matchlessaero

Over the past year, I have seen a lot of questions from people asking for a true Half-A Profile Funfly. A few people even built some Tiny Tacos (Taquito's?).

Well anyway,,, I got bored over the past week and began looking at the 'stuff' that had collected on my workbench since finishing my Pitts and what did I find but: 4 tiny servos, 1 555reciever, an arrowshaft, a norvel .061(yes, I know that a half-A is technically .049 and under) and a pile of 3/32" contest balsa left over from another project.
I had a drawing I did some time ago of a small funfly (an ugly one...[:'(]) and I decided to finally build the d%#n thing.

Here is what resulted...

It has 275 square inches of wing area, weighs 13 ounces and...... well its kinda ugly. I am hoping it flies well. It looks kinda like the ugly pygmy cousin of a Burrito but any more comparison would probably insult my Burrito flying friends.

Tomorrow will be its maiden flight. Wish me luck. I hope it flies better than it looks

PaulSwany

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That is totally cool duude... Can't wait to see it do it's thing!!!

combatpigg

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MATCHLESSAERO! UGLY? That sucker a BEAUTIFUL! There's a regular submitter to the 1/2