Les Rudd Go-Jet on the way

[tiptipflyer]

I built mine last year. It is one of my most flown models presently.
It was built according to the plan and flew right away, no trimming, no changes required.
Everything was spot on.

Frank

[leccyflyer]

The Go Jet is completed - apart from a final balancing - and awaits a maiden flight in due course.

The minute I first saw Mark Dean's Go Jet at Ponte in July I knew I had to build one and the resemblance to my favourite V Bomber couldn't be missed. So the Go Jet is finished as XM717, a Victor B2(R) from543 Squadron that I clambered all over the inside of when visiting RAF Wyton at an ATC summer camp in the early 70's. The nose of this aeroplane which took part in the Black Buck missions to bomb the Falklands is currently preserved in the RAF Museum Hendon, in that configuration as a tanker. Mine is an homage to the aeroplane in the early 70's, so wears the Strike Command scheme of that time.

Painted with Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics over 38um laminating film, joke panel lines added with a HB pencil and flexy ruler. Approximation of the windies with Solartrim, waterslide decals are home made, laser printed and the serials are cut from matt vinyl.

[Shaun]

Nice job Brian. Out of the box thinking.

You will have to fly it together with my Das Ghosten Flug Boat.

Shaun

[leccyflyer]

Thanks Shaun - for the maiden flight I'll go full propo, with the elevators, but from reading this thread I may then revert to single channel ops and disable the elevators. The cables are giving plenty of throw and working smoothly on the bench, so I'm glad of that.

[Shaun]

Remember , kick up elevator was a thing when you used an Elmic Compact escapement.
On my Veron Impala I used that escapement but had kick down . Very useful on windy slopes.

Ps my flugboat is the image my forum picture.

[leccyflyer]

Maiden flight for the Go Jet on a lovely morning up here -perfect flying conditions. However it certainly wasn't all plain sailing. The model got away lovely from the handlaunch, no shortage of power and very stable. However after flying about for a bit, she was climbing higher and up to maybe 100 feet or so. I put in some down elevator to bring her down a touch, but the Go Jet went into a vertical dive, from which there was no return. I did close the throttle before impact but it was a spectacular vertical crash from 100 feet, straight in, ending up in the dip, not visible from the pits. Walking over across the outfield I fully expected to find a wide debris field and the model destroyed, but laughed out loud when I reached the model, buried to just short of the wing and sticking vertically out of the field.

Damage to the airframe was minimal, but the motor was full of mud, the prop broken, the lipo wires severed and, when I got back to the workshop the motor shaft is bent. The model survived beautifully though. I believe that the elevator stuck in the down position and wouldn't come back to up elevator. It worked fine on the bench, but I suspect the cable isn't rigid enough to overcome the aerodynamic forces on the elevator, whilst in a dive. The model flew so nicely without any elevator input I'm thinking of just fixing them in place and flying single channel or 1+1.

[Shaun]

It will fly fine sans elevator Brian. Just make sure you have enough down thrust on the motor. Ideal is climb w.o.t. gentle climb 1/2 throttle and descending on low.

Shaun

[leccyflyer]

It was flying lovely Shaun, until soft lad tried to dive, instead of just throttling back. No-one could believe that the model survived that vertical dive straight in. The downthrust is as per plan and there's loads of it. The motor was essentially a freebie that I got in a job lot, so no great loss there. I'll save the weight of the elevator servo and just fix them in place.