BAE Hawk – 70mm EDF Jet

I have officially been bitten by the EDF jet bug, after flying the D.H. Vampire from Hobbyking. My latest model is a 70mm BAE Hawk, featuring a composite fuselage (fiber glass) and built-up balsa wings. It is powered by a 6-blade ducted fan unit turned by a 3600 kv brushless motor.

Putting it together took about 4 hours, with the installation of the ducted fan and all the electronics. It uses 5 9-gram servos, 2 for the ailerons, 2 for the elevator and 1 for the nose gear. I flew it with a Nano-tech 2650 mah 4-cell LiPo battery on a 60 amp ESC with a BEC.

The maiden flight didn’t go well, I crash after about 10 seconds of flight, due in part by what seems to be a bad balance (too tail-heavy) and too much throw on the elevator surfaces, even though I lowered them to 70% travel and I added 34% of expo.