Jack28

My Feedback: (19)

I am thinking of buying myself a late Christmas Present now that I've finished my shopping and the holiday has passed,I have decided that I want to do an F-16 as my next project. I want a the 1/8 scale size and require that it be able to fly mostly off of fairly smooth low cut grass. I have been looking at all three of the popular manufacturers, Skymaster, Tam, and the Jetlegend. I will be buying the kit version, in plain white or the gray camo scheme. They all look very nice , the Jet legend gear looks awesome, but how do you think it will survive on grass strips?, The Skymaster is interesting ,in that you can mount a small engine like the Artes Super bee in the tail, without a tailpipe. The Tam seems very popular and the instuctions and support should be good from what I have read. They all probably fly nice , so its tough decision, maybe someone has experience with all three and can help me decide, Thanks for your input ,Happy Holidays!, Jack

Chris Smith

My Feedback: (2)

It might depend on the engine you have. If you are using a P-60 or P-70 size I would go for the TAMJET version. It's an amazing value with TAMS usual quality accessories, and extensive testing. I have a new Skymaster version which is bigger. I got it so I could put an AMT 180 in it. It is more like 1/7 scale.
Chris

Jack28

My Feedback: (19)

Chris ,Thanks ,I was thinking Artes Super Bee, since I already own Artes Falcon and love it. I didn't know the Skymaster was bigger . Thanks For the info, Jack

tony5548

Jack George ,Skymaster is a good choice,I use the P-60 feel power full.Wishes the Christmas day to be joyful, has a happy Present.

[link=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1967366806896902553]MY F-16 SMOKE SHOW[/link]

SKYPILOT

My Feedback: (9)

Hi Jack,

My vote is for the Jetlegend. I just received the first one in the USA and i'm very impressed with it so far. The scale gear is the bizitchinst gear iv'e ever seen. Strong looking, light feeling and smooth as silk. As to grass opps, i could be wrong on this since it has not to my knowledge been grass tested yet, but i think the design of the scale gear might actually hold up better then convintinal struts. My thoughts are that, the scale gear has three struts on each side coming down in a triangle truss shape, and since the leading one is angled back, they might soal up the hits better, or with less tendency to bend aft. And the spring rates on the mains and the nose are dual rate, so this might work better too.. Just guessing right now, but time will tell soon, as these new ones start hitting the sky.

Jack28

My Feedback: (19)

Thanks Scott, I really like the scale gear on the Jetlegend, but it as you have said has not been tested, I would hate to have and change it out if it did not hold up on grass. Thats part of the problem deciding on one of these three jets, they are all good kits. How does the the size of the Jetlegend compare in relation to the Tam kit? Where did you order your kit from? How is the finish and fit? Thanks Jack.

SKYPILOT

My Feedback: (9)

Jack,

I don't have a clue what the measurements of Tams new composite one are. I breifly looked at one of his reps new composite one at the last jet rally, but did'nt ask questions. The Jetlegend one is exactly the same size as the current Cermark/older Tam one. The ones with built up surfaces. I have a Cermark one and compaired part for part right when i took the new Jetlegend one out of the box, and though the Jetlegend one is all composite, the size and shape of the parts are exactly the same. Well, not exactly. The airfoil is a little different on the Jetlegend wings and they have considerably more washout than the Cermark ones. Another neat feature on the Jetlegend wings is, the ailerons are scale, meaning, the LEX ends at the wings hinge line, and the aileron extends all the way to the fuse side. So the new ailerons have considerably more swept area, great for the landing configureation, and their scale

GoeKeli

My Feedback: (18)

Hi Scott, could you post some pictures of your JL F-16? The work and service from JL has got my interest lately. The Ailerons on the F16 are a must for me. I flew tams and it flew great just flying around but I could really notice that it rolled badly and point rolls were out of the question as was rolling manuvers. The cermark version was noticably better for me, rolls were more in controll. How is the glass work on this JLplane? How is the supplies hardware, are they instructions.

Joe

NickC5FE

My Feedback: (31)

For scale, and portability and flying characteristics i can tell you the tamjets is the BOMBBBBBBBBBB! It is an amazing performer that CANNOT stall! Fly safe, nick

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

Scott,
How much does the JL F-16 weigh? They don't list the weight on their website and I'm interested in how it compares to the other 1/8 scale alternatives.

Joe

ravill

My Feedback: (11)

Tam's gonna hate me for this but... He'll get over it.

I'd like to try the JL F-16 just for the gear. Tams little F-16's gear takes a beating though....

