Mig-29 Vectored Thrust

My first Mig-29

This Mig-29 Fulcrum was built from an RCPowers plan.  http://www.rcpowers.com I built this No. 1 version several years ago and was really impressed with it.  I’m now on my third, so that says something about it. Dave at RCPowers has got the motor and prop selection absolutely perfect.  I fly them with 1300Mah 3s Lipos and a 2200Kv motor with a 6×4 prop.

I did build the later version called Mig-29 V1 from RCPowers as well but it never did fly as well. I have a video showing some bungee launch testing with the Mig-29 I was doing for my VC10, video here

The only slight weakness is the hinge on the tail where the motor is mounted.

Mig 29 number 2

So here’s the build of the Mig-29 number 2. It looks like it’s been nearly 10 years since I built the one above. Phew, doesn’t time fly as you get older? The plan isn’t available anymore but there are updated versions that all fly well. Dave from RCPowers has retired from producing plans and I’ve heard he just wants to fly as a hobby again. Luckily most of the plans are still available from FRCfoamies who have taken over maintaining them and there are a couple of free ones.

I added KF4 airfoils to this one to see how much it improves the flying. Wow, it flew like it was on rails. The motor as you can see fits on the elevator and is operated by two servos. I used two 9-gram Metal Geared servos too handle any heavy landings. I’m using a 40 Amp ESC with a 6×4 prop with a 2216 2200kv brushless motor

Using a 1300 mAH 3S lipo battery the weight has come out at 19oz or 450 grams including the paint scheme.

Flies really well on the KF4s

CNC Cut Mig-29 No. 3

Well after 2 years of flying and a few crashes it’s time to make a new one. The last crash was too much so I decided to make another. I flew her most weekends and it was a lot of fun.

This time I will add a few modifications to improve the structure. The weak area is the rear canopy cut out. So I’ve cut out some new parts with the CNC Foam cutter and made some slots for the carbon rod reinforcement.

I recently converted my CNC router to USB and then added a needle cutter to cut out the parts from 6 mm depron. This has worked amazingly well and the parts are all very accurate.

Mig-29 Assembly

I’ve used UHU-Por and 2-part expoy glue on the assembly and it seems much stronger now. The carbon rod across the wings is epoxy glued as well.

I’ve modified the underside from the original plan so it is fixed. It used to hinge halfway down to allow access to the servos and receiver. The servos are not going to be glued in anymore. I’ve 3d printed some mounting plates which are glued into the depron. The servos are then attached with the supplied screws. Having suffered servo failure on my F18 and the mess it makes removing them I won’t glue them in anymore.

The KF4 (Kline and Fogelman) airfoils work very well on park jets. There’s an explanation here of how they work. My clubmates at the flying field are always amazed at how well it flies. Axial roles are very impressive.

This Mig 29 has had many flights and a few minor crashes but still flies well. No.4 may be on the way soon.

Value for Money

You can’t beat the bang for the buck with these depron models. A few guys at the flying field have been inspired to build them, we have a few at the club now. You don’t need to use a CNC Router to cut them it can all be done by hand. I like the challenge of using my CNC machines which makes the hobby very rewarding.