I installed the radio switch on the left side of the aircraft along side a Ernst charging jack (Cat # 124) for ease of charging. (not shown)
I installed the antenna wire on the leading edge of the right wing. I used some clear tape to hold it to the wing and it worked beautifully!
I cut out the canopy using the molded cut lines and fitted it to the fuse with 8 small screws. It was a beautiful fit!!!
With the jet complete I checked the CG and the nose needed about 62 grams of weight so I added some lead to the nose in front of the battery and brought the CG to about 255 MM behind the leading edge of the wing at the root (the manual suggests 260 mm). The total dry weight of my model came out to be about 8 pounds.
I set up the control surfaces to around what the manual suggested but settled on dual rates. I used 15 mm up/15 mm down low rate and 20 mm up/20 mm down high rate for the elevator and 20 mm up/20 mm down low rate and 30 mm up/30 mm down high rate for the ailerons. I used a single rate for the rudders at about 28 mm (56 mm total). I used about -35% exponential on the elevator and -40% on the ailerons (each pilot may choose to use expo or not, I prefer a “soft” center on my controls) I also added a mix to the radio allowing the rudders to spread out acting as a speed brake. I have the 8-channel program for the Futaba 14MZ so if anyone wants it you can contact me and I can e-mail it to you.
To personalize the Bobcat I decided to add some decals to the jet. I found some Super Tiger decals online that looked great with this paint scheme so I cut out the tiger on the decals and installed them on the tail fins.
After adding my favorite number on the nose and some creative decal use I dubbed the jet The Bobcat-75 and she was ready for flight!!!
I was very excited to test fly the Bobcat so I shot up to Rabbit Dry Lake one Sunday to see how she would do. I had put a couple of tanks of fuel through the Super Tigre at home a couple of days before so when I got to the desert the engine fired up with no problems. I adjusted the nose wheel servo so she taxied out straight and lined her up for a rollout. I applied full power and the Bobcat rolled about 120 feet before she rotated and climbed out. I was immediately impressed with the similarity this jet had with it’s namesake BVM Bobcat XL. I banked left and the speed was picking up for a flyby. I was pleased to hear the G-75 pick up as it cleared it’s throat and started to sing. The bobcat was tracking at an average speed of 100 MPH by now. I was very happy with the roll rate and played with the rudders a bit to see if it would knife-edge. Although it would hold it a little this plane will probably never knife-loop :0) I did fly inverted and it was a little mushy but it flew OK. The most impressive part of this plane is it’s speed and roll rate. It looks really cool on a hot pass when you pull up to a fast roll, looks very impressive. I tried some stall maneuvers and the Bobcat had no funny tip stalls or anything of the such. Although the nose would abruptly drop when I flew it too slow so keep this in mind when landing.
After some experimentation with a couple of different props I found that the APC 11x7 pusher prop seemed to push the hardest with the G-75 but needs to be turning at around 13,000 to get top speed. Andreas and I tried to cut down a Master Airscrew 14x7 3-blade to about a 13x7 but we could not achieve the same speed as the APC. The Zinger 12x6 wooden pusher also turned too slow. One surprising problem I had not counted on was the nose wheel picks up rocks and throws them into the prop during takeoff. I have gone through several props and have put a few holes in the wing so far. The APC pusher prop seems to handle the occasional rock better than the others. My only suggestion would be to avoid loose dirt runways and FOD. I did add some packing tape to the trailing edge of the right wing to keep rocks from blasting through the wing.
A common problem that both Bobcats had was that the main gear wires would constantly bend backwards on slightly hard landings. This in turn made it harder for the jet to rotate on the next takeoff due to the mains being so far back from the GC. (BTW the mains are purposely set toward the prop to keep it from hitting the ground during rotation). I was able to fix the gear problem by adding some 5/32” support gussets to the stock gear wires. I affixed them to the stock gear using steel picture wire and silver solder.
After the reinforcement the gear wires bent no more. The landings feel more solid as well as the tracking. The only improvement from here would be a retract conversion but I am not willing at this point to open that can of worms for a fun-fly prop jet. Although I have seen people converting these into turbine jets :0)
From what I got out of the first few flights I can see that the Bobcat-50 is a great value for the money. Not only do you get a jet like platform with very cool looks you get the experience of flying a very unique pusher plane which can be quite different from flying a “tractor” plane. All-in-all I am very happy with the Bobcat and always look forward to buzzing the skies with it :0)
I hope you enjoyed this article and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.
