Radio control jet international february march 2017

THE WORLD’S PREMIER R/C JET MAGAZINE

ON TEST: JETS MUNT M70XBL

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017

Mach2.2

L-39 Revived

30 Years of the R/C Jets French Association

A crash-damaged model is restored to tip top condition with a distinctive new scheme

Twelve O’Clock High

ENGINE TEST: Jets Munt M70XBL 70 put to the test

770968 329093

E-JETS 2016

9

JETS OVER KENTUCKY

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FEB/MAR17 • £5.99

Making time to check out the best jets seen at this popular Stateside Show

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CONTENTS FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Issue 142

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 Abbey Morris, 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) NORTH AMERICAN Traplet Distribution USA Ltd., 806 Parkland Ct, Champaign, IL 61821, USA Tel: (001) 217 355 2970 email: hello@traplet.com 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 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 © 2017 Traplet Publications Limited.

All rights reserved.

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JETS OVER KENTUCKY 2016

CHECK OUT PAGE 54 FOR OUR LATEST SUBSCRIPTION DEALS ON THE COVER:

Tim Len’s (owner/pilot) Skymaster A-4 looking stunning on the runway at Lakeland-Linder Airport in Lakeland, Florida, during Frank Tiano’s ever-popular Twelve O’clock High three-day event

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 2017 ISSN 0968-3291

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20/12/2016 11:40:18

2016 E-JETS INTERNATIONAL

Features

18

12 Simon’s L-39

Acquired as a badly damaged model back in 2010, Simon Sparsis took on the challenge of restoring it back to superb flying condition with a distinctive new scheme

18 2016 E-Jets International

Dan Eaton visits this annual all electric jets meet that took place over the Ohio skies

26 Twelve O’clock High COVER STORY

Seen as one of the best non-competitive jet events in the US, David Hart attended this three-day show to check out some of the top jet models seen at Paradise Field, Florida

36 Engine Test – Jets Munt M70XBL

The new M70 turbine from Jets Munt packs a quart into a pint pot, offering a full 70 Newtons thrust from a case size normally used in turbines of less than 50 Newtons thrust.

RCJI tests a pre-production example of this impressive new turbine

Regulars

42 Jets Over Kentucky 2016

It’s the end of an era for the Ed, and other news and views from the jet modelling world

Barry Vaught immerses himself in a week’s uninterrupted flying at Lebanon-Springfield airport, as he attends one of the world’s favourite and grandest jet shows with a scenery to match!

62 Checkout

50 Convair YF2Y-1 Sea Dart Project

6 From The Cockpit

New products and accessories available for the jet modeller

70 Gas Turbine Performance Comparisons

Summary of performance of engines tested by RCJI

72 Buying Power

Readers’ free classified advertisements

74 Next Issue

Forthcoming features in the April/May 2017 Issue Plus! More features, regular columns, news and reviews from across the complete spectrum of the R/C jet modelling hobby April/May issue will be on sale Thursday 16th March 2017

Despite a stall in progress with the project, in Part 4 Alex Jones and the team works with CAD and loads are put on the skis

56 MACH2.2

Serge Bordais takes a detailed look into the history of the R/C Jets French Association, still going strong after 30 years from the pioneering age to wide access to airfields for turbine models across France

64 Jet Chatter

More top tips and news from Dave Wilshere, including looking at Ripmax’s popular Xcalibur range of jets

68 Don Smalley – Model Jet Pilot

A profile of this long-standing and dedicated jet modeller

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20/12/2016 11:41:01

AUTHOR & PHOTOGRAPHER: DAN EATON

2016 E-Jets International It’s all electric jets at the annual Ohio meet

Variable Winds

September 2016 rolled around, which meant it was E-Jets International time. The TORKS club was hosting the eighth version of the event that started back in 2008 (2014 was skipped due to the lack of a facility). This is the second year for the event at the club’s new facility at Deer Creek State Park and they have continued to improve the field.

Shortly before the event started, the state came in and cleared all the brush from the area off the east end of the runway. Another change this year was in E-Jet International event rules to allow E-Warbirds to fly. The club made the change in an attempt to attract more pilots to the event. I had some reservations about this change but the reality was the jets and warbirds mixed well and I didn’t see any problems.

