Fed up with waiting for an ordered model to arrive I bought a Twin-Jet. Choddy already has one which he has flown with great success. I decided why should he have all the fun. I wanted something different though, here is my account of the building and the additional work involved for painting. I will be taking a few weeks of odd evenings to complete this project and will update each weekend or whenever possible.

Click here to see pictures of other modellers painted twinjets

Wingspan: 36 inches Fuse Length: 31 inches Wing Area: approx 395 sq inches Wing Loading approx.: 11.6 oz/sq.ft. Power: 2 x 480 7.2v motors Controls: Motor and Elevon mix Weight approx.: We shall see.

The wing and most of the fuselage are one large piece, a nose cone, 2 tail fins, top fuselage & a canopy section all made of EPP. A long piece of 10mm square hard balsa, an internal plastic tray, 2 x 400 motors & wiring loom, A bag of hardware bits such as control horns and hooks, an instruction booklet and the all important sticker sheet.

JETI 50Amp speed controller, JETI micro receive, Two PROTECH mini servos, 2 x JP-Pro 480 motors & 2 x FKK 6x4 props.

I decided if I was going to paint this model I would have to increase it's power to overcome the additional weight. 480 motors of some kind seemed to be in order and as I can't afford Cobalt motors (yet) I opted for the JP-Pro 480. I haven't seen anything bad written about them so I decided to try them out. As luck would have it, there were no 35amp speed controllers so I picked a JETI 50Amp version as it is not much bigger than the JES350.

From this

To this

With this

Removing the pressure relief pimples and taking the glossy sheen off the airframe parts took about 6 hours of rubbing by hand. I experimented with various methods including a sanding disk in a B&D hobby drill. This proved a bit un-controlled and a sanding bar was the best option with small hand held pieces of 180-grit rubbed gently for the awkward parts. Try not to breath in the EPP dust, it plays havoc with the throat. Use a damp cloth every once in a while to clear dust from surfaces.

2 hours and one side finished.

Nose took about 30 mins.

Canopy smoothed, may mod this.

Find a good movie and sit and watch it while sanding, believe me after and hour of looking at the wing you'll soon get bored. Once finihsed the airframe felt almost fuzzy to the touch, but very smooth.

Fixing the nose.

Matching the fus' sides.

Looks Jet like with tails attached.

I then attached the nose, using a length of the 10mm square balsa provided as instructed to make the underside of the fuselage rigid. This is simply cyno'd into place. I used a spray paint lid inside the nose section to push out the sides as it was a little narrower than the main fus' and I wanted a neat fit on the outside. Holding the sections together for a few moments while the glue tacked then used a couple of clamps to keep it all in place.

Part 2 - installation of Motors, Controls & Radio

Article by Chinman from Bumpy Green Model Aerodrome
5th August 2001