Joe Bowman · Aug 03, 2003 02:34 PM
#0 source We have two winners here. First the JD Falcon kit. When your kit arrives in the mail (which will be prompt) you will notice it is in a good heavy duty box, should survive all the shipping pitfalls. The wood is beautiful. The right weight and grain for the job. The laser cut parts are perfect. Great instruction booklet with lots of pictures. None of the wood or parts need to be repalced. The parts fit perfectly too. Build it as per the plans and instructions and you will have a very capable contest airplane. Don't shy away from this airplane because you think your building skills aren't up to it. Every thing fits so well in this kit that I found it went together very easily. My airplane weighs 42oz. ready to fly, only because I put too much paint on it. A 38oz. airplane is a very realistic target. This airplane flys great. It does every thing you want a stunt ship to do. It has an incredible turn with no tendencies to bounce or over turn and it grooves like its on rails. It will make you want to go practice. Because, it is a joy to fly and so the pilot can step up to the potential of the airplane. In other words the airplane flys a lot better than I do. Tom has really out done himself on this one.
The Brodak 40 is a winner too. Minor issues, needle valve. Replaced it with a ST NVA. Crankshaft threads. Fixed it with a 1/4 28 die. I know these things will be fixed on future engines. Now the good stuff. Started right up on the bench. Ran 3 8oz. tanks through it with a 9x6 prop. Tweaked the needle for a fast 4 cycle just wanting to break to a 2cycle but staying at a 4. Put it in the airplane and flew it and havn't looked back. After a gallon of fuel it starts mostly on the first flip sometimes two. This engine has lots of power. 4oz. will give you 6:30 on engine run using 10/22 fuel. Suspect it will get better with more running. 4-2-4 break is excellent. Needle is responcesive but not touchy. Just set it and leave it alone. Still playing with props to get lap time down. 64ft. lines, 10.5x5 APC with 5.0 lap times. This engine will pull alot of airplane. For the money and the ease of operation and light weight this engine is a great deal. John has done an outstanding job.
The Brodak 40 is a winner too. Minor issues, needle valve. Replaced it with a ST NVA. Crankshaft threads. Fixed it with a 1/4 28 die. I know these things will be fixed on future engines. Now the good stuff. Started right up on the bench. Ran 3 8oz. tanks through it with a 9x6 prop. Tweaked the needle for a fast 4 cycle just wanting to break to a 2cycle but staying at a 4. Put it in the airplane and flew it and havn't looked back. After a gallon of fuel it starts mostly on the first flip sometimes two. This engine has lots of power. 4oz. will give you 6:30 on engine run using 10/22 fuel. Suspect it will get better with more running. 4-2-4 break is excellent. Needle is responcesive but not touchy. Just set it and leave it alone. Still playing with props to get lap time down. 64ft. lines, 10.5x5 APC with 5.0 lap times. This engine will pull alot of airplane. For the money and the ease of operation and light weight this engine is a great deal. John has done an outstanding job.
Later, John