aparchment

So what do you guys think --- I have a BVM Mig 15 kit that I am undecided on. For the last year and a half I have been unsure as to what to do with it. It would make a great scale model, but with a lot of effort. It would also make a great sport model with significantly less effort. Finally it would make a great sale item.

Anyway it is sitting in my workshop and I am tempted to build the flying surfaces. I really like the BVM wing build kits. The balsa bandit was great.

So what is the consensus -- keep and build as scale, keep and build as sport, build flying surfaces and sell or just sell?

Let the opinions roll guys.

Antony

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

Anthony,
Do you have the landing gear? I have a brand new BVM scale landing gear system (retracts, wheels, brakes, door cylinders, etc.) available. It's the complete system BVM sells less the main struts, which are available from BVM.

If you decide to build I can offer it to you at a significant savings.

Let me know.
Joe

dribbe

Hello,

I will just say it is a lovely competition machine....

Drives like a truck on the ground... runs straight down the runway.
Very stable in the air.... realistic moves, holds heading, and makes you look good.

Yes, it is a lot of work... but...

I am repairing and improving mine now for more competition...

my 2 cents....

David

aparchment

LOL! I was wondering if you would weigh in on the fate of "your baby" David. Ever since seeing yours up here in Maine I have liked the plane. It just deserves special attention. Definitely not something I am willing to rush through to get ready this season, particularly with all of my other building commitments. What is going on with you these days? How is work? Are you still in NJ? Do you stay in touch with Kohler?

Joe -- thanks anyway, but I have everything for it.

Antony

Crazy4Flight

My Feedback: (540)

options I have answers
1)It would make a great scale model, but with a lot of effort.
You wife and kids may want to see you before Christmas
2)It would also make a great sport model with significantly less effort.
And have the guys at the field rib you about less effort?
3)Finally it would make a great sale item.
A lot of trouble Q&A low bids buyer back out ARRRG!!!

You should go with option #4:
Send the kit to me. I will take it off your hands at no charge! This will free you from worry, hassle, clean up the workshop, more time to fly, and leave your wallet in tact 'cause you won't be spending the kids college tuition money to complete the MIG-15.

Bob

TonyF

My Feedback: (92)

The MiG 15 was my first turbine jet, and the first jet I ever built myself. It is a LOT of work. The construction is quite a bit more time consuming then the balsa bandit or the bobcat. Also, the landing gear area needs to be beefed up. Drop one in a bit, and you'll crack the sheeting of the wing. There are no flex plates, and with the swept back main gear, there is a lot of twisting of the wing structure in a hard landing. I had to repair mine a couple of times, and during the last repair I beefed it up, and it seemed to work. I'm not sure it would be a good model to fly off a rough grass field. I'm not sure the wing would take the beating.

Now, having said that, it is a really sweet flying jet. There's just about no way to not fly this model smooth. It's not a wild aerobatic model, I never snapped or spun mine, just too chicken. But for smooth, realistic flight it can't be beat. And the ground handling as Dave mentioned is outstanding. The low slung wide stance gear is really stable. I almost think I could close my eyes on a take-off, it's that easy.

As to building it scale or sport, I did mine sport and I liked it. But I honestly think resale value would have been higher if it had been scale.

My advice, if you enjoy a building project, put it together. You'll love the way it flies.

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

I've seen Tony's fly with "Bags" at the controls - the MiG looks very scale in the air and very smooth, also presents very well. Like Tony said, reinforce the gear mounts in the wing (great job on the repair, Tony! looks good).

I am thinking about getting one eventually - I hear BVM is developing an "AFS" style kit version?

barry

rpmtech

My Feedback: (6)

Thats what I'm talkin about, problem solved.

DavidR

My Feedback: (1)

Antony,

Build it scale, take you rtime and enjoy the build and don't rush it. This is supposed to be a hobby for our relaxation and I have found with scale planes that the time I spend fitting and piddling with the airplane pays off in a lot of enjoyment, and a great looking airplane. Look around at the events you don't see many scale planes and the ones you see draw the attention.

aparchment

Hey David, Tony, Dave et al:

You guys are convincing me to take my time and build a nice scale airplane. I think that I will do the flying surfaces this winter then turn my attention back to my sport planes for flying season. You're right David, it is supposed to be about relaxation and enjoyment. I have been walking into the workshop a lot more stressed lately than I should be, as a result my patience is significantly less than needed. There is no reason to add more stress by rushing this. Thanks guys. Perspective is a good thing.

