Zephyr1
Elite member
Very few fighter jets have managed to create the nearly cult following of the F-104 Starfighter. This manned missile was notoriously hard to fly and control. As such, creating an RC DTFB version was incredibly hard. And truly, I don't quite yet have a 100% working version. I've built 3 variants so far and I'm about to start on a 4th. I'm going to give some background on the three I have made so far and this way I"ll be able to show in real time this last one which I'm fairly certain will work. Additionally, plans will be posted once I get this 4th one to fly well.
So first up, the first F-104 that I made! Length of 42 in and wingspan of only 22in, I powered it with a 64mm EDF and it made one successful flight. '
However, it needed to work better, so I increased the wingspan by 120% and tried again!
Surprisingly, this variation didn't workout too well and I scrapped the project for a little while.
However, I brought it back two weeks ago and decided to change up quite a bit. I increased the roundness of the fuselage, incorporating newer folding techniques. Additionally, I scaled the entire airplane up 120% of the original to a 24in wingspan and a 48 in length. Importantly, I brought the engine up to a 70mm EDF.
This version actually worked quite well! The crash was caused by a lack of elevator control and this wasn't the first flight. It made several flights with a 1300mah 4S and a singular flight with a 2300mah 4S. The wingloading for the 2300mah battery was too high and the performance was poor. So for the 4th version of this plane, I have scaled it up even further. To a 30in wingspan and a 60in length. This should increase the handling by decreasing the wingloading and by increasing the area of the of the inlet, creating more thrust. Lastly, I will be fitting a nozzle at the tail to decrease drag further.
A big thanks to everyone who gave me such great feedback on my Facebook post.
V4
So first up, the first F-104 that I made! Length of 42 in and wingspan of only 22in, I powered it with a 64mm EDF and it made one successful flight. '
However, it needed to work better, so I increased the wingspan by 120% and tried again!
Surprisingly, this variation didn't workout too well and I scrapped the project for a little while.
However, I brought it back two weeks ago and decided to change up quite a bit. I increased the roundness of the fuselage, incorporating newer folding techniques. Additionally, I scaled the entire airplane up 120% of the original to a 24in wingspan and a 48 in length. Importantly, I brought the engine up to a 70mm EDF.
This version actually worked quite well! The crash was caused by a lack of elevator control and this wasn't the first flight. It made several flights with a 1300mah 4S and a singular flight with a 2300mah 4S. The wingloading for the 2300mah battery was too high and the performance was poor. So for the 4th version of this plane, I have scaled it up even further. To a 30in wingspan and a 60in length. This should increase the handling by decreasing the wingloading and by increasing the area of the of the inlet, creating more thrust. Lastly, I will be fitting a nozzle at the tail to decrease drag further.
A big thanks to everyone who gave me such great feedback on my Facebook post.
V4
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