I was holding too much up elevator when the plane rotated and the plane over-rotated since it was tail heavy. The accident investigation board determined later that the center of gravity was too far aft. The first test flight attempt was not error free, the plane rotated too much after a long takeoff run, lost it’s energy in the high angle of attack attitude it was at, and fell off to the right and hit the ground nose down, crushing the nose. There are no F-22s painted in this color scheme currently but I suppose someday it could be possible! With the advanced systems of the F-22 though, it’s likely, just as it is today, that the Raptor’s prey will never even see it’s killer coming! Their schemes are sometimes designed to emulate potential enemy aircraft paint schemes that the students of the Weapons School may someday encounter in actual air to air combat. The paint scheme was modeled after schemes that have been applied to F-16s at the USAF Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base here in Las Vegas. I’ve used this finish in the past and it works really well and is probably lighter than any fiberglass and epoxy finish that I could apply. The prototype was finished with Ultracoat Lite Clear iron-on film, and then sprayed with Testors Model Master spraycans (I plan to finish the scheme and add details later when I have time). This worked fine and even enabled the main gear door to be attached to the strut and cover part of the gear-well.
![f 22 raptor toy f 22 raptor toy](https://rukminim1.flixcart.com/image/416/416/vehicle-pull-along/z/k/t/maisto-tail-winds-f-22-raptor-original-imadsv8gjctznbgy.jpeg)
When extended the main gear strut lies at about a 45 degree down angle. To make up for the lack of room, a somewhat scale retraction angle was chosen, with the main gear retracting outwards and upwards so that the wheel lies in the horizontal position within the wing and fuselage when retracted.
F 22 RAPTOR TOY SERIES
Later I tried to fit Springair retracts but there was so little room between the inlet ducting and the side of the fuselage due to the twin fan design that the 602 series would not fit since they are about 1/16 inch deeper than the Jet Hangar retracts. I wanted an airplane small enough to use my planned 700 watt power system but big enough to carry Jet Hangar Hobbies (mini-retracts. Most balsa sheeting was cut to fit as I went. Parts were printed out on paper and that was attached to lite-ply and cut with a scroll saw. Then the hard work began, designing holes in the bulkheads for ducting, battery trays, gear mounts, etc. The side and top view from the model kit was used as the basic outline, with many tweaks, and the tracings were used as a guide to design the bulkheads. These bitmaps were then imported into cad, traced, and imported into the drawing. I later found a website where someone did the same thing as I did, but his drawings were fairly small so I used what I already had.
![f 22 raptor toy f 22 raptor toy](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31BnUZVTMBL._AC_.jpg)
I chose to buy a plastic model and cut it into sections and scan the parts. Some cross sections can be derived from the front view but not all of them. There are 3-views of the F-22 on the net, but most are small and cross sectional drawings were nowhere to be found.
![f 22 raptor toy f 22 raptor toy](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81-+p5qDWGL.jpg)
Balsa sheeted foam wings were hand cut with a hot wire as I find foam wings much easier to construct accurately. Parts were cut on a scroll saw by hand, but eventually I plan to have parts laser cut. I chose balsa and lite ply for the fuselage since that’s the material I have the most experience with and those materials are less work overall than building a plug and making molds. The design of the model was performed with an older version of Designcad 2D.
![f 22 raptor toy f 22 raptor toy](https://my-test-11.slatic.net/p/cc56953250f1b4719c8e81219ff6712c.jpg)
Link to Ezone discussion forum build thread is here. Later on I enlarged the plans to fit two Wemotec Minifan 480 fans or a single 90mm Wemotec Midifan (the midi version may be built later but the prototype uses Minifans). Initially the model was to be a replacement balsa and ply fuselage for a foam pusher F-22, but was never built. No such kit was available so as I have in the past, I had to design my own model. Although there was the Wattage F-22 pusher on the market and I successfully converted one to EDF power, the lack of a scale outline and the rough foam surface finish really left me wanting something more. This F-22 design of mine sprang from a desire to have a scale outline model powered by an electric ducted fan.