sortie on the golf course, and that ended in disaster for me. I was coming out of a vertical climb inverted, and I went to roll her back upright to finish the descent and pull up to make another dash across the field, and when I rolled, she went into a death spiral picking up speed as she was pointed downward. As I remember it, I couldnt tell the direction of roll, and tried desperately to save her with full up elevator input. Then a monster sized gnarly pine tree reqched out and grabbed her about 50-60 feet up, and she's still there, tucked in the branches nicely where no amount of throttle or control surface movements will shake her out.

I'd have rather seen foam sprayed across the ground and lost half my gear than leave her stuck in a tree. Thats a new one on me...been avoiding the golf course hazards prettty well, but one finally got me. Total loss...(1) Electron 6, (1) HS-85MG servo (that hurt) (1) Grayson 2212-06 and Grayson ESC...(2) GWS Naro servos, and 1 Polyquest 2200 mah pack....funny...the only packs Ive ever lost in a crash are the three PQ 2200's I bought in 2005....this was the last of the three...my ex crashed one, I crashed another at SEFF in the Nighthawk, and the last one went yesterday. Not much loss as the pack was starting to show it's age.

ATIS MiG on the other hand is flying much better. He flew it after my crash, and then we went and made a valiant effort to string enough pvc pipes, golfball retriever, and CF rods together with a bunch of duct tape to try and reach the stuck plane. No such luck.

So now I really have to hit the build table hard....until I can finish sorting out the F-20, and finish the F-117 Portable, I'm without anything exciting to fly, and not much build time to get 'em done with.

Paul

[J Morgan]

"Inverted vertical climb, dash across the field, death spiral" ........You're making me nervous. :(

J

[corsair nut]

i better make sure that i make it to vegas..jsut in case! :p :p

thats a major bummer bro-seph...sucks to loose all that money...when its still visable! :( theres 100% no way to get it out??

[ATIS]

"Inverted vertical climb, dash across the field, death spiral" ........You're making me nervous. :(

J

Not his fault on this one... it looked like a drill bit. If it really matters, from what we can see of the plane, its still in 1 piece and all control surfaces function along with the motor... well till the lipo dies. :o


CN, a friend of a friend was a tree climber and still has his spikes... trying to link up with him to see if he will retrieve it for Paul.

[J Morgan]

Not his fault on this one... it looked like a drill bit. If it really matters, from what we can see of the plane, its still in 1 piece and all control surfaces function along with the motor... well till the lipo dies. :o


CN, a freind of a friend was a tree climb and still has his spikes... trying to link up with him to see if he will retrieve it for Paul.

Good luck. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

J

[ATIS]

My flying buddy's tree climbing friend is coming over saturday (he works nights) to retrieve Pauls Mig out of that mean, viscious, plane abusing, punk butt pine tree. Havent had any rain so hopefully everything will survive... lipo is probably dead, but at least the motor, ESC, and RX will be reusable.

Tomorrow, I will have Paul use my camera to take some picts of my Mig in action... need to catch up to Ronnie and all his great shots.

[ATIS]

Update:

Eugene came by today and fought his way up the vine covered Pine tree... all 80 feet to recover DCobra's MIG-29.... the mission was a success...

Damage Report:
-3s 2200 lipo... puffed
- half the elevator broken off
- missing canopy
- right side wing cracked in 2 places
- pilot missing... located2 miles away drunk on Vodka and stuffing down hot wings

repairs begin tomorrow, "black project number 2" currently in works, code named "CopperHead", cant stop must finish!!

[J Morgan]

Glad you got her back. Should of gotten some pics of the Search & Recovery efforts!

J

[ATIS]

J,

I left the camera in the garage... need to post picks of the Mig flight this morning.... I think Paul got a pict on his cell phone... currently he is grounded... beenover since 8am and his better half called him home... not open for discussion... mine is out having dinner with her mom and looking at Antiques... so I have avoided the dog house... till she gets home and Pauls in the garage again working on "CopperHead" with me :). Too bad your not closer, you could come over and build while consuming a few cold ones... hope she flys when we are done!! LOL

[ATIS]

Here are the long awaited in flight photos thanks to DCobra. (camera used is a Canon XTI with a duel stabalized 70mm-300mm lens, best money I have ever spent on this hobby, well excpet for the DX7)

[beanie]

lookin' good. fyi, you may want to try throwing her into mode image stabilization and take away the vertical aspect since the plane is moving horizontally primarily. is that the 70-300 DO lens? that is one awesome lens.
-beanie

[ATIS]

beanie... it is the duel stabalization...I think DCobra needed a little coffee, no biggie, the great thing about digital is is doesnt cost anything to redo them excpet more flight time!!

[J Morgan]

Sweet pics.

J

[beanie]

ooops, sorry. i meant to say mode '2' image stabilization instead of mode '1'. that'll eliminate the vertical aspect where mode '1' does dual stabilization in the horizontal and vertical axises.
-beanie

[D_FAST]

wow pics are outstanding! Bird looks lovely too

[ATIS]

beanie...I am using mode 2....need to empty the card... hit full memory half way though the flight.

kept expereincing the "disconnected" feeling on the elevator... after landing took a good look at the tail and discovered the hing tape was coming loose and causing the elevator to flex up and down by 4mm... so she is on the table to get a set of pin hinges... and tape to cover the gap.

[ATIS]

pin hinges installed, hing tape added to cover the small gap and prevent flutter... now I just need the weather to let up so I can fly.

DCobra's Mig is almost done with the repairs