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OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

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OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Old 04-01-2003, 11:15 PM
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ajcoholic
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

a close up of the fues/wing
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Old 04-01-2003, 11:15 PM
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ajcoholic
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

OK, I figured Ibetter at least try and come up with SOMETHING for this design contest... I wanted to build something fast and neat for my VA 049 and the carbon pipe. Since my time is at a premium lately due to work, I thought I cant get too involved in trying a scale built up plane (allthough thats what I think will and shoudl win!) like that Panther.. sweet

Anyway, here is what I puled from the vacuum bag this morning. Its going to be a "whiplash / diamond dus" type speed plane, ALL carbon fibre. Laminated the main wing part from 6 oz cloth and blue foam, and the fins and elevons are cloth/epoxy on 1/16" balsa. I have intentions to sink all the radio gear into the wing, as much as I can as will the tank be set in behind the engine.

Should look pretty "stealthy" when I am done, hoping to keep the weight to 16 or 18 ounces max, and that would still give a 7oz/sq. foot loading.

I am guestimating at my measurements so its going to be a gamble!

Andrew Coholic
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Old 04-01-2003, 11:16 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

laminated fins and elevons
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Old 04-01-2003, 11:52 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Hey Andrew, that's some cool, hi-tech stuff you're doing there! One of these days I'm gonna have to try some of that vac-bagging stuff. Keep us posted with your progress.
Old 04-02-2003, 12:24 AM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Its not that hard, really. Just have to make sure there arent any wrinkles in the bagging film that will cause ripples in the cloth.

Today after work I sanded the seams and gave a light coat of epoxy to fill the weave. I am heading away for the weekend but next week I hope to get the fins in place, the elevons hinged (dont know how I am going to do it yet) and the radio installed. I am thinking of making a throttle (carb) fit onto my VA, or take the one off my simple 400 so I can have some sort of throttling. Wide open is fun, but then I still need some sort of "kill switch" anyway so I will have the throttle servo allready there.

I have allways liked the look of carbon weave, when it has a high gloss urethane on it.

AJC
Old 04-02-2003, 01:30 AM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

pretty slick! one word of caution, though; if you are going to leave it black, watch it carefully in flight! a freind of mine put r/c in a robart stealth glider w/ an 061 on the front. painted it black. after we got balance issues resolved, it flew-albiet squirrely, but not uncontrollable, except I had a dickens of a time w/ orientation as it was just a black triangle streaking through the sky!!

at the weight you have it should do well; Rick haslam had one of his wiz 15's w/ an 074 at a fly in a while back, it was a real floater and almost parkflyerish at low throttle, but quick at high speeds; was about size of yours, it appears from the pix. not nearly as high zoot, though! carbonfiber; I like the way the words roll off the tongue...
Old 04-02-2003, 02:54 AM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Originally posted by wild fred
D carbonfiber; I like the way the words roll off the tongue...
...and the money out of the wallet!

Very cool!
Old 04-02-2003, 03:11 AM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Dont worry, I plan to paint some white stripes on the botton side! Top will stay all naturally black.

Forgot to mention, wingspan is 28", 18" chord. Core was shaped from 1" thick blue foam.

I used about 1/2 a yard of 6 oz cloth, that costs me about $60 Canadian a yard - so about $20 US worth of cloth and a few bucks of epoxy (west systems). Not too bad... plus some breather cloth, peel ply and bagging film maybe another $10... Still a lot cheaper than even a simple kit!

Glad you guys dont think I am taking the "easy" way out, ie, not building up a "real" plane... I really wanted to get something into the contest!

Andrew
Old 04-02-2003, 05:31 AM
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Default Yeah Buddy!!!!!!

Very cool. Carbon fiber pipe, carbon plane.

Now you gotta come down and race it. If you want, I will help you get some speed measurements on it when you fly it (using doppler). Will be a fun experiment.

Keep us posted!
Old 04-02-2003, 05:10 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Something tells me we have a hands down speed winner!!

hey, I'd pay 80.00 - 90.00 for a fuse, is that manageable?




let me know, after you fly yours of course! lol


looks great!






L.R.
Old 04-02-2003, 05:30 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

No predictions please! I will certainly end up with a lemon that wont fly at all..

I actually left the wing profile fairly "blunt" as I want a decent aerobatics capability. I just sanded untill it looks OK...

As for making more, lets wait untill I test fly this beast and IF it flies.... we'll see !

