Originally Posted by Herb

Rodger, I think some reinforcement there is absolutely crucial

There is NO way those main mounts can hold up to repeated abuse .. on Thursday I flew in 25mph winds so there's always that harder than normal landing . I think V2. needs stronger mains mounts.

I started putting some jb weld on the mains rails to get clean drilled holes for the retract mounts. Some 1/64 or 1/32 ply & laminating epoxy will go in there as well.

Regarding the main gear angle, things are not trivial unless you change the gear opening location. See what I mean:

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Can you get an offset trunion so that the strut diameter doesn't interfere with the retract closing all the way?

I certainly wouldn't want to make the plane sit any higher than intended... usually I'm trying to lower the "stilt" legs that come with planes....

Is it just me? I can't see that video from Rolf. Says private video.

Not sure what happened to that video ...

yes you can bend the struts a bit (actually I bend the pins) to make them fit in the wheel wells.

Weight so far on mine is as follows (all in oz) :

wing complete with 4 servos & Springair 602's installed 17.0

fuse empty 27.6

hatches, intakes 4.6

elevators, elevator servos, joiner, rudder servo 3.8

sub-fin + hook 0.8

canopy 2.8

nosegear + steering 2.4

wheel collars 0.6

ducts & fan 6.6

esc (100A) + wiring 7.1

receiver battery 1.9

Springair air valve, servo & air tank 1.4

misc hardware 0.6

Neu motor 11.0

glue (est) 1.0

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Airframe rtf w/o batteries 86.6 oz = 5.4 lbs

9S 3000's 30.1 oz

9S 4000's 39.2 oz

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Weight rtf (est.) 86.6 + 30.1 = 116 oz = 7.2 lbs = 3.29 kg

Esc (here actually 120A) + necessary wiring

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By bending the pin I was able to fit the HK oleos.

The Springair strut alternative comes with a coil.

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Nice I figured it would be close to 8lbs all up. Have you fitted your ducts yet?

Nose gear options:

Bae Hawk - style nosegear (simpler) vs. T-45 - style nosegear (cuter) :

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Nosegear mount - like mains mounts - looks a bit on the weak side.

I put two hardwood rails in...

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Yes ... duct fitting .. the center piece needs to be trimmed a bit.

But the ducts are nicely made. The WeMoTec MidiFan or similar is a perfect fit.

I am out of carbon tow, waiting for my carbon tow & carbon cloth from the composite store.

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On the original T-45 the nosegear is quite short ... In turbine setups this can cause problems due to the Hawk getting glued to the tarmac on takeoff, esp. when the model has a negative wing incidence.

My nosegear strut will be a bit longer than scale, to give a positive stance.

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Someday the CMPro T-45 pilots will be available ... in the meantime I was looking for a 1:9 scale (actually to be picky, 1:9.8 from the fuse and 1:8.2 from the wing) pilot.

Needless to say, I opted for the Parkzone one (x2) for now . It will need a new paint job...

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=PKZ4414

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Originally Posted by Herb

Someday the CMPro T-45 pilots will be available ... in the meantime I was looking for a 1:9 scale (actually to be picky, 1:9.8 from the fuse and 1:8.2 from the wing) pilot.

Needless to say, I opted for the Parkzone one (x2) for now . It will need a new paint job...

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The Parkzone pilots are a good value. They are made of soft rubber and the body is easily trimmed with a scissors for height adjustments.

I used them in my L-39.

I also have two pilot figures I bought from Nitroplanes a while back that are very nice but I think they are too big for this bird. They look very similar to the CMPro units.

http://www.nitroplanes.com/rcmodelpilot9.html

Please PM me if I'm bothering you on your Build log....


I received my plane today.... a little smaller than I was expecting. Very close in size to the ProEDF 90mm planes (my buddy has the Mig 15, Mig 29, & F-18).

I don't see why this plane won't fly great on a nice 6S, 2000W setup. It will be in 6.5-7.0lb range. As I said earlier, my buddy's Mig 15 goes 120MPH on 6S.

I took the Nitroplane's pilots and set them in the super thin cockpit. Do you think they are the right scale or are they too big? The rear pilot's head is hitting the canopy so his body will have to be trimmed to make him a little shorter. Both will require a few millimeters shaved off their shoulders...

Edit: OK I just looked at some T-45 pics and these guys are too big. Could probably get away with them if they are shortened 1/2" or so.... not trying to place in a TopGun qualitfier here so these guys might just stay!!

I think they look great!! A wee bit big but the others will look like midgets