Mike! I just saw the video of your 105 and Vance Gilberts' jet flying along. Yours was amazing as you couldn't see the pusher propulsion at all. We need another video of yours flying so we can see the whole thing. A thing of beauty. Great job! -Dan
Guys who can make Guillows kits fly good on rubber power are the true magic wizards of model building. I always wondered how Guillows managed to gene-splice balsa trees and tungsten together and come up with balsa wood that's harder and denser than concrete.
Usually just a short length of 1/16" square strip stock (leftovers from the kit's stringers work just fine). Tack-glue it to the trailing edge of the surface you're trying to adjust. For more info see the NFFS technical library here (recommend starting with the "gurneyflapinuse" article): www.freeflight.org/betterdocs-search/?n=gurney&cat=565. Lots of other great stuff in that library as you explore more of the hobby (props, rubber, trimming, etc.).
Bravo on the build and the flight! I built this kit per instructions using the supplied nose cowl! My plane is seemingly tail-heavy. Any suggestions for a first-timer? I have not had much luck with putty to this point. Thanks for the inspiration!
Use scrap balsa to build up a solid mount attached to the fuselage to hold a removable noseblock - the cowl is too flexible and won't let you make deterministic thrust adjustments. Move the motor peg forward a bit, this helps balance the model by reducing the amount of rubber aft of the CG. Lastly, replace the kit prop with a 6" prop from Peck (www.wind-it-up.com/) or Easy Built (easybuiltmodels.com/) and use two loops of FAI SuperSport 3/32" rubber (available from above suppliers). The kit is basically sound, but these mods will make it easier to get longer flights.
Very nice. Reminds me of the F-102 catapult gliders my dad built in the early 60s. Not nearly as detailed or nicely decorated as yours, but they flew really nice.
Looking pretty good, Mike...but I need to see this in person because the launch and transition are difficult to judge from video. Try to not lose it before I show up, ok? (*grin*) Incidently, I think I see some similarity between Tony's airfoil choice and the Hobbizone Discus launch bird- both suppress the highspeed pitchup. One of these days soon JetCat will be taken over by vertical climbs, of that I'm fairly certain.
I just cropped the canopy, lettering and tail insignia from this profile: 1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Visschedijk/Additions/EFW_N-20.2_Arbalete_side-view.htm. Hope yours flies well!
@@thebalsaboy There's a blueprint showing the gear door locations in the first post of my build thread here: www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4032995-ABAK-Arbalete-Catapult-Glider.
@@michaelkelly7338 ah, thank you. I already finished it but I might add it on. The files didn’t work for tissue printing so I airbrushed on decals, turned out great.
Very nice job and very respectable all up weight. She is beautiful. I built the same kit when I was in high school in the early 70s, didn’t take long to get it all together, it was one of my first, took it outside on a windy dayto test launch off the back patio, and before I could release the plane, the wings had folded from the wind. Isn’t that how we learn?
Thank you! I built many Guillow's kits as a kid, at ~$6.00 a pop. Most hung from the ceiling and looked good, the couple I tried to fly, just didn't work. And what did you use for that realistic pilot?
nice job on the plane and flight. i built quite a few guillows kits as a boy in the early 60's. i never had good luck with the rubber power because the planes ended up being too heavy so we would put small cox motors on them to fly with control line or freeflight or use them as a static display on a desk or hung from my bedroom ceiling. the last one i remember making was a japenese zero.
That was awesome! Nice creation…thank you for sharing…I used to see the sole surviving Skyshark at Chino Airport in Southern California many years ago when we would visit the airport and walk around on the tarmac…it was in a side gate area for one of the warbird restoration outfits there but never really did anything except collect dust…then it disappeared…found out a few years later it was moved and static display restored down in San Diego at Gillespie Field
Thanks - it's a fun little model, still throw it up every now and then. One of these days I'd like to do a bigger one, maybe about 30" with a contraprop up front.
Great looking and flying model as it should be since it's the simplest version of the Comet Sparky. Of note (unless I missed seeing it) is the lack of a wire LG reinforcement. That was an idea which, I feel, would have suited many more models, especially those with WS under 20 inches. What a great little park flyer!
Thanks Larry. No wire in the gear, just pins for axles and a couple bamboo pegs to strengthen the strut-fuselage joint. Although they're the same size and similar layout the Fury is completely different in structure, airfoils (both wing and stab) and construction. Fury is much lighter than the Sparky due to less wood for all the framework. I like them both!
PLEASE tell me you have your name and contact information on that Fury... and again, you're convincing me that I don't want a free-wheeling prop. It needs SOME dethermalizing even if nothing goes wrong...and I'd rather not HAVE to build another one right away! Good stuff, Mike.
Thanks Craig, it's a heck of a flyer. I'm thinking about picking up one of the band-burner DTs if I can't get the viscous dampers to work, haven't had much luck with those. And yes, I've stamped name and number on the fuselage...
@@michaelkelly7338 It has to be the most overlooked iconic model design of all time. There should be one in the NASM along with a Cox PT-19 and looped videos of them flying. The Phantom Fury is the epitome of " If it looks right, it will FLY right". It was an instant classic from the moment it was created. It ought to be the centerpiece of an Industrial Design course at MIT. And in MOMA.
I've built a few of these over the years and they always deliver great flights. I lost one out of sight in a thermal when I was a kid. I was crushed, but then I bought and built another one. Great bird, yours looks terrific!
