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Vic Schroeder's first bagged part – a J-tail!
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Vic Shroeder
is using his free JART plans to learn new building techniques. To the right are photos of his first piece of bagged beauty. I'll let him tell the rest:
"Finally, after ages of planning, reading and thinking I've just got a fresh Jart stab out of the bag, very chuffed as it's my second bagging attempt and the wow factor when you open a "To Dad, From Dad" present inside the bag is superb! The leading edge and trailing edges just need trimming now.
"Craig Goodrum and Evan Shaw's composite courses at AMT made it go pretty easy so it's on to the wings which came out great (thanks Mike for the template tip! - use thick Formica and a home-made feather cut).
"The wings are going to be two piece for ease of transport. I discussed the wing joiner rod with Craig and I'm going to use the tows-in-a-disappearing-aluminium-tube idea. Pictures to follow as it's being done.
"Thanks again Mike for your help and Reed for the generosity with the free plans for this beautiful plane!"
Vic
Read more South African JART adventures in their blog
Nick Baker
(aka Sensiblenick)
has been threatening to finish this sweet hunk of carbon for about 3 years and this May finally had him doing it! It was worth the wait, as you can see. Follow his build thread to get a ton of interesting ideas about building and finishing off a top-shelf beauty, as well as a detailed study on how not to live a sedate and focused life. If the carbon doesn't make you drool, the radio install will – the man has skillz!
Photo gallery
John Scahill
(aka Big Gas)
finished off this "scale" JART with a very nice Agressor scheme. Very unique, I don't think I've seen a panel-lined JART prior to this. Some of you may know that I'm a total sucker for PSS planes so I really like the way this one turned out.
Photo gallery
I'll let John give you the flight report on his maiden voyage:
"Another Jart takes to the skies!
"Winds were out of the west at about 15mph at Little Mountain. I tested the lift with my 48" LEG Spitfire. A little gusty, but worthy of the Jart. Mine came out at 39 oz. I tossed it and only put a little up trim in. Wow, rolls are great, pumps are spectacular. The plane has a great sound to it, especially the subtle "Blade" type squeel in the rolls. I love a plane with cool noise.
"Tuff to slow down, I was using spoilerons and didn't like the feel of them. I switched them down to flaps and logged some nicer landings. What's the consensus on slowing it down, flaps or spoilerons? I use spoilerons on all my other planes to avoid the tip stall.
"I think my cg is slightly nose heavy as it seems to pull up very subtley in a dive. Should I move the battery back? Is it nose heavy? Cg is about 55-57mm.
"My construction was rather straight forward. Lost foam fuse. Glass and a little kevlar. Wings are EPS (Cut by Al, thanks) balsa sheeted and glassed. I tried to live hinge the ailerons but used RTV which makes the movement a little too stiff IMO. The live hinge worked great on the elevator, I just need practice. Tail feathers are balsa with glass. I am real happy with this one."
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Read Ellison's Column
(yep, he does talk JART) |
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June 2008 |
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June 2006 |
January 2007 |
Andy Ellison
has written another in a long series of excellent slope articles in RCM&E. If you haven't picked up a copy of RCM&E you should, it's a must-read if you have even a passing interest in RC flight. In this edition, Andy describes his slope arsenal in some painstaking detail, and includes a mention of his well-ballasted JART as a fine instrument for exploring big air. A lighter JART is fun in the conditions most sane people fly, but Andy's weighs in at a fully-laden European 74 oz. so when he slings it out into the sturm and drang of an English afternoon blow you know it has no choice but to go fast. Andy mentions having maidened his JART in 65mph winds, so clearly he's not using the same cognitive powers most of us employ to make important decisions!
When is weather both good and bad...
...when it's gorgeous, sunny, and windless.
Well, folks, another one is in the books. Paula and I had a blast and it was our privilege and pleasure to host the show. Without all who turned up, physically and otherwise, there would be no event, however, so it is with humility and happiness that we thank you all for being there. Special thanks go out to infopimp, surfimp, BillO, Tim Bigley and Thierry Locard and all those who helped us bring the gear back up the hill.
