The F-18 V4 “MULTIROLE PARKJET” In

The F-18 V4 “MULTIROLE PARKJET”




Introduction
I love all the new planes for what they are. The speed plane is fast, the trainer plane is stable, and the hovering plane hovers. I love the idea of having a role and having a plane that fills that to the fullest. You probably have people in your life that don’t understand why you like this plane or that one. Try giving them the “dog analogy” next time. It goes like this: This dog is small and loud and every day it does what it’s supposed to do. It’s fulfilling its predictable role. I may not like that role, but it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. This dog is large and fast and does what it’s supposed to do. And then, once about every 15 years, you meet that dog that is like Old Yeller. He is just the best. Not too big, not too small, not too fast, not too slow, not weak, not aggressive, he’s just... perfect? Can we use that word? You can take him wherever you go and he just “gets it” you know what I mean? Maybe you’ve been blessed to have a good old dog like this in your life. You wouldn’t trade your buddy for anything in the world. I love all the planes we’ve done over the years, and they all have their own special story about them... but there is something “Old Yeller” about this F-18 V4. It’s the only plane I feel a little emotional about. There, I said it. And when the day comes that I have to “put this plane down”, yes, I’m going to cry a little.

The only real way to show you what I mean is to drive to your house and put the plane and radio in your hands and say, “Fly it!” There are a few things in particular that are making this plane special, and I’d like to share those with you. First is the redesigned aileron configuration. This new design works with the total airflow of the wing and has erased tip stalling and overcorrecting completely. Second is that the rudders have been reworked to bring about more control and self correcting stability. And third is the simple score-fold-notch leading edge slats that create an organic “bird wing” kind of feel and flow to it. This means you can actually use full flaps now and NOT stall the wing on landings! I’ve never seen anything like this. Let me first start with a bit of context and then let’s get into it:

What Else Is Out There
Filling the roll of “best-all-around” is the hardest roll for an RC plane to fill. You see, it’s actually easier to just be “the fastest” or “best looking” because that way you are off the hook for being super stable, aerobatic, etc. There are alot of good planes out there but most of them will always let you down in some specific area. It’s the speed plane that gets unstable when you are coming in from a landing. It’s the trainer plane that won’t do aerobatics. It’s the aerobatic plane that won’t ever be stable. It’s the good looking plane on the bench that flies like - well you get the idea. What I’m trying to say is, I’ve personally never flown a plane like this F-18 V4. Long after the day is done and everyone’s gone home, this is the one that I fly just for me. Let me get into the specifics of what’s so special about it and I’m sure you’ll see what I see in it too:

New Features And Benefits
The new F-18 V4 is like that new car that comes loaded with improvements but is still built off the proven successful platform that came before it. The F-18 V4 is even MORE stable (I know!) has more control (especially in slow flying), and has options that increase the lift and slow to mid flying performance by 30%! In all the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve never had a plane fly with such aerodynamic grace. Here are some of the details:

New Angled Ailerons. Here is where the magic starts to pull the F-18 V4 away from its predecessors. The ailerons on the new F-18 V4 takes away the ability to EVER go out of control! This is going to be the first thing that feels different when you fly this one. There has always been two very big problems with ailerons (even in the F-18 V3 to some extent). The first problem is planes go into “hyper-roll”. They roll too fast, are way too much to handle, and we have to now WORK to dial them down (less throws, dual rates, expo, etc). The second problem is that they are stalling out the wing tips during slow flying (coming around for a landing) and causing that tip stall and crash.

With this radical new aileron, you now have easier to handle aerobatic performance (it’s not going to spin so fast you get disoriented). This also allows you to work more efficient with the popular “4x4 set up” (ailerons and elevons working together for roll). Get this, the results are that you now can fly more acrobatically, with more stability at all times, with less programing of your radio and throws! Did you get all that? More results, less instability, and less work for you! I just love it and I know you will too.

The next massive benefit to these new ailerons is that they take away the ability to stall at slow flight. “What, how is that possible?” I said on the Forum that we were only going to do V4s if we could find something magical, and here you go. Like the full scale F-18 you have more aileron movement towards the inside, and less towards the tips of the wings. This maximizes the efficiency of aileron leverage and keeps the wing tips from stalling! Too much aileron movement, size, and throw, is what’s causing that tip stalling! Oh by the way, not anymore. The days of tip stalling are starting to move behind us and this F-18 V4 is the flagship of the new generation.