Andrew

PS. I am thinking it would go better with my rear exhaust Rossi 15 but it will get the VA 049 for the time being...
Old 04-03-2003, 10:58 PM
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Default Word of caution..

If you leave the top surface black carbon, don't ever leave it in the sun or in you car on a sunny day. It can and will get hot enough to melt the blue foam underneath. Back when it was cool to have carbon finished wings in my slope racing days, I saw many wings turn into mush and were ruined from laying in the sun. Nowadays, most guys paint the top a light color and if they want leave the bottom carbon. Or, build a wing cozy to protect the black surface
Old 04-06-2003, 09:43 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

thanks for that tip!

AJC
Old 04-18-2003, 03:46 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

I finished my plane last night. Christened it the "LCB" or Little Carbon Bomb! You know when carbon fibre crashes it literally explodes into pieces and dust... not that I plan to wreck it on purpose!

Its a bit heavier than I thought it would come out but I had NO idea what to expect since it is unlike anything I have built before. Its 1.5 pounds right on.

Did glide testing last night, a nice long flat glide. I am optimistic the little 049 VA will at least pull it around, if not give the performance I was hoping for... right now I just want to see if it will fly!
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Old 04-18-2003, 03:47 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Top view. The stripes are some 3M reflective vinyl I had.
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Old 04-18-2003, 03:48 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

close up of the front end...
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Old 04-18-2003, 03:49 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

close up of the surfaces (elevons). They are hinged with 3 CA hinges and I used foam safe CA for the job. Worked pretty good.
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Old 04-18-2003, 03:49 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

man that thing is cool as schnizzit!


I want one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



L.R.
Old 04-18-2003, 03:49 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

last one, a side view. So what do you all think? !

Andrew Coholic
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Old 04-18-2003, 03:52 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

JFYI,

The battery I used is a 4 cell sanyo 250mah pack. Burried under the fuel tank. Tank is a 1 oz sullival slant, siliconed in place. The servos are two Hitec HS81''s on elevons and an HS80 on the throttle (what I happen to have at the time) and the reveiver is a standard 7 channel Hitec (didnt want to pull anything out of other planes and I had it handy)

AJC
Old 04-18-2003, 04:12 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

With all that carbon, I'll call it Diamond in the rough or making.

Looks really nice.
Old 04-18-2003, 05:01 PM
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Default Verrrrrryyyyyy Niiiiiiiiiiiice!

Top notch job for someone who almost backed out of the contest!!!!

I can't wait to hear how it flies.

What did you pick as a balance point, and what kind of control throws have you set so far?
Old 04-18-2003, 05:15 PM
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Default poking his head nercously in the door...

Looks really good!

You will definitely want to range check the hell out of this plane first, and run as much of the antenna outside of the airframe as possible. I don't know of any carbon airplanes that have antennas inside the airplane, the carbon shields the RF from the antenna.

Dave
Old 04-18-2003, 06:05 PM
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Default He's b-a-a-c-k!

Ahhh, Dave.....so you've won the war for us over on the Ezone "Off Topic" forum and now you've come back to fun & games in the RCU 1/2A group. Cool!

Welcome home! Somebody needs to get fastlush fired up again....he's been suspiciously quiet as of late.
Old 04-18-2003, 09:01 PM
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Default OK Boys, here is what I have so far... ITS DONE!! AND IT FLIES!!! PICS ADDED...

Matchless, I balanced it according to the book I have on aerodynamics. I found the MAC and then chose a spot slightly ahead of the 25% back from the LE point. Just happened to be within a 1/4" of where I had guestimated to put the gear. I had routed out pockets for all the gear so it was not really moveable without making more holes.

As for throws, I am using the "it looks about right" based upon my experience with other small planes. I have three rates, and usually start on the middle rates and if its too touchy go down to low, not enough go to high. I beleive I have about 5/16" up and down on high rates. about 1/8 on low.

Thanks for the warning about CF and the antenna. I am aware of the possible problem, and the antenna runs right out from where the receiver is (under that box opposite the fuel tank) and up to the right hand fin. I will range check a few times before I test fly, but I am sure it will be fine. I may go to a whip if it flies good and I decide to keep it I like the hayes whip arials.

Thanks for the excouraging words guys, now I need only a good day or two in the next week and a half to make my test flights and get something on video! Allways down to the wire....

Andrew

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