EDF JET JAM
By Jim Hiller | jetmodeler@earthlink.net
FOR A BIT OF A CHANGE, I attended the Rosewood RC Flyers EDF Jet Jam, held at the Bill Beach Airfield in Rosewood, Indiana, on June 9-11, 2022. There were no turbines—only EDFs. It was a great event at a wonderful location.
The world of EDFs is alive and well. There were 81 pilots registered for this event, and they brought a lot of interesting airplanes for three days of fun flying. The Rosewood field is an excellent venue for any modeling event, with an 800-foot paved runway, ample grass runoff areas, room for primitive camping, and plenty of electrical power in the pit area for recharging all of those big batteries for power-hungry EDFs.
Pilots came from New York, Connecticut, Florida, and Texas, as well as the surrounding states, to enjoy this event and, except for some light rain on Friday afternoon, they were greeted to some fine flying weather. The sky stayed busy, with five pilot stations full all day and into the evening.
The mornings started with the usual pilots’ meeting to discuss the basic flying rules, along with open discussion about the previous day’s flying. It was a good review to get pilots on the same page for safe and fun flying.
The air boss also set aside 15 minutes of every hour for the larger, high-performance aircraft to fly; the remaining time was for the smaller—and usually slower—models. Having similar-performance aircraft flying together worked out great. It was much better for the show and less stressful for the pilots and spotters.
Events such as this are wonderful to see the latest products in action. HSDJETSUSA brought out many of the company’s products to show—well, not really just for show because the representatives were there to fly, and they flew them all. They did take time away from flying to provide support to many of the pilots who have HSD products and to help keep everyone flying.
One model that caught my eye was the HSD HME-262. A few flew frequently at the event and looked good in the air and on the ground as display. It’s a nice scale model that flies well.
One example of the HSD HME-262 was flown by Jeff Jackson of Annapolis, Maryland. He didn’t miss many opportunities to fly this aircraft and show just how sweet an Me 262 can be flown.
Jeff uses two 6S 6,000 mAh RC J etwerx batteries in series as a 12S setup that nicely balances out the model. He also used separate flight packs. A pair of 2S 2,200 RC Jetwerx LiPo batteries fed through the HSD power panel for servo power. The power panel system also controls the landing gear and the lights. This system is easy to set up and works well.
John Burden, from Florida, represented Futaba. He brought a large fleet of foam EDF warbirds of all types and sizes, and he flew them often and well. It’s good to have technical support at the field for Futaba users. John answered many questions about Futaba radios. He flew an HSD F-86 like it was on rails. He’s a good pilot having fun with good equipment.
Walking around the field, most all of the foam EDF models that are available today could be found in the pits and in the air. It’s good to see a large variety of models flying and performing so well. I had not seen many of the airplanes we read about in person, so to see them and watch the pilots enjoy flying them answered a lot of questions that I had about their performance.
Not all models were stock. One particularly stunning example was Jim Case’s Flex Innovations F-100D. He applied his craftsmanship skills to create an aluminum finish on his aircraft using Alclad II Lacquers paints, followed up with accurate panel lines and rivets that are the quality of any top Scale competition model.
He achieved this finish on a foam-molded airplane by filling all of the foam with a coat of spackle and block-sanding
This is the Florida gang’s collection of fine-flying EDF models that they kept in the air all week. If you wanted to see your favorite EDF warbird flying, they likely had it on the table and flightline.
it to eliminate the existing molded panel lines and provide a smooth, flat surface to apply the Alclad aluminum finish. He even replicated the titanium panels on the aft fuselage. A lot of hours went into creating this masterpiece, yet with the process Jim used, he kept the weight under control so that he still had a great-flying airplane.
No EDF event is complete without Bob Pannell and his Lockheed L-1011 TriStar EDF with UPS livery. This designer Giant Scale model has all of the features, such as leading edge devices and spoilers. Bob has many years of flying this large model in a scalelike manner that is appropriate for a cargo airplane.
This year’s EDF Jet Jam again proved to be popular. Visit an event near you to learn what is available out there for our modeling pleasure and to learn from fellow pilots who often share knowledge that has been gained after years of modeling.
SOURCES:
Jet Pilots Organization (JPO)
www.jetpilots.org
Rosewood RC Flyers
www.rosewoodrc.com
HSDJETSUSA
(682) 307-0672
www.hsdjetsusa.com
RC Jetworkx
info@rcjetworkx.com
www.rcjetworkx.com
Futaba USA
(256) 461-9399, Ext 8
www.futabausa.com
Flex Innovations
(866) 310-3539
www.flexinnovations.com
Alclad II Lacquers
www.alclad.com
