Hi everyone -
As mentioned in the last post, I wanted to discuss why I think the RC Powers Mig-29 V1 is such a good choice for your first park jet regardless of your skill level and experience, but especially if you are brand new to the RC hobby. This way, hopefully if you are pretty new to the RC hobby or new to park jets, you can get started after doing a bit of research and collecting a few bits of gear and get a plane in the air before worrying too much about the other details I will write about in subsequent posts.
As you read more through this thread, you will realize that this plane is not in what I consider the "ideal" size range of a 27" wingspan with the Mig-29 V1 being 24", but it just works in my experience and besides that, the plans are free as of the writing of this post, so hard to go wrong there.😉
Even though relatively small and light, the Mig-29 V1 can handle a bit of wind, say up to about 10 mph and keep flying quite well, so if you are starting off, you don't always have to wait for a dead calm day. Beyond about 10 mph winds, however, probably best not to try flying the Mig-29 V1 unless you have built up quite a bit of confidence as it can get bounced around a bit erratically in stronger winds.
There is one important file that I would encourage you to open, look at and even print off on your computer that come with the Mig-29 V1 plans. The file is called "planview" and is filled with a lot of details about the recommended setup and three diagrams showing the plane side on, head on and from a "God's eye view". This is a great reference page when getting ready to build the plane and to have on hand during the build.
As mentioned in the last post, I wanted to discuss why I think the RC Powers Mig-29 V1 is such a good choice for your first park jet regardless of your skill level and experience, but especially if you are brand new to the RC hobby. This way, hopefully if you are pretty new to the RC hobby or new to park jets, you can get started after doing a bit of research and collecting a few bits of gear and get a plane in the air before worrying too much about the other details I will write about in subsequent posts.
As you read more through this thread, you will realize that this plane is not in what I consider the "ideal" size range of a 27" wingspan with the Mig-29 V1 being 24", but it just works in my experience and besides that, the plans are free as of the writing of this post, so hard to go wrong there.😉
Even though relatively small and light, the Mig-29 V1 can handle a bit of wind, say up to about 10 mph and keep flying quite well, so if you are starting off, you don't always have to wait for a dead calm day. Beyond about 10 mph winds, however, probably best not to try flying the Mig-29 V1 unless you have built up quite a bit of confidence as it can get bounced around a bit erratically in stronger winds.
There is one important file that I would encourage you to open, look at and even print off on your computer that come with the Mig-29 V1 plans. The file is called "planview" and is filled with a lot of details about the recommended setup and three diagrams showing the plane side on, head on and from a "God's eye view". This is a great reference page when getting ready to build the plane and to have on hand during the build.
Other than the fact the plans are free, it is incredibly popular and well supported, here are some of the main reasons I think the Mig-29 V1 is such a great first choice for a park jet, I will go over all these points in further detail.
- Extremely easy build, with all your gear gathered, you can build and fly the same day;
- Very beginner friendly, flies well elevons only, with the most basic power system, even if you get "glue happy" in your build;
- All the weight sits below the wing plate, giving it natural "self righting" tendencies and amazing stability, both crucial characteristics in a beginner plane;
- Very easy to repair, everything is a flat surface, most repairs can be done at the field or quite easily at home, meaning you can get back in the air quickly, keep learning and having fun😃.
Easy build
The Mig-29 V1 is a profile plane, in other words, it doesn't have a three dimensional type fuselage, rather a flat wing plate that is perpendicular to a flat fuselage, essentially a "+" design when you look at it head on.
The Mig-29 V1 is a profile plane, in other words, it doesn't have a three dimensional type fuselage, rather a flat wing plate that is perpendicular to a flat fuselage, essentially a "+" design when you look at it head on.
This means it has a very low "parts count", only 13 parts to cut out from the "untiled" plans and everything fits together very easily. In all honesty, you can start cutting foam after breakfast and by using hot glue and not worrying about any sort of paint job, you can be flying by the afternoon, the build is that quick.
Simple control and power setup
It flies amazingly well with elevons only, so only two servos needed, even if you get a little "slap happy" with the hot glue, it will fly just great with the basic 2212/6 2200 Kv motor setup and away you go. The first one I built shown in red, white and blue above weighed 539 gr/19 oz with a 2200 3S battery which is pretty heavy for a profile plane, but it still flew incredibly well and I put hundreds of flights on it before it was retired. In this old picture below, you can see I ran elevons only, and was using the Turnigy D2826/6 2200 Kv motor, one of the most popular park jet motors around. I added quite a bit of extra reinforcement as you can see, the plane was built with Depron, this probably wasn't needed, but this plane was tough and took a lot of punishment.
Simple control and power setup
It flies amazingly well with elevons only, so only two servos needed, even if you get a little "slap happy" with the hot glue, it will fly just great with the basic 2212/6 2200 Kv motor setup and away you go. The first one I built shown in red, white and blue above weighed 539 gr/19 oz with a 2200 3S battery which is pretty heavy for a profile plane, but it still flew incredibly well and I put hundreds of flights on it before it was retired. In this old picture below, you can see I ran elevons only, and was using the Turnigy D2826/6 2200 Kv motor, one of the most popular park jet motors around. I added quite a bit of extra reinforcement as you can see, the plane was built with Depron, this probably wasn't needed, but this plane was tough and took a lot of punishment.
