Click to view larger images.
The Kit arrives in a foam container that was inside a carboard box. The underside of the foam container has the bomb and fuel tank sets.
Contents :
#1 : Added the wing alerion servos. Standard direction servos need a reverse mixing solution;
A Standard direction servo mixing solution requires the use of two Turnigy Servo Signal Reversers that are added to the servo cables (or, it could be done with channel mixing on with recivers with more than 6 channels).
Revered servos could of been used but were out of stock at the time.
#2 : Added 2 plastic strips to front of EDF tube moulds in foam to act as replacement EDF case and to seperate from foam at back of taileron servos.
#3 : Added 2 extra servos to the build list; Added Rudder control - to be activated by Channel 4 (front wheel).
The servo horn is toward the nose of the airframe, wires to the rear. This allows the servo horn control rod to be on the outside of the Rudder.
The Rudder surface will oppose the front wheel turning direction.
Cut new wire slots, and glued in place to hold during construction. Built cockpit and cut down without any modifications to the foam surface, then - installed magnets and let dry.
#4 : Modified by cutting down the EDF case at front to allow better 60mm 5 blade rotor movement; Also cut a small slot in the top back of the EDF case to allow for the Rudder Servos.
Servo wires in the bottom half of the airframe are covered by a plastic strip. The hope - a shorter EDF case will also help in the event of surgery at a later date.
#5 : Guled 60 Amp Hobbywing ESC units to join top of racks made from 3mm thick Bamboo skewers. To aid ESC cooling, 2 new airflow holes were cut into air intake ducting tubes.
Servo and ESC wires were glued temporarly into position to aid the construction.
More wire, electronics, and parts tests - then application of glue to both top and bottom of the airframe.
Attached plastic wheel landing gear - upgraded later to Metal landing gear, and glued ducting exaust to back of airframe.
Re-tested by powering-up select parts of the TomCat F-14; Tested both ESC's, the swing wing, and other servo movements. Re-cheched SBEC/ESC's for excess heat.
#6 : Modified servo power wires to use 3 SBEC's (as per guide). Checked, Tripple checked, Pre-tested, soldered, and re-tested modified wires.
Adusted wing alieron servo mixing to match taileron movement.
#7 : Added 3mm solid Carbon rods to Rudders and Tailerons to improve strength. Also added contact plastic film to underside of Outer wing tips, Tailerons, and bottom guide Fins.
Applied Jolly Rogers, USS Nimitz, VF-84 Squadron Decals from a tray with only room temperature water. Tested centre of gravity with and without bombs/fuel-tank sets.
Optional: Coated Rudders, battery bay, and battery cover with Finish-Cure 20min Epoxy glue; Added glass fiber and Slow-Cure 20min Epoxy glue to underside of Tailerons, and around battery bay opening.
Option : Reduce the wire loom for 3 SBEC's into a small PCB SMB breadboard style signal and power unit, with header pins; Wired for 6 channels moving 6 control surface servos, with 3 mixing fuctions.
Option : Added electrical tape covering, connected ESC's and servos. Installed the 3 SBEC's loom board into airframe. This first concept prototype design needs alot of changes, but it does work in a re-configured state for the given requirement; Eg: The Left wing ESC power header pins has the + and - pins reversed, and the two reverse signal pins were not needed.
The colour coded Pin-out location map above for the 3 SBEC's SMB loom board shows Blue for -, Red for +, and Yellow for signal. Click to enlarge the pinout map image.
The Green 3 ESC pinout location is for the Right wing ESC. The Red 3 ESC pinout location with the swapped Red and Blue Pins is for the Left wing ESC.
The Purple and Brown pinout locations allow power from the Reciver RX supply, and power from the Right wing ESC at the same time - with option to reverse the signal using signal reversers.
Two additional power pins are supplied from the Right wing ESC. A Jumper connection is provided to join pinouts for channels 5 and 6, when channel 6 disconnected from the Reciver.
A newier un-tested PCB updated version of the breadboard edition can be downloaded and printed or changed as required, see included readme.txt file for last minute information. This PCB verion has not been tested for use by +3 Amp Servos; Etc - as always - use at your own risk.
