First let me say hello to everyone as this is my first of what I am sure will be many posts here.

I have an F14 Tomcat from Aero Model Design in Hong Kong. My buddy got it for me for my birthday two years ago. I started building it and only got as far as attaching the wings. I know not very far huh. Anyway, the delema that I have is finding the best way to install the horizontal stabilizer/elevator. I called Hong Kong and talked to the AMD guys and they said that they recommend making the entire stabilizer double as the elevator instead of doing what the kit comes with which is a fixed stab with elevator. This would make it function more closely to a real F14 which I thought would be cool. I even thought it would be cool to try and mix in elevon to get some crazy roll rates but I don't think my radio can do aileron and elevon mixing. Anyway I digress. I am looking for some help with mounting the stabilizer/elevator. I will post some pictures tonight so you can see why I am having trouble. The surface that I want to mount to is essentialy the engine tubes on either side of the plane. Is there anyone who has built one of these that knows what I am talking about and can privide some assistance. I have rekindled need to fly this plane. Please help.

Mike

I did not build one, but bought one from ImRickJames on the groups. I can take a picture of the stab mount and post it later if that would help. If you have any slope experience at all I suspect you'll be disappointed in the model - I plan to use mine as a starting point for an improved version - and there's plenty of room for improvement.

IRJ: Not a dig on the sale, I knew all this when I bought it and planned for 'mods' from the start. It still looks pretty cool.

Nauga,
who says "No escort required"

funky looking and all it looks cool in the air

joe

Nauga I hate you. Why do you flame me every time you get the chance. That's the last time I ever deal with you.

Kidding, kidding, kidding every one. No offense taken, I think we went over the shortcomings of that bird. Has it collected as much dust as it did in my shop?

RJ

I am tidying up my garage, and just pulled down an F86 sabre, which is 75% competed. I thought, 'gee this weighs a lot'. The wings had about 1lb of dirt on them. (well, it seemed like a lot, at any rate.)
I built and reviewed the AMD A4 Skyhawk, for Airborne magazine a while back. It was actually quite good, despite what the feelings of a few of the guys here, are.

You run a great risk asking for opinions about AMD planes as they are not the most scrupulous company. Having said that I built one years ago and flew it for several seasons before the fuselage (woefully weak fiberglass) finally got to crunched on a landing beyond what I cared to fix. I think I gave it to the nieghbor kid down the street. I attached mine with epoxy and then used epoxy mixed with mico ballons to create a sandable fillet. You could also use Goop covered in whatever sandable fillet stuff you want. The goop will flex on impact whereas the epoxy won't. You need to cover the Goop cause it won't take paint. Be sure to use -2 degrees of decalage or it will never fly right. Also don't make a full flying stab because you'll never ever ever ever ever ever make it strong enough to survive the smallest of side impacts with the ground. Our friends in the electric world do it but they have landing gear and pretty runways. I know all this because when I designed my SU-35's, my first prototype used full flying stabs because I wasn't sure what the decalage should be. but every slightly rough landing bent or broke the stab pivots. A solidly attached stab witha seperate elevator can wistand a lot of abuse and there really is no advantage to make it full flying.

Originally Posted by I'm Rick James

Has it collected as much dust as it did in my shop?

Let's just say it's in the queue
I flew it one decent day at Lilly Shappell, and that was enough to 'down it for the mod program'

Nauga,
and his short attention span

Originally Posted by Brian Koester

You run a great risk asking for opinions about AMD planes as they are not the most scrupulous company. Having said that I built one years ago and flew it for several seasons before the fuselage (woefully weak fiberglass) finally got to crunched on a landing beyond what I cared to fix. I think I gave it to the nieghbor kid down the street. I attached mine with epoxy and then used epoxy mixed with mico ballons to create a sandable fillet. You could also use Goop covered in whatever sandable fillet stuff you want. The goop will flex on impact whereas the epoxy won't. You need to cover the Goop cause it won't take paint. Be sure to use -2 degrees of decalage or it will never fly right. Also don't make a full flying stab because you'll never ever ever ever ever ever make it strong enough to survive the smallest of side impacts with the ground. Our friends in the electric world do it but they have landing gear and pretty runways. I know all this because when I designed my SU-35's, my first prototype used full flying stabs because I wasn't sure what the decalage should be. but every slightly rough landing bent or broke the stab pivots. A solidly attached stab witha seperate elevator can wistand a lot of abuse and there really is no advantage to make it full flying.

Thank you for the insight. I did not even think about the strength factor of full flying stabs. Well, That makes the build easier so I will probably get atrted on it again this weekend. I have to get the work bench cleaned up first. getting the angle of attack was another concern which was another reason that I was going to use full flying stabs. I guess I will just have to get it right. My buddy has that device that helps measure it so I will use it and glue tham on.

Mike