[Dutkoski]

I pretty sure everyone has heard of the BTE Reaction 54 turbine model, a fairly older all wood design, new versions have a iberglass fuselage, but I prefer the looks of the wooden one. Anyway, I need a quick build 90 mm EDF model to use the new six cell batteries I just purchased. So, after looking at numerous plans on the net, decided to redo the Reaction 54. I did some figuring with penscil and paper ( yeah, old school ) and decided on a 64 inch wingspan and 64 inch overall length.

I used the basic two view provided on BET's website as inspiration and started to do the design work. Never liked the way they designed the rear fuselage, with the turbine hanging in the breeze, so I will enclose that area so the EDF and thrust tube will be inside. I will also design cheek intakes to feed air to the EDF. This will be done once I have the wing and fuselage made so I can get the proper shapes and angles. The fuselage was also widened to accommodate the EDF unit.

The original had simple builtup slab horizontal stabizer and vertical fin, I will be hotwiring versions with an airfoil.

Even when the model is reduced in size, the wing is still huge, the root is 20" long and the wingtip is 12". I think it'll be a floater if I build light enough. I also used a different airfoil than the BET's model, it's a NACA 0009 symmetrical design.

The fuselage will be all flat extruded foam, 1/2" for the sides, 3/8" for the top and bottom. There will be some plywood in the structure but only where needed, most formers will be foam.

For controls, aileron elevator, rudder, flaps and yes, retracts, jets need retracts.

For covering, it'll be 3/4 oz fiberglass cloth, bonded in place with water based urethane paint. Not sure about the colour scheme, but you can bet it won't be pink for long.

To determine the location of the CG, I decided to make a chuck glider. So, after supper, printed out a half size of the model and cut out the parts from dollar store foam, took almost two sheets, so, $3.00 investment. While assembling it, I discovered a 50 mm EDF will fit inside it very nicely, hmm, another project for sure. One thing I'm not sure about is the location of the wing, I might move it forward slightly, to help with balancing. But will wait and see if the chuck glider works.

So, here is my evening's efforts, turned out pretty good for $3.00.

[Max]

I love how you do these builds, John. Watching the development of the model from concept to finish is a real treat for those that are curious how you do it. Looking forward to following this thread

[Dutkoski]

The chuck glider worked out really nice. Took only $3.30 taped to the nose to get it to glide straight and level across my front yard. I tossing it around, the garbage pickup guys were watching intently seeing an old fart playing with his toy glider

The CG turned out to be 3.5" exactly, from the leading edge of the wing at the fuselage which will translate to 7" for the real one.

The more I look at this little glider, the more I like it for fitting in a 50 mm EDF. I already have the fiberglass thrust tube. The glider tips the scales at ever so slightly more than 5 oz as it sits. It'll be a nice companion model for the Mirage F-1C I'm also doing.

Thanks Max, well, in the world of ARF's, all the designing and most of the thinking is done, I think the younger members like to see how our birds evolve from paper drawings to flying. I get more pleasure from my own designs than from ARF's. but, I do have a few ARF's that I'm impressed with. The engineering that goes into them is incredible, but, someone else did all the hard work. I guess I'm just stuck being an old school guy at heart.

So, for me, this is fun and my Amazon box arrived, getting the essentials for the summer

[Cat 1]

Watching with interest John - I have a 90MM fan that needs a home too. I have been playing with designs and the reaction was a thought, but I wanted the fan enclosed.

I like the looks of the glider and with the right intakes it might be a winner.

[Dutkoski]

I'm thinking of making the intakes out of plastic. For me, it's fairly easy to make simple wood moulds and vacuum form them out of .040 styrene. Simply epoxy them in place. Foam ones would be a lot more bulky.

Do you have the ability to Hotwire foam cores Chris?

[Cat 1]

I have an older Feathercut table I made- Have to produce templates to cut but Yes I can.
I have been toying with the idea of building a CNC foam cutter but haven't got to it yet.
I recently finished a CNC router setup but most of its tasking so far has been cutting foambord for Flite test type planes. The intakes could also be 3D printed

[j-c terrettaz]

for small jets 60-70 mm size stiff card work very well and its cheap...you can make them more resistant with a layer of thin epoxy

[Cat 1]

Here is a very quick inlet duct for a 90mm fan with a wider "foam" fuse. Flanges included to attach to fuse sides. This is just a quick sketch to show what a 3D printed duct could look like.

[j-c terrettaz]

very neat and precise ..next winter I will have to invest on a 3D winter

[Cat 1]

I will throw this on the printer tonite as a test just to see how it looks...