P-38 - The Ultimate EPO Lightning

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JSM Xcalibur rebuild

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  • JSM Xcalibur rebuild

    Got this JSM Xcalibur from a friend who got it from another friend who crashed it on a bad landing when it was windy. It wound up getting back in the air after touchdown and cartwheeled. Broke the nose off, damaged the canopy, and did some minor damage to the booms. The friend I got it from had intended to convert it to electric, and put the cheater grates from a 90mm F-104 on the canopy. They won't hurt a turbine version, so I left them there.

    Over the past few months I've been slowly getting her back together and refinished. They had done most of the body work already, but I finished it off and recovered the booms, horizontal stab and wings. It still had the original covering on the wings and horizontal, but I stripped all that off and started over as the paint I had chosen for the fuse was a bit darker (Rustoleum 2X Navy Blue). Covering is Monokote Insignia Blue, which is a pretty close match, but still just a hair lighter blue. Still looks pretty good though. I also change the canopy color from Silver to Gold as I think that looks better. Also had Callie do all the Blue Angels graphics for me, and they came out perfect!

    Here's how it looked shortly after I got it and repainted just the fuse. You can see the big difference in color between the new paint and the old covering.

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    And this is how she looks today. You can see the color of the paint and covering is a much closer match now.

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    I decided back in November to start getting into bigger EDFs (picked up a TamJet A-4 that is getting a Dynamax 127mm fan on 12S) and kept telling myself that one day I'd work my way up to turbines. But then an offer came along that I couldn't pass up. A local flyer was selling a Fly Eagle 1/8 F-16 RTF with a Kingtech G100, plus an iX12 radio and a Habu 32 for $3,100. I got $1,000 back by selling the radio and Habu, and got a turnkey turbine F-16 for just $2,100 invested! But I wanted something to train on first, and got this Xcalibur in a trade. I also purchased a Jet Central Bee II from another friend who also let me fly his Xcalibur that it was installed in before taking it out for me.

    All I have left to do is route all the internal wiring and fuel lines and mount all the equipment inside and she'll be ready to fly! Can't wait to get my waiver!

    JSM Xcalibur (regular size, not the XL)
    Graupner Mz-24 radio with a GR-24L RX
    Electron retracts, struts, and electric brakes
    Jet Central Bee II Turbine (60 size)
    Pat

  • #2
    Nice looking bird Pat! Don't you love it when the stars align and a good deal lands in your lap.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Twowingtj View Post
      Nice looking bird Pat! Don't you love it when the stars align and a good deal lands in your lap.
      Yes indeed! It was just the deal I needed to make the jump into turbines.

      Spent the majority of the day yesterday getting all the electronics and fuel system installed inside the fuse. I had to mentally lay everything out for the equipment trays before cutting holes. I had to rebuild the trays and some of the formers from scratch as they had been destroyed in the crash from the previous owner. Fortunately I had all of the pieces from one of the side trays to make a template from, and since they are mirror images I made two of the same. All that's left to do is attach a fueling line to the UAT, get the batteries installed in the nose, and test out all the electronics (already done once, but before I secured everything in place yesterday). Then it's time to add fuel and fire her up! Going to try and do the maiden Saturday if it's not too hot.

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      Pat

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      • #4
        Got the Xcalibur out to the field today. Fueled it up and programmed the ECU to my transmitter and ran the turbine for a bit to make sure there are no issues. With the UAT in the nose I wound up very nose heavy due to the repairs that were done (lots of extra glass, epoxy and bondo in the nose now), so I need to relocate it to the top of the main tank. Other than that, everything went well and I will be making the final adjustments today. Hope to maiden it tomorrow if it's not too hot (it was already 90° here at 6am this morning).
        Pat

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        • #5
          Time to update this thread. After relocating the UAT, I went back out to the field and tried to get it in the air. For some reason though, the turbine would run fine at the stand, but as soon as I went to taxi out it would flame out. Tried several different things to fix it, but in the end I wound up replacing the Jet Central Bee II with a brand new Kingtech K85. It now runs flawlessly and flies great! I have about 5 flights on it so far.
          Pat

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