What was a problem for this event was the weather. The first official day of the event was Thursday and the wind wasn’t blowing that hard but it was chaotic with the windsock constantly shifting. We got a lot of flights in that day but sometimes it was a bit challenging to get the birds down in one piece.

Friday’s weather was the pick day for flying and many flights were made until well into the evening.

Saturday dawned with a crosswind blowing in across the runway towards the pits and the wind kept getting stronger as the day wore on.

There was some flying going on but by about two in the afternoon everyone had given up on flying and went off to find something else to do until that evening’s award banquet.

Sunday I woke up to a light breeze blowing right down the runway but unfortunately I and most of the other out of towners had to leave, so we missed the good flying that day!

Brad Rehm was flying this Freewing A6 Intruder. It’s a stock bird powered by a 6S 5000 mAh Admiral Pro pack

Tim Toutant’s highly customized Freewing F-16 breaks ground in this photo. Tim’s F-16 was upgraded to an in-runner motor powered by a 8S 4500 mAh pack. Other modifications included a detailed cockpit, JP E-Brakes, and a Mr. R.C. Sound system to simulate the turbine sound

Unexpected Surprises

Always on the lookout for the unusual, I found John and Muarry Pipchok had a Dynamax fan powered F-15 I didn’t recognize.

They told me it was an old George Miller design that had originally flown on glow, sat in storage for years and then had been

John and Muarry Pipchok showed up with this very rare bird. They converted a George Miller Trainer F-15 to electric using a Scorpion conversion kit for the Dynamax fan. Unfortunately, right after it lifted off the batteries shifted making the jet tail heavy which led to a loss of control. Damage looked like it was confined to the forward fuselage which broke off on impact. The Pipchok’s are planning on repairing it over the winter to have it ready again next season

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12/16/2016 9:51:35 AM

E-JETS 2016

William Walker’s HSD 105 mm Special Edition F-16 makes a low pass down the runway. It came stock with a 105 mm fan powered from a 12S 4000 mAh pack

The Freewing Yak-130 is providing great performance in a relatively inexpensive airframe. Event coorganizer Kevin Petrilla kicked it up a notch by replacing the stock power system with a XRP 14 blade 70 mm fan powered by a 2200KV in-runner motor. Power for the fan comes from a Glacier 6S 4000 mAh flight pack, while a 2-cell Glacier life pack receiver pack provides control power

resurrected by them using E-power. I was curious and checked with George Miller and he said he had designed the Sport Eagle and built one for himself back in the 80s but had never sold the bird through his company. He said there was another company that had put it on the market for a short while and that’s probably where this bird came from.

When the Pipchok’s went to fly the F-15, disaster struck on take-off as it appeared the batteries shifted rearward causing an aft-C of G situation. Damage seemed to be confined to the forward fuselage and the Pipchok’s said they’d rebuild it over the winter so hopefully we’ll see this bird again.

The guys from Ready 2 Hobby have been a fixture at this event for many years. They show up with a trailer and sell foam kits and ARFs at pretty reasonable prices. This year was different as they showed up and announced they were selling off their remaining stock and transitioning back to being hobbyists rather than vendors as their careers take off in a different direction.

Will Walker was one of the principals in Ready 2 Hobby and I’ve talked to him many times over the years. Will stopped by my tent on Saturday to talk and dropped off a Lander Rafale kit as a gift for me. He said I’d always been nice to them over the years and he appreciated it. The kits were going quite cheaply Saturday but I really appreciated Will’s gift. It meant a lot more to me than the price tag on the box.

Awards and Prizegiving

Mike Magnacca was flying this profile T2 Buckeye he scratch built. It was powered by an E-flite 480 64 mm fan running off a 2200 mAh 3S pack

Saturday night the awards banquet was held at the Deer Creek Lodge across the lake from the flying site. We had good food and excellent company. After dinner they held an auction for two nice baskets put together by the ladies from the TORKS. Tim Toutant from Michigan served as auctioneer. There was a high end basket that had two bottles of great wine, Deer Creek wine glasses, Summer Sausage, wheat crackers and some exotic chocolates. This also included a basic multi fuselage indoor R/C package.

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