Bigger Rudders. When designing RC planes there are things that “should be easy” but in fact are very time consuming. One of these areas has always been the control set up in the rear of the plane. Here you have to factor in strength of the plane, strength of the controls, airflow from the prop wash, build complexity, scale looks, and most of all, in the end, the rudders can’t get “locked” into the elevons during extreme maneuvers. With the F-18 V3 we did get all the parts to fit together and look right, but the size of the moving rudders was the piece that had to “compromise” to get the rest to fit. It was “just enough” but when it came to customers at the field, they were wanting a bit more... So back to the lab we went. Here’s what we did:

The goal was to design larger rudders for better yaw control during high alpha (and even hovers) but keep the scale look and not have the controls lock into each other. In order to do this we had to pull the whole plane apart and redistribute the new changes subtly over many parts, rather than just one area. We also found that making the vertical stabilizers a bit more vertical and not as angled did improve stability in winds. This also gave us a couple more millimeters that we needed to get all the parts to fit. The result is a back end that all fits together, looks good, won’t jam up, and has better and more efficient controls! This means less work for you the pilot because the plane is able to do his job better. Once again, take the time to do it right because the little details make all the difference.

Leading Edge Slats
When running our F-18 V3 against the new F-18 V4 in flight testing, we quickly found that we met our goals of making a better airplane. The V4 out-performed the V3 so well that we couldn’t stop talking about it. After flight testing I thought about how much the guys on the Forum are going to love this when they finally get to fly their F-18 V4. We had talked about how we were going to modify our own personal F-18 V4s with leading edge slats. Then we got to thinking... if we like leading edge slats so much, could we find a way to make them simple enough that all the guys could have them?

We know that leading edge slats (like scale planes) do increase lift and decrease stalling dramatically, but in the RC world it’s always been the complexity that’s kept them away. So what we did was test the F-18 V4 with leading edge slats at every angle from 0 to 40 degrees. What we found was that there was a “sweet spot” and you know we’re always looking for that. Meaning, if I could have the leading edge slats just set to “one fixed degree” what would it be? If you’re looking for the fastest wing possible, don’t have any leading edge slats deployed. Put a KF4 on it (or even better, the MiG-29 V4) and fly with elevons only. But, if you are like me and love to fly the F-18 V4 at fast enough speeds (under 60 MPH) as well as medium, slow flying, and a bit of high alpha, then you want to set the leading edge slats to 30 degrees! Here is what the performance looks like with the slats down:

Two places in particular the leading edge slats really make it magical: First one is turns! The feeling of it is like comparing walking on ice (no slats) to sledding (with slats). With no slats the plane really slides and slips through the turns at a fast rate of speed. Slow it down and you get in trouble. With the leading edge slats down, you can feel the cushion of air engulf the wing! It’s very cool! This lets the plane go slower in the turns with more stability! Like a sled in snow, you feel the cushion of air all around it protecting you. This is the first place you’ll notice the benefits of the leading edge slats. Here is the second:

You know when you are performing loops and there is that “hang time” right at the top and sometimes the plane tip stalls a bit and you have a sloppy loop (right when everyone is looking)? Well, those are gone with leading edge slats. Listen to me, this wing WON’T STALL! It can’t. The new radical ailerons, dogtooth tips, and now leading edge slats make it impossible to stall this wing even if you tried. This means you can fly high risk moves (such as loops) and do them a few feet off the ground and not worry! Oh yeah, this is a fun one. The new F-18 V4 with leading edge slats is the star of the new line up because it can d

