Radio control jet international june july 2016

THE WORLD’S PREMIER R/C JET MAGAZINE

JUNE/JULY2016

JSM XCALIBUR PLUS This 2.3m sports jet tested

ENGINE TEST:

JETCAT P220-RXI

2 MAIN JET EVENT REPORTS:

‘RED FLAG’ AND ‘FLORIDA JETS’ JUN/JUL16 • £5.99

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GRAUPNER/SJ POLARON AC/DC JETCAT P220-RXI CHARGER OVERVIEW TESTED 21/04/2016 11:28:08

CONTENTS JUNE / JULY 2016

Issue 138

EDITOR Tony van Geffen email: tony.vangeffen@traplet.com GROUP EDITOR Kevin Crozier REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS David Gladwin, Colin Straus, Karen & Jorge Escalona, Ian Titchell, Dave Swarbrick and Dan Eaton 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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AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTION Traplet Publications & Hobbies, P.O. Box 501, Engadine, NSW 2233, Australia.

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THE WORLD’S PREMIER R/C JET MAGAZINE

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.

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JSM XCALIBUR PLUS

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

ENGINE TEST:

Peter Carthrow snapped this picture of Dave Swarbrick’s JSM Xcalibur Plus in action. See the review on page 36

This 2.3m sports jet tested

JETCAT P220-RXI

2 MAIN JET EVENT REPORTS:

‘RED FLAG’ AND ‘FLORIDA JETS’ www.rcjetinternational.com

JUN/JUL16 • £5.99

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.

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JUNE/JULY2016

ON THE COVER:

E-JETS TAKE-OFF IN OHIO

GRAUPNER/SJ POLARON AC/DC JETCAT P220-RXI CHARGER OVERVIEW TESTED

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

54 Gas Turbine Performance Comparisons

Summary of performance of all engines tested by RCJI

72 Buying Power

Readers’ free classified advertisements

74 Next Issue

Forthcoming features in the August/September 2016 Issue

Features 10 Technically Speaking

In this issue Dave Gladwin takes a look at the Graupner/SJ ‘Polaron’ charger

16 Florida Jets 2016

FLORIDA JETS 2016

16

Karen and Jorge Escalona report from this annual Lakeland jet meet

24 Radio Daze

There are so many ways to set up a model, as Ian Titchell explains how to get more from a mid-range transmitter

32 PowerBox BlueCom Adapter

This wireless set-up unit for PowerBox products is described

by Colin Straus

36 JSM Xcalibur Plus Sports Jet

Dave Swarbrick builds and flies this 2.33m jet from Ripmax

46 Turbine Test

Colin Straus explores the new JetCat P220-RXi

RED FLAG 2016

58

58 Red Flag 2016

Karen and Jorge Escalona report from the 2nd Florida jet meet

66 E-Jets International

Dan Eaton reports on this inaugural electric jet meet in Ohio

Plus! More features, regular columns, news and reviews from across the complete spectrum of the R/C jet modelling hobby

E-JETS INTERNATIONAL

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66

August/September issue will be on sale Thursday, July 21st 2016

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AUTHOR & PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVE SWARBRICK FLYING PHOTOS: PETER CATHROW

(Peter Cathrow photo)

JSM Xcalibur+ (XL)

In 2014 Ripmax introduced the Xcalibur Sport Jet and it was an instant success. In 2015 the uprated Xcalibur+ (or XL) was introduced, and here it is put the test Introduction

I have been flying a standard sized Xcalibur (1855 mm span) for almost 18 months now, and it has proven itself as a very good reasonably sized aerobatic model. It has a Jets Munt Merlin 100 engine and is more than capable of flying all the manoeuvres that any pilot could ask of it, including spins, outside loops rolling circles, etc. It is perfect for grass field operation as the under carriage is very robust and well sprung.

With the flap incorporated with crow braking the landings can be slowed down, and featherlike touchdowns are the norm rather than the exception. Why people insist on calling these types of model ‘Trainers’ I have no idea!

The only difference between a jet powered model and an IC or electric one is that you have to get used to the landing speed, and set up the model in advance by going a little bit further away on the downwind leg before the final turn in for the landing.

It is also true that many pilots who start flying jets have never used flaps or retracting U/C and getting used to these requires practise.

