F-16 Foam Conversion

[siml8r5]

I bought one of those big solid-foam F-16 gliders at Hobby Town USA and put a motor from the Pico J-3 and cut new ailerons and elevator for it and installed servos in the middle of the fuselage. I cut the intake off the bottom about 4 inches and inserted the battery into the fuselage and put the intake back on. (looks like it was never cut.)Gonna test fly it tomorow! Wish me luck!

------------------
Mike B

[This message has been edited by siml8r5 (edited 01-15-2001).]

[pilot0059]

Good Idea, how did you figure up the balancing point?, And good luck with your test flight.

[siml8r5]

Well I measured the CG before I put all the stuff in it and marked it and then after I put everything in I balanced the wings evenley and made it so the CG was within 1 inch of the previous mark. I tested it today and its flew very well considering it could use a LOT more power. It rolls nicely and returns itself to wings level. I will most likely post some pics of it. If you want the specs on it I will be glad to send them to you
Thanks for the reply,


------------------
Mike B

[siml8r5]

Does anyone have any ideas about what I could buy to give this thing a lot more power? Im really new to the whole electric motor flying thing and I was wondering what I could buy to make this this really soar! I could use the advice. Right now Im using the motor, speed controller and battery from my Pico J-3 to power this thing but it needs a lot more power. Thanks

------------------
Mike B

[This message has been edited by siml8r5 (edited 01-17-2001).]

[Graham]

Either fit a more poweful motor, i.e. one of the 280 or 300 size, OR make it lighter.
Do do the latter, hollow it out more, use the new 300mAhr NMh batteries, lighten everything possible. (Cut off servo lugs, wire direct with no connectors, use thinner wire (except for the motor power?) etc.

I am going through a conversion on the Flying Styro scale Corsair, using the GWS motor. It's difficult to get enough thrust to weight ratio. I believe we need about 70% of the weight available as thrust. I stick the tail on the scales,and then run up the motor to see how much "lift" is generated. Static about 145 grams, with max power down to about 50 grams. Conclusion, it should fly indoors (in a sports hall.) I will let you know if it flies OK after the weekend.

[siml8r5]

Well, I tried adding 2 cells onto the battery pack and that did increase power dramatically but to no avail. I think im gonna scrap this project until I can get a bigger motor. Let me know what happens with the Corsair. If it works tell me what kind of plane it is and what you did. My current glow project is a 1/4 scale Decathlon from Dynaflite. Its coming along nicely. Thanks for the reply.


------------------
Mike B

[hector375]

there is an article in the free sample section of rc microflight.com that deals with hop ups for the stik motor. maybe these would help the performance as well

[Graham]

The foam Corsair, from Flying Styro, looks great, and flies. It has quite a bit of torque effect from the GWS power unit, so I would like to put aileron on it ILO just rudder and elevator.
I used the GWS Pico servos and 2A ESC, with 7x 110mAhr NMh.

Two versions of the Corsair are available. An ARTF painted and mostly glued version, and a set of unpainted, unassembled foam parts and accessories. The painted one looks excellent with the transfers fitted, as good as many plastic display kits. The foam one is more work, but probably needed to get the ailerons to work easily. (The wings are made from four foam "shells" plus dihederal brace) I have to figure a way to fit the ailerons without too much damage to the excellent wings. I need a very lightweight snake for it.

Graham

[IFLYOS]

Mike,
If it is the Robart F-16, A few of the guys I fly with have been running Norvel .061's and ,074's on them with much sucsess. There is an article in MAN that Nick Ziroli did about converting it to Glow. Based on this, I think a speed 300 would be a good match for that airframe, if like other poeters said, you can get the weight down. Let us know what you do with it, and post some pics of it, if you get a chance...

Tim
Originally posted by siml8r5:
I bought one of those big solid-foam F-16 gliders at Hobby Town USA and put a motor from the Pico J-3 and cut new ailerons and elevator for it and installed servos in the middle of the fuselage. I cut the intake off the bottom about 4 inches and inserted the battery into the fuselage and put the intake back on. (looks like it was never cut.)Gonna test fly it tomorow! Wish me luck!