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

F-18 V4 "Đa chức năng PARKJET" Giới thiệu Tôi yêu tất cả những chiếc máy bay mới cho những gì họ có. Máy bay tốc độ là nhanh, máy bay huấn luyện là ổn định và dao động máy bay lơ lửng. Tôi thích ý tưởng của việc có một vai trò và có một chiếc máy bay lấp đầy mà với đầy đủ. Bạn có thể có người trong cuộc sống của bạn mà không hiểu lý do tại sao bạn thích chiếc máy bay này hay đấy. Cố gắng cho họ "giống chó" thời gian tới. Nó đi như thế này: con chó này là nhỏ và lớn và mỗi ngày nó những gì nó đã phải làm. Nó hoàn thành vai trò của nó dự đoán được. Tôi có thể không giống như vai trò đó, nhưng nó làm những gì nó đã phải làm. Con chó này là lớn và nhanh chóng và làm những gì nó đã phải làm. Và sau đó, một lần về 15 năm một lần, bạn đáp ứng các con chó giống như cũ Yeller. Ông là chỉ có tốt nhất. Không quá lớn, không quá nhỏ, không quá nhanh, không quá chậm, không yếu, không tích cực, ông chỉ là... hoàn hảo? Chúng tôi có thể sử dụng từ đó? Bạn có thể đi bất cứ nơi nào bạn đi và ông chỉ "được nó" bạn biết những gì tôi có nghĩa là? Có lẽ bạn đã được may mắn để có một con chó cũ tốt như thế này trong cuộc sống của bạn. Bạn sẽ không thương mại bạn bè của bạn cho bất cứ điều gì trên thế giới. Tôi yêu tất cả những chiếc máy bay chúng tôi đã làm trong những năm qua, và tất cả đều có riêng của họ câu chuyện đặc biệt về họ... nhưng có một cái gì đó "Cũ Yeller" về V4 F-18 này. Đó là máy bay duy nhất tôi cảm thấy một chút cảm xúc về. Có, tôi đã nói nó. Và khi ngày nói rằng tôi phải "đặt chiếc máy bay này", Yeah, tôi sẽ khóc một chút. The only real way to show you what I mean is to drive to your house and put the plane and radio in your hands and say, “Fly it!” There are a few things in particular that are making this plane special, and I’d like to share those with you. First is the redesigned aileron configuration. This new design works with the total airflow of the wing and has erased tip stalling and overcorrecting completely. Second is that the rudders have been reworked to bring about more control and self correcting stability. And third is the simple score-fold-notch leading edge slats that create an organic “bird wing” kind of feel and flow to it. This means you can actually use full flaps now and NOT stall the wing on landings! I’ve never seen anything like this. Let me first start with a bit of context and then let’s get into it: What Else Is Out ThereFilling the roll of “best-all-around” is the hardest roll for an RC plane to fill. You see, it’s actually easier to just be “the fastest” or “best looking” because that way you are off the hook for being super stable, aerobatic, etc. There are alot of good planes out there but most of them will always let you down in some specific area. It’s the speed plane that gets unstable when you are coming in from a landing. It’s the trainer plane that won’t do aerobatics. It’s the aerobatic plane that won’t ever be stable. It’s the good looking plane on the bench that flies like - well you get the idea. What I’m trying to say is, I’ve personally never flown a plane like this F-18 V4. Long after the day is done and everyone’s gone home, this is the one that I fly just for me. Let me get into the specifics of what’s so special about it and I’m sure you’ll see what I see in it too: New Features And BenefitsThe new F-18 V4 is like that new car that comes loaded with improvements but is still built off the proven successful platform that came before it. The F-18 V4 is even MORE stable (I know!) has more control (especially in slow flying), and has options that increase the lift and slow to mid flying performance by 30%! In all the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve never had a plane fly with such aerodynamic grace. Here are some of the details: New Angled Ailerons. Here is where the magic starts to pull the F-18 V4 away from its predecessors. The ailerons on the new F-18 V4 takes away the ability to EVER go out of control! This is going to be the first thing that feels different when you fly this one. There has always been two very big problems with ailerons (even in the F-18 V3 to some extent). The first problem is planes go into “hyper-roll”. They roll too fast, are way too much to handle, and we have to now WORK to dial them down (less throws, dual rates, expo, etc). The second problem is that they are stalling out the wing tips during slow flying (coming around for a landing) and causing that tip stall and crash. With this radical new aileron, you now have easier to handle aerobatic performance (it’s not going to spin so fast you get disoriented). This also allows you to work more efficient with the popular “4x4 set up” (ailerons and elevons working together for roll). Get this, the results are that you now can fly more acrobatically, with more stability at all times, with less programing of your radio and throws! Did you get all that? More results, less instability, and less work for you! I just love it and I know you will too. The next massive benefit to these new ailerons is that they take away the ability to stall at slow flight. “What, how is that possible?” I said on the Forum that we were only going to do V4s if we could find something magical, and here you go. Like the full scale F-18 you have more aileron movement towards the inside, and less towards the tips of the wings. This maximizes the efficiency of aileron leverage and keeps the wing tips from stalling! Too much aileron movement, size, and throw, is what’s causing that tip stalling! Oh by the way, not anymore. The days of tip stalling are starting to move behind us and this F-18 V4 is the flagship of the new generation.
Bigger Rudders. When designing RC planes there are things that “should be easy” but in fact are very time consuming. One of these areas has always been the control set up in the rear of the plane. Here you have to factor in strength of the plane, strength of the controls, airflow from the prop wash, build complexity, scale looks, and most of all, in the end, the rudders can’t get “locked” into the elevons during extreme maneuvers. With the F-18 V3 we did get all the parts to fit together and look right, but the size of the moving rudders was the piece that had to “compromise” to get the rest to fit. It was “just enough” but when it came to customers at the field, they were wanting a bit more... So back to the lab we went. Here’s what we did:

