Double Trouble

The terrible twins are finally complete with thanks to all that contributed to the build. WELL DONE !!!
We are ready to take on the slopes of Hermanus next week. So watch out!

Sean on the left and myself on the SW Slipper face.

Flying Jarts in formation is not for the faint hearted

Filming Jarts ai'nt easy eather!

Give the file a moment & enjoy!

Baptism of fire

Yesterday, with the South Westerly wind blowing 80km/h, Sean and I decided to give the Red Bull Jart her baptism of fire and went up the Lady Slipper. The site is located on the highest peak in our area and generally works best on a South Westerly or North Easterly wind. The height above sea level usually provides ample lift.
80km/h winds are overkill to say the least!

One of a few landing attempts

Typical Jart Profile

Sean surprised that the plane was still in one piece

Wind speed indicator

Holding the camera in the wind was almost as bad as flying the plane, so look past the shakes!

JART-70 short kit announcement

JART-70 Short Kits Are Here!
The photo above has two cool subjects in it - one is Jeff Fukushima, legendary slope designer (Vortech Models) and his finished version of the new JART-70.I asked Jeff to help me create a new mold for a 70" JART kit. He did not disappoint. After a few weeks of craftsmanship Jeff had produced a big, gorgeous plug for this larger version. Now, he's been kind enough to crack a few fuses out of that mold and make them available to us mere mortals.Six of these fuselages are currently available, along with a set of beautiful, CNC-cut, spiderfoam wing and stab cores. The cost for this short kit is $190, plus shipping, so if you're interested just send me an email at reed@jartworld.com and I'll work out the total amount for you.Don't hesitate on these! Jeff says he'll make more when he has a chance, but there is no guarantee when that will be. This is pure love-of-the-craft, out-of-the-home-shop stuff - ain't nothin' mass-produced about these babies!

JART-LX news
Folks, we are sooooo close I can almost taste it. My push is to have kits ready for you by mid-December. But here's the biggest news - I've decided to go all out for this one! The new kit will have carbon wings, a beefy, rectangular carbon joiner, generous flaps, and even a rudder option. The design was always meant to be versatile, but now it will be hard to beat - fast, aerobatic and able to float down for a landing. Best of all the price will still be very reasonable. In fact, I'm going to try to keep it down around $300, plus shipping.Just to whet your appetite, I'm including an image of the CAD-generated file that will be used to tool this new beauty...

JART-EPP Kits Available
We have a few EPP kits available for those who like a bouncier plane. Same great quality you're used to with these kits: pre-shaped fuselage, clean-cut wings, carefully chosen wood, full hardware package, build instruction CD...about all you need is glue and covering!Kits are $150 plus shipping. Email me at reed@jartworld.com and I'll give you a total for your PayPal payment, personal check or money order.
Here's a shot of the kit and some finished versions...
Thanks
It hasn't always been easy, but knowing that people are out there who know and care about the JART always keeps me moving forward, trying new things, hoping to find ways to help folks enjoy the sport of RC soaring.

So thanks for keeping me in the game!

Reed

JARTWorldSan Francisco, Californiahttp://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102819695922&s=57&e=001Bm__nJPVDwidbMZGWOVJezMFQbQVofO_WeVVYOpj6eB8mWGXTj2SUNU_PjrEGp7EqM1TB-VnImwF2xLTJjTdFCtXN4cbpdEIEHvkden6eNaItu3LF5toCSt1xflIZvLVLKk1Vao7cCcN7-PP5iRXsQ==contact Reed

Maitlands

These photos show our slope location at Maitlands, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

1. This is an overhead shot of the Maitlands slope that we share with the para-gliders

2. This shot is slightly above and along

3. A Google location for Maitlands

Red Bull Maiden

1. The Jart in her new party dress

2. Looking good

3. Looking mean and fast

4. Belly shot

5. Sean and Vic giggling uncontrollably!

Friday arrived with a moderate South Westerly wind at about 20 Km/h ( note the lack of white horses in the background!) We decided to toss her anyway and managed to trim her up in flight. The aileron throws need to be readjusted as the roll rate was nowhere near the old Jart. Wind strength did not help much either....

The main thing is she flew, and we'll put her through her paces soon!

Red Bull Jart

I know, I know....... just another Red Bull plane that" gives you wings"!
So what, I enjoyed building it and the stickers were lying around. The process also taught me the art of spraying and masking! I must have sprayed the three colours six times and taken it down as many. We are just waiting for a strong south westerly!
The plane weighs in at 1150 grams fully loaded and is perfectly balanced. I have given Alain my old one as it has had a tough life. It's been crashed and flown hard and still flies beautifully!
I must just ensure this one lasts so that we can take it along to Hermanus in November!
As Daron would say, YOU HAVE TO HAVE ONE OF THESE IN YOUR QUIVER"!

Do I thank him or curse him?

