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Posted by Herb | Jan 26, 2012 @ 12:47 PM | 168,008 Views
The long awaited CMP (aka CMPro or China Models) Aero L-39 / L-59 Albatros 90mm EDF

http://www.chinapro09.com/OEM%20airplan/L-39.html is now out.

This thread in German

This thread in Italian

Given that the original had a wingspan of 9.46m and a length of 12.13m (L-59: 12.20m), whereas the model has a wingspan of 120cm and a length of 132cm, the scale is approximately 9.46m/1.20m = 7.9 :1 .

L-39 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-39_Albatros

http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other/l39c.html

http://www.airwar.ru/other/draw/l39c.html


More info on the kit :

http://www.nitroplanes.com/cmp-cp09-090-kit.html

http://www.scaleflying.com/Aero-L-39...an_p_2522.html

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...00mm_ARF_.html

http://www.x-flight.com.hk/?sp=&p=6&...&cat0=1&id=159

http://hobbyfly.de/en/rc-airplanes-1...00mm-6767.html

http://www.ready2fly.ch/shop/USER_AR...anzeigen_ab=0&

The retracts are exactly the same as the ones sold for the CMP / HK Hawk :

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=19949

I got mine from RC Aerodyne and it arrived, double boxed with no damage.

Edit: CORRECT CMP L-39 CG AFTER THREE MONTHS OF FLYING:
ca. 75-78 mm from wing leading edge at root (see picture below)



Short Video of mine (April 2012) :

CMP L-39 (Hobbyking L-59) Albatros 1200mm EDF (5 min 52 sec)


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Posted by Herb | Jan 06, 2012 @ 09:58 PM | 9,742 Views
I took a few pictures today (Friday) ... not too much to buy - but some very cool models

HP had the new ASM Panther, MiG-15 and RA Hawk 120mm on display.

On all three the fuse is made of vacu-formed plastic with ply formers, the wing is built up and sheeted. Price is in the $1200 with complete air retracts but w/o fan.

The plastic is I think they said ABS, same material as sewer pipes.

Made for the new JHH Turbax 5'' (= 120mm ) EDF fan.

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Posted by Herb | Dec 16, 2011 @ 06:15 PM | 113,428 Views
My new little project, a Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet, 61'' wingspan. It will be FAST

This thread in German

Some basic info on the Me-163 Komet rocket interceptor can be found here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163

The original Me-163B had a wingspan of 9.33m, which makes the model roughly 1:6.1 scale.

Most likely the paint scheme will be "yellow 15" kept at Raf Cosford.

The model itself is the so-called "Flyboy Models" or "BH Models" 0.60-size Me-163, 1540 mm (61'') wingspan,

and is made by CY Model : http://www.cymodel.com

http://www.cymodel.com/Cn/pro_view.asp?id=26

http://www.jfchobby.com/en/html/Prod...106&SortID=192

http://www.texasrcplanes.com/me163.html

http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id...0&pid=E3715233

http://www.topd.ch/RC-Modellbau/JFC/...-von-000481253

http://www.aeromodelismoserpa.com/me...tf-p-9840.html

http://www.hebu-shop.ch/product_info...6e75280af25d03

http://www.austars-model.com/dispdet...12061052272283


Edit : Me-163 short video March 2012:

Me-163 Komet 60-inch RC (FlyBoys) (2 min 5 sec)


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Posted by Herb | Oct 13, 2011 @ 05:29 PM | 57,877 Views
Once in a while an EDF fan comes along where there's plenty of measured data to evaluate how good it is ...

Here's some nice and complete systematic data for the new 90mm JetFan :

www.ejets.at

Of great relevance of the overall fan efficiency, defined as

efficiency = (mechanical work done per unit time) / (input power) , in e.g. (N.m/sec)/Watts

A good substitute for the above quantity is, based on simple formulas relating work to fan thrust and fan efflux:

efficiency = (const.) x thrust^(3/2) / (input power)

You would imagine that if somebody is really serious about designing an efficient fan they would take the time to actually do relative measurements of different designs, in order to figure out which rotor/stator design in the end is best.

