U2 & F-104

[bearcat]

Actually, I'm more of a builder right now, since I've been building things my entire life since I was a kid. The difference was, I was either always control line or a free-flighter. That's why I have all this experience building but almost none flying RC.

I also want to break into airplane design. There are two that I want to design and build. The coolest one would be a U2. It would be big too, probably almost 12 ft wingspan. I'd hide a ducted fan inside, so it would be basically a very clean, powered sailplane. I might build the fuselage this winter, since that's the most critical.


This is another one I want to do, but because of the short, stubby wings, it'll have to be very light. And it'll have to have more of an airfoil, and probably have to have larger than stock wings. I'm thinking foam.

[Lt Swiss]

Very ambitious! And very cool...

Here's a U2 4U
Fast-forward to 2:30 to see the flight...

And they have a couple F-104s on the market now...

hipromodel.en.made-in-china.com/product/aeNmfVgHqGYc/China-Jets-EDF-Planes-F104.html


Here's BananaHoby's version...
www.bananahobby.com/1773.html

There are others too...

Cool planes!

[bearcat]

The F-104 is cool, but it's got kind of huge non-scale air intakes. In flight, you can't tell that much, but it is noticeable if you compare it to the photo at the top. They could have reduced the size of those nostrils if they used an extra air intake on the bottom of the fuselage. It also is as I suspected, an extremely FAST model. Definitely an expert flyer! I'm impressed that they actually made one. But I wonder if the thin air and turbulent conditions here in Taos might almost be too much of a challenge for one of these. Maybe not. But I can see right now it's gonna be awhile before I try something like this.
Still, I'm impressed that they have it. I've bookmarked Banana Hobby so that I can see what else they've got.

Also, the U2 is an extremely challenging build just because the wing supports have to pass through the air ducts for the ducted fan. But I have a basic design I've come up with and will be working with. The wood build-up of my design will admittedly weigh more than a foamy, but should also be a lot stronger and able to support larger wings. If I get the fuse built this winter, I'll be encouraged. On mine, though, I'm still contemplating the landing gear. The stock U2 landing gear is very odd, and I almost think it would be better as a belly-lander with a sailplane skid or center wheel for hard-surface landings. Check out the gear in this photo:


Another idea is to use the wingtip wheels like the real thing has, but instead of actual front and rear fuselage gear that decend, use sailplane type wheels that are mostly inside the fuselage front and rear, and then you could have a Rise-Off-Ground U2 without the extra weight and complexity of the stock landing gear.
Maybe that's what I'll do.

[bearcat]

...Or a steerable tailwheel and larger main nose wheel.