Sukhoi Su-27 Jet Build Throws Down

This no model, but a fully functioning RC jet. The Sukhoi Su-27 was the Soviet Union’s counterpart of the F15 and this 1/6.5 scaled version measures eleven feet long and is fully controllable. As if the 80-page build log wasn’t enough, the flight video after the break is nothing short of jaw-dropping. The test flights end in smooth landings but with all the time that went into the project that’s got to be nerve-wracking.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IKnZ_tkecU]

[Thanks M4r1hu4n3 via Fishkin]

53 thoughts on “Sukhoi Su-27 Jet Build Throws Down

  1. @fdawg4l It sounds like a miniature jet engine. There are kits available and they operate on the same principle as the full sized ones. Requires a bit of welding but someone spending the price of a small car should be able to hire a professional or at least get the welds inspected.

  2. There are tons of aerial videos with jets on youtube and RC Universe. Its a great hobby, but I’m sure we’re looking at $20K in the air with no parachute. Who says money can’t buy fun?

  3. Actually, The MiG 29 was Russia’s original answer to the F-15. When the F-16 came out, Russia answered yet again for both the F-15 and the F-16 with the Su-27 long range air superiority fighter.

    The Su-27 airframe is rediculously capable (as has been shown by the many modifications to it and it’s subsequent acrobatics at Paris air shows), and superb range. It’s this plane and developments to it that very much spurred on the development of the F22 Raptor as far as an air-superiority fighter was concerned.

    That being said, this guy’s build is flat out AWESOME. The guy did an amazing job :).

    Putting a cam on it doesn’t look like it would yield much though… that thing moves FAST ;).

  4. He had me at the whooosh of the engines, somewhere between the aluminum skin and vacuum bagging, I was compelled to apologize to everything I’ve ever built, by the time he was putting in the cockpit details and landing gear, I was weeping. This is inspiring, just amazing, something I’ll always compare myself to, to push myself to do better.

  5. Some of you people need to get out more often.
    As one of the other posters pointed out. There
    are hundreds of videos on youtube of turbine
    powered RC craft.

    However this guy, does deserve recognition and
    respect for his skills and knowledge in putting
    together his build from scratch.

    Those two P200 jetcats he has are about $12k
    invested. turbine power is not cheap.

    As for buying a russian MiG, try getting it
    into the US past the State Dept. they will not
    allow importation of advanced technology soviet
    fighter aircraft into private ownership of US
    citizens. I believe Larry Ellison from Oracle
    attempted to purchase one.

    Then try finding an insurer for liability and
    hull insurance on it. Unless you have turbine
    experience and at least several thousand hours
    in your log book, you ain’t flying it – at least
    not legally. We’re talking about the “real”
    aircraft here – not mini RC turbine models.

  6. moo,

    interesting. i stand corrected.
    i’ll have to send that link to one of my
    colleagues who had mis-informed me.

    however, having millions means nothing
    to the insurers. my employer required
    a minimum of 5000 hrs (I fly the Gulfstream V).

    so even if you have the money – unless
    you have the hours, you’re not flying
    one of those high performance fighters
    (at least not legally – and probably not
    safely either).

    the irony of this situation is, the US
    military puts pilots in our fighter aircraft
    with only a fraction of the flight time
    commercial (Part 91) operators require –
    again, because of the insurance companies
    calling the shots for experience required.

  7. I built one of those once…except it was much smaller. And made of plastic. And didn’t have jets. And didn’t fly. And came in a box from the hobby store.

    But otherwise, it was just like this one.

  8. @mrnixit

    he used one jetcat. the retail of it is $5k.

    that + the landing gear + the fuel system + electronics + the fabrication/materials…

    i guesstimate that he spent $8000 all together.

    Obviously this guy has alot of play money.

  9. Absolutely incredible. When the engines really kicked in at around 1:15 in the video, my heart rate actually went up just from the sight and sound of it.

    If actually building the thing wasn’t incredible enough, imagine the balls you need to have to take that thing up.

