Pun Jet- Anyone built one yet?

[xMeox]

the pun jet is by far the worst ft plane you can possible build. to their defense, they only tried to get a plane this size airborne and didn't care about flight characteristics. iirc they even said in the video that they did not planed on releasing plans but that they published them because of the demand of people.

I got mine airborne and I was able to do several flights, but It wasn't easy and not much fun. Iirc I used an 1804 motor and a 5x3 prop (3 bladed). I had very much expo and reduced servo travels a lot! Even with 460 3s batteries the plane had a very high wing load and was doomed to fall apart soon from the start.

My advice: cut the electronics out and build something else like the mini raptor or the vector.

 

[Davjed]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who was disappointed with this build. I figured it was because of my inexperience and beyond my capability to control. It is a neat looking little number and small enough to just toss on the back seat and have with you when the opportunity arises for a few minutes of flying. To start with I mounted the firewall out of line which I discovered when it torqued in my hand when I accelerated it during initial testing. I carefully cut the firewall off the fuselage and made an extension out of corrugated plastic. I carefully squared the firewall onto the fuselage extension then attached it to the fuselage using popsicle sticks and hot glue. Everything appeared lined up and squared. Neat looking repair so I took her out to maiden. Launches resulted in immediate left roll dive into the ground. The best I ever did was about 50ft before it darted in. Surprisingly the nose took a lot of beating before I gave up on it. I've since rebuilt the nose and got it ready for another try but after this experience and reading others reports I will probably be ordering an FT Tiny Trainer to repurpose the electronic and mechanical left overs.

 

[xMeox]

nice idea on the fuselage extension! though such small models can't handle even the smallest amount of aberration of motor angles, so this might be one of the reasons why you had problems with it.

in addition: I started mine from a little hill so I had more time to get it to the required speed. helped a lot

 

[waynemia]

I finally got flight on mine. It was wild. Impossible to control and it liked flying upside down. Sooo much left torque. I launched it by pre-loading right roll. I am retiring mine. It just is not fun to fly. Something must actually be wrong to make it this hard. I built mine step-by-step with their video and used their power pack. I did not use the folding wing concept. It was just not going to happen.

I will try a couple more FT planes but this one is dead.

 

[waynemia]

I finally got flight on mine. It was wild. Impossible to control and it liked flying upside down. Sooo much left torque. I launched it by pre-loading right roll. I am retiring mine. It just is not fun to fly. Something must actually be wrong to make it this hard. I built mine step-by-step with their video and used their power pack. I did not use the folding wing concept. It was just not going to happen.

I will try a couple more FT planes but this one is dead.

 

[dengar256]

I have built a few as chuck gliders for my kids. They don't get as much flight time as the sparrow but they work well for indoors. My kids literally loved them to death.

 

[Mid7night]

I built one at FTFF16 this year, because they're small and easy, and I had a blast! Sure it's like flying an adrenaline-charged, 'roided-out gnat, but it was still a ton of fun. It's fast and twitchy, but when built straight it handles very predictably. Just don't try any slow flight.

 

[warbird@home]

Pun Jet ala Star Wars style

My Pun Jet ....still need to dirty her up like in the movies.....battle weary ! Not from any actual S W vehicle obviously ...but in the style ...

anyway here she is ....
cheers folks and happy landings

Ray

 

[xMeox]

Awesomeness design! Sadly the pun jet normally has a very short live span. I'd rather hang this peace of art at the wall and never even bind it

 

[warbird@home]

flying

Thank you for the kind words xMeox...yes I read some of the horror stories AFTER i built it...ah well what will be...will be

Thinking about a higher revving inrunner motor with a smaller 4.75 x 4.75 prop, we will see

Gr

R

 

[xMeox]

I used an1806 and it was enough power and roll.. just saying

 

[Craftydan]

Ray,

She's a beauty. Make the best out of her . . .

. . . but . . .

The punjet is particularly sensitive to torque roll -- low mass, short wings and all. Makes her aileron roll like a drill bit in flight, but takeoff can be hairy. I'd recommend running lower RPM (lower KV, maybe lower voltage) on a longer, shallower prop. I'll cost you on top speed, but you'll get a bit more low-end thrust from the same torque, so you'll need less torque to accelerate into the middle of her flight envelope on launch.

Your call, but torque rolling into the ground on takeoff isn't fun. ever

 

[warbird@home]

Thx for the advice and the kind words guys...i have an 1806 pushing a 5 x 3 prop in at the moment..... will try to launch with a decent strong throw but 1/2 throttle....that seemed to be the way with other airplanes like this I have had.....anyway we will see ...

I am seriously thinking of making some detachable wing extensions to lower the wing loading a help combat the torque roll. Just to get some idea of the performance...then maybe reduce them ...its all part of the game though...will be a learning curve whatever happens

Will get back to you if I commit any aviation, but at the moment its too cold and windy for my bones .!

Happy landing guys ! and thanks again for the feedback !

Ray

 

[xMeox]

the best tip I can give you for that bird is to find a place with higher attitude to start it. 2-3m can make a huge, HUGE difference with that one

 

[warbird@home]

ha ! Luckily our flying filed drops off at both ends about 10 metres, so that might help !!! ...good call !!! altitude is our friend

Ray

 

[SlingShot]

I have a Pun Jet kit that I bought just so I'd be ready in case I ever got the chance to launch from a bomber. I have thought about making a bungee launcher for it.



Something incorporating the catapult glider concept.

 

[Bonzofly]

I'm in the process of building one. Model is built and I fitted the motor yesterday but was struggling to get a 20amp ESC in that tiny body and I was wondering how on earth I'd get an RX and a lipo in as well. Having read this I'll bin the whole project. It's a shame, it's a cool looking little plane but it doesn't sound as though it's going to be a fun one.

 

[Baker57]

Hate reading the reviews on this. I just finished the build after pulling the electronics out of the mini Corsair. I could never get the Corsair to fly, it just rolled to the right and drove into the ground. Oh well. At least I won’t break the prop when this one piles into the ground at launch...

 

[Vimana89]

Never built one, but it seems to have a reputation as bad or worse than the Long Ez. Small and fast is generally a bit squirrely and for more experienced pilots, but not necessarily bad with the right design. What stands out to me that makes the Punjet extra bad is the combination of small, fast, and no air foil/flat plate wing. Flat plate wings are not meant for high speeds, and become twitchy in pitch. Flat plate wings are for things like slower deltas and light park flyers, high alpha birds, etc.

Faster planes fly much better with airfoils, even the most basic kind. It may improve the Punjet to add a KF1M style air foil to the wings. It will still be small and fast, and definitely won't help it fly better slow(in fact probably worse for slow flight), but it will be more stable, especially in pitch. That's the main real thing I can suggest, and it may or may not help much, depending on how inherently bad the Punjet design really is. Just eyeballing it, it looks like a straightforward design that should fly alright, but I think it's got an airfoil(or lack thereof) that's not well suited to its flight characteristics.

 

[Bonzofly]

I built one but in the end never fitted the electronics . Gave up on it after reading so many bad reports on them!