Heinkel HE 162 scratch build EDF

Hello, I started flying RC again after a long absence, about 20 years. 

Soon after buying and flying a Dynam T-28 last year I discovered Flitetest. After building the Bushwacker, I was hooked! I started experimenting with Bushwacker # 2, adding dihedral, extra wing area, lights, etc! It was so much fun and quite successful in the air that I had to try building a Twin, even though I had never built let alone flown a twin! And that is why I love the Flite Test way, so quick to just play around with designing vs. trying to build it in balsa. But, after only limited success with a 55" Shorts Skyvan, I spent the rest of spring and summer flying a lot of different foam planes.

Jets were soon my favorite, and before long I was into 6  cell 80 MM EDF jets. When winter began, I knew it was time to scratch build an EDF jet. Having always been enamored with the old WW2 jets, my first jet was a 4 cell 70mm vampire. Ultimately That fan unit and ESC went into an FT Viggen,  and what a great plane! It was retired after a crash when the battery came loose from the velcro. So keeping with the old jet theme, I decided to build a HE 162 recycling the fan and ESC again.

9 gram servo for elevator and bamboo skewers to strengthen the stabilizer.

My geometry skills are not the best, so I figured the HE 162 was a fairly simple build if just went with "boxy" vs trying to make it scale. I regret that I did not make any plans or take build pictures to share. Honestly, I don't know how to make plans or use CAD, Correl Draw, etc. I simply find a good 3 view plan and just measure in CM on my computer screen, make a sketch in a notebook and convert everything to inches. Then just cut foam and make it up as I go. I recycled the vampire canopy, as it was similar to the 162. 

photo of intake duct- duct is posterboard with packing tape wrapped for extra stiffness. Bamboo skwewers to cross brace duct intake to prevent collapse from negative air pressure. 

photo of inside- elevated battery tray, xt60 connector glued in for easy battery connection, lots of room for 3ooo 4s battery.

Initially, I assumed that with a 32" wingspan, 38" length and AUW of 29 oz with a 4s 2800 MAH battery, it might be hard to hand launch fast enough. So, I built a simple take-off dolly from the landing gear I used on the Skyvan build. This worked pretty well, but after one flight I realized it could be hand launched. Much to my surprise, this ended up being a very stable and easy to fly plane! 

It is just aileron and elevator only. It rolls and loops nicely, and landing is pretty much a non-event. The thrust tube (which is just poster board with a cross brace to keep it from collapsing) was angled up a bit more than I wanted, so it does have a tendency to climb a bit at full power. Thrust to weight is better than 1:1- it will hang on the tail, then mush forward. Stall recovery is nice, no real bad habits. Hopefully, in the future, I may try to scale this design up to 80 mm 6S, and polish up the details a bit more. 

Thanks for reading!