CARF BOLT! 430000
Test flights completed! Serial production approved. Click the 'Video' tab!
The CARF-Models BOLT builds on an almost 15 year old legacy, the "Lightning". Back in the days that sport jet was a ground-breaking airplane in terms of size, speed, prefabrication and durability. Soon a facelift was introduced, mainly swept back wings with very aerodynamical tips and larger, swept back stab and fin. The "UltraLightning", as it was called from then on, has a top place in the list of fast high performance sport jets of the world.
The CARF-Models BOLT continues to represent this legacy. It features the same, perfectly aerodynamic wing and stab. What has changed is the greatly refined fuselage, featuring some very interesting new ideas, such as the large, easily removable canopy hatch with integrated nose section. A clear canopy with cockpit deck accents the new, perfectly designed lines and shapes of this airplane.
"Form Follows Function" is one saying, which always has been a key element of CARF-Models' designs. And we proudly say that's because we ALWAYS design, produce, fly and market our airplanes ourselves, in-house and together with a constantly growing team. With the Bolt, however, there has been another philosophy deeply followed, and that is: "What looks good, flies good!" Colani, Rutan, Pecorari... they all have proven this to the world. The CARF-Models BOLT had been designed with exactly that philosophy in mind, and boy does that plane look good! And so it flies...
As to be expected from a new CARF-Models design, a lot of exciting features have been built in. Let the following photos speak for themselves.
Only all carbon components used in the structurally important areas. Incredible strength and rigidity are the result - unbreakable in the air.
For a Sport Jet of this calibre, pretty long tail movements make it track beautifully with very smooth control authority. This was a challenge for the CG as we wanted to keep the thrust tube as short as possible and the engine still well accessible from above.
The completely removable nose section blends into canopy and turtle deck, opening up the whole fuselage with one slide. Below the shell there is a dual carbon boom structure towards the nose, holding nose gear and batteries. This structure is also removable after taking off two simple bolts.
The engine is fully ducted, the air intakes have rounded lips and follow the constant-area-rule all the way to the turbine intake. The two-part carbon bypass holds the partially double-walled stainless steel thrust tube and is easily removable as one complete unit through the tailcone of the airplane.
A pair of fuel saddle tanks (6.1 litre) and a central smoke tank (2 litre) are of very conformal shape. They are tightly packed within fuselage and ducting but still easily removable for maintenance. Since the engine installation with carbon bypass, thrust tube and fuel cells is so very special, it really makes sense to purchase the light weight, spiral reinforced stainless steel thrust tube and perfectly fitted Kevlar saddle tanks together with the basic kit. A UAT of your choice will have to be purchased separately from aftermarket suppliers.
The RC-installation is completely done on a horizontal, carbon sheeted board in the front part of the fuselage. Here it's very easy to make ultra clean installations due to the fact that all wiring and plumbing can be routed below the easily removable board.
The CARF-Models BOLT has full gear doors. We decided to go that way because we didn't want to compromise the clean aerodynamics of that flagship high speed sport jet. Each door is installed in the factory and will accept 2 magnet locks to make sure they stay closed and so stay on the plane at whatever speeds. The doors are servo operated and come fully hinged, ready for servo, linkage and magnet installation.
As an improvement over the Ultra Lightning the flaps are enlarged and in combination with a slight crow setting for landing, their efficiency is greatly increased. All other control surfaces are carefully sized so that a perfect compromise is found between manoeuvring authority and flutter resistance at the high flying speeds the BOLT is capable of.
For the looks on the ground and in the air a clear canopy with a cockpit deck was absolutely mandatory. The aerodynamical wing tips follow computer aided flow dynamic design and the low unhedral horizontal stab stands for great rolling and knife edge characteristics, besides from simply looking awesome.
An Electron Landing Gear has been fitted perfectly, all mounting frames are installed, pre drilled, carbon reinforced and ready to go.
Last but not least, a massive carbon wing tube, interlocking with the main gear mounts, holds the wings in place and in shape. Even the nose gear is strapped between two ultra strong carbon tubes...
And in order to ship the kit boxes throughout the world without hassle and premium cost, we designed all the parts so that nothing is longer than 2 meter. Even when transporting your BOLT in a small station wagon, even a sedan, is an important purchasing factor, rest assured that the CARF-Models BOLT will fit in any car, despite its impressive dimensions when assembled.
The BOLT is another typical CARF design. Besides its stunning beauty its well thought through, high end construction delivers market leading performance. That's our philosophy, that's our mission.
The CARF-Models BOLT has a wing span of 240 cm, an estimated take off weight of 23 kg (wet incl. smoke) and is designed for engines of 220-260 N Thrust. Note: A 300N engine is too large for the sophisticated bypass system!
