Freewing F-4 drag chute mod

[RCjetdude]

Just for the record, the short kit I make comes with the following:

• Fiberglass tail cone pieces w/strip of FG cloth to glue them together on the inside
• Hinge for the hatch
• Screws to secure the hinge
• Magnets to hold the hatch shut
• A piece of 1/8" lite ply to make a hatch plate. (the chute must push against a flat surface)
• A 2" long piece of Estes BT-55 rocket tube
• The trigger wire and tie-wrap

You would need to supply the chute, servos, plunger assembly and a small screw like that used to secure a control horn on about a 9 gram metal gear servo. The screw is used to secure the plunger assembly in the CF tube. The plunger assy is described in a detailed diagram in an earlier post.

For best results the chute must be compact enough to be firm when wrapped yet loose when installed in the tube. Check out my earlier video where I show how I pack the chute. Paul Helms (Helmsman52) makes beautiful chutes that have been verified to fit perfectly. Others may work but have not been tried by me.

The short kit is not intended to be a simple bolt on solution. It is a custom mod and requires some basic ingenuity and skill to install successfully but it is really not that difficult to do. I have provided enough information for you to be able to make this mod on your own plane but if you have any questions please let me know.

Steve

[Al Rosales]

I would like to know where I can get the ket for the F4 jet drag chute.

[RCjetdude]

Hello Al, welcome to HobbySquawk. I can provide what I call a short kit. See post #21 for a list of the contents. Post #4 shows a diagram outlining how I made the piston assembly. The chute can be gotten from Paul Helms or you can source your own. Currently I am heading to Joe Nall for a week so I won't be able to make anymore kits until after I get back. If you are interested just PM me.

[Helmsman52]

For anyone wanting a drag chute for the Freewing F-4 Phantom please PM me.

The drag chute colors I have now are the red and white. I have two more colors, yellow and the Thunderbirds red white and blue coming soon.

The chutes are made from a .9oz calendared polyester taffeta and the raw cut edges will need to sealed with Qtip and CA by buyer.

Double sided ribbon looped and stitched for the stitched braided suspension lines with shrink tube at the ends.

Elastic riser with oval clips for suspension lines in groups of 5.

Will supply a optional swivel and shrink for the end of the shock line attached to aircraft tail.

The turn around time will be roughly two weeks maybe less.

Thanks, Paul

[crxmanpat]

I'll be interested in a yellow one once you have them ready Paul!

[Helmsman52]

I'll be interested in a yellow one once you have them ready Paul!

I have some new yellow material coming in soon but I will let you know ASAP when I’m making yours Pat!

Thanks!

[crxmanpat]

Awesome Paul, thanks!

[Grady.c]

Even though I dont have the plane I might have to buy this!

[dahawk]

Well ?

One thing I know for sure. There are real model modelers like RCjetdude and then there are guys like me. Sigh...

Here is my first attempt to build the drag chute mod. I don't even have the F4 yet as I'm waiting for the ARF+ to be in stock. But I did manage to buy a spare rear fuse section to see if I could build the drag chute mod in advance of getting the plane.


I'm done and it works ! Well, kind of LOL

The short kit that Steve provides is superb. Everything you need and well made.

I think he must be a micro-surgeon in his professional life ? LOL

Mine is a complete Kluge compared to Steve's. Function over form ? lol. Not pretty. I Macgyvered along the way, covering one mistake after another. But it does work consistently.

Learned a lot and now appreciate what Steve did and why he did it.

So, a few things:

1) Know why and can appreciate the back-up chute release system. If there's a hair trigger due to a sudden jolt and that chute deploys, it could be interesting. If I do another one, I''l make sure I have the correct combination of aluminum and copper tubes. Had to compromise.

2). I botched the saw cut of the molded tail piece but was able to get it looking fair. After painting it wont be too bad.

3). I struggled with the micro magnets. Man, these are small ! Could not get them setup correctly so I designed a catch with some styrene pieces. Pic below. Kind of wedges into a slot. Seems to hold okay without coming loose but not too tight where it won't open. Added a little piece of 220 sandpaper for more friction.

4) I botched the slot on trigger release. Could not keep the wire orientated straight. Kept creeping . So I ended up using 3 zip ties instead of one and applied a lot of Welders clue over the zip ties to hold the wire in alignment. Took a little more bending of the wire to get the v-bend deep enough in the slot. It works consistently.

5).Had to play around with the sub micro servo that lift the trigger wire. Actually had to extend the servo arm on the cheap 3g HK servo. Alsohad to change the servo orientation to an upright position. It's mounted on riser blocks and then sandwiched with some 1/8 ply. See pic..

6). The test chute I have will never do. It's a cheapie vinyl Estes toy rocket chute from the LHS. I can easily see where Paul's( Helmsman52) chute is a must. Nylon will fold up better and slip out better than vinyl. With the vinyl chute, I can pack it barely but there is still too much side wall friction. I have got it to work but it's not consistent yet. Most of the time it gets stuck.

Take a look at the pics and my short test vid, have a laugh and think Rube Goldberg.

https://youtu.be/g865jTtnGtY

Servo mounted upright Door closed Door open

[Aros]

Well ? One thing I know for sure. There are real model modelers like RCjetdude and then there are guys like me. Sigh...

LOL

I am right there with you brother! I would love to have this mod but even with all the tremendous quality parts from these fine gents, mine would still end up looking like I dragged it through a grinder and getting it to work like it should is nearly a pipe dream...

So I will sit back and continue to marvel at the expertise of Steve and Paul and live vicariously through those who have the skill and craftsmanship to see it through. :Cool:

[Aros]

For anyone who would like to see an EXACT clip of my life when it comes to mods or any kind of appreciable engineering, this is about as accurate as it gets. LOL

(Warning, some NSFW language)

(Skip forward to the 1:18 mark)

[TiredIronGRB]

That was painful to watch ;)

[dahawk]

That was good ! Been there

[Clearblue]

Think if you've had kids, we've all been there to some degree or an other! My wife was quite accustom to getting up and going to bed after some of my outbursts of frustrations.... Spent a many Christmas Eve sitting by myself on the floor, Watching Charles Dickens a Christmas Carol, and assembling stuff... just fond memories now, as my youngest is 32.

[Helmsman52]

Hahahaha! Just wanna cry!! Been there

[RCjetdude]

Todd.... Dude... you can't be that bad.

[crxmanpat]

Almost done with my chute mod. All that's left is to finish up the emergency release and installing the magnets, then I can close it up. Tested the regular release mechanism several times and it works a treat! I had some 6mm and 4mm CF rod on hand, and everything nests together perfectly with no slop. I have a chute from my LX Mig-29 to use until Paul gets me his masterpiece (can't wait to get that!). I'll post some vid when it's all done.

Thank you Steve for providing the short kit!

[dahawk]

Pat,

what is the size of the Mig 29 chute packed? Will it fit inside?

Dave

[crxmanpat]

Dave,

I have to wrap it up very tight, but it does fit. It's the one that you were supposed to use for the pilot ejection system. It's 22" and made of red silk.

[dahawk]

Thanks Pat,

I have a couple coming from BH so I can continue to use for Proof of Concept before ordering Paul's beauty. Tried testing with a cheapie Estes rocket vinyl job but its a POS.