THE WORLD’S PREMIER R/C JET MAGAZINE
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2016
INSPIRATIONAL
ALPHA JET
Designed and built by Françis and Stéphan Laurens
3 MAIN JET EVENT REPORTS: KARLSKOGA JET POWER, FIF ’16 AND EDF JET JAM
ON TEST: Fei Bao Swordfish Firgelli/Actuonix Linear Actuators OCT/NOV16 • £5.99
www.rcjetinternational.com
FEI BAO SWORDFISH
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KARLSKOGA JET POWER
LOUISVILLE EDF JET JAM
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CONTENTS OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2016
Issue 140
EDITOR Tony van Geffen email: tony.vangeffen@traplet.com GROUP EDITOR Kevin Crozier REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS David Gladwin, Colin Straus, Alex Jones, Daniel Larson, Jorge & Karen Escalona, Ian Titchell, Mark Beacham and Dave Wilshere CHAIRMAN Tony Stephenson MANAGING DIRECTOR Tom Stephenson DESIGN AND PRODUCTION MANAGER Nick Powell MAGAZINE DESIGN AND LAYOUT James Scott ADVERTISING SALES Angela Price Tel: 01684 588568 email: advertising@traplet.com MARKETING Ally Alldritt, Abbey Morris, Samantha Minton email: marketing@traplet.com ADVERTISING COPY CONTROL Tel: 01684 588517 email: adcopy@traplet.com PRINTER Warners plc NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION Seymour Distribution Ltd. (020 7429 4000) HOBBY TRADE DISTRIBUTION Traplet Publications Limited (01684 588522) US DISTRIBUTION Traplet Distribution USA Ltd., 806 Parkland Ct, Champaign, IL 61821, USA Tel: (001) 217 355 2970 email: info@traplet.com
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KARLSKOGA JET POWER
CHECK OUT PAGE 36 FOR OUR LATEST SUBSCRIPTION DEALS
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTION Traplet Publications & Hobbies, P.O. Box 501, Engadine, NSW 2233, Australia. Tel: (02) 9520 0933 Fax: (02) 9520 0032 email: sales@traplet.com.au SOUTH AFRICAN DISTRIBUTION P.O. Box 1067, Oudtshoorn, 6620, South Africa. Tel/Fax: +27 44 272 5978 email: southafrica@traplet.com PUBLISHED BY Traplet Publications Ltd, Traplet House, Willow End Park, Blackmore Park Road, Welland, Malvern, WR13 6NN, England. Tel: 01684 588500 Fax: 01684 578558 email: customerservice@traplet.com SUBSCRIPTIONS Ally Alldritt 1 Year subscription prices: UK £35.94 Europe £42.48 W/Wide £45.84 USA & Canada US $78.36 2 Years subscription prices: UK £71.88 Europe £84.96 W/Wide £91.68 USA & Canada US $156.72 BACK ISSUES UK £5.99/US $10.99 Customer Service: 01684 588599 Order Hotline: 01684 588599 Online Ordering: www.trapletshop.com © 2015 Traplet Publications Limited. All rights reserved.
This magazine is sold subject to the following conditions: that it shall not without written consent of the publishers be lent, resold or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in excess of the recommended maximum retail price. All rights strictly reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without the prior agreement of the publisher. All letters must be accompanied by the sender’s full name and address. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited correspondence nor some of the opinions expressed. All material and artwork originated by Traplet Publications Ltd., photographs, drawings, plans used in this magazine become the publishers copyright under Copyright law. Some photographs may have been digitally re-mastered. The Company reserves the right to suspend or refuse any advertisements without giving reasons. Whilst every care is taken to avoid mistakes, Traplet Publications Ltd. cannot be liable in any way for errors or omissions. Nor can the Publisher accept any responsibility for the bona fides of advertisers. © Traplet Publications Limited 2016 ISSN 0968-3291
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Regulars 6 From The Cockpit Editor’s news and views
72 Buying Power
Readers’ free classified advertisements
74 Next Issue
Forthcoming features in the December/January 2017 Issue
Features 10 Technically Speaking
In this issue Dave Gladwin resolves a ‘flutter’ issue, and gets his MiG-29 back in the air
18 Jet Jam 2016
A report from this annual EDF rally near Louisville USA by Dan Eaton
26 An Inspirational Alpha Jet COVER STORY
An outstanding example of scale jet modelling, designed and built by Françis and Stéphan Laurens
32 Convair YF2Y-1 SeaDart: Part 2
Phil Clark describes the initial stages of creating this remarkable model
38 First In Flight 2016
Jorge and Karen Escalona report on all the jet action at this major annual US East Coast meet in North Carolina
48 Firgelli Linear Actuators
Colin Straus evaluates these electrically-operated miniature actuators
JET JAM 2016
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52 Fei Bao Swordfish
Colin Straus reveals this latest mega-size sports jet
60 Karlskoga Jet Power
Model jets in action at the annual meet in Sweden. Daniel Larson reports
68 Jet Chatter
More top tips from Dave Wilshere as he passes on some tips regarding flame outs and how to prevent them with suitable feed pipes and pumps
FIRST IN FLIGHT 2016
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Plus! More features, regular columns, news and reviews from across the complete spectrum of the R/C jet modelling hobby December/January issue will be on sale Thursday 17th November 2016
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AUTHOR: KAREN TEICHERT ESCALONA PHOTOGRAPHER: JORGE AND KAREN ESCALONA
First In Flight 2016 It’s all action and fast jets at this major annual US East Coast meet, as 127 pilots and 194 planes took time off during the Memorial Day holiday at the end of May to fly five days straight in North Carolina Time Off for Take-Off
As reliable as a well-tested R/C jet model, the First in Flight Jet Rally (FIF16), held annually for the past six years in North Carolina, has become the ‘go-to’ choice for US and International R/C pilots looking for a relaxing but invigorating five-day ‘time-off for take-off’ as summer approaches. Under blue skies from May 25th through 29th, 128 pilots and 194 planes formed a beachhead along Pit Row at the Wilson Industrial Air Center, beautifully laid out with a 1372 m x 46 metre asphalt runway for exclusive R/C use during the event. The nearest tree is 450 m away. The nearest hotels and restaurants are conveniently close to the field. “The pilot count is not the important thing,” says Co-Contest Director Larry Lewis as he takes a brief pause under the registration tent on a late Saturday afternoon. “It’s the fun factor!” But on ‘Casual Wednesday’, the first day of flying before the show officially opened, there were already 73 pilots registered. Full size traffic picked up during the week making FIF16 look more like an EAA event, as full-scale pilots landed their aircraft to unload
R/C scale and sport jets. Lewis and his flight bosses were kept busy shifting the flight pattern for model jets at Wilson Air Park’s centre, while Cessnas and Beechcrafts approached a runway to the far east side of the airport. A few SNAFUS were quickly resolved.
