Trying to smooth it up. These little jets are hard to sand. Don`t know how much more I`ll work on this area before I fly it. We`ll see. Looks like the bare airframe is going to weigh about 44g or so.

Looking great. Aw sanding, so much fun! LOL.

F

Originally Posted by Freddie B

Looking great. Aw sanding, so much fun! LOL.

F

Thanks Fred.

On the sanding, I got ahead of myself and glued it together before I had a decent surface on the parts. Of course I didn`t really know what it was going to look like, so it was hard to know when to glue it together LOL

Now that I see how it all goes together, I could do a much better job of getting a nice finish and it would be faster too. Oh, well, a prototype it is, hemmmm.

It`s getting close, still need pushrods, some pushrod fairings, the powersystem, finishing the hatch cover, and some black trim to help with flight orientation..

You are a great builder, and I respect the great job you are doing here. So I do not want to assume anything, but as far as the foam part of your build, if rough sanding was the cause of your statement about a less than accetable surface finish, I know a way to quickly fix all that (next time). Just let me know if you are interested, even by PM if you prefer. The balsa you are on your own, LOL.........

I do like what I see in your photos, so maybe you are just being too darn critical! ( I know I get that way!).

Good speed at getting V2 up and flying. Should be a rocket ship I imagine!

Fred

Thanks Fred. This one is mostly balsa, but I`m very interested in foam finishing tips.

Getting closer.

Giddyup Lee!

Sucker looks fast just sitting there!

Thanks Dave, I`m currently cramming the gear in it.

You know, you check it for space early and have it all planned out. Then on final assembly, all of the gear grows by a millimeter or two and the airframe shrinks about the same amount.

I was able to hollow out the area beneath the vertical and route the motor leads thru that area, which is pretty slick. Originally I thought I`d have to route them on the bottom and make a cover. This is better.

That thing is lookin sweet Lee. I'm sure the bigger one will be twice the fun!

I got everything in and tested about 5pm. It still needs a tail cone and pushrod covers.

I looked out back and a cold front had blown in. The sun was setting, it was overcast and the wind was out of the North at about 15mph, perfect conditions for a quick test flight, right?

Well, it went pretty well. I got it up and down in one piece. Flew it on 4s at 150g and never got it opened up. It needed slight right trim, but the great thing was, that it needs NO reflex for level flight. That`s the great advantage of having the thrust line on the center line.

When I get the tailcone and the pushrod covers on it and the weather improves some, I`ll get some video and we`ll see how fast this thing can go.

Originally Posted by efflux RC

That thing is lookin sweet Lee. I'm sure the bigger one will be twice the fun!

Thanks Gary, I think you`re right!

So she flew!?! Sweet!

Watch out about reporting weather delays, you'll get crucified if you say it twice in 6 months...

Glad the maiden went well. Looking forward to the video.
If you use a cell phone or Gopro, we never see the dam thing! LOL

Congratulations, And I do know what you mean by shrinking airframes and growing gear. Sometimes a shoehorn wouldn't help. At least if you don't have to tape stuff to the outside it is considerd sucssesful, right? LOL. I;ll be here if you get that video! Thanks for all the work doing this build log and the great photos!

Fred

I should be able to get some video tomorrow on my lunch break. The days are almost at their shortest, so flying before or after work is almost impossible.

I`ll just be flying behind the apartment, so it won`t be any kind of an all out speed effort. I`ll just be getting it dialed in, and maybe stretch it`s legs a little. Oh, and trying to actually get it in the frame with the helmet-cam..

Sorry, no video. I did get two test hops in on my short lunch break, but the motor quit both times.

I was just flying around at about 1/3rd power or less, so I was puzzled. On closer inspection I noticed that the esc was quite warm when I pulled out the lipos. I must be hitting the point of thermal shutdown on the esc when running on 4s at low power.

I`ll arrange some airflow for the esc and do my flight testing on 3s. That should solve the shutdown issue.