Anyone remember the Mijet II? My dad built one in about 1990, it was meant to be our "aileron trainer" after learning to fly on a rudder-elevator 2M "Stepp 2". It was flown a couple of times by more experienced pilots at our slope (Long Reef, Sydney) but was a little hot for our experience level so we never really flew it much. It sat in my dad's shed since then.

I recently pulled the airframe out, cleaned off the dust and put some new radio gear in it, then it sat in my cupboard for a further year or more. I finally got around to re-maidening it last weekend. It flew beautifully. Nicely aerobatic, not real fast but very docile, especially when you compare it to a moderm fast plank. I seemed to remember it was considered a bit of a hot ship back in its day?

This one weighs about 1150g which sounds a lot for a balsa 1.5M sloper, but it felt quite light in the air, although there was plenty of lift on the day.

To my surprise two of the guys on our slope recognised what it was, they both had one at one stage or another. Does anyone else recall the Mijet?

Sean.

I remember flying these back in the 90's. They were as you say pretty docile. but performance improved once you clipped the wings.
Still have one flyable and one "new in box"

Damn those things where like backsides everyone had one lol.
SteveW who was flying a Seychelle at the time

Glad to see that you guys remember it.... we got it because everyone at Long Reef recommended them. It certainly won't win any beauty contests . Anyone know where the design originated?

Damn those things where like backsides everyone had one lol.

Hehe, Interesting you say that because I'm pretty keen to see how it goes on the backside .

Wont be as good as the bird over the back
SteveW taking a bird to NZ to DS

pretty sure the mijet was a japanese kit I may be wrong but Khan_01 still got one in the box so he tell you for sure . Phil madiened his brand bnew old Mijet at Otford awhile back I seem to remember ? Khan_01 it was his old/new Mijet wasnt it.

SteveW

My third model was a Mijet back in (I think) 1977 and it was a superb flier in it's time. Even then the Huddersfield Club had an active pylon racing scene and I had many a good race with it.
I'm not too sure what the difference between the Mijet I and II is? Did they introduce foam deckings as opposed to the original being all balsa? I also remember a version with a bigger wingspan.

I'm pretty sure the originals were made by Pegasus Models. I think there was a thermal soarer made by them called a Topaz?

Not sure what the difference is between the I and II either, I'd be interested to know. This one has the foam fuse deckings, laminated with obechi I believe.

AHA Look what I found.

A picture of myself with one of my Mijet IIs. I think I had several.

From memory I believe about 1989.

Burra.

Mijet !!!
built 1975 - died 1998
RIP
loved mine
Phil

I can remember seeing those when I was in year 5 in 1988 in the local hobby shop and dreaming .
"one day I want to fly one of those"
I was flying control line and messing with an Aeroflight "Cappella" at the time and Dad had a Aeroflight Trident & Super Trident.
Lots of memories. Thanks for bringing them back.

I actually have a mate who has an unfinished kit of one. Maybe I should go 'vintage' and take it off his hands....................

I had one with a glass fuz back in about '79.

The Mijet got its first DS outing today. I thought it'd be funny to DS the old girl, I was expecting lots of wing flex and maybe some flutter. But as it turns out.... it's awesome as a DSer!! It's not fast but it is really stable, possibly the most stable plane I've DSed! It was a rough, turbulent day and my Erwin DSS, which is a fairly stable DSer, was getting knocked around much more than the Mijet. The Mijet just cut through the turbulence almost like it wasn't there, I couldn't believe it.

We clocked it at 82 with no sign of flutter or wing flex, and I think it would have gone a bit quicker than that later in the day. It wasn't the fastest day, the best i could get out of my Erwin was 119 so 82 isn't too shabby for an 18 year old balsa model!

It was soooo much easier to DS than a foamy plank, if you could make a more impact-resistant Mijet (eg bagged wings, glass fuse) it'd make an excellent DS trainer IMO.

Sean.