1/8 Jet Legend F-16 Build

[sweetpea]

I bought this plane quite awhile ago. I've been slowly getting the parts needed for this thing and setting up things I could. With most jet kits instructions are non existent. You typically get the plans but even those are in poor English

Here is the plan

3 fuel tanks (1 center and 2 saddles)
1 UAT (small tank to get rid of bubbles)
SF powerexpander with Turbo reg
AR9000 with 2 sats
JR10x (2.4 converted)
EVU-5 gear/door/brake sequencer
Jet Central Rabbit turbine
New paint job eventually.

[classclown]

That's BadAss!!!! One day, I'm gonna get to flying turbines. One day.

[sweetpea]

First thing I did was order up the cockpit kit.


Then I went to putting the elevator servos in. JR8611a's here. Jets are tight to work in and these were a real pain to.






Next was the rudder servo mount. This didn't really fit the 9411 servo I planned to use. I've contracted out a local guy to remake me a new mount that will fit. Should have it any day now.



Then I found a guy on RCU that made these great Alum inserts for the tanks. I sanded the tank and used HYSOL to glue the part in place.

[sweetpea]

Then I worked on 1 wing to see if I could get things to work out.

It will all make sense later as to the color scheme.


I painted up one missile and then made the rails removable along with the missile. This will make transport of the plane easier in the future when I move again.





For the other wing I still need to paint the missile body and do some mods to it. It won't be a missile but instead will be an ACMI Pod.

[sweetpea]

Next up was the gear doors. This was the most painful process so far. If I never have to do this again it will be joyous! My suggestion is that if any company offers these done for you at the factory pay the extra cost vs. the headache of trying to get the doors to fit just right.

Once before I attached them I wasn't happy with the fit/finish of the doors and since I planned to repaint anyways I used some bondo and Nitro Stain to smooth things out. The primer I'm using is just about the same color as the fuse so once I prime it you won't even be able to tell





Last-----this is the smoke tank I'm going to try. Its a scale centerline tank. Pricey but looks cool. I'm going to wait on smoke until I have a few flights on the plane.

[sweetpea]

I made up the electronic tray. The plane came with a plywood tray that already had holes cut in it. That tray didn't work for me. I took a fresh piece of ply and cut the same shape. Then I installed the gear where I wanted and cut all the holes. I then put some Carbon Fiber vinyl on the wood for the cool factor. Again, time consuming but worth the effort.





Now here is the picture of what the Jet will look like after a few flights. I plan to recreate the Alaska Agressor Scheme for Alaska RedFlag. I've flown my Hobby People Phase 3 EDF F-16 in this scheme for awhile. It can be hard to see on cloudy days.

At RF they used to put an orange missile on the F-15/F-16 Agressors when they were grey. They did this on the first few days so that people could Vis ID foes. Now that RF has gone to custom camo schemes I'm not sure they do that anymore but I figured I'd use that to help with my own Vis ID of the plane while it flies. The ACMI Pod is basically a missile body without fins and antennas on the front. It relays the GPS position back to RF so you can watch the battle realtime and do playback for debrief.

[dubd]

Looking good! Glad to see you're working on it again.

[sweetpea]

Dub--are you using the onboard propane tank or not? If not how do I go about using a powermax can without one?

[dubd]

I am using an onboard propane tank. If you don't want to use it, you'll just need to make a line with a nipple that you press into the powermax can. The line set-up will be the same as if you were using the tank.

[sweetpea]

Thanks. I'm probably going to use the tank at first since this is my first turbine and I don't want to be holding anything during the startup sequence. After I'm comfortable then maybe I'll change things up.

[dubd]

I like the tank being inside the plane. I can get 3 or 4 flights before having to fill up the propane tank.

[Toro]

yea... use the propane tank on board... This will also minimize over propaning, and getting a flash fire going in your pipe/airframe. There is one guy I fly with who consistantley is discharging extinguishers due to over propaning.. way safer and easier.

[sweetpea]