The goal was to design larger rudders for better yaw control during high alpha (and even hovers) but keep the scale look and not have the controls lock into each other. In order to do this we had to pull the whole plane apart and redistribute the new changes subtly over many parts, rather than just one area. We also found that making the vertical stabilizers a bit more vertical and not as angled did improve stability in winds. This also gave us a couple more millimeters that we needed to get all the parts to fit. The result is a back end that all fits together, looks good, won’t jam up, and has better and more efficient controls! This means less work for you the pilot because the plane is able to do his job better. Once again, take the time to do it right because the little details make all the difference.

Leading Edge Slats
When running our F-18 V3 against the new F-18 V4 in flight testing, we quickly found that we met our goals of making a better airplane. The V4 out-performed the V3 so well that we couldn’t stop talking about it. After flight testing I thought about how much the guys on the Forum are going to love this when they finally get to fly their F-18 V4. We had talked about how we were going to modify our own personal F-18 V4s with leading edge slats. Then we got to thinking... if we like leading edge slats so much, could we find a way to make them simple enough that all the guys could have them?

We know that leading edge slats (like scale planes) do increase lift and decrease stalling dramatically, but in the RC world it’s always been the complexity that’s kept them away. So what we did was test the F-18 V4 with leading edge slats at every angle from 0 to 40 degrees. What we found was that there was a “sweet spot” and you know we’re always looking for that. Meaning, if I could have the leading edge slats just set to “one fixed degree” what would it be? If you’re looking for the fastest wing possible, don’t have any leading edge slats deployed. Put a KF4 on it (or even better, the MiG-29 V4) and fly with elevons only. But, if you are like me and love to fly the F-18 V4 at fast enough speeds (under 60 MPH) as well as medium, slow flying, and a bit of high alpha, then you want to set the leading edge slats to 30 degrees! Here is what the performance looks like with the slats down:

Two places in particular the leading edge slats really make it magical: First one is turns! The feeling of it is like comparing walking on ice (no slats) to sledding (with slats). With no slats the plane really slides and slips through the turns at a fast rate of speed. Slow it down and you get in trouble. With the leading edge slats down, you can feel the cushion of air engulf the wing! It’s very cool! This lets the plane go slower in the turns with more stability! Like a sled in snow, you feel the cushion of air all around it protecting you. This is the first place you’ll notice the benefits of the leading edge slats. Here is the second:

You know when you are performing loops and there is that “hang time” right at the top and sometimes the plane tip stalls a bit and you have a sloppy loop (right when everyone is looking)? Well, those are gone with leading edge slats. Listen to me, this wing WON’T STALL! It can’t. The new radical ailerons, dogtooth tips, and now leading edge slats make it impossible to stall this wing even if you tried. This means you can fly high risk moves (such as loops) and do them a few feet off the ground and not worry! Oh yeah, this is a fun one. The new F-18 V4 with leading edge slats is the star of the new line up because it can d