BH Blitz mini F16

[19000rpm]

I ordered the $41 F-16 kit from BH awhile ago and decided to see where it falls in the good, the bad or ugly category.

You may recall that only the Mig 15 from my 3 other Blitz minis flew. The F-15 and F-35 were too heavy to get moving by a hand launch and too heavy with the gear on to ROG. Both: Ugly Carp.

First off, the F-16 came without damage and includes the fan and motor in the kit price. Nice little package.

The assembly was typical and straight forward, so I won't bore you with that.

Like all of the blitz mini's and some of their larger planes, the set up is Delta Wing; with the control surfaces on each side acting in unison. I've come to like that; especially on the Blitz SU-34 twin EDF. Rolls and loops are crisp. Landing is like having a set of spoilerons. You can touch down like a butterfly. But, how would it be on this plane? A butterfly, or a rock, like the F18 and F-35?

I used an AR6110E Rx, a Detrum 25A ESC and a 900mAh 11.1 25C Tenergy pack that fit perfectly in the battery compartment.

The CG was spot on and the AUW seemed well matched to the power. Lot's of wing area so loading is light. A far cry from the F-18 and F-35.

I left the missiles off since they wouldn't help performance and besides, they wouldn't last through one landing as I'd set it up as a belly bouncer.

The Maiden:
There was a light, variable, breeze, 4-5mph, with occasional gusts up to 10. Summer is coming to an end so I better enjoy every minute. Time to fly.

A firm toss at WOT got it moving like an arrow. I mean straight as an arrow. No dip, no bank, just a nice climb out. The plane looked perfectly true on the bench, but I was ready for some trim. Except it didn't need any.

Handling was crisp. A fast roll rate and nice tight loops. 60+ mph; which is plenty fast for such a tiny plane.

I flew it for about 4 mins, cut the throttle and let it sink in. Smooth. The perfect Maiden.

Battery charging only replaced 500 odd mAh's so I had plenty of more time to fly. Maybe another 3+ min's. Better than I expected.

OK, this little plane warrants better than a "Good" on the good, bad or ugly scale. I'd rate it as "Great" on the mini parkflyer scale.

As I wax philosophical:
I'd really like to be able to count on a plane being at least "Good", but in today's world it's all just a gamble. This time it was a winner, next time...

Anyway, to me, much of the fun is all about the expectations, challenges and the final result...Good, Bad or Ugly.

[Gabe]

Sounds great! Any pics for us?

[akent]

Nice story, 19k!
I'm glad you finally got a 'good' one!
Kent

[19000rpm]

Gabe, I'll get some pics up.

All tolled, of the 5 BH Blitz mini jets I've tried: 3 were "Good-Great" and 2 were real "Ugly". The Mig 15 and F-16 were perfect out of the box and the SU-34, with a lot of tweaking, worked out fairly good on the performance side and is a real treat to hear and see in the air.

BH's ability to deliver seems to have improved some. Far from perfect, but better. All 5 planes were delivered as ordered. 3 flew, 2 didn't. No excuse for having product that doesn't perform.

Customer service was not able to provide some parts they promised, but in other areas they've been pretty good. They are responsive and don't seem to want to blow you off if you have a problem they can solve, but won't really own up to having bad product like the F-18 and 35. A mixed bag.

[19000rpm]

OK, here are some pics.

I added some epoxy to the nose and intake and packing tape on the bottom of the fuse and wing tips. That ought to ease the wear and tear a bit.

I forgot to mention those are 7 gram servos.

Also, the mechanisms on the control horns that hold the control rods need some adjustment to take out the slack between the mechanism and the horn. In doing this I broke one of the elevator horns so I used on from another kit.

[Gabe]

The pushrods setup for the delta configuration actually seems like it would work. I don't see any weird bends in them.

Nice work BH - finally!

[19000rpm]

Yes, they really do work well. No odd bends.

A couple of things make this set up really work well:

One thing is that the horns on the ailerons face the servo with the tapered end, rather than the vertical end, like they would on a conventional setup. This gives the aileron good throw.

The other thing is that the elevator is set up on the top hole of the servo arm and the aileron is on the second hole. That automatically gives the elevator slightly more authority than the aileron. This really works well in this configuration.

I'm pretty sure you could get decent control with no ailerons or, alternately, no elevator at all like like an actual delta elevon configuration. Having the four control surfaces working together makes it really a snappy performer though.

[Gabe]

19k, how is the hand launch? With the Mini AMX it was always a little sketchy. I like to fly in areas crowded with trees so my launch has to be precise or the plane has to have a lot of thrust (like a Stryker) to gain speed and control quickly.

[19000rpm]

The hand launch is the easiest I've had in an EDF. Since it's not over weight and has lots of wing area, the launch is a firm toss with wings level, like you're throwing a javelin, with just a slight upward angle. Not a high angle. It will fly away as straight as an arrow.

The F-16, in general, has some of the most stable characteristics out there and just about every model version, 50mm to 120mm, gets high marks from everyone I've talked to who's flown one. My 70mm, HLI, TV, F-16 flew like a dream too. High alpha, super slow stall speed. Just great.

[Gabe]

Time for me to consider this puppy!

[19000rpm]

I don't think you can go wrong with the mini F-16 or Mig-15.

Just make sure to check the fan and ensure the blades are not touching the housing and when you install the fan unit that the cross supports in the housing are straight across and vertical; where the pressure from the fuselage can warp the fan housing, causing contact with the rotor, if they are at an angle.

[Gabe]

Excellent tip! I've had fans explode mid flight due to contact with the shroud. Not a fun experience.

[19000rpm]

Yeah, it's happened to me too. That's why I'm more careful these days. Especially with the small fans. The housings are really thin and the fans are too.

[19000rpm]

The set up is using up the 3S batteries.

I'm going to 4S and maybe upgrade the EDF and motor too.

Some guys are reporting 100mph on Don's RC setup that includes a 4800kV motor and Wometco EDF unit.

[Gabe]

Whoah! Are we still talking about the MINI F-16 here? 100mph?