Big shout outs to those who came a long way:
surfimp from Santa Barbara
bluffman and slopeiron from Los Angeles
Zamfir from Colorado
and of course, the grand champion of distance J-travel...
wheatfly from Georgia!
The raffle was a great success and we really should put our hands together in appreciation for the sponsors:
Soaring USA
Reese Productions
I have a few things going out to our international friends who won items in the raffle, but the big winner of the JART kit complete with carbon bagged wing and tail, was David Bormann! He's new to the sport, but I think we've hooked him for life now! And I hope you guys don't mind if I throw in a huge hug and a kiss for my lovely wife who made sandwiches, laminated signs, bought tons of food and used her tiny frame to haul a bunch of heavy stuff up and down the hill. Not much time to type at the moment, but I'll add some thoughts later.
Forecast calls for sun and wind!
It's looking pretty darn good, gentlemen. Hope to see you there.
Read more here...
JART-LT – sneek peek maiden video
 BillO was out at the coast when I brought my freshly fitted-out JART-LT for maiden and he was kind enough to get a bit of video on this lovely day. Wind was about 12mph, gusting a little higher, and we had plenty of energy for a few JARTY moves.
I like this version. The RTF weight is 36oz and she flies very predictably and very nimbly. The production version will be have a couple of slight changes but this video well indicates what can be expected of the JART-LT.
The poll says yes
The results of the poll below indicates that plenty of people would be willing to pay a little extra to get a JART that they don't have to build from scratch. I'll still offer the PDF plan file for free and this site will always encourage scratch building. I have to tell you, though, I've had so many people tell me that they'd love to fly the plane but simply don't have the circumstances necessary to scratch build that I find myself wanting to help them out. My wife won't let me do this as a charity project, but I can put a bit of effort into it and if a few of you are willing to support the endeavor we at JART will do our best to bring you a good kit.
Also, we'll offer a set of beautiful CNC-cut, spiderfoam cores that anyone who has the will and skill can make into their own top-shelf, über-awesome wings. You get the full kit with the built-up wings either way.
Check back soon for complete order and delivery details.
The best laid plans of mice and men...
DD is coming through with a couple of fuses, but the other guy who'd promised to work with me has dropped out. So I'm shifting gears. There is a kit we would like to offer, but to make it worthwhile I need to know how many of you might be interested. Here's a picture of the kit:
Click for larger view
You sharp-eyed, JART-spotters will note that the ailerons are not correct to plan. This is because the wings are built-up. I know, pretty wimpy, but they are actually very well built - CNC balsa and ply parts very precisely assembled and covered. I'm working with this kit-maker to beef up the fuse and make a few other changes, but this, plus my own hardware and a set of plans, is essentially the kit we could produce if you guys think it's worth doing. The price I've listed in the poll below is the lowest price I can offer and still make it worth all the work. Please let me know what you think...
(The poll is closed - after my post above a lot of "no" votes came in for the price I'd listed. So when it came time to offer the kit, I brought the price down about $80USD. Not sure how long I can do this, but there you have it, we slopers are notoriously a bit tight in the shorts.)
Here We Go Again!
The first one was a blast. This time we're hoping for an even bigger and better one. Set in a beautiful, secluded spot along the San Francisco coastline, this Fest will feature a swap meet, a raffle, and an array of gorgeous JARTs to ogle.
Read more here...
JART in South Africa
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Mike's red machine.
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So much great JART action happening in South Africa these days. I haven't been able to update the blog much lately but I've certainly been paying attention to all of these great builds going on around the world. Have a look at Mike May's gorgeous red machine above and read a thread on his mold here.
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Kobus, Wesley and Trevor at Volksrust.
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And here are three attractive models - no, not the guys, the planes. This is a great picture because it shows three planes with very individualistic details, yet they are all clearly recognizable as JARTs. See more pics and read more about the building and flying of these models on the South Africa JART Blog.
That's all for the moment, although there is much more to report. I'll post more on various JART builds next week.
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