Building the F117 and looking for some mods

[Burnhard]

Added the V-tail today. Also added the leds in the exhaust.

Will start painting the exhaust parts and inside parts of top fuselage and side plates tomorrow.

I am considering adding a 5mm balsa piece on the leading edge of the V-tail and on the intake. Did that on the Viggen and it adds quite some strength and also looks good. Will look at a few pics of the original tomorrow and make up my mind.

 

[Burnhard]

Finalised the fuselage today. Everything fits quite nicely. Had a few crinkles for which I used Wonderfill. Also applied Foam Armour on all open foam surfaces as my spray paint has a tendency to melt the foam. Electronics are all hooked up. Installed an FT Aura as a flight assistant.

Next stop is sanding the filler and cutting free the elevons.

 

[Matagami Designs]

Looking good. The LEDs in the thrust tube are a nice touch and the aura should be interesting.

 

[Burnhard]

Looking good. The LEDs in the thrust tube are a nice touch and the aura should be interesting.

Only occurred to me now but are the inlets supposed to sit under the triangles from the canopy? I glued the inlets to the lower end of these triangles.

Started painting today. The black spray paint I am using is pretty aggressive with the foam. However no issues where I applied the foam armour. For the hinges I went for the hot glue version on bith the upper and the lower side. Also added a bit of balsa to the Vtail. Did not add Balsa for the inlets but am considering adding some sort of a mesh at the inlets.

 

[Matagami Designs]

The outer fuselage parts are designed to slide between the lower curved portion and triangular upper portion of the front fuselage.

Either way it looks great from here.

 

[Burnhard]

The outer fuselage parts are designed to slide between the lower curved portion and triangular upper portion of the front fuselage.

View attachment 204892

Either way it looks great from here.

Another question, how much throw should the elevons have?

 

[Matagami Designs]

Another question, how much throw should the elevons have?

The elevon should move about 5 cm total from full up to full down before any mixing. I limited the weight of elevator control to 75% and ailerons to 50%. I'm not sure if this is the best way to do this but I wanted plenty of pitch authority but I wanted to maintain a bit of roll authority at max pitch too just to be safe. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Burnhard]

Spent the past few days on the paintjob. For the top I went for the usual black. However, for the bottom I would like to do a stars and stripes theme.

Started with painting the bottom blue in the front and red in the rear 2/3. For the white stripes I decided to try something new. Did these from white glossy vinyl. Thought this might be cleaner than trying to paint those. I had good experience with painting stripes using Tamiya tape but given that its six white stripes, I hoped that the vinyl version is easier.

Cutting the vinyl went prettiy quick. Applying the vinyl was also no issue. However I am not totally happy with the sections on the hinges. I cut the vinyl open for the hinges but the adhesion is not exactly super great. For now I left it as is.

The tricky part will be the stars. I am considering the following. We do have a small star stance but cutting 50 stars and applying these exactly right sounds like another nightmare. Second option would be using a mask. I do have one but of course it does not exactly fit. Last and most fancy solution would be to use waterslide decals. I have lately been experimenting with these and used it to print my own declas. I could buy white laser toner and print the stars on a transparent waterslide. Certainly the most expensive solution. Suggestions are welcome ;-)

Shortly before I was done for today, a small mishap happened. I was adding another layer of black on the top when the model fell of the box I had placed it on and slightly bruised the nose. Nothing major but still a bit unnecessary.

 

[Burnhard]

Completed the flag scheme today. I decided to give the stance a try and it actually worked out quite nicely. Also did the balancing had to add a few grams to the nose. Next stop is maiden.

 

[Matagami Designs]

Completed the flag scheme today. I decided to give the stance a try and it actually worked out quite nicely. Also did the balancing had to add a few grams to the nose. Next stop is maiden.

View attachment 205956

Looks great! Good luck on the maiden.

 

[Burnhard]

Looks great! Good luck on the maiden.

I had the F117 in the basement for the past two years as I did not dare to do the maiden. Did the maiden today and everything went perfectly well. I have an Aura installed which made the launch ultra easy. The aircraft has a super presence in the air and the sound from edf is just awesome. Flew her with a 4s 3300 and after 2 mins still had 66% left. Landing was ultra smooth with the aircraft sliding through the grass on our field. Should have done the maiden much earlier.

 

[L Edge]

I had the F117 in the basement for the past two years as I did not dare to do the maiden. Did the maiden today and everything went perfectly well. I have an Aura installed which made the launch ultra easy. The aircraft has a super presence in the air and the sound from edf is just awesome. Flew her with a 4s 3300 and after 2 mins still had 66% left. Landing was ultra smooth with the aircraft sliding through the grass on our field. Should have done the maiden much earlier.

Are you going to post a video of it?

 

[Burnhard]

Are you going to post a video of it?

Did not do a video this time as I was super anxious whether it’s going to fly. Will do this the next time (hopefully a bit earlier than 2years ;-)

 

[JetCrafts]

i have 2 very stupid ideas
first airsoft cannon on the nose
second missile bay with missiles

 

[JetCrafts]

or gun pods

 

[skymaster]

Added the V-tail today. Also added the leds in the exhaust.

Will start painting the exhaust parts and inside parts of top fuselage and side plates tomorrow.

I am considering adding a 5mm balsa piece on the leading edge of the V-tail and on the intake. Did that on the Viggen and it adds quite some strength and also looks good. Will look at a few pics of the original tomorrow and make up my mind.

View attachment 204596
View attachment 204597

So where are you putting the battery?

 

[Burnhard]

i have 2 very stupid ideas
first airsoft cannon on the nose
second missile bay with missiles

I believe the original does not have any machineguns on it. I guess the other issue is weight. If you add an automatic airsoft mechanism to the nose, that will most likely end up in CG issues. Probably a better idea for an A10.

The missile bay I idea could probably work. There is a bit of space between the formers for the edf. Where these could fit. Just one thing to think about, since it is a belly lander, better be safe that any bottom doors properly close.

 

[Burnhard]

So where are you putting the battery?

Very much to the front. I can take off the canopy which gives access to a fairly large battery area.