TOPIC: New Electric Powered Jets

Howard recently alerted me to an interesting video on Facebook:
Cartoon F-104 :

This looked very promising, so I tracked down the website (which was easy as I'd just bought a capacitor powered glider from them:
Aviation toys.nl

The jet shown in the video will be, according to Vincent, the guy behind this venture, available in 2-3 weeks. However, he did send me this preview of the jet model, which looks very tasty indeed:





OK, so this isn't ducted fan (more shrouded propeller), but I for one would be happy to fly one!

Vincent, who has Jetex/Rapier experience (he loves our website, he says) has plans for an 'F-4' and an 'F-15'. Should these be successful, he might then look at a more scale-like jet with true EDF.
This is a very worthy effort that deserves every jet jockey's support, so get your preorders in now!

The 'F-104' certainly has room tor an internal L-2, but the 'Vector Board' (not Depron) body will have to be well protected from the hot exhaust!

I wonder if I could interest Vincent in a Leduc 021?

The F-104 is now available, and a very nice kit it is too:





I've tested the thrust the drive train gives, and it's about 14 grams when fully charged, though, as the current is provided by a capacitor, this dies away quite quickly.

!40 grams eh? the performance is quite lively, so 10 grams would give a nice cruise. This thrust is in TSP L-1 territory. There is, in the F-104's body, plenty of room for n L-1:


I have two kits on order. I may not be able to resist the temptation to convert one to TSP L-1 rocket power!

Meanwhile, I'm making another Arbalete for Vincent's standard drive train:

Oh it is all my fault, introducing Roger to the dark side. Come back Roger all will be forgiven, ha ha.

I must say, Vincent has done a very nice job with these, very tasty, and tempting, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ....................

Roger adds:





This is all-Depron, 30cm span, 25cm length and, despite an all-up weight of 16.5 grams (as opposed to the Rookie's 9.6 grams), also has a stunning performance and climbs and circles well on a very short charge. I had difficulty keeping in my local flying field.

You will see that the capacitor/charging unit is in front of the cockpit (well far forward) as I extended the original leads with (slightly thicker) flex. It works well with no loss of power.

As for coming back from the dreaded 'Dark Side', I have scanned all the parts in order to make an 'all balsa' version for internal L-1 rocket power. An airframe (wings especially) made as per the kit would be too flexible for rocket propulsion!