Raf

Gary Jefferson

My Feedback: (167)

I am not sure why you think that the more complex gear being used on the Jet Legend model would work better for grass since there a lot more parts on the Jet Legend gear that can break. Things that are more complex are rarely more reliable simply because of the parts count. While they look very nice that really doesn't translate into reliability, and having owned both of Tam's F-16's I can say that his gear are some of the most rugged landing gear you can buy and will take a lot of abuse. I am not sure how many flights you have on your F-16 but I put around 50 flights on Tams' original F-16 (balsa version) and also flew the composite version about 15 flights before it got cold this year which was enough for me to understand the differences between the two planes.

If you are seeing a difference between the two planes in their ability to do an axial roll then you likely have not setup the plane correctly because the composite version with tailerons rolls as well or better than the older balsa version. And, without any aileron leads to plug in at the field it makes it much easier to assemble.

In addition, the landings on the new composite version are much more manageable due to the fact that it has gear doors and will allow you to use throttle to control the touchdown point. With the doors open, the bottom of the fuse is also very open and the drag on the plane is substantial which is a big plus for controlling landing speeds. The balsa version has no drag because it has no flaps and no gear doors, and therefore nothing to help slow it down on landings. Landing with a quarter to half throttle to overcome the drag on the composite
F-16 is much better than just letting the plane glide in like the older version and just hoping it slows down. This extra drag makes it very easy to land on short runways.

The wing loading is a little higher on the new composite model which is a definite plus because it makes the plane much more stable in flight on a windy day than the lighter balsa version. Flying and landing in a 10-15 mph crosswind is very easy with the new composite version due to the extra weight.

Gary

mtnitro

My choice was to go with Tam Jets. I've built three F-16's. The first one was the balsa wing version and it flew great with the P60.
The landing gear that comes with it can take a beating. I flew it on grass fields with no problem and we do fly off of asphalt. Next was the composite version with no alerons. I was skeptical at first about not having alerons but Tam assured me it would fly better which it did. The landing gear was even better than the first version. This one flew great with a P60 in it. All manuvers were no problem. What I wanted it to do, it would do. Complete with smoke system and pilot cockpit the weight came in at 17 1/2 pounds. I bought a second composite because they fly so good. I'm going to put a P70 in that one. For technical support, and part service there's none better. I got mine without the manual. Tam sent pictures and promptly answered any questions I had while I was waiting for the manual. On the composite version without the alerons, I think it flies better than the version with the alerons. There are no bad characteristics with it. Even in 20 mile an hour cross winds it lands great. In the future I'd like to get an F-18. The reason I buy from Tam is because of the great technical and parts support.

mtnitro

Jack ,There was a person who had tams balsa version of the F-16 awhile back that flew off of a grass field.
He had a video on the forum of the F-16s takeoffs and landings. He said the landing gear is great.
I myself have flown off grass with tams F-16, with no problems.Its a great flying jet, hope this helps you.













Mike

Jack28

My Feedback: (19)

Wow , there is a lot of great info here, Thanks Everyone for your input on this ,I like the size ,simplicity, and overall good reports I am hearing on the Tam F-16, I most likely will go this route and put a Artes Super Bee in it, Hopefully this will be a good combo. and give me good performance. Thanks Jack.

Gary Jefferson

My Feedback: (167)

Jack, I have a Honda Element and can fit the composite F-16 in the back completely assembled. It is nice to be able to take it to the field in one piece, fuel it up and fly and then put it back in the car and go home w/o ever turning a wrench...Gary

GoeKeli

My Feedback: (18)

The Tams composite is way more heavy than the cermark/tams balsa wing version. I would guess at least 3 pounds more. My cermark/tams came to 15lbs even. All nice planes, some have better manuals than others!!! ROFLAO!!!!
Raf, I'd like to try that jetlegend gear as well, looks badasss!~!)Don't worry about what tam think, he's making a mint!

Joe

Turbulence

My Feedback: (76)

I guess it all depends how you loaded it up/build it and what you power it with. My Tam NON-composite F-16 with RAM 500 is 14.5lbs and that's with the scale cockpit

Turbulence

Gary Jefferson

My Feedback: (167)

.

Again, any additional weight is irrelevant on the composite F-16 and as I mentioned before the added weight is very beneficial in the air and on landings.

[8D]The other thing I like is that the finish on the composite F-16 is far superior to the monokote or whatever the older version is covered with that wrinkles every time the sun shines. The all painted composite version provides a much more scale appearance than wrinkled monokote...Gary

drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

Well Jack28 I am reading this and I am in the "wonder which way to go"
Tam is the only one that answered an e-mail. I love the looks of the Falcon.
Tom Cook live a mile or so from me, and In the ducted fan days I built most of the planes that he used. I did a lot of work on
the Starfire and Starfire II Manuals. I built one of the old JMP F-4 J's
When turbojets came along I got out. Now I am thinking of getting back in.