All dressed up as XX217 of 63 Squadron TWU at Chivenor in 1989 this 56" wing span foamie EDF Hawk reached for the sky for the first time last Saturday.  It was blowing a good 20knots but you would hardly believe it by the way that this bird behaved. Totally viceless! I dispensed with a conventional u/c and fitted a minimal fixed one with steerable nosewheel, the idea being to make the aircraft operable from both hard runways and grass, at the same time saving weight and space and reducing drag by filling in the cutouts for the retracted wheels in the wings and fuz. T.O. and landings are also made easier as the aircraft is in maximum ground effect at these times. The first couple of flights were made from the paved peri-track at RAF Shawbury but to prove the point take off for the third flight was from the grass which was well overdue for a mow. 6S lipo cells powered the stock 1600kv motor driving the Wemotec fan.

Well, we must know each other then????? We elected to not fly due to the thunderstorms and lightning.

 Looks great, will you be there next sunday?

Nice one John Jet

what was the flight time with the 6S ?

Hi Shaun. Well when you gotta go, you gotta go! I guess I was lucky with the weather, dry but very windy. Had the rain on Sunday and Monday,no chance then of flying. We have a big party on this coming weekend so no chance of flying. The weekend after we will be at Castle Howard for their 3 day Fly-In. I look forward to meeting up with you soon though.

David. I deliberately restrict my flight times to a maximum of 4 mins. The model carries 6x3300mah cells in series (2 banks of 3 Polyquests rated at 25C). The re-charge after the first flight of about 3mins indicated 2560mah had been replenished, but as well as the flight there was the usual extended ground power checks etc.. The second 2300 and the third 2180 used. Only about 1/2 of the flight times were at full power the rest at about  70 to 75% I prefere to take it easy with new packs. I pay a lot of attention to cooling, in this case the nose of the Hawk is opened up by about 3/4 of an inch, consequently the batteries felt just comfortably warm after flying. Anyway I feel well satified after 4 mins flying a jet!  

Timbo. I am glad I went the way I did with the gear. It is a compromise on scale completeness I know but I wanted an easy to operate ship off tarmac and grass with good performance and space inside to hold everything comfortably that looks the part in the air. This does it for me. "I recommend it to the house!!"

Very nice indeed, like your wheel mod, I did something very similar with the Sabre, using wheels in the drop tanks [despite us having a tarmac runway, very few other people do, and I wanted to come up with a practical mod for grass fliers]. The Sabre is slightly more akward and I found bungee launch/drop tank landing was the best idea.

 It's nice to see these Hawks/Sabres being flown now the weather has improved, like you said, they are superb fliers, lot's of presence in the air.....turbine size [almost!] for less money than a set of retracts for a turbine! the new Mig 29 is out, with TWIN fan's.....hmmmm, we shall have to see!

I maidened my hawk at Sandhays on Sunday, using the stock retracts on a short grass strip, I miss timed the flair on the first landing and bent the wheeles but a pair of pliers had her back in the air, I reinforced the plywood mounts an raisd the nose leg (on a wedge) to get the AOA correct, she's a fine bird and adding a ridder (very simple) gives sharp 4 point rolls. As for the undercarriage I'm going to replace the questionable metal with piano wire and see what happend, failing that belly land it in the long grass retracts up ?

Yet another great purchase (after the 4S F16) from Scott.

I really fancy an airliner next, can you find me one Scott ?

 video here ....

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boq7TrYVDCw

Turbine.....the HET range are very good [4-6s]....after that, Iv'e watched people try this, schubler fan, motor, 10s packs......before you know where you are...your in turbine territory money wise.....with 3 min flight times! Despite all the advances in e-flight, you have to draw the line somewhere. Fly Fly foamie's can stretch up to 8s set up's with glassing,  Tamjet EDF's and the like.....stunning, but I'm really struggling with the money side of it.

I am desperate for a KMP Hawker Typhoon......but it's getting a 26cc petrol engine in it, electric at that level is difficult to justify in my opinion. I don't hide the fact that I loath glow engines, and would never go there, but petrol is reliable and inexpensive, turbines are reliable, sound glorious, are very easy to operate.....er, but are expensive!

 Having said that......was offered an English Electric Lighting for £700 yesterday.....omigord.......wife/turbine/wife/turbine......decisions, decisions.

 Hate to say it.......but I DO know of a gorgeous Vampire kit........EDF 90mm.......want to know more?

Scott, I'm all ears!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all, where can i get one of these Hawks from?

Cheers

Chris.

Good to see so many now interested in EDF, i started with the Fly-Fly Sabre, brilliant, i like the retracts once one gets them working properly, what do you expect for £30?

My next  EDF is the Yellow Aircraft Stingray, look on flightline graphics for a pic, even with 12 cells 150mph performance i still get a solid 6 minute flight.

 Anyone heard anything about the new generation LI-Po cells, supposed to be lighter more power and probably more expensive?

Happy landings,

Derek