Do you all have suggestions for good documentation for the MIG? One of my local guys is building the Composite Arf Mig, so I will also check with him to see what he is using.

Tony, if you read this again could you tell me more about how you reinforced the wing to reduce the likelihood of damage from "hard arrivals." Thanks. Your comments about flying off of rough grass are duly noted. I have access to pavement for takeoff, but we have to land on grass.

Antony

sirrom

My Feedback: (4)

aparchment,
Be warned the Mig wing is nothing like building the bobcat wing. The mig wing will take you a considerable amount of time and you will have to study the plans very very carefully during the construction process. As far as beefing up the wings I flew with a guy who had done it and he had put a layer of kevlar in the area of the wheel well and into surrounding bays to help strengthen it. He had also considered 2-4oz fiberglass cloth or carbon fiber but he went with the kevlar. He had no problems with cracked sheetings on a hard landing. The mig is a very beautiful jet and from what I have seen they seem to fly quite well. Have fun with it.

Patrick.

RCpropo

My Feedback: (1)

Antony,

I made a BVM Mig15 which it went to a friend. It is the most tedious BVM plane I assembled, but it is very enjoyable. It is a very stable airplane and flight very smooth, landings are easy, do points rolls, spins, inverted flight, loops.

I recommend to use giro for rudder/steering system, and think light using glue and finish. It is a Nice airplane.

Rick

Ehab

My Feedback: (44)

Hi Antony:

Gordon has been building my BVM Mig 15 for almost two years now. IT is a very involved building project, not difficult just tidious. The stabs are very hard to keep dead straight and the balsa pieces are tiny to build with. IT also gets very busy inside when it is all stuffed in there. I think it is a little too small (now that I have it).

Having said that, I saw TonyF fly his and he flys it nice and easy and scale like. I love the shape of the mig 15 and I may go for the Comp. ARF mig 15, but I heard the LG does not work as advertised. May be you can tell me about that.

Good luck!

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

It certainly is an involved project, compared to the other BVM kits. Just to put the above in perspective though, in the same two years that the Mig has been worked on (on & off) I have built 3 Bobcats, 2 Super Balsa Bandits and 3 prop planes.

I took the time to talk to Tony & John Redman about the kit before starting it, and got advise on strengthening the wing for the landing gear as mentioned above. Right now one wing is completely sheeted, and the other is just awaiting its top sheet - which means that the Lite-ply additions that I made (as suggested by the above guys) is still visible. I can take a photo or two if you wish.

The stab is kinda like building a Guillows kit, in terms of the size of parts etc. I think I got a slight twist in one that is half-sheeted, so I need to go back and rework that.

Biggest issue for me, was the intake ducting. It comes in 4 parts, and you join two together to make the left duct, and two for the right. When I joined the parts together I found that the radius of the "lip" created was significantly less than the corresponding part in the front of the fuselage - so these parts would not go together. I've spent countless hours so far building the lip up and reworking the ducts to get them to fit the fuz. When parts like that bug me, I put the kit aside (to stop me taking a sledge hammer to it), which is another reason for this being an extended build project. I'm almost finished my replacement Super Bandit wings, then back to the Hunter, so maybe in another 9 months or so Ehab will get his Mig. Given that he hasn't even put any primer on the last 2 kits I built for him, I don't think he's in an almighty hurry ! Sorry Ehab -- couldn't resist !! You can get me back later.

BTW, re the scale info. A friend of mine sold his full-size Mig last year ... not sure if he has many detail photos of his plane, but I'll ask.

Later,
Gordon

Silver182

My Feedback: (2)

Build it you'll love it..... the Kevlar / Glass wing skin / wing rib reinforcement is a must, unless you don't mind going back into the wing and beefing it up piece meal later. Tony's repair which included adding panels with rivets to the top of the wing, was very creative. It looked as if that was just the way he'd built it from the beginning...

I have discovered pitch control / CG is much easier to manage if you re-plumb the fuel system so as to empty the large forward located hopper tank first, then burn of the saddle tanks. After the first four minutes of flight CG moves aft perfectly. The stab & elevators are small, and until the front tank is totally empty proper pitch control at slow speed is difficult at best. As fuel burns off the elevators become more effective, you'll know you've got it right when you can hold a nose high flair at a surprisingly slow speed just before touchdown.

