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Read the preface
March 24, 2008
Well, the order has been placed. I called Jet
Hangar Hobbies on Good Friday, knowing that they might not
be there... and they weren't, so I left a message. I had also
left a PM for Chris to tell him that I was ready to order. Chris
and I had exchanged messages about two weeks prior, me asking
questions about the JHH F-4 and him encouraging me. Well, Monday
afternoon a very nice young lady (Larry's wife??) called me back
and I logged on the the PC and started down my laundry list of
items to order. They included the plane, retracts, and a 12s version
of the eBax. She also gave me the name of someone that will manufacture
a nice set of scale struts (RC
Crafters). As a side note, I also ordered a set of 10s batteries
for a eBax that I purchased a year ago for my Father's F-86, which
is finally getting ready to fly this summer. Of course, my timing
is terrible on this purchase. Everyone is getting ready for the
Toledo show next week, so delivery will not be until the end of
April. Until then I've started purchasing all my documentation.
I've got books on order from Amazon and HLJ, which if nothing
else will give me something to read while I wait.
March 26, 2008
I e-mailed RC Crafters and got excellent response from them. I've
got a quote in my had for the scale struts, modifications to the
pivot block, and wheels. In order to get them I have to mail them
the retract units, so nothing can happen until I receive them
in late April. Which works out fine since RC Crafters is busy
until that time period anyway. Paint scheme is still a little
up in the air. I was originally thinking of going with VF114 Aardvarks,
which has a nice orange stripe on the top... handy for visualization
top/bottom. There are a lot of images on the web of VF114 phantoms,
plus some side views in books. 
VF51 Screaming eagles (at the top of the page) has enough color
topside to help with top/bottom visualization too, and is a classy
paint scheme. The CAGs ride is more colorful, and Pro-Mark has
dry transfers for this scheme, although they are for the larger
size phantom from BVM. I think they could "shrink" them
for me easily enough. I'm leaning toward the VF-51 scheme... it's
just so cool!
April 14, 2008
I had to call JHH this morning to check on the estimated ship
date, not because it's "getting late" but because I'll
be out of town for a few days and I didn't want a package sitting
on my porch with no one to bring it in. Well, it was a nice surprise
to hear that they will be shipping it today or tomorrow. I can't
wait !! I'll have my father stop by a few times, just in case,
but I expect I'll be back just before it arrives.
April 21, 2008
Right on time... DHL stopped by the house today at 1:09PM
with a large box that needed my signature. Of course I wasn't
available, so he left a note on the door with a request for release
signature form. Missed him by 10 minutes. I could have kicked
myself!! Fortunately, he stopped back about 4:00. Said there were
some packages that he just didn't want to haul back and forth
(I could have kissed him! Well, almost.). I didn't get a chance
to open it until today and I must say that JHH did a fine job
of packing it all up. Lets see... first impressions. Kit appears
complete, nice hardware package. The formers look nice. I haven't
checked the foam cores yet but I don't expect any issues there.
The glass work on the fuse looks nominal (nominal is good... means
I got what I expected with no surprises). Time will tell if there
are a lot of pin holes, but it looks pretty good. I'll have a
little work to do on the seam but that's expected. It's not a
huge model but I'll bet it will look great in the air. The instructions
look complete with a nice set of rolled drawings.
May 19, 2008
Today I received the 12s fan.
June 18, 2008
Some interesting things have happened over the last month.
I've sent my landing gear off to RC Crafters to have a set of
scale gear made for the F-4. Their communication has been great,
though they are not fast (and I'm not complaining, I was told
up front that these are custom made on an "as ordered"
basis). I expect to see them later this month or early in July.
I also looked harder at the Stumax fan. I just love the sound
(or lack there of) so much that I just had to order one. I already
have the e-bax 12s, so I'm not sure what I'll do with that yet,
but I think I'll be pleased with the decision to go with the Stumax.
It will require a little modification to the duct work... hope
I'm up to that. As for the JHH kit... I've been pouring over the
plans, now neatly laid out on the pool table, and I've read through
the instruction 3 times at least. I'll probably start construction
on some of the minor items next month.
August 12, 2008
Recent pictures.
September 17, 2008
Today I received the modified landing gear from RC Crafters.
I'll post a picture soon.
November 24, 2008
Let me start by posting a few pictures...
Pictures above show the retracts from RC
Crafters. Nice gear, as you can see.
Images above show one of the wingtips in "rough form"...
basically glued together with little carving done. The second
image shows one of the wingtips sanded about 80% completed. The
tips are a nice solid construction built from two layers of balsa,
cross grain. Some of the wood is HARD and shaping is tough. I
ned to find a power tool <G>. I did find an error in the
wingtip root template, it's too long. I did some measuring and
sanding and I think I've got it fixed. Basically, you need to
shorten the TE by about 3/8 inch.
I received some great news today... Stumax said that my
fan should ship this week!