Indeed that is how serious fan designers (eg WeMoTec, Daniel Schuebeler etc.) indeed do it ...

But then often a new design comes up (nowadays every other week, in some cases a copy of somebody else's rotor, with one blade added or subtracted so it don't look like a copy ) - without any clear measurements of anything.

If it is a clear shameless copy of a DS-51 fan, then it has to be as good as the DS-51, right ?

Then the relentless overhype follows ("20% more efficient than anybody elses fan'" - to the point that now the overall efficieny adds up to 110% ), and more adverts such as "best fan I ever tried in my xx" etc.

Now, the Jetfan 90 data is interesting and accurate enough to pull out :

1) the relative efficiencies of different motors in the JF

2) the very slow rise of efficiency with power/voltage

3) the large errors inherent in all these measurements

4) the wide spread in motor efficiencies (up to 31%).

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Posted by Herb | Oct 02, 2011 @ 12:29 PM | 44,814 Views
Last month I had a chance, while spending some extended time in Paris for work, to visit the Air and Space Museum in Le Bourget.

http://www.museeairespace.fr

The museum is located within a large airport in the Bourget suburb of Paris, and is the site the Paris Airshow (which takes place usually in June).

It has an amazing collection of - what else - French (mostly Dassault) jet aircraft, including some weird looking experimental aircraft, but also Montgolfieres, some very early 20-th century planes (Bleriot), some very nice WWII warbirds (including a FW-190A and a Spitfire Mk. IX) and two Concorde.

A Visit to Le Bourget Air and Space Museum (2011) (3 min 14 sec)


Rafale A:

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Posted by Herb | Jul 24, 2011 @ 12:50 PM | 16,925 Views
I've had this Spitfire for a year and a half now, been flying it since last October 2010 ... It has become one of my frequent fliers

http://www.cmpairplane.com/warbird/S...50%20Size.html

http://www.nitroplanes.com/spitfire50.html

Initially I didn't do much to it as far as appearances, looked pretty good out of the box (my wife commented that it was my best paint job ever ) so I just flew it ... The large MiG-21 kept me busy with paint etc.

After almost a year of flying and probably 100+ flights, I decided to play around & practice with the airbrush a bit.

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Posted by Herb | Apr 02, 2011 @ 12:48 PM | 131,926 Views
Started to look at the various components last week ...

This thread in German

It's a big all fg-airex-sandwich carbon composite airframe for twin 90mm fans, made by Airworld Germany;

http://www.airworld.de/Englisch/Index.htm

the rest of the components, well you can guess where most of them (esc, batts) will come from ...

Edit : Me-262 flyby added March 2012 :

Me-262 Airworld (twin 90mm edf) flyby (0 min 18 sec)


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Posted by Herb | Nov 09, 2010 @ 07:05 PM | 373,935 Views
I just received this new CMP / CMpro T-45 arf, I have the CMP Spitfire and I like it ...

This thread in German or Italian

It is almost identical to the Hobbyking Hawk (also made by CMP or China Model Products : http://www.cmpairplane.com/ ) up to the paint

http://www.cmpairplane.com/

http://www.nitroplanes.com/cmpfitedfjet.html

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...40mm_ARF_.html

http://www.scaleflying.com/BAE-HAWK-...F-_p_2506.html

http://hobbyfly.de/en/rc-airplanes-1...40mm-6685.html

The Spit is a bit on the heavy side , but it seems now this Hawk is made relatively light(er) ...

The wing area on the T-45 is 24dm^2, so that makes the wing +33% larger in surface than the Sapac T-45.