  10. @ MS3FGX

    Its so pretty I’d be terrified of crashing it. To think of all those painstaking hours to disappear in a flaming heap.

    Then again, if you aren’t going to fly it, why build a working jet?

    A truly well engineered piece of art!

  11. DAMN! i wanna hop on that thing! lol balloon boy all over again. but on a more serious note…this thing is a master piece like put a camera on that, and use the best longrange antennas and you got your self a UVA!

  12. mr nixit: Not only does Larry Ellison own a MiG, but I have personally seen him fly it. I worked for DHL when the US headquarters was at 333 Twin Dolphin Drive, down the street from Oracle. One day I was riding my motorcycle home, and I heard a jet engine at the small craft airport near Oracle. I looked to my left, and there was a MiG taking off — Larry Ellison leaving for the day, destination unknown.

    No, you can definitely own a MiG in the U.S., you just can’t arm it.

  13. nice build!

    and to:

    I shall never dare to call myself an engineer ever again. This is simply incredible.

    Posted at 4:15 am on Feb 19th, 2010 by darkore

    ____________________________________________

    I would not call myself an Engineer unless you are degreed and certified. Building a model like that does not require you to be an Engineer, just a good model builder.

    There are two types:

    Professional Engineers

    and

    Hobbyist

    MysticShadow – B.S.EE from Case Western Reserve University

  14. @ MysticShadow:

    There are two types:

    pretentious douchebags
    &
    likeable people

    “Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention.”

    Anyone who accomplishes the above is an engineer. There are plenty of people who have bought the title through university & certification who are less deserving by the standard of the ability to perform the above than some of the “hobbyists” you dismiss so casually.

    How are those student loans treating you?

  15. Like I originally stated, “nice build”
    __________________________________
    @ MysticShadow:

    There are two types:

    pretentious douchebags
    &
    likeable people

    “Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention.”

    Anyone who accomplishes the above is an engineer. There are plenty of people who have bought the title through university & certification who are less deserving by the standard of the ability to perform the above than some of the “hobbyists” you dismiss so casually.

    How are those student loans treating you?

    Posted at 9:43 am on Feb 22nd, 2010 by nobodyspecial
    ______________________________________________

    (sMiLeS)……

    nobodyspecial, let me tell you something… As a TRUE ENGINEER who owns his own Engineering Firm(for the past 15 years) I for one do not have to go a dictionary to look up my profession being that I have been in it ALL MY LIFE, and I know what a true Engineer is.

    I AM somebody special, and unlike those WANNABES, I have spent 40 years in the utilization and application of scientific methodologies to enhance current state-of-the-art technologies.

    I have been invovled with the development of technologies that you have yet to see(High-Energy Density systems engineerinf in Energizer Engineering Laboratories, Nuclear Labs @ Philips Medical Systems, the design of On-Board guidance systems for Goodrich Aerospace Engineering and more I am declined to reveal for security reasons.

    In regards to discipline, that is ONLY learned from STRUCTURED ACADEMIC and SCHOLASTIC study through acknowledgment of the comprehention and completion of accredited course work in degrees-(no dictionary needed).

    This is something you CANNOT BUY – and you ARE NOT an Engineer unless you have satisfactorily completed said course work with an accredited educational institution. You sir are ignorant to the state of how the world works, but that is to be expected from one who knows nothing about what they speak about.

    Biting on your student loans comment… 120K loaned and 120K paid-in-FULL …thank you.

    I am TOTALLY DEBT FREE… Pay cash for everything like I was taught(oops, that also takes discipline as well)… too many jewels for your eyes.

    _______________________________________________
    Along with the weight(of knowledge) come the hate and envy of men” – (Go to your Google God and find out who the Author I prefer my brain instead)

  16. Oh, and nobodyspecial…..

    PLease forgive my typos but whatever you do…PLEASE DON’T FORGIVE MY PRETENTIOUS WAYS(as in I don’t care)…

    The Haute Ego comes with the Education! ;)

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