Cheater hole on Kamdax Mig???

[Jagzilla]

Hi,
I've just finished flying my Mig after having to rebuild the entire front nose area. I successfully did my first bungee launch with it today, and wow, that's the ticket!! No more crappy hand launches that result in major damage. Anyway, when I did the rebuild, I had to use a foam with a smaller diameter to glue onto the front end. I lost about 20% or so of the inlet diameter. On flying the Mig today, I noticed I've probably lost 25% or so of it's top airspeed. I would prefer to get that back. So I was wondering if this would be a candidate for a cheater hole? I was thinking of cutting one in the belly of the plane, just in front of the fan. What do you guys think on this?
J

[RichTheBikeRider]

A cheater is surely one way to regain flight performance but reclaming intake area is better, I have a midwest A4 skyhawk made of styrofoam that has twice been made into foam chunks.
Weight is also a problem glue adds up.
also I built a peddle launcher and I can say that its the best thing I've done for my planes.
Rich

[FunFlyer]

I need a peddle launcher just like that! Nice....what do you use for launching? Rubber, spring?
Can you briefly describe it please?
Adrian.

[RichTheBikeRider]

Thats a rail lancher I use it for small electrics and wings when I get lazy (planes that take a hard heave) won't work for jets, for them I have a plastic pipe launcher with foot peddle, safty and adjustable rail width (makes it easy to launch jets with gear)all you need to make on is a hacksaw ,dremmel with sanding drum and glue.

[RichTheBikeRider]

I

[RichTheBikeRider]

I got carried away I got a kit back 97 from RCCombat.com (isn't very good it uses bungee's to launch it and pipe foam wrapped with duct tape to stop it, brakes a lot and won't launch more than a 24 Oz. plane. If you find them I need a new launch box thats the part holding the Ace AT-6.
Rich

[FunFlyer]

OK tnx Rich, do you launch with foot power with a pedal, cable & pulley, or a spring. I guess not rubber from what you said.
Adrian.

[Jagzilla]

I cut a cheater hole in the belly of the plane, and flew it yesterday. In all honesty, I couldn't tell any difference in the performance of the plane. It flies nicely, but I expected far more speed out of it than I'm getting. Anyway, used my bungee/ramp launcher again yesterday, and yeehaw, another perfect launch!! On these types of planes, I'll never go back to handlaunching again. The bungee launch really is the ticket, and I wish I'd have figured that out when I was still trying to fly my Wattage F-86, before it succumbed to too many bad launches.
Alfa Super Sabre F-86 in the mail now, can't wait to fly that one!!
J

[zwibelturm]

I've got a Wattage Mig 15 with the stock fan and a Hacker B20 15s on a TP 3s 2100 and a 30 amp esc. I added rudder (don't know why). I've never flown a jet of any kind and I'm wondering if I'll need a launcher of some sort. Anyone know?
John

[Jagzilla]

After my experiences with the wattage f-86, and my Kamdax Mig, I wouldn't even consider hand launching any longer. Just way too many bad launches that really do a number on the front of the jet. Do yourself a big favor, and build a bungee launch system for it. Just my two bits.
Jag

[RichTheBikeRider]

Do you guys want an explanition of the plus and minius's of a Catapult and Bungee.
Rich

[FunFlyer]

Yep, and what propels the model on the launch ramp, maybe a sketch :) ?