Well with my F-16 done and flying, I needed a new project. I’ve been collecting old kits from my childhood to fly with me kids, but at ages at 3,3, and 1, building those might be a little premature. Maybe .

A friend that recently got nit by the turbine bug has been buying and selling his way to the right mix in his hangar. He bought a mostly NIB CARF Ultra Flash for a song at an event last year (beat me to it) after he bought a used BVM Bandit from a friend. He got the Ultra Flash flying first and realized he didn’t need two fast airplanes so he called me and asked if I would be interested in the Bandit.

I had passed on one a few years ago and regretted it. This plane had some repairs needed on some gear doors that he would finish, but for the most part it was ready to go with an engine. The engine was an older P-120 that put out around 28 lbs of thrust. That’s a lot for this plane, and this engine had external solenoids and because it’s older, it’s pretty heavy. We found another mutual friend that wanted the engine, and that knocked some $$$ off.

So, I will be the new owner of this BVM Bandit when I pick it up in a week or two.





Now, I needed an engine. I originally planned a new JetCentral Rabbit SE for about $2400, or a JetsMunt 100XBL for about $2200. But... I just couldn’t do it. I found a used Kingtech 100 version 1 for about half that today, WITH a transferable warranty.

So this really won’t be an involved project, more of a installation and setting up type of a build.

But, an airplane I flew a few years ago, a BVM Bobcat became available. When my friend Jim M (sold me my first jet the Boomerang) had it I got a chance to fly it. It was ugly, but it was very fast and fun to fly. He traded it to a mutual friend, Jim C, for some work on a few other airplanes. Jim C was going to fly it, but later decided to sell it and use the engine and servos on another project.

Jim C, who is ALSO painting my house, told me when I dropped off a payment of his intention to sell the airframe with the retracts and to put the word out. Well, for $500 when the retracts alone are $1100, I just bought it. I also may or may not have embezzled from the house fund to do this...

Needs servos and a thorough going through on servo wires and pneumatic plumbing. Also needs an engine but since it REALLY needs a paint job, I don’t have to worry about for a little while.

My friend had started the painting prep, won’t take too much more work. Hopefully this project won’t take a year like the last one.


Taken when I flew it a couple years ago.


Taken the other day when I started to dig into it.

The Bandit will be first, it’s closer. Engine should be here on Wednesday.

T


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Fun! New toys.

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Chris Boultinghouse

Yep! New toys are always fun. New-to-me Kingtech 100G showed up yesterday.



These engines have a limited lifetime warranty. Basically the core of the engine is covered but not the pump, starter, etc. If you buy it used, you can transfer the warranty for $150. Other manufacturers have better warranties, JetCentrals being the best (everything but the battery is covered basically), but something is better than nothing.

Going to pick airplane up next week. There is some talk about going flying when I get there, we’ll see. Will have to drive just under 5 hours to get there AND back in the same day... not sure I want to make the day even longer. But, we’ll see.

T


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Nice!

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A.K.A. ben_beyer

Made the trek up to Nevada today to pick up the Bandit. Ended up doing a little flying at a dray lake. Put a couple laps on my friend’s Ultra Flash. Very nice flying plane! My Bandit should fly similarly, looking forward to getting it going!

Some pics from the day.








I’m going to start digging into the plane tomorrow.

Was a good trip, even bittersweet. Couple of the guys were close friends with my father that I lost ten years ago in June. They are my friends too, but whenever we are together my father gets brought into the conversation. I think of him daily still, but if I’m around his friends or his brothers, somebody that was close to him... sometimes, just sometimes, it feels like he could walk in the room or show up at any moment. It’s a comforting feeling, but only just.

T


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About 10 years ago I was thinking of getting the Comp ARF Flash I believe is what it was called.

It was a 10S EDF and I'm glad I didn't because it probably would have been too much too fast.

What is the general progression to build up to flying a turbine?

