Fantastic! Good luck on the maiden.

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Chris Boultinghouse

Fingers Crossed.

I get nervous doing the maiden on a foamy built from Home Depot Foam!

Good Luck!!

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Home of Burntwood RC

Thanks guys. It's hasn't really been a "build", more of a rehab of sorts. Could have gone a lot faster, but it just didn't happen that way. I have a couple of things left to fix, but I haven't gotten to them yet. Stoppers in the tanks need to be replaced, batteries secured etc.

Last minute vacation to Maui has cut into repair time... I'll figure it out, but it will be a strain to get the first flight next week. But it still should happen.






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Well, the maiden has come and gone with an issue. Got to the Lodi Jet Rally in the Valley on Thursday amid the possibility of a rain out. Got here about 1 pm, unhooked the trailer and had the model fueled and ready to fly at about 2:30. Engine started up, flight went fine, success!



First flight was with the Bavarian Demon Cortex Pro off, second flight I started dialing that in. Without flaperons, this plane tends to wiggle and waggle in wind and turbulence. Flys like a lighter plane in that respect than you would think given it's actual weight. With the gyro in "rate" mode (BD calls this "normal mode"), this behavior pretty much stops. Plane feels solid and more stable... without any real artificial feel. It's hard to explain. It's kind of like just turning the wind off with a switch.

There is a lot of capability left to explore with the whole Jeti/Cortex Pro integration, but I'll leave that for another time. Right now I'm just dialing in a specific gain. What I will be able to do, once I figure it out, is set up two banks and adjust the gain and properties of each axis separately. Nothing new to the heli world, but fairly innovative in the plane world.

So far I like the plane. Engine has been reliable and powerful. Sounds a bit different than the others at the event. It's unusual also in that from about 1/3 throttle and up, the sound doesn't change all that much once it's off the ground. Odd.

Here are some pics of the some of the other planes at the event. If I remember I'll try to get some close ups of the big Super Hornet later today. Has TWO Kingtech 160s for power and is not only stunning on the ground but a spectacular flyer.







Event is being. held at an airport that was still active. Snapped this of a visiting Cessna 206.




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Excellent! Congrats on the maiden. Looks like it was a great event too.


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Chris Boultinghouse

Interesting how this plane was weathered. Owner airbrushed some of the shading to "weather" it. At the Best in the West Jet rally. A gentleman approached the plane and owner offering to further weather it. Owner said it's fine the way it is... gentleman said in an English accent,"but it looks like a toy, do you want it to look like a real aeroplane?" Little did the owner know that this guy is well known for weathering model jets, and studies specific planes to know exactly where and how to apply paint to get the desired affect. He uses four colors of oil based paint and applies it with toothpicks and other similar instruments. Then used s plastic gloved hand, smears the paint in the direction of the airflow. He then had the owner fly it to complete the effect.

Result is pretty stunning.








The Saturday night dinner in the hangar, steak and all the fixings.




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That detail is amazing!

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A.K.A. ben_beyer

Wow!!!

That detail is amazing. I mean just LOOK at that landing gear!!!

If it wasn't for the "size" of the aggregate in the asphalt and the air compressor that Landing gear could EASILY be mistaken for the full scale.
There are some seriously talented people out there.

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Home of Burntwood RC

That is too darn pretty to fly!

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Chris Boultinghouse

Well that plane pretty much came out of a crate looking a lot like that... the weathering and shading was added later. One discussion that came up was about how did the weathering guy (artist really) know where and how to weather it? As I said he had a lot of pics he'd collected and studied over the years, but the planes owner had a buddy that added his expertise. 20 years of wrenching on F-18s in the Navy, the buddy stood by and suggested areas to touch up... he happened to be there this last weekend and commented that a plane coming off a cruise would look much like this. Once it comes back to base however, it's washed within a couple of weeks.

Here are some other pics from the weekend.











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