Wingspan = 114 cm = 46 ''

Length = 122 cm = 49 ''

Wing area = 24 dm^2 = 372 sq in

Approximate scale 1:9

Est. weight rtf 7.2 - 8.0 lbs


CORRECT CG AFTER ONE YEAR OF FLYING:
ca. 110-115 mm from wing leading edge at root (see picture below)


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Short video (8S, HET fan) Dec. 2011 (more T-45 videos on youtube under user "Herbzqy" )

T-45 Goshawk 90mm EDF by CMP (Neu 1515 on 8S) (3 min 0 sec)


Short video (6S, WeMoTec fan) Nov. 2011:

T-45 Hawk 90mm by CMP (BAe Hawk) Aerobatics (3 min 22 sec)
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Posted by Herb | Aug 22, 2010 @ 12:22 PM | 17,720 Views
Two friends at the field (Art and Don) already have one of these, they fly pretty well, the only changes on theirs was the fan and 3x good sized metal gear servos for the retracts.

I got the F/A-18 airframe only (with plastic wemo-copy fan & mechanical retracts).

Built it Thursday and Friday night and flew it twice today (Sunday) .

I use three metal gear Hitec HS81 servos for the retracts & moved the twin elevator servos under the fins.

The mech. retracts on mine seem to work fine so far, after patiently taking care of all the little mechanical adjustments.

I use a separate beefy 800Ah JR receiver battery.

I tossed the included BananaFan (cheap plastic WeMoTec copy) and used a WeMoTec Midi pro instead with a $19 HC B36-55 kv=1800 inrunner motor on 6S 3300's : https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...pp=100&page=13

These motors are now on their second year of flying in the Midi...

Mine weighs rtf on 6s 3000's (Turnigy 40C) 77.5 oz = 4.84 lbs = 2.20 kg , with ca. 1600W.

Guy H took these very nice inflight pictures with a Canon 7D. Thanks Guy

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Posted by Herb | Aug 11, 2010 @ 03:03 PM | 31,676 Views
I got this one from Gregg for $40. It was a v1 version, so I got a set of FG ducts from sapac, instead of those comical vacuformed plastic ones. The rest of the ducting I did as usual with mylar.

It's a nice weekend flier, the wing's a bit too thin & flimsy for retracts so I eventually used fixed gear instead (kiss principle).

I've had about 15 flights on it, and it's nice and fast on ca. 1200W. But a bit of a vicious tipstaller in tight turns, if you slow it down too much.

Guy H took the very nice in-flight pictures below (Canon 7D).

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Posted by Herb | Mar 24, 2010 @ 01:47 PM | 78,149 Views
Just started my latest scratch build project, a 1/8-th scale MiG-21 MF (Fishbed J) EDF for a 101mm fan.

This thread in German

So far I managed to find some time to patiently cut out all the fuse formers and trial fit the fan ...

It will eventually be powered by a Neu 1515 motor in a 101mm fan on a 9S 4000 setup; depending on final weight (< 9 lbs) power will be in 3.0-3.5 kW range.

Inspiration for the MiG-21 project came from another avid edf-er JC (Bidule),

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...1177686&pp=100

I found this particular plan on e-bay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=200453935022

The plan is nice and seems very well made ... will know more about the quality after the MiG has flown

Edit Jan 7 2011 : Video of the second flight of the MiG-21:

MiG-21 MF (Fishbed J) 100mm EDF (4 min 4 sec)


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Posted by Herb | Oct 17, 2009 @ 02:21 PM | 85,585 Views
Here's my latest project, a large FlyFly (or Fly Fly ) F-86 Sabre a la JePe Fast Foam,

http://www.flyflyhobby.com

http://www.jepe.org/FastFoam/sabre/sabre.htm

http://www.hobbytopgun.com/PC/F-86.htm

The model's wingspan is around 55.9 inches, the length around 55.5 inches.

The original Sabre had a wingspan of around 37 feet, so that gives the model a 1:7.9 scale.

