rctom

Yes, plenty of news.

I've flown the Hellcat quite a bit. I have been very cautious because I had no idea what to expect and I sort of expected the worst, I was pleasantly surprise.

The plane flies nice and straight and has no real bad habits, it's sort of a high performance sport plane. By that I mean it flies like any plane with a wing with dihedral, ailerons are effective and the rudder is even more effective. The rudder causes roll into the turn as you would expect. You could actually fly the plane on 3 channels, rudder elevator and throttle.

Landing is quite easy with or without the flaps. Without flaps it comes in nicely and will glide a long way, the plane is surprisingly slippery for a big round cowl and it doesn't slow down easily, so landing on a short field without flaps will take some practice.

Flaps cause a lot of drag and a little down pitching making the approach very simple, just hold a little throttle and let it descend on its own, when you get about 5 feet off the ground kill the throttle and it slows right down and settles in. Without flaps we were running off the end into the long grass, with flaps I had it down and taxiing back at mid field on the first try.

It looks great in the air and is plenty aerobatic if you get bored with turn and burn. This is a plane that almost any pilot can fly with just a little practice. I'm thinking of calling it a "beginner's warbird" because it's the kind of plane that someone without much experience can get together and fly and have fun while looking good.

The cowl is about 10.5" wide and taller than that. The DLE-55 fits inside completely, nothing sticking out but the exhaust pipe.

I have compiled a long list of changes to make the plane more scale and easier to assemble, we're building a second prototype to test those changes out, then I am quite sure this will be a production plane before the end of this year.

TF

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

Nice, it looks great! What size prop are you using? Where do the wings separate?

rctom

I'm using a 22-10 prop and the DLE-55 has way plenty of power with it.

The wings come off completely like on an aerobatic plane. They recess into a well in the fuselage side and mount on a CF spar. The landing gear is in the wings and therefore comes off with the wings.

The fuse is only 64" long so this big old warbird can be carried in almost any vehicle.

The only difficulty is handling the round fuselage. It wants to roll around on the bench. I'm still deciding how to make a holder for it.

Another nice feature is the full length hatch which makes it really easy to work on the plane. I set the retracts up with quick-disconnects so assembling/disassembling is no harder than just connecting the servo extensions and the LG tubes. They are all polarized so it can't be done backwards.

TF

rctom

Oh, one comment about changes.

Those hideous pink anodized control horns are going away in favor of glued in double-sided fiberglass horns that won't be visible on the top. The rudder pull-pull is being moved to below the elevators where it will be less visible. The canopy is being changed to a more scale look, and the cowl will be available in a shorter version.

We are adding full balsa sheeting to the bottom of the fuselage and to the wings giving a much more scale appearance.

The DLE-55 is a very light engine, so on this plane the cowl was extended 2 inches to allow the engine to be mounted farther forward, this is one reason why the RTF weight is only 20 pounds. Pure scale guys will want a scale appearing cowl so we will have both setups available. If you want light weight and near scale appearance use the lengthened cowl, if you demand exact scale appearance then use the shorter cowl and you will need to use a heavier engine to get it to balance. A G62 or 3W 60 should do nicely. I expect the true-scale version will weight 22-23 lbs. and the longer cowl version should still come in under 21 lbs.

A few other details are being changed for the pure scale guys but nothing that will harm the flying qualities.

TF

Capt G

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks very much for the update. I was considering the RCS 1.50 radial which needs 10" diameter and 8.5 firewall to prop. Not sure if it would fit. It's a 9.5 lb engine.

rctom

I think it would fit but it's awfully heavy, I wouldn't use it.

I've been thinking about the Saito 450 3 cylinder radial. If it could be converted to gas it would be a very cool engine, or even glow if it's reliable. The Saito is only 6 lbs. so it would be just about right with the scale cowling, and with 75cc it ought to have plenty of power.

TF

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

I think I am going to use the OS GT-55 I have, it is 3.5 pounds. It sounds like it should perform pretty well in this airframe, probably hover too! What are your plans for the prototype when you are done with it?

rctom

The OS GT=55 would work fine.

At this point I have no plans for the prototype, but it will be a bit costly to ship and there's no telling what condition it will be in by the time I'm done with it.

Maybe contact me in a month or 6 weeks.

TF

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

Any more news? It was the subject of discussion for 5 of us during an after fly beer or 2 last night.

rctom

News about what? The Hellcat?

I am still flying the first prototype and I have a good friend who has been flying it as well. He's a better pilot than I am and he's been exploring the flight envelope. It would appear that the Hellcat is capable of flying IMAC basic at a minimum. Loops and rolls are no problem, hammerhead, point rolls, inverted flight, humpty-bump, half-cuban. I am not saying it's a competitive aerobatic plane but in the hands of a good pilot it has a lot of capability.

I received a lot of feedback here and from a few associates, one of whom is a top-gun class scale modeler. He gave me quite a few tips on making the scale looks more scale. I and the builder have been working on a second prototype which incorporates those and a bunch of other changes. We're trying to combine a scale appearance and still keep it light.

We are planning to have two cowls available. The original is 2" longer than scale, it was done that way to get the plane to balance with a light engine. But we will also now have one that is shorter, and in that case a heavier engine like a G62 or something like that will be a good choice. I am going for light weight while retaining maximum flexibility.

The second plane is supposed to be ready in July, so I still think I can get a production run done and into the country this year.

TF

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

Yes, I was asking about the F6F. It sounds really good, where do you draw the line for heavy versus light engine? I see the G62 is 2.3 Kg, the OS GT-55 is 1.59 Kg full up. Is that about what you were thinking, mass-wise?

rctom

Yes. Most of the "light" engines are in the 3-3.25 lb. range like DA-50, DLE-55, etc.

The heavyweights are like G62, most of the 3w engines, Fuji 64, and almost anything with a magneto. The pure warbird guys are accustomed to using these bricks because the engines in the full scale planes were heavy and therefore the planes' layout makes them tail heavy with a lightweight model type engine.

There are a lot of tricks that can be used. With a radial cowl the engine can be moved forward some. You can use a heavy spinner or nose weight, I'm having some heavy washers made that can bolt on to the front of a DA or DLE engine.

I am very much against putting lead on the motorbox because it requires twice as much weight to balance there as it does way out on the end of the crank.

TF

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

Is this the longer cowl for the lightweight engines?
<a href="{akamaiimageforum}/upfiles/12815/Kf13579.jpg">Kf13579.jpg
</a>

rctom

Yes, that's the long cowl.

rager24

My Feedback: (9)

So any news on the hellcat

rctom

Yes, important stuff is happening.

I made about a dozen changes to the design and the revised sample is on the way, it ought to be here by the end of this week.

Fully sheeted wing, revised canopy, revised fuse shape, shorter cowl, extended sheeting on fuselage, bigger flaps, wider ailerons, moved the air tank, different (glue in composite dual) control horns, changed position of rudder horns so you can't see them.

I will start a real thread on the F6F when I get this one in a few days.

TF

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

Sounds great, can't wait to see the new version!

show871

Any hellcat news?

rctom

I am working on assembling the revised plane, it looks great but I haven't had much time to work on it. I should have photos within a week.

TF

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

Any pics or news of the latest version?

rctom

I started a thread on the Hellcat, more info in http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10006924/tm.htm

Should be ordering planes very soon.

TF

Patto

Tom, any plans to have a new 85-100cc plane anytime soon? I am still flying a 40% Giles and it's the best, (blue/yellow scheme) but at some point I'm going to need something new. Just wondering if you're thinking about getting back into that part of the market again.

-Pat

lilpropslinger

how much is the]is edge wild hair?