We had been looking for two large size sport jets to fly at the shows around the UK, these had to be fairly big, fully aerobatic and large enough to carry a smoke tank. The Xcalbur+ (XL) seemed to fit the criteria and so two were ordered in the ‘2010 RAF Hawk’ colour scheme from that year. As I said earlier the standard Xcalibur performs very well, so we had a good idea of how the larger version would perform.

Description

The Xcalibur ‘Plus’ comes in a very substantial double box, with all the parts in plastic bags and very well packed. All the small items are also in separate bags and taped to the box.

The undercarriage comes in two boxes, one with the legs and the other with the gear units, these have all the valves, ‘T’ junctions and tubing included and are air up, and air down in operation. The brake valve is also supplied, plus two air tanks.

Everything was checked over before a start was made, the only thing was a couple of small dents in the cockpit cover where something had been resting on it. These were easily removed with gentle heat from a heat gun.

The main fuselage is epoxy glass and comes ready painted (this version is finished in an attractive display scheme based on the RAF Hawk display scheme from 2010) with all the formers glued in. The two booms, wings and tailplane are

Author gives scale to his model before test flying

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XCALIBUR+

Model Assembly

Well protected in a strong box and parts wrapped in plastic bags

all built up from balsa and ply and then very well covered in iron on film (similar quality to Oracover).

The model was assembled before any start was made to check the fit of all the parts; the only thing of slight concern was the main carbon wing tube being a very tight fit both in the fuselage and the wings. This was fairly easily remedied by carefully sanding the whole length of the tube with 240 grade aluminium oxide paper (wear a mask for this operation!). I then made up a pole to fit inside the fuselage and wing with 240-grade glued to it, and carefully sanded the inside of the fuselage/wing tubes.

All this took only few minutes, a refit was tried and the model went together with no problem.

There is only one substantial main tube with a smaller carbon fibre incidence tube of 15 mm at the front of the wing. The booms bolt onto the fuselage front and back with two 4 mm bolts locating the booms at the wing joint, each wing is held on by a 5 mm bolt into a ‘C’ clamp at the end of the main tube this is accessed from the top of the wing, and holds the wings on very firmly. The tailplane is held on with four 4 mm bolts and sits on top of the fins.

The first job was to fit the undercarriage and route the tubes through all the formers. I had previously tested all the valves and fittings for leaks, and all showed perfect seals. One thing to watch out for is make sure you fit the main U/C units the right way around. When you look at the units they are handed; the nipple on the side of the U/C fits to the front, this makes it far easier to route the airline tubes and getting it in the correct place means you miss the bulkheads when drilling the holes for the airline.

The fuselage has built-in pockets for the retracts; this keeps any mud and water from getting inside the model, and if you buy the recommended units and legs everything fits like a glove. The nose-leg retracts backwards and the steering is by two cables (outers already fitted), I found the cables to be a bit too stiff so I replaced them with some slightly lighter cable.

The steering servo has a mount already fitted and it is an easy task to fit this and the cables using the parts supplied in the kit.

Two plywood equipment trays are supplied and fit each side of the fuselage. These have a mounting plate for the retract and brake valves.

The air-tanks are fitted into the two front bulkheads; these are pre-drilled to the correct size for the tanks. The front bulkheads have plenty of access holes cut in them for routing all the cables and battery wires.

Before anything else was fitted the UC was given a full test, and everything operated perfectly except for a small leak that would lose all the air in about 30 mins. This was traced back to the pressure gauge. A new one was fitted and the problem solved, the air now stays up for several days with no problem.

All hinges are hinge point type and appear to be of good quality. You will all have your own method of fitting these type of hinges, suffice to say keep the hinge pin free from glue. I recommend doing a trial fit in all the holes as I found some of them not quite deep enough. Use a 4.5 mm drill to make the holes deeper as this makes sure that the surfaces come together with minimum gap.

Servo mounts, all glued together with Hysol

Modified fin seat, now has plenty of room for servo plug and wire

Top access showing centre assembly plate, tank bay and nose leg cover

Wing aileron servo hatch shown and hinges are all good quality hinge point type (inset)

I started with the rudders and worked around the rest of the flying surfaces making sure to clean any glue from places it should not be.

The elevator is split so make sure the gap between the two surfaces is enough not to catch on each other. The flap is pre-hinged and so nothing is required, it is totally enclosed in the fuselage so just check to see that is not binding when open or closed.

I planned to change the horns on all the moving surfaces. I think the ones in the kit are okay if you are using the lower end of engine range – 80-120 Newton, but on the larger engine range I don’t like single-sided horns, that is no back plate.

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