Jetco F-7 Cutlass

I built it with what was left of my last tube of Ambroid. I really wish they still made it. I love using it when you have to edge join balsa as it sands in beautifully. I guess I'm a purist, I just have no desire to use CA unless absolutely needed.

Ken Cook:  I couldn't take it, I had to see why I couldn't build the kit in 1984. Now I see why. It is similar yours in that the fuselage and everything BUT the wing is balsa. see below:



Watch out, I am catching up,    notice foam wing.  Oh, and no instructions.


Did your's come with instructions? anything?  There are popout parts for the fuselage, but past that there are many, many little balsa parts, that I could never figure out.



happydad

I see a few things not structurally correct with that foam wing. It should have a 1/8" kerf 3/8" deep on the center of the leading edge. It should also have a shear web kerf at the high point of the airfoil . I don't know how one would expect that wing to have stability to prevent flexing. The next hurdle is where the wing root plugs onto the fuselage. My preference would be through it rather than onto it.

Ken, that blue on natural just works!!! Beautiful.

"Gutless Cutlas" true. But my memories of the plane at NAS Jacksonville in the 1950's were of it hitting the afterburners standing on it's tail and taking off almost vertically while the jealousy windows on our little 28' trailer shook with vibration. We were situated right at the end of the runway. Those were good times.

While deemed Gutless, the Cutlass was a neat plane and by today standards would probably fair quite well with a modern powerplant. I think the main problem with the early jets was their lack of being able to quickly develop thrust. Watching a few videos of the Cutlass, all pilots landed with the cockpit open which is a bit unusual. I'm sure they were very nervous. The other problem was the HUGE!! landing gear which probably made seeing next to impossible. I also think I read that shortly after the development of the Cutlass and the one fatal crash on the USS Hancock, flight decks were now made skewed to stop planes that missed or broke the hook to get off. Currently, there's one being restored in Washington state. It's been going on for decades not too mention another plane which was used for salvageable parts. There's no way to retrofit a modern engine without structurally changing the airframe which would require the plane to be entirely removed from service.

Nice Looking Plane , is there not going to be a blast deflector so it don't burn the wing ? And are the fins set for turning ?

For the life of me I can never figure out why I get a double post at times.

It won't burn the wings, the fuse is more harmful than the exhaust. A portion of the elevator is glue to the rudder prior to mounting. I have a little more induced up elevator. If that doesn't work I use a heat gun and offer a bit of rudder.

Ken Cook wrote:               I see a few things not structurally correct with that foam wing. It should have a 1/8" kerf 3/8" deep on the center of the leading edge. It should also have a shear web kerf at the high point of the airfoil . I don't know how one would expect that wing to have stability to prevent flexing. The next hurdle is where the wing root plugs onto the fuselage. My preference would be through it rather than onto it.

Ken Cook:  hey, no instructions. What would you expect. Besides CA glue fixes everything doesn’t it? Oops, except foam wings.

I will look deep into the box for all those items next time I get a chance, maybe 2040, and get back to you.

Happydad        

Hi,

my name is Roger Simmonds, owner/manager of the jetex.org website. The Jetco Cutlass is a long-lost Bill Dean profile design that us Jetex junkies have been looking for for many, many years. So I was thrilled to see your lovely recreation.

Was this built from the Jetco 'plan? If so, would it be possible to get a copy of this? A jpeg to my email address would be wonderful!

I have recreated many 1950's profile designs (see the website) and they fly splendidly with antique Jetex motors or the 'one shot' Rapier type motors. Jetco kits are ones I would love to add to my fleet and release back into the air!

In hope,

Roger
rsimmo@globalnet.co.uk

Rocky_Roger wrote:Hi,

my name is Roger Simmonds, owner/manager of the jetex.org website.  The Jetco Cutlass is a long-lost Bill Dean profile design that us  Jetex junkies have been looking for for many, many  years.  So I was thrilled to see your lovely recreation.  

Was this built from the Jetco 'plan?  If so, would it be possible to get a copy of this?  A jpeg to my email address would be wonderful!

I have recreated many 1950's profile designs (see the website) and they fly splendidly with  antique Jetex motors  or the 'one shot' Rapier type motors.  Jetco  kits are ones I would love to add to my fleet and release back into the air!

In hope,

Roger
rsimmo@globalnet.co.uk

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plans Please !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Roger, I tried to become a member of the Jetex .org website and didn't have success. I do a lot of Jetex and Jet-X projects. I just flew a V-tail this past weekend with a Powermax 100 installed and it wasn't very enlightening. The Jetco Cutlass was built from a kit. The kits plans were absolutely terrible with nothing to scale aside the templates needed to set dihedral and rudder splay. I may have traced the parts onto the back of the plans sheet I don't recall. The kit was given to me by a fellow club member whom I told I would copy and return it. He said just build it and go fly it it's been sitting on that shelf for more than 30 years. Ken

Hi Ken,
many thanks for your reply. Please try and join the Jetex forum again. If you tell me when you register, please tell me and I will sort out any difficulties. Please also register on our new plans archive site , which has nearly 300 Jetex plans - old and new which may interest you!

As to the 'plan' for the Jetco Cutlass, hopeless it may be, but it is better than nothing and I can always write about it in an article, so nothing is lost. The interest is because it is a long lost creation of Bill Dean and Andrew Longurst and I have been compiling a list of Dean's Jetex designs and this is one we haven't got!

So I would be grateful for scans of anything you have. I'm sure it could be tidied up with a bit of CAD magic fairy dust!