Here are the vital stats on the Schreiner F-18:

	Schreiner F-18 kit from Schreiner/Savex in Germany.  Dieter from ShredAir in Oregon was able to import the kit for me.
	Twin Schubeler DS-51-3PH 90mm fans.  Also obtained via ShredAir.
	Twin Hacker B50-15L brushless motors.  Obtained from ICARE in Canada.
	Twin Schultze 55bo speed controllers.
	SpringAir 305 retracts
	44 x Sanyo CP-1700 cells

Unpacking and construction sequence:

The plane came in a huge box via airfreight from Germany.  It showed up about a week before Christmas.  Here is what it looked like when I unpacked the box, and started looking at the parts.  Notice the big box in the background on the floor.

The parts were well made.  The entire plane came pre-painted with lots of nice detail.

One of the most difficult parts of making EDF jets is the inlet duct forming.  This kit comes with pre-formed inlet ducts, that are very well made.

The outlet ducting is similarly well constructed.

Taileron bearings are pre-installed.

Preformed tailcones.

Interior of the plane is bare.  You need to scratch-construct the entire interior yourself.  So although this plane is an ARF on the outside….it is definitely not an ARF on the inside.

Notice the detailing of the paint and decaling.

Here is what it looks after press-fitting all the parts together out of the box.

The construction started out by obtaining the missing parts…fans, motors, batteries..etc.  The plane was difficult to get, the fans were almost equally difficult to aquire.  These fans are also made in Germany by Schubeler Jets.  They are 90mm fans, made out of carbon fiber, and are literally functional pieces of artwork.

This plane needs lots of cells.  I chose to go with the 4/5 sized, sub-C cells, the Sanyo CP-1700.  I did some motocalc calculations running a 90mm fan, with a Hacker B50-15L, and came up with 22 cells per motor.  By going with the 4/5 sized cells, I was able to save 16 oz (a whole pound!) of battery weight over using standard sub-c’s.

The Schreiner F-18 is not designed to carry landing gear.  It is designed to be a trolly-launched, belly flopper that you land on a grass surface.  Since I wanted to be able to ROG, I cut holes in the bottom, and made these landing gear mounts.  I mounted SpringAir 305 retracts in the plane, and used 1oz glass cloth, and epoxy resin to mount the gear into the airplane.

I made a custom fan mount out of 1/16″ lite-ply, with a basswood base.  The fans are each cradled in one of these mounts.

The fans are secured to the mounts, using high-temp RTV, and the ductwork is held to the inlets and outlets using duct-tape.

Here is a shot of the battery tray mounted in the plane, with batteries in-place.

Here is a bottom view of the retract, mains.  The cutouts were made into gear doors that close when the gear is retracted.

Since the plane was designed to be a belly flopper, it needs LOTS of angle of attack when rolling on the ground.  The first flight was less than successful because I did not have enough AOA.  I couldn’t get off the ground and crashed into the grass off the end of the runway.  There is excellent video of the first flight attempts in the video library.

Here it is…all finished and ready to fly.  WOW!

Total Construction Time = 6 months.  The interior of the plane is completely custom made by hand.  It took quite a-lot of trial and error to get everything to fit just right.  It took close to 3 months to get the initial kit from the time I ordered it.  It was approx. 1 year from the time I ordered it until I was ready for a maiden flight. Schreiner F-18 Videos

	Schreiner F-18 First Flight Attempt My first flight attempt of the Schreiner F-18 was less than successful.  My landing gear was too far back, and not enough AOA on the wings.
	Schreiner F-18 First Actual Flight (QuickTime) 10 meg – A few more takeoff run attempts, and it flies!  Yay!
	Schreiner F-18 Half-Moon Bay Flight Here is some footage of the flight at the Half-Moon Bay e-Fly during the Summer 2002.  Good long flight movie, however, I still have yet to capture a good landing on video.  Watch and see.
	Schreiner F-18 Landing Mishap I lengthened my nose strut even more, for more AOA, and now I have some problems with ground control.  I had a rough landing, clipped the safety fence at the field and tore the nose off the plane.  Nothing a bit of lite glass and resin can’t fix….DOH!