Stable and self righting
Throughout this thread, you will hear me use terms like "neutral vertical balance", "top heavy" or "bottom heavy". This relates to where the majority of the weight is located in relation to the wing plate of the plane. For overall best performance and agility, neutral is the best. Top heavy is not horrible, but can cause the plane to want to flip on it's back prematurely in turns, loops, etc and can make for some really tricky flying, so not a great setup for beginners. Fortunately, the Mig-29 V1 is "bottom heavy". This gives it much better stability and "self righting" characteristics as it always has a tendency to want to roll upright, which is a great characteristic for beginners or those who want a more relaxing flight experience. Think of it like the heavy keel on a sail boat, always wanting to right the boat as it gets pushed over by wind or waves, this "bottom heavy" tendency does the same for park jets. Here you can see a picture of the electronics bay of my current Mig-29 V1 which I modified to have extra controls, all the weight is on the bottom and with the battery dead center, it makes it very stable.
Throughout this thread, you will hear me use terms like "neutral vertical balance", "top heavy" or "bottom heavy". This relates to where the majority of the weight is located in relation to the wing plate of the plane. For overall best performance and agility, neutral is the best. Top heavy is not horrible, but can cause the plane to want to flip on it's back prematurely in turns, loops, etc and can make for some really tricky flying, so not a great setup for beginners. Fortunately, the Mig-29 V1 is "bottom heavy". This gives it much better stability and "self righting" characteristics as it always has a tendency to want to roll upright, which is a great characteristic for beginners or those who want a more relaxing flight experience. Think of it like the heavy keel on a sail boat, always wanting to right the boat as it gets pushed over by wind or waves, this "bottom heavy" tendency does the same for park jets. Here you can see a picture of the electronics bay of my current Mig-29 V1 which I modified to have extra controls, all the weight is on the bottom and with the battery dead center, it makes it very stable.
Easy to repair
Over time, I built four Mig-29 V1s, they took some pretty serious punishment and all were repaired after any "mishaps". I never once had a situation in hundreds and hundreds of flights where I couldn't quickly repair the plane at the field or within an hour when I got back home. My progression of Mig-29 V1s.
Over time, I built four Mig-29 V1s, they took some pretty serious punishment and all were repaired after any "mishaps". I never once had a situation in hundreds and hundreds of flights where I couldn't quickly repair the plane at the field or within an hour when I got back home. My progression of Mig-29 V1s.
Everybody likes a good "fail" video now and then... 😄
My first Mig-29 V1 "walked" away from this crash, I pulled it out of the soft ground, cleaned off the dirt and kept flying the same day 😊 I certainly would not recommend the crazy control surface throws and 3D type moves I was doing in those days when you are first starting off, but hopefully it does demonstrate that the Mig-29 V1 can be flown quite slowly, with very good control in a very small area. Part of the reason I did crash was my control surface throws were far too high, so when I panicked, pulled too much up elevator, they were acting more like brakes and contributed to my loss of control.
On a less fortunate day, even when I had much more experience, I still smacked this Mig-29 V1 into the ground pretty hard, unfortunately the ground wasn't as soft as in the video above.
Took it home, a little bit of hot glue, patched it up and it was ready to go again. I didn't paint over it, thought it was cool to display it's "battle scars" :)
Anyway, I'm not trying to bore or impress you with my "buffoonery", but hopefully you get the idea why the Mig-29 V1 is such a great starter plane. With the minimum throws to get you started, it is docile but responsive if you get into trouble. You can push your skills and gain confidence very quickly and even if you do crash, you can repair it quite easily or if things get really catastrophic and it can't be repaired, you can build another in a day, recycle the gear from the first one and continue on your park jet journey 👍
So even if you already have considerable RC experience, I don't think you can go wrong with the Mig-29 V1. Unfortunately, I did a lot of "smashing" and "crashing" of bigger, nicer score and fold planes, wasn't getting anywhere with my skills before being convinced to try the Mig-29 V1. It immediately changed my RC experience for the better as I could focus more on flying without fear of smashing up a plane that took me hours to build and might take hours to repair if I crashed. I could relax much more and simply fly.
It gets you used to building with foam, setting up elevons which you will need for almost every park jet you build and gives you the experience of flying a unique mid motor mounted "prop in slot" plane. Besides, even for a very simple profile plane, it looks pretty cool, which is always an important consideration in a plane 😉
So even if you already have considerable RC experience, I don't think you can go wrong with the Mig-29 V1. Unfortunately, I did a lot of "smashing" and "crashing" of bigger, nicer score and fold planes, wasn't getting anywhere with my skills before being convinced to try the Mig-29 V1. It immediately changed my RC experience for the better as I could focus more on flying without fear of smashing up a plane that took me hours to build and might take hours to repair if I crashed. I could relax much more and simply fly.
It gets you used to building with foam, setting up elevons which you will need for almost every park jet you build and gives you the experience of flying a unique mid motor mounted "prop in slot" plane. Besides, even for a very simple profile plane, it looks pretty cool, which is always an important consideration in a plane 😉
Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎
Cheers,
Scott
Cheers,
Scott
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