RE: Building the Mick Reeves Hawker Hunter
Dear Gordon, Many congratulations on your successful test flights, your Hunter looks magnificent, both on the ground and in the air. I hope to complete the painting and finishing of my Hunter within the next few weeks, but given the likely weather by then in the UK it may not get much flying until next spring, I envy you the weather you have to suffer!! When you next fly the model do you think you will be able to get more flying photos? Colin Straus
Posted on: 9/5/2006 10:47 AM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4712616

RE: Largest RC jet
To respond to the comments about flying the large C-17, it is anything but a handful, actually being a piece of cake to fly, however it is not suitable to fly from grass, as was identified at Rougham when due to the extra drag of the soft ground and wet grass. Due to this the model took a much longer run than usual to get airborne, and proceeded to run over a traffic cone, although the take off was completed safely. We tried later in the year to fly from another grass field, but with no wind the pilot, who should remain nameless but was in fact myself, misjudged the required take off run, and ran out of runway, thus damaging the undercarriage in the following excursion into a suger beet field. The Discovery flight was the first flight on the model, and due to the filming deadline had to be flown in less than ideal conditions with a 30mph gusty wind. Being such a unique model, the control throws could only be guessed at, and were in fact far more than was needed even at low rate, meaning that the landing was less smooth than intended. Pilot misjudgement caused the model to then roll off the side of the runway, which bent the noseleg, but this was the extent of the damage on this first flight. I would like to know about the other 3 mishaps to the aircraft, as I must have missed them, even though I am the sole pilot of the model! It is obvious that a model of this size has to be handled more carefully than a smaller model, however apart from having to be careful when judging when to flare for landing, and operating only from hard surfaces, the model really is very simple to fly indeed. It is extremely stable, requires no rudder input for smooth turns, suffers no trim change when the cargo doors open, and lands relatively slowly with the (very) effective flaps lowered. Colin
Posted on: 11/18/2005 12:06 PM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3564821

RE: Largest RC jet
More images attached. Colin
Posted on: 11/18/2005 6:24 AM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3564115

RE: Largest RC jet
There are two C-17 models on this side of the pond, the one shown is 1/10th scale and has been designed and built by Davie Matthews in Ireland, but at the time of writing has not yet flown. My C-17 is slightly larger, being 1/9th scale, and was designed and built during 2003, with the first test flight at the end of that year. It has now had almost 20 flights, and has flown at shows in the UK and Germany. Powered by 4 Jetcat P-120 turbines, it is 6.3 metre (20 foot 8 inch) wingspan and 5.9 metre (19 foot 4 inch) long, and weighs around 250lbs fueled (12.5 litres) and with cargo. Currently I think this is the largest airworthy jet model in the world - unless somebody knows better? It air drops a jeep on a pallet, as well as two R/C freefall parachutists, has smoke systems on the two inboard turbines, and has a Jetcat datalink system to a laptop computer, giving realtime airspeeds, turbine RPM and EGT details etc. I offered the model for sale recently, but no-one so far has been brave/mad enough to buy it! Hopefully there should be some images of the model attached to this post.
Posted on: 11/18/2005 6:19 AM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3564107

RE: Morris Hobbies Turbine Jet ARF?
I have spoken to Mick Reeves about this model and been advised by Mick that it is nothing to do with him. He had just become aware that someone had copied his Super Reaper design and produced it as an ARF, but had not found which company was selling it. Now he is aware that Morris Hobbies is selling this copy he will be taking action on two fronts, these being that the design has been copied, and his model name has also been used, leading customer's to believe this is a Mick Reeves model. The name Reaper was originally used by Mick for an earlier turbine trainer, with the styling being (very) loosely based on that of the F-117 Stealth Fighter. This resulted in a particularly unattractive model, with the resultant lack of sales. Mick then designed the Super Reaper, which is the current larger and less unattractive model that Morris Hobbies have now copied. I built an example of the Super Reaper a couple of years ago for a review printed in Radio Control Jet International magazine. Colin Straus
Posted on: 10/21/2004 12:18 PM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=2274484

RE: Mick Reeves Venom
Good luck with the test flights, however you shouldn’t need too much luck as the Venom flies superbly! I built the one that was reviewed in RC Jet International back in early 2001, and it is still flying very well some 3 1/2 years later. It was flown initially with a Sophia 850, but following problems with this engine a RAM 500 was installed. With this smaller and less powerful turbine the model is perfectly balanced, being fairly light and adequately powered. It has flown off grass and tarmac without problems, and with[image][/image] the flaps down at 80 degrees the approaches and landings are smooth and slow. The most recent flight was yesterday at the Raydon Scale flyin in Suffolk, flying off roughish grass, where it performed a superb flight in light wind conditions I would make one suggestion, and that is to box in the nosewheel assembly completely so that the nosewheel cannot throw grit, grass etc up into the fuselage where it WILL get drawn into the turbine. I moulded a full intake ducting system with bypass and thus avoid this problem, but after every flight I find material has been thrown up by the nosewheel into the forward fuselage. I have attached a couple of photographs of the model taken by Alex Whittaker from RCM & E magazine a couple of years ago. Colin Straus
Posted on: 9/27/2004 7:49 AM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=2205677

RE: Giant Globemaster!!
Dear All, Thank you for all the kind comments about the model, we have been very pleased with the reactions of those few people that have seen the model when we have been test flying. To answer a few of the questions; This model is not that built by Davie Matthews, it is a completely separate model designed by myself and built by me and the other three guys in one of the pictures, it was built for the Supermodels T.V. series in the U.K. We have full scale flaps and with these down at the 40.5 degrees landing position the model slows dramatically. We have installed the Jetcat Data-Link system and have recorded flight speeds from a high of just over 90 MPH in full power level flight down to a low of around 50 MPH clean with no flap. We have not yet checked the flight speed with flaps deployed. We have smoke systems fitted on the two inboard turbines and can air drop a scale Land Rover vehicle on a pallet under a parachute. We have also got two radio control free fall parachutists we will be dropping at shows. During the last flying session we also installed four cameras onto the aircraft for in flight filming, one being visible at the top of the fin. the film from these cameras was quite amazing! I understand the 15 part television series is available on video and DVD, the website to look for is www.trainspotting.tv Please be aware that only around 30% of each programme is on the C-17, the rest concentrates on other unusual models, ranging from steam engines to submarines, etc, etc. The last programme of the 15 includes film of the first test flight. It is likely that there will be a further programme out later this year which will show the later flights, along with the Land Rover drop and on-board film. As soon as we have completed the test flying programme required by the U.K. CAA we intend to fly the model at model shows around the U.K. and Europe. Colin Straus
Posted on: 5/28/2004 12:49 PM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=1853598

Giant Globemaster!!
Thought a few of you may be interested in some information and images of the large C-17 Globemaster I built for the U.K. T.V series Supermodels. The model has now had three very successful flights and we are due to fly again this weekend. Scale is 1/9th, with a total wingspan of over 21 foot. Weight fuelled is around 240 lbs, and it is powered by four Jetcat 120 turbines. We have opening cargo doors, and have dropped a Land Rover model on pallet on the second flight. Equipment includes 5 Futaba PCM receivers, 20 servos, 16 battery packs, on-board air compressor, etc, etc. I hope the images appear, as this is the first post I have made on R/C Universe. Colin Straus
Posted on: 5/27/2004 12:36 PM by Author "ColinS" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=1850648