FMS AlphaJet conversion

[Fred]

Alright, not too sure what happened to me last night, but out of nowhere, I picked up one of the box I have sitting in my workshop for the past 2 or 3 years, and saw 3 micro servos.. and decided to get that thing done!

I wanted to be clever, and use the elevator fully movable to do ailerons/elevator (like the F16 etc), so that's why there are 2 control horns... But a quick launching in the garden, did not managed to convince me, so off to add 2 servos for the ailerons.

Photos are self explanatory, nothing fancy here!
Total build was about 3 hours, and had the girls to do a few throws in the garden. I can go up and down... And well, that's pretty much all I could test

So, here are a few build photos...

First, the tail end...

[Fred]

Then, the wings and belly...

Live hinges... I might have to stiffen the ailerons, as they are bending all over the place, but I'll try my luck!
0.8mm piano wire for all the controls... Keep it simple!
Servos are hidden the best I could without going the full bellcrank thing in the middle of the wing/fuselage... Maybe the next one!

Could not find my small lipo battery.. So I put a tiny 4 cells nimh instead to test.. And looks like it will stay like that! A few grams more will not hurt I think
Centre of gravity is pretty much the same as where it was for the free flight version.. We'll see, I still have room to play with by moving the battery back or forth.. There is a slo some weight in the canopy from factory, can remove that...

[Fred]

And, taddaaaa!!!

Now! The scheme!
Was going for the Patrouille de France.. But, I might go for the Belgium AF Solo Display instead... Haven't seen that one before, might be good for a change!

Decision, decision!

[billscottni]

Looks good Fred, but that scheme would be a lot of work on a little foamie!

[Fred]

Thanks Bill

That's the challenge! We'll see how it goes

[rogallo]

Looking good, It will have to have the french colours of course!

R

[mario]

Il est fini?

[Fred]

Pret a voler, testé vite fait dans le jardin

Plus que la peinture a faire, on verra ca demain et samedi

[Fred]

Taddaaaaaaa!
Red paint is just in, drying now!
Best paint advice ever received! Heat the paint and the support!

Came shiny and without a single drip!
Paint is cheapo Lidl lacquer... Will definitively stock more!

[mario]

Wahou

[Fred]

Well, it was a beautiful, but painful day!
Decorating (well, trying!) this tiny thing since 10 am.. non stop!
Just finished.... Well, very close! A few panel lines, rectify one or 2 things, and a coat of clear varnish and I call it the day.

I thought I had decal paper... But it was for laser!  So I had to do everything manually, and that was not part of the plan. No easy way out. Everything was traced, then painted.
It's far from perfect, but a meter away, that do the trick

[Fred]

Drying now... 

[Fred]

Varnished and a couple of panel lines added.
I'm done!

Even if the red I put for the letters turned orange after the varnish  That will be for another day! 

[johnfireball]

That looks nice Fred. Will it fly?

[Fred]

Wellllllll... That fly! And rather well, so I might keep that one!

We had a good laugh at the first launch, as I did not really fixed the belly... that stayed in the hand of the launcher!
But the thing carried on without too much issues, just the receiver hanging

2 miles of tape later, second and 3rd flights were done, and not a lot to say.. It does fly really nice, surprisingly I have to say

So, if you look for a conversion to RC, this is definitively a really good project!! 

ALL photos by Jean-Louis Coussot - http://www.jlc-aviation.fr/