On the Beach
By Thursday morning, the wind blew west to east and straight down the runway, which meant pilots had to fly from right to left. Those who were daunted by this pattern stayed away from the flight line, freeing lots of airspace until Saturday morning when the flight path returned to left to right. Pilots pulling start-carts nosed between the blast-boards early Saturday morning like sunbathers looking for a spot to stretch out on a crowded beach. One pilot noted the congested pit area and remarked he’d have to arrive at 6:15 am the next day to find open fly-space. “If I can get up to work, I can get up to play”, he mused. But thanks to the ‘Saleeby Slot’, a system developed by the late R/C pilot Mike Saleeby to channel planes safely and quickly on and off the tarmac at FIF, no one drained fuel or batteries waiting for take-off.
A Truly International Meet
Wiltshire (UK) resident Jonathan Smith, of Winterbourne Bassett, and his partner, and spotter, Joanna, have decided to make the First in Flight event part of an annual pilgrimage. He’s flying a ‘loaner’ BVM Ultra Bandit powered by an AMT Olympus while he waits for delivery of a recently purchased RV and trailer that will enable him to become ‘bi-continental’. He and Joanna will load their new RV with their own planes to complete the summer R/C jet event circuit in the States, flying home to Wiltshire for the autumn, then back to the States again for another round of spring events. They’ll set the GPS for ‘good weather’ and avoid the tiresome and expensive task of shipping planes back and forth across the Atlantic. Ohio resident Jim Hiller and Gerald Neel, of Troutman, North Carolina wasted no time getting to the flight line as FIF16 opened. Hiller was the official ‘first to fly’ with his Extreme ARF Vixen powered by a Jet Central Rhino SE, while Neel never seemed to leave the pilot stations. Neel can get multiple flights
Flying into the late afternoon sun on ‘Casual Wednesday’ at FIF16 is a Tomahawk ViperJet flown by Scott Foster of Ohio
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FIF 2016
Ohio resident Kim Foster and son, Scott, picked up the JPO Top Gun award for the highquality of their ‘hard charging’ flights with this Tomahawk ViperJet
A view over a F-104 of the wide pilots’ tent area at FIF 2016. The Wilson Industrial Air Centre remains active during the R/C jet rally. Many full-scale pilots tuck their R/C jets into a private plane to attend the event on his ‘go-fast’ plane, a CARF ViperJet, also powered by a Jet Central Rhino, with a Futaba 18SZ radio as his command. Gerald Neel has been flying R/C since 1970, and notes the solid safety measures taken at FIF16 in comparison to other events. “These are not toys”, he says, adding that “everyone used to bring a huge support trailer with their model – an intense operation. But now”, says Neel, “it’s so easy!” New technology has helped seasoned pilots and novices alike to shorten the learning curve and trim the time to get a new kit in the air. Luckily, manufacturers like Bob Violett of BVM offer the opportunity, through video and written materials, to understand the ABCs of a new ‘plug n play’ jet. Violett expertly demonstrated the agility of his newest product, an ARF Plus L-39 Albatross, by scrolling the sky with a series of inverted manoeuvres and outside loops. Powered by a KingTech 140, the L-39 had
accumulated 20 flights by FIF16. Earlier in May at the Top Gun competition, Violett took fourth place in the Pro Am Scale contest with only three previous flights on the L-39. (See ‘Top Gun Specials’ report elsewhere in this issue.) Violett says the straight wing jet has a special appeal to some pilots, and at 1:5.5 scale, the BVM L-39 is easy to see and attracts those who enjoy their independence from the large and cumbersome ‘buddy planes’ that call for more than one person to physically handle in and out of a trailer. “I go flying on a Saturday, I like to be able to load this thing myself”, says Violett. The plugn-play L-39 comes with a 40-page manual. BVM also offers a pre-programmed SD card to insert in Spektrum radios. The Brietling liveried Albatross keeps its 140 Newton turbine cool with a specially designed internal airflow yet looks hot with pre-installed lights and scale details.
Clear skies weren’t the only thing to brighten up the pit area at FIF 2016. Here a Shockwave rests between flights
Afterburner and light details augment the TurboFoam F-16 turbine jet designed by Mike Lin of Global Jet Club. The rigid, dense foam is designed to be fuel resistant and meet the demands of its pre-installed Ace 60 turbine
This hi-tech paint scheme is one of four currently available for the Redwings Leonardo, a new offering in the US from Elite Aerosports
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