Download : Fritzing Project file [0.7.5], includes Gerber files
The Fritzing file viewer and editor can be downloaded from http://fritzing.org/
The Wire guide, and images are an example only - while care is taken - some small changes may of occured after images were taken or text was written.
The 2 tailaron servos with power supplied by the Reciver RX must be able to accept 6 volts (selected by jumper pin on SBEC). The two ESC's with built-in SBEC units must provide the 5 volt power supplies for additional servos.
The Red and Black main power cables from the two ESC's have been zip tied together. The length of main power cable wire up to battery runs together for about 4-5 inchs. The Red and Black main power cables should be kept together where possible to reduce chances of possible noise, or cable engery loss.
The front wheel was missing plastic part to attach spring (got 2 of the same side). Used included plastic triangle part in reverse, and added bit of metal coat hanger to complete the hinge. Heated coat hanger and spring wire to insert intO plastic, and epoxy bond to hold plastic where needed.
The Landing gear up-action can be activated by the swing wing movement, on full close of the wing - if powered - the landing gear will be retracted. Gravity with the wings fully opened will allow the landing gear to be deployed down.
F-14 ARF Kit (Australia) : HobbyKing.com
60mm EDF's (complete with nose cone) : HobbyKing.com
11.1v Brushless Motors 5000Kv : HobbyKing.com (see 14v system wishlist)
11.1v Turnigy Nano-Tech 2250Mha 65C-130C : HobbyKing.com
Retract Landing-gear (Pneumatic) : HobbyKing.com
Tricycle Landing-gear under-carriage with alloy wheels and rubber tyres : HobbyKing.com
Hobbywing FlyFun 60A ESC's with 5v SBEC : EBay.com.au
Hobbywing ESC program card : EBay.com.au
TX/RX, 6 Channel : EBay.com.au (FS-CT6B) | HobbyKing.com (HK-T6Av2) , HobbyKing.com (HK6S)
Turnigy 5v-6v SBEC 2S-7S: HobbyKing.com
11.1v High Voltage Capacitor pack 1S-5S (Ripple voltage protection): EBay.com.au
Turnigy RX Voltage Protector : HobbyKing.com
JT plug Red and Black power cable, 3.5mm bullet Connectors, 500mm 12AWG Red and Black main power cable : EBay.com.au
XT60 Male 12AWG Red and Black main power cable : HobbyKing.com
150mm/300mm/500mm Servo extenders and 300mm Y cables : EBay.com.au | HobbyKing.com
Turnigy Servo Signal Reversers : HobbyKing.com
Carbon Fiber 2mm Solid Rod : EBay.com.au (Hint: Landing training crash kit for TREX 450 - about $2-$3, free balls included)
9g HXT, 12g MG, 48g MG Servos : EBay.com.au | HobbyKing.com (+9g), HobbyKing.com (+12g), HobbyKing.com (+48g) | DfRobot.com (+48g)
Epoxy (Optional) : HobbyKing.com, Slow-Cure 30min Epoxy glue, HobbyKing.com, Finish-Cure 20min Epoxy glue
Glass fiber (Optional) : HobbyKing.com, 18gsm/m2 Glass Fiber
Carbon (Optional) : HobbyKing.com, Flat carbon strip 1x3x750mm
Wish list setup (Optional) : 2 x HobbyKing.com, Dr. Mad Thrust 50mm, 10 Blade, Alloy EDF, 3300kv (14 volt setup)
Glue, lots of glue : EBay.com.au | HobbyKing.com (thin), HobbyKing.com, and your local RC hobbyshop
Clear sticky tape, Contact protective plastic film (clear) if not using glass fiber and epoxy, Thin 3mm Bamboo 25cm long Skewers if not using 3mm flat carbon fiber rods: your local supermarket
The list above can be changed, at time of purchace the cheapest was selected. Some items were purchaced with other items not listed here, this was done to lower the shipping costs where possible.
All posted items were from Japan, China and Australia. Free shipping Auctions are first preferance during item slection. Postage waiting times of posted items ranged from 2 days to 4 weeks.
1000m above sea level.
Air temp -5C to 35C.
Wind-speeds 0 to 5km.
Actual total flying weight 1300g.
Wing span 1100mm.
Aircraft Length 1060mm.
6ch Radio with 3ch mixing.