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A.K.A. ben_beyer

Hey Ben,

That CARF EDF was probably a Spark. Looked a lot like the Flash, but was smaller. A great airplane I've heard, but no longer made. They have come out with a turbine "version" of sorts of the Spark called the Joker. It's about the same size and very similar in looks. For a turbine powered airplane, it's actually pretty "affordable" too at slightly less than $2000 with electric retracts, accessories, pipe, tanks, etc shipped to your door. A bargain for these types of models, and there are a couple other manufacturers starting to do the same thing.

Progression to a turbine model? To feel comfortable, or ready for it, I think somebody with your experience is pretty much there. Maybe some experience with one of the faster and higher performance foam EDFs like the Futura like I have would be a good confidence builder. It flys a lot like a turbine in that it requires some drag to come down and flys pretty fast but you still have to manage the energy. Really I think you would just need some experience flying something fast slightly complex (flaps, gear, etc).

Frankly, you could fly one now without much of a problem I think. You have flown some pattern so you are comfortable with manuvering an airplane and putting it where you want it rather than accepting where it "ends up".

You would probably be shocked at how little experience some guys who are flying turbines (and successfully) have. I know some that have said at an event, "I really don't like TURNING left, so I'll wait until the wind shifts because I don't like to land from that direction..." I'm sure with the right model, and a buddy box you could get signed off fairly quick, AND be comfortable with it.

There are deals to be had, and one could jump into it for around the cost of a decent 100cc IMAC plane.

One other thing about this too. I took a few laps flying the Ultra Flash yesterday. Truly a great flying plane, very honest, and flew like a solid pattern type plane. The sport jets tend to be very honest and easy flying. But if you go to an event, or watch some videos on these things flying, they are usually doing 200 mph and really tearing it up. At first look you might go, well i can't fly that fast... I did a couple fast passes, but I also did some laps at a lower power setting and it flew great! Still honest, still maneuverable, and a whole lot of fun. You don't HAVE to fly these things at 200 mph, but you can if you want to.

Cool, cool. I also looked at getting a Comp ARF Rookie but our field doesn't allow turbines.

I may get one of the Freewing Avanti's this year to have a jet.

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A.K.A. ben_beyer

Those fly really well Ben, you’ll enjoy it. The Futura I have is really a lot of fun. Has a 6S batter from my Goblin 500 and chews up the sky pretty well. Before I finished my F-16, it scat he’d the itch to fly jets pretty well. Once I got a dozen or so flights on it I stopped cruising the EDF forums as I knew I wouldn’t find anything more perfect for my purposes. If I lost it and couldn’t get another, I’d probably get that Avanti.

So I got the plane on the bench the other day...



Please excuse the mess, my garage is in the middle of a transformation (excuse of the day).

Have some issues with the tail. Some I’ve resolved, others I can’t. I thought about not bringing some of these up, but I decided to document the good with the bad when appropriate. Especially when I violate my own rules. But that will be a more detailed post in a couple days.

I looked into the air system for the gear. It’s a fairly involved system with gear, doors, valves, microswitches (really a push button valve) and a mess of lines. I’ve decided to go a different direction and do things a bit differently. Instead of the status quo, I am going to go with a sequencing valve, I think. Parts are on order and I should get them by end of the week.

Also fuel system looks good. I would like to pull it all out just to see where I’m at, but the bypass appears to be glued in place and I don’t think the tanks will come out easily... or maybe at all. There is some residual fuel in the lines, but no evidence of kero in the model. Spills, smells, etc are absent. So I think that combines the the appearance of good fuel lines that are not darkened and still pliable... I can go ahead and install the engine. I’ll do several engine runs before flight anyway, should be able to identify any problems then.

T


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Well, I setup the notification for the Freewing Avanti so I might have to pull the trigger if they come back in stock before the bulk of the stuff I need for the Synergy 516 is back in stock.

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A.K.A. ben_beyer