I'd say, five or six times I've become obsessed with a design where I need to fly it every chance I get. This is one of them. The biggest problem with the F35 is the high wing loading. They never fly really well in RC form. I have a 50mm version I made over a year ago that floats and flies extremely well as an RC jet. It just wasn't as scale as I wanted, and it wouldn't scale up to the 6s more powerful size I was urning for.
I've solved the F35 issue by cheating on some of design aspects like the wing, the intake volume and a few other minor details. I used a wing size, between the F35A and C variant to maximize the lift and keep it looking cool and kind of scale. Unfortunately adding retractable landing gear to either size wouldn't work. Other designers will sell their designs with gear knowing they will be overweight and underpowered. I just won't do that. I'll only do this if it will perform like a store-bought jet. I was very disappointed with the Xfly 64mm that had gear. It was lazy and tip stalled like crazy. I had to rip the gear out and change the fan to 70mm to make it fly the way I like.
This F35 is floaty and flies true and its super fun. The 64mm should be totally hand launchable for most pilots, the 80 requires some throwing ability. Having a hand launch assist or some type
64mm maiden flight https://youtu.be/xcSAZk6tTWc
80mm maiden flight https://youtu.be/tv-G5XY8UFc
80mm More flights https://youtu.be/8FnrjfCxLS0
Parts Needed
-I used the Freewing 64mm 6s fan and the FMS PRO 80mm 6s fan.
-Any 60 amp ESC for the 64mm or 120amp ESC for the 80mm
- Any 2800-4000 6s for the 64mm or 3000-5000 6s for the 80mm
- 8mm OD carbon tube for the taileron. 5.5" (140mm) for each side on the 64mm and 7.5" (190mm) for the 80mm
- 2x 9g servos for the 64mm tailerons
-2x 17g servos for the 80mm tailerons
- 2x 9g servos for the ailerons for both versions.
- extra long ESC/motor wire extensions for both versions.
-lots of long extension wires for the servos
- I used 2mm ball links for the taileron linkages on both versions
-1.2mm pushrod for the ailerons on both versions
Flying weight for the 64mm should be 1485g roughly
Flying weight for the 80mm should be 2556 roughly
80mm is 53.0" (1346mm) x 40.0" (1016mm)
64mm is 32.0" (813mm)x 43.0" (1092mm)
Aircraft Specifications
- EDF: single 64mm
- Servos: 2