HL Fury-Navy F86

[19000rpm]

Back around Christmas when I bought the HL TV F-16, they had one of their "Crash" sales and I picked up the normally priced $219 Fury with the 80mm fan for $90. That's right, 90 bucks.

Man, she is a beauty. Detail is excellent. Look at these wheels and gears. The gears are cast plastic around metal and the whole structure is rock solid.





I've got it about half assembled. I'll post some pics of that soon.

I've seen some vids of this thing in the air. A real nice scale like bird.

[Gabe]

80mm huh? I'm interested to get a report on that one. Should be fun!

[19000rpm]

I thought I'd add a rudder to the Fury. I had two choices. Add a servo on the tail or run a sleeeved control rod from the nosewheel servo, through the intake and out the side of the vertical stab at the base.

I decided on the latter solution. It puts part of the control rod in the airflow between the servo arm and where I attached the sleeve to the side of the intake, but I don't think that will cause an issue. I'll know more when I bench test it.



The next step will be to paint the tail. This project will be the first use of my new airbrush. I'm looking forward to that.

[19000rpm]

It's done!





The hardest part of this build was applying the waterslide decals. No kidding. The utmost care was taken and inspite of the effort some of the decals split. Working on a foam surface with waterslide decals is a hit and miss deal at best.

The foam dents very easily so there are more than a few dings in it just from the build. But, I'm happy with the outcome.

Now for a taxi test to sort out any issues.

[19000rpm]

Taxi Test: So, over to the school parking lot I went. Hockey tournaments are over, the snow mostly melted and I had the lot pretty much to myself.

I powered it up and went dodging the puddles. Left turns, right turns and then...The servo arm for the nosewheel popped off. The rudder was right, but the nosewheel was pointed left and the plane didn't know where to go.

Well shucks, The first thing I installed on the build was the nose wheel servo. I know I tightened the screw on the servo arm. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Oh yeah, now I remember, I also put the rudder control rod on the nosewheel servo arm much later on. I must not have tightened the screw back down after the control rod installation.

I had bench tested the carp out of the steering and rudder. You'd think the servo arm would have popped off then. ;D But that's not how this hobby works. And you all know what I'm talking about.

That little oversight could have ended up in a takeoff or landing cartwheel. Something the foam on this plane wouldn't handle very well. Man, am I glad I did a Taxi Test.

[Gabe]

You're a wise on 19k! Good catch!

Btw, the plane looks great!

[19000rpm]

Thanks Gabe.

[akent]

That plane looks GOOD!

[19000rpm]

Thanks Kent. Neither my photos or the ones HL used do this plane justice. It's striking.

[19000rpm]

Now the reality.

I was out at the School parking lot doing testing on 3 planes and the Fury was the middle one I planned on testing.

After a taxi and control test I took her off into about a 10mph wind. She wallowed at full throttle. I mean badly. I eased her over the trees and let it go as far as possible to build speed. I put her into a very shallow turn and she stalled, spiralled and nosed end. This is an EPS plane so the damage was significant.

I was really surprised there was so little apparent thrust or speed considering the 80mm fan. The 4S 30C should have supplied plenty of current. Part of the problem is the plane is very heavy. I could have used a 5S but the battery tray is too small and not mod friendly.

A few "before" shots.





I'm going to strip it out, and use the components.