aussiesteve

Background to this question
I have 2 teenage sons, both quite good fliers on my various prop planes - including some speed models, that I now want to get into Jets. They have flown my Eurosport (on a buddy box) but it is now time to get them into jets of their own for when I'm away from home (which is most of the time).

I now want to get them ducted fan models to get them started (No turbine endorsement required for these in Oz) so that they can practice while I'm away. they mostly fly from a grass strip when I'm not home (We are also members of a club that has a paved strip but is much further from home)

What models / Power units would you suggest? I'm open to all ideas on this as I have next to no experience with DF's - but plenty with prop planes and some with turbines. I'm looking for stable easy to fly, not huge dollars but suitable for training into the world of Jets.

fw190pilot

I would suggest something edf no fuel or needle valves to mess with and performance is as good or better as a turbine.

aussiesteve

Thanks fw190pilot - Any Suggestions on a setup?
I'm happy to consider all options, including electric.
(All but one of our F3A planes are electrics so I'm not against the idea)

Dave Burns

Hi Steve,
Are your boys living in Australia, and you commute to China for work, or are you all in China?
If in Australia on eastern side, say VIC NSW or QLD can put you in touch with plenty of guys to help out.

For your first DF, are you wanting a 'build' type kit ie all wood, foam cores etc or are you looking at glass type ships??

You can't go past the OS91DF engine and Ramtec fan, they are just brilliant straight out of the box(s).

regards
Dave Burns
IJMC Rep. Australia/nZ

aussiesteve

Hi Dave
The boys live in Australia (WA) and I Live in China with trips back around every 8 - 12 weeks. My turbines are all currently in storage until I get my Aussie turbine endorsement (I bought them over from the US when I departed there a year or so ago).
A build type kit would be ok if it is a quick build (otherwise I need to find someone that can build it for me and there are probably not too many good ones of them available in WA), "ARF" types are ok as well if they are from a reputable company.

fw190pilot

Well I am no expert might check tamjets bvm's website that might be a good place to get some ideas on setups.

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

Yellow Aircraft Starfire! O.S. .91 VRDF, Dynamax fan. Either a Jet Model Products tuned pipe or one from BVM. The one I had was equipped with that engine and fan and the BVM pipe. Very fast, very stable, and most important, easy to land. I used 5% nitro fan fuel which performed very nicely with that engine.

Ramtec fan also works extremely well with the O.S. engine.

http://www.yellowaircraft.com/jets/starfire.htm

KC36330

I'll second the the YA Starfire II, it is an excellent choice, and can also be converted to turbine later down the road.

kc

aussiesteve

Thanks guys - The Starfire is pretty much exactly what I had in mind. Now all I have to do is contact YA (Most unusual for a company to have a website and not an e-mail address) for more info on it (minor stuff like price, availability and whether or not they so international orders or have international distributors). There is a major timezone difference and if I rely on the fax - god knows what will happen to the reply when it comes in (We have the occassional "communication issue" here)

KC36330

Contact Shaun Evans here on RCU his screen name is YellowAircraft, he's one of their reps and you can get a better price from him then direct from YA.

kc

EDIT: a link to his site

www.yellowaircraftplanes.com

aussiesteve

Thanks KC

Tomcat_104

My Feedback: (42)

My 17 year old son started (when he was12) with a TGA F-15 equipped with a Byron's fan and an OS 91. It was great off of our grass field, so great that I bought a TGA Mig-29 and another Byron fan and OS 91 last year. If you can't find them here on RCU try EBay as well. I know the company is out of business but they're great jets that fly very well.

Good luck!