Another thing I unwittingly discovered is that it's a good thing to fly the MIG with the fuel tanks attached firmly to the wings. I had an air leak develop at one of the wing root quick connect points. It was sneaky little leak, I checked the air system just before this flight! Well, you guessed it at about the 7 minute mark in this flight it was time to get the down and locked, and they didn't even move!! Not even a gear door opened. So I had no choice but to land gear up. I made the approach almost running on fumes, and luckly touched down very soft, slid to a stop down the runway. Yep, the tanks took all of the damage and that was limited to nice even skid marks on the bottoms of each tank. Only one very small skid mark on the bottom of the fuselage and no other damage to be found. I flew a couple flights after that with the gear down and locked just because I didn't want to cut that day short.

You'll love the way the MIG handles flies like it's one a rail, and yes it will do snap rolls just leave yourself some extra room for recovery. Knife edge flight even with only lower rudder operative is possible after the front hopper tank is empty.

The satisfaction that comes from building and flying the BVM MIG is next to none. A lot of work to be sure but well worth it.
Lee H. DeMary
AMA 36099

Ehab

My Feedback: (44)

Gordon, Gordon:

You did such a beautiful job on my BC XL and Balsa SB that I can not get my self to cover your work with ugly primer and paint

9 months from now when you have the BVM MIG 15 done, I will be flying the comp ARF MIG 15.....MAY BE


You should be proud of me, Almost done with the King cat.... I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks[&:]

aparchment

Hey Lee:

Good story on saving the plane with the wing tanks! One of our guys out east, Glen Robinson, saved his bandit the same way. That was one of the reasons I decided to build tanks for mine (plus the visibility of course). Paint jobs are too time consuming to wreck them for silly system failures.

Ehab, I will check with my local guy to see what he says about the gear. He is a real craftsman and could probably make anything work, but he is also a straight shooter and will let me know if he has is not impressed with

You guys who are flying this plane -- did you use the scale main struts or the sport struts?

Antony

Q8SABRE

My Feedback: (3)

Any news on the BVM new & improved mig15?

Silver182

My Feedback: (2)

Antony,
The scale mains work fine, I included everything except the (appearance only actuator / locking tube. Keep the main struts lubed because it is essential the spring loaded system extends completely with no binding in the airborne no load condition. If the struts don't extend completely, the gear doors can hang!! I found this out during my initial bench testing.

NOTE: The strut springs that come from BV are perfect for the lighter D/F version, but not the heavier turbine version. When you load the bird up with turbine goodies you need to replace the original springs with stronger ones. Call Century Spring Co. Inc. 1-213794-1468 ask for a couple of samples!!! They've been sending them free..... stock number NN-79... cut the new stronger springs to the same length as the originals. Now with full fuel the bird sits up just right, and you've actually got some spring action remaining...
Lee H. DeMary
AMA 36099

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

geez Lee how long have you had that MIG?

All my planes live fast and die young.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Here are some old pics I found that show some of the construction.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

... and here are some pics of the mods. Note that these mods are my interpretation of what John Redman & TonyF told me - they have not seen the actual mods in order to say " Yup - that's what we meant", or "You dumb SOB, that's not what we told ya!" ... so maybe they would care to comment here before you blindly follow my lead
[Edit - fix tag]

Silver182

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Matt,
Got my fingers crossed as we speak, this will be the forth season. Not that many flights though, the P-80 installed from new only has about 13 hours tt. Humm 13 X 60 = 780 divided by 14 mins = 55 , minus time for fooling around shoot I barely have 50 flights on the bird. Got on the bird on Superman video early on maybe that was the first year 2000. Watch those cross wind landings.......
Lee

TonyF

My Feedback: (92)

That would be wrong Gordon. I'm not sure what John told you, but I recommended the lite ply to be used as spar webs, not in between the ribs as you have it there. And the ply webs would go on the edge of the spars, not in between them like the balsa webs shown in the kit.

The problem is that in a hard landing, the wing wants to twist, which tries to separate the spars. The balsa spar webs split, the spars flex out, and the wing sheeting cracks. The lite ply webs add some more strngth to this. I never broke a spar in any of my incidents, eeven when the RAM 750 flamed out right after take-off, and the landing in the rough tore out the mains. But the flexing would crack the sheeting and cause an annoying repair. Even John had to fix my MiG from one of his landings!

Hope this clears it up.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

G'day Tony,

I do in fact have lite-ply shear-webs on the front edge of the spars, on the inner rib bays where the gear is. The balsa webs are on the bays from rib 6 outwards.

So, with any luck I have what you recommended and what John recommended. (I got a bunch of good info from you guys, but it was a a while ago so that I don't recall exactly who said what). I've PM'd John to ask him to have a quick look at the mods shown in the pic. If he didn't recommend them, then I guess I'll just remove them

Thanks for the feedback,

Gordon