January 12, 2009
Once again time has flown past. Actually, I had to get past
the holidays before much could take place. I've also fallen into
"paralysis by analysis" mode. It happens from time to
time with me. I start agonizing over details so much that nothing
happens on the model. So... onward. I was hoping to have the intakes
glued to the fueslage last week, but it didn't happen. Getting
the intakes lined and fitting the intake ducts has taken a bit
of fiddling. Should be done this week. I've duplicated the M1
former so I can extend the fan mounting rails. The Stumax will
be moved back between 3 and 4 inches from the plans, however I've
made the rails long enough that I could install the e-turbax in
the original location if I ever need to. It's my hope that at
the end of this week I can post some pictures of the installed
fan and ducts.
February 4, 2009
Progress. I need to get a few pictures in here... let's see...
We have the mounts in place for the fan, as you can see. (edit: details added here) Since I decided to
go with the StuMax fan I needed to make some changes. I duplicated
the M1 motor former and made new rails that are 7" long (see
photo). These are longer than I need because I wanted the ability
to put the turbax in if I wanted to. So I can keep the turbax
in it's original location OR put the stumax behind it (shown in
the photo). It was also Stuarts suggestion to move the fan back
further to help with CG and give a nice straight section in front
of the fan. I also have the inlet extensions installed,
though they need to be faired in a little bit better. Not show
yet (I'll take more pictures tomorrow) are the intake ducts, which
are ready to be glued together. The hatch is also lined and only
needs a little more fitting to be completed. I made a template
of the wing using cardboard so I could get the foam cores marked
for the landing gear plates. Double checking things, I found that
the main gear struts are about 5/8" longer than shown on
the plans. Good thing I checked, but I should have checked earlier.
I'll modify to plates a little and move the location of the LG
pivot point out 5/8". Hope the plane doesn't look silly with
longer gear legs, though I doubt it will be noticable. Since the
main gear struts are longer, I checked the nose gear too, since
that will also need to be 5/8" longer. Well the nose gear
strut is over an inch too long. It will still retract easily into
the existing door location, I just need to install it "higher"
in the fuse, by 1/2" as it turns out.
February 5, 2009
For only two days to work on the plane this week, I feel pretty
good about the progress. Although... I spent most of this morning
cutting out the canopy hatch. Here are some pictures.
So what we have is a top view of the intake ducts and the fan.
I need to make a reducer section to join the two. Next a shot
of the fan with the hatch. A view through the left intake. The
cardboard template I used to mark the gear plate location with,
and the marked foam core. I'm also finding that delaying installing
the intake ducts is making it easier to to other things, like
finish off the cockpit area.
February 13, 2009
Lots going on. I have the adapter inlet duct done, it just
needs to be final fitted. We created a mold from heavy plastic
with cardboard circles of the correct diameter on each end. Here
are some photos...

So we have the mold, the part coming off the mold (one layer
of heavy glass, no release agent needed), the unfinished part.
Maybe a total of a couple hours to make. Most of the work was
in makeing the mold (getting the correct funnel shape).
With a little trimming you get this.
Then a little more finishing and you get this...
It still needs to have a final fit, but you get the idea. I've
added a little paint (needs a bit more special color treatment)
for effect.
Next item of interest is the landing gear mounts. I noticed
that the rear wing spar (W4 I think) is very close to the rear
of the landing gear mount, if you extend the line. So I did that
and found that I could install a 5/16" spar, tied into the
front edge of the rear spar, and tied into the rear of the landing
gear plate. Here is a photo.
I don't think the wing needs the spar, but being able to tie the gear plate to the wing better is a good idea. I'll also install some dowels to the front of the plate. More pictures later will explain it better.
February 18, 2009
Yesterday I placed an order with Robart for some new retracts
and here's why. The retracts from JHH will not allow the scale
struts to retract all the way into the wing (when mounted in the
"sport scale" location. The offset oleo on the main
gear lacks a good 1/4" retracting all the way in. No way
gear doors will sit flush. They might if the gear were angled
in the scale manner (located in the scale location, but that means
choosing a version of the F-4 that includes the wing bulges).
I couldn't simple "tip" the mounts inward so the legs
would go further into the wing because the cylinder is already
right at the top wing skin. I thought it over and decided to get
a set of low profile 95 degree retracts. That gives me two benefits.
First, I get 5 degrees more retraction into the wing. Second,
the cylinder is mounted slightly lower so I can set the gear mount
in the wing a bit more (further recessed into the wing). I also
ordered a new nose retract because the one I received from JHH
was tight. I could barely move it by hand. Eventually I'll take
it apart to see if I can find out if it's binding. I'm also sure
I could have returned it to JHH and got a new one (or got that
one fixed).
February 27, 2009
Progress over the last week has been hard to see. I've got
the canopy area cut out, lined, and re-installed with the proper
latching. Something to to mention here... in the instructions
it mentions installing the intake ducting long ago. I didn't do
that because I wasn't sure what might pop up with the different
fan installation. Well, the fan installation was pretty straight-forward.