I entirely glassed the foam airframe using multiple layers of 3/4 oz glass cloth & laminating epoxy.
Now it flies on a 90mm fan on 9S lipos (4000mAh 40C's) at ca. 2900 W.
Weight rtf is around 8.3 lbs, so it's rather lightweight for its size - but nevertheless still reasonably fast and jet-like.

Here are the original instructions. An inspiration on the surface prep was the Dutch Master JePe Fast Foam site: http://jepe.org/

The main motivation for the project was to have a nice lightweight F-86 Sabre in the 90mm fan range, suitable for some
moderate aerobatics.

F-86 Maiden video (Jan 2010), lands like a glider :


F-86 Sabre EDF (JePe Fast Foam) FlyFly (2 min 50 sec)


Edit Sep 7: Added Guy H's pictures (Canon 7D) .

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Posted by Herb | Jun 10, 2009 @ 11:22 PM | 58,796 Views
A few pics of my finished F-16, DS-51 fan, 12S and Plettenberg HP 220/50/A3 S P4 (50mm rotor), more details here:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...&page=5&pp=100

Flight video :

F-16 Thunderbirds (Tamjets) Schübeler Fan 12S (HD) (4 min 33 sec)


Retract operation video:

F-16 EDF retract & gear door operation (0 min 21 sec)
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Posted by Herb | Nov 19, 2008 @ 08:05 PM | 59,104 Views
Pictures of the prototype Jepe Mini-Viper (aka Pyranha) ; Jepe sent me a prototype.

Very fast but also quite small...

Powered by a MiniFan 480 + Mega 16/20, more details here

http://www.jepe.org/FAQ/faq.htm
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Posted by Herb | Jan 28, 2008 @ 01:08 PM | 66,651 Views
Aeronaut Rafale twin 90mm, my second one. Twin 90mm WeMoTec Midi fans with Kontronic Fun 500-19 motors and twin Kontronic Jazz 80 controllers.

Weight rtf ca. 3.39kg (7.46lbs), power 2000-2600 Watts depending on Lipo setup.

http://www.aero-naut.net

http://www.kontronikusa.com

More details on the Aeronaut Rafale here and here, and here:

http://www.rc-network.de/forum/showthread.php?t=9823

Recent video (Jan 2010):

Aeronaut Rafale twin 90mm EDF 2010 (2 min 22 sec)


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Posted by Herb | Oct 26, 2007 @ 02:31 PM | 64,181 Views
Messerschmitt Me P.1101 based on the glass kit by Steve Neill. Powered by a Plettenberg motor in a WeMoTec HW-609 75mm fan.

A few more details here and here.

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Posted by Herb | Oct 21, 2007 @ 02:42 PM | 64,601 Views
Electric conversion of a Stein Model (SteinModel) Focke-Wulf Ta-152, Mega 30/3 brushless dd on 3S and GP lightweight mechanical retracts. Faaast.

More details here: here and here.

Focke-Wulf Ta-152 video

Manufacturer's web site: www.steinmodel.cz

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Posted by Herb | Oct 21, 2007 @ 02:21 PM | 64,441 Views
Scratch-built MiG-29 Fulcrum for twin Plettenberg motors and twin WeMoTec Minifans, from Offshore plans and original 3-d views.

A few more details here and here.

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Posted by Herb | Oct 21, 2007 @ 02:06 PM | 62,377 Views
Beautifully molded FG fuse MiG-15 bis with balsa sheeted wings, very fast (> 130 mph) and rock stable edf jet. Hacker B50 brushless motor in the WeMoTec HW-609 fan. At some point we were flying a whole squadron of them. More details here here and here.

K&A website: www.kamodels.com

2004 Video:

MiG-15 high performance EDF 75mm (1 min 2 sec)


Newport MiG Patrol video (2003) :

(Gregg F [all red], Doug A [polish camo] and myself [silver with red tail])



MiG-15 EDF Newport Beach Patrol (5 min 32 sec)
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