Hi there all. Just joined the blog, thanx Evan. Thanx to Johann, or should I curse him? We went flying today, the conditions were SSW about 35km/h....On our "little" slope, that means.....PERFECT CONDITIONS!! Note the white horses in the background. I flew Johanns Jart...WOW!!...TWO WORDS.......ROLL RATE!!!!Ok, so now I have to get started on mine.

News From Reed at Jart World

JART-LT/LX Moulded Wings!

It's been a long road, but we finally have some decent moulded wings for you LT owners. These are the same wings that will come with the new, all-moulded JART-LX kits.

These wings fit perfectly to your LT fuselage, allowing you to plug-and-play with very little fiddling - just fit your servos and control bits and off you go.

The economy as it is, I'm forced to make smaller orders and sell them out rather than hold a bunch of stuff in inventory. So right now I have 4 white sets of moulded wings left from the original batch. They're all white and go for $145 plus shipping.

Email me at reed@jartworld.com for shipping costs and order details.

Also, we've had a few of the new JART-LX kits come in and they've already sold out. These will come in red, yellow, and white. Please email me your colour preference so I can get an idea of how many to order in the next batch.

Cheers,Reed

Johann & Daron

Finally we have a Jart the way it is supposed to be...... flown on the slope!
The wind was 25-30km South west on Monday and perfect for the Maitlands slope. The slope is not very high and therefore does not generate great lift, but if it blows directly up the face, one gets clean air. Daron was very apprehensive but maintained that the Jart wanted to fly. It is not the easiest plane to launch as there is very little holding space below the wing. I launched it with two hands and with very little adjustment on the elevator, it flew straight out. The plane flies beautifully!
Thanks to everyone for their support and useful advice.


Daron's yellow and black Jart

After getting the plane trimmed out, Daron was having such fun that I decided to join him and launched my more sedate Salto...... It has to be sods law, Five minutes later we had a head on in mid air... What are the chances?

WELL WE ARE BACK IN THE WORKSHOP!

Besides all the mishaps, we've had great fun and the plane really flies beautifully! We'll get the other one ready for it's trails. Lets hope it goes home.

It has been worth the time and trouble and we've learnt so much!

Finally we have reached the stage where we can launch and test fly our prototype!
If you look closely you'll see the blunted end of the Jart with the unforgivable prop fixed to the front! Vic being a purist was much distressed but agreed to come to the field and watch Daron do his thing.

Daron : the elected test pilot

I canabalised my hotliner, (composite Baudis Zoom) and removed the Axi motor and planetary gearbox. We knew the arangement would work as both planes have a similar all up flying weight of 1300g and fitted a 14x10 folding prop on a 28mm spinner. The nose had to be reshaped from it's oval profile to accommodate the spinner.

The actual launch was pretty uneventful except for a twitchy left and right wiggle as Daron adjusted his fingers on the controls. The motor arangement can take the plane up vertically and by the time Daron cut back the throttle back, the Jart was a tiny speck in the sky.

That was when the problems began......

Daron failed to level out before cutting back and the plane entered a stall and seemed to drop a wing. Besides being so high up our colour scheme did not help with the oriontation and the plane never recovered from the spin. Hard to believe with all that height to play with. We have come to the conclusion that it was all pilot error!

The plane hit the ground nose first on a hard surface. Th amazing thing is that there is hardly anything wrong with the plane. The motor gearbox, prop and elevator servo are buggered, but for the rest the plane is still intact with marginal damage to the wings and fuse.

It was rather distressing, but we'll try again! Just waiting for parts.

Vic's pulling his nose at the thought of a prop!

At this stage the going has not been to good with two flights and two crashes. The first was Vic's balsa prototype in a 100km/h wind and Daron's disoriontation....

Third time lucky!

Johann, Daron & Vic

Finally some progress!
When you receive e-mails stating " I keep looking on the JART-SA blog hoping to see someones Jart progress but nada, niks, and zero." you know the pressure is mounting.
Well to recap, we shaped and glassed plug number 2. There was some debate as to the finishing coats and unfortunately we applied some epoxy coating that ended in disaster. The full curing time was 10 days which conveniently fell over the Christmas holidays.

Plug number 2

Epoxy coating gone wrong

Gel coat and epoxy coating in a marriage gone wrong

Not quite the best spray booth.

Dejavoux

Plug set in the splitter board

The plug still stuck in the mould, but salvaged

De lamination of the K2, probably due to the adhesion to the

epoxy finishing coat remaining in places after sanding.

And finally! The mould had to be cleaned off, but

came out beautifully

4mm studs used as locating lugs

Layup complete and curing

Bench flying!!!!

The fuse seam joints have been a bit of a headache. On this one we tried a wet joint as we have been to scared to cut the mould to enable us to work on the seams. whilst the joint is sound, the overlaps have folded in places.

On the following fuse, we will try smaller overlaps and two pairs of hands!

Thanks for all the continued advice and support.