RADIO CONTROL JETS
Delmar Ellis, 8877 Meadowview Drive, West Chester OH 45069
Late summer brings many jet meets, where we gather to share good times, see old friends, and show off our craftsmanship and flying skills. I recently attended two of the best in the Midwest: Heart of Ohio and Superman. The quality of the entire field gets better every year.
Some highlights and new products follow. I'm sure many other recent meets have provided the same excitement and new product introductions. It's a great time to be in jet modeling.
JPO Jet America
In June 1996, JPO conducted its first national jet meet (Turbine America) at the AMA facility in Muncie. At AMA's invitation, JPO decided to make it an annual affair and return to Muncie on June 6–8, 1997. This meet will be known as JPO Jet America from now on. Put it on your calendar — it should grow into a major event.
FAI Jet Scale
In 1995 the United States cleaned up with Team Scale and Individual Scale wins in the international competition in Germany.
During the week preceding the Superman jet meet, fliers competed for spots on the 1997 United States team. The results (including two new "Team Scale" builder-and-pilot positions) were:
- Individual Scale:
- Garland Hamilton
- S. Patel
- Dave Ribbe
- Tom Robertson
- Kent Nogy
- Rich Fong (Alternate)
- Tom Cook (Alternate)
- Team:
- Bob Violett and Jerry Caudle
- Roger Shipley and Jim Allen
The international competition will be keen next year; other countries will put forth serious effort to prevent a US repeat. Another competition to watch is between ducted fans and turbines. A short flying field and fuel-limited flight time took a toll on turbines at the last meet; these issues will be evened out and changes in noise rules may also be a factor, especially for multiengine aircraft.
The 1997 international meet will be conducted in England in late August or early September. Exact time and location will be published later. It sounds like an ideal vacation even for spectators.
Turbomin
The Turbomin team — Reinol Gonzalez and Albert Arayjo (Miami, Florida) and Frank Prisell (Sweden) — had an absolute ball flying and showing off their turbines at Superman. They demonstrated a 22.5-pound-thrust engine installed in an Air Champ F-15. Their new, smaller-thrust engine powered a BVM F-86. Both engines started and ran flawlessly and flew with great authority.
Turbomin engines run on straight kerosene without any gasoline mix. Starting is managed through a small briefcase-sized start pack with a scuba attachment (without propane). The system is neat, clean, and simple to operate. The large engine is immediately available to the public; small-engine deliveries will begin in February 1997.
Air Champ Models
Air Champ (Miami, Florida) displayed two beautiful aircraft — an A-4 and an F-15. Both models are large (80 and 90 inches long) with bare weights of about 7 and 8.5 pounds respectively. The lightweight construction is impressive: honeycomb-core, double-wall formed fiberglass with wall thickness around 1/4 inch. Carbon fiber is used judiciously for reinforcement. Even the wings are made from this double-wall material, with hollow cavities inside the wing skins; they seem exceptionally strong.
The aircraft are readily adaptable to either fans or turbines and are light enough to perform well either way. The fiberglass finish is superb and building time should be quick. The fuselage interior space is cavernous. Flight demonstrations (including an F-14 shown by the Turbomin team) showed scale performance and very slow, nose-high touchdowns.
BVM
BVM showed the Bandit — a very high-performance sport jet slightly larger than prior BVM sport jets and sized for JPX turbines with long-endurance propane tanks. The aircraft comes in either turbine- or fan-powered versions with custom-fitted inlets and ducts.
Bob Violett demonstrated a JPX-powered Bandit throughout the weekend. It offers speed, aerobatic performance, excellent visibility for a sport jet, and rock-solid, very slow approach speeds. After flying a JPX-powered Maverick with only a six-minute total fuel burn, I'm envious of the extended flying times demonstrated in the Bandit.
The kit includes many new material features, such as composite molded wings and laser-cut parts and formers. BVM also displayed advances in JPX systems, including a compact igniter and safety sensor control systems that should be through testing and available shortly.
My bet is that high-performance turbine-powered sport jets will become very popular, especially among better fliers.
Turbine Connection and Yellow Aircraft
Turbine Connection, owned and operated by Don and Carla Kanak (known from Eagle Products/Precision Eagle Engine), is an exciting newcomer and will be a major turbine supplier. They are authorized distributors for Golden West, Sophia, and Turbomin engines.
Don Kanak is the U.S. manager for Yellow Aircraft and has enlisted help from Larry Tudor of Tudor Machining, who has helped many new turbine operators. Don demonstrated installations and knowledge on the flying field. Installations shown included:
- Yellow F-6 with a Sophia turbine
- Yellow F-18 with a Golden West turbine
- F-15 with a Turbomin turbine (Avonds)
They will work with anyone wanting to install these turbines in appropriate aircraft (including non-Yellow airframes). Turbine installation, including thrust tube alignment, can be critical and is considered in the Turbine Regulations. A range of Yellow Aircraft will be available for turbine installations.
AMT and Jet Model Products
Tom Cook displayed a spectacularly finished T-33 with an AMT turbine at Heart of Ohio and Superman. It was very popular and won major trophies both times. Speeds up to 200 mph flat-and-level are reported, and the engine's performance (22+ pounds thrust) and ease of operation, including start, are outstanding. Following a propane start it immediately and automatically switches to JP4 kerosene. Controls are sophisticated and include safety features.
Century Jet Models
Century Jet Models has yet to break into turbine power (though they likely will soon). They showed up in force, flying several ducted-fan-powered aircraft, including an F-105 and a beautiful twin-engine F-4. Century is also well known for rugged scale landing gear.
CS Models
CS Models builds two variants of their Terminator sport airplane. One is a small-wing racer for diving at radar traps; the other has a larger-wing option that turns the airplane into a smooth, stable aerobatic sport plane.
Jim Hiller built and flew the larger-wing version powered by a Golden West turbine as part of AMA Turbine Committee hands-on experience. The aircraft was not flown to full speed potential since refinements are yet to be incorporated, but it was very aerobatic and stable — a great sport airplane package. Keep your eyes on it in flight; it is fairly small and covers ground quickly.
Closing
The field continues to advance in engines, airframes, and installation expertise. With new suppliers, engine options, and evolving competition rules, jet modeling is growing in excitement and capability. Put JPO Jet America on your calendar and watch for the 1997 international scale meet in England.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