However, it's much easier to work on the canopy area without the
duct installed. So, if you're building one of these I suggest
you hold off on installing the intake duct as long as possible.
For my birthday I received a hi-torque JR servo for the elevator,
and a 2.4 gig receiver for my 9303. I also received a set of robart
retracts for this plane (mentioned in the feb. 18 log). The retracts
arrived today, which is not as fast as I'd like to have gotten
them, but actually faster then I expected. Next week I'll get
them installed.
March 3, 2009
Always have a backup plan. As luck (or fate, or just lack
of proper planning) would have it, the new retracts from robart
are not drop in fits. They will make the gear a bit longer still
when in the down position and it appears that when moving them
out further into the wing (so the wheel still fits into the wing)
makes the cylinder hit the top wing skin. This gave me fits for
a few hours until I realized that I now have the mounting plates
modified so that either retract will fit, so just glue them in
and one or the other will be made to work. Later at home, during
a restful moment I remembered the very short struts that I put
on my top flite P-39 (electric). I dug around the internet and
found two sites. Eurokit
and Altecare
. I've never dealt with Altecare before but they have the perfect
sized strut for the F-4. It's not as scale but it would solve
a lot of issues I've had pop up. Eurokit's struts are a bit longer,
but could be made to work. These will be my backup plan. Between
the JHH retracts and the robart... and the RC Crafter struts and
Altecare/Eurokit I think I have things covered.
In the mean time, as the glue sets on the mounting plates I've
played with other areas. The plans call for a hatch latch to be
installed for the canopy (rear) which you access through the fan
access hatch. Well, the front duct work would not allow access
to the hatch latch so I made a modification to it.
I fabricated a rod/bellcrank to allow me to operate the hatch
latch from the fan access area. When you pull up on the bellcrank
arm, you pull the hatch latch open.
March 6, 2009
Just a quick update. I've been working a lot this week, but
I'm at that stage with it doesn't show very much. I've got the
stabilators rough shaped. I've got the retract plates installed.
I've got the fan hatch pretty close to done. I've got the intake
ducts about done.
March 12, 2009
I have to find something to talk about, just so you think
I'm doing something... This week has mostly been about wings.
As I write this, the wings are fully sheeted and resting in the
cradles. I applied some light glass cloth to the inside skin on
the upper wing sheeting, to add a little strength. Here are some
pictures...
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| Bottom sheeting applied. | Flip view of bottom sheeting | A little paint on the intake parts |
March 16, 2009
Question: How many sets of wings do you have to prepare
when you're building a JHH F-4?
Answer: Two, at least when you do what I just discovered.
Someone out there already figured out what I did, and no I didn't
build two right wing panels (or two left). This morning, after
letting my foam cores sit all weekend drying I pulled them out
of the cradles and started sanding the edges in preparation for
adding the leading and trailing edges. Just for sport, I grabbed
one of the outer wing panels and held it up to the inner panel
to check the fit. It looked a little funny, didn't really line
up like I thought it should. Well, a little filling here and a
little trimming there and I can make it all right. The leading
edges look terrible, what am I going to do with that. Hmmm, I
wonder... I grab the other outer panel and hold that up. Wow,
that's more like it... in fact it looks great. I must have...
wait a minute, NO. I couldn't have... yes I did. I built them
up side down. Put the gear plate in the top of the wing. Goodness,
how long have I been building planes... 38 years now? How could
I possibly have done this? I guess in my defense I thought...
no, there is no defense, I just screwed up. Not the worst thing
I done... can't think of anything else this bad right off the
top of my head but there must be something else.
So, I've called JHH and placed an order for another pair of foam
cores. Larry didn't laugh too hard, at least not when he was talking
to me. I remember back before starting on the wings I looked them
over, trying to tell top from bottom and it wasn't that difficult.
I also remember the night after I glued in the gear plates thinking
"did I check to make sure I got them in right?" (bottom
vs. top). I kid you not, I remember thinking that. I also remember
thinking "I must have, no worries". Well, at least I'll
know what I'm doing on the second set. They should go faster.
Plus I can add the channels for the retract tubing that I forgot
the first time. In the mean time, I'll start on the tail feathers.
After admitting this to my father (I build at his house. It's
more fun to build at a buddies, and it's only a mile up the road)
he was watching me take out the vertical stab and look over the
core. I was thinking "is there any way I can get this backward?".
My father then asked me "You can't get that one backwards
too can you?". Like I needed that...
March 24, 2009
Today I received the new cores. While I've been waiting for
them I've been working on the vertical stab. and rudder (also
sanding the airfoils on the rest of the tail feathers and outer
wing panels.]
March 25, 2009
I finally opened the box today and immediately started to
make the panels "top" and "bottom". Then I
found this... from Larry ...
Thanks Larry! You made me smile!
| JHH F-4 Phantom | Holman Me-109F | IMP Fw-190 A6 | Hobby Lobby P-38 | Me-262 A-1a Part 1 | Me-262 A-1a Part 2 | Misc. R/C | Contact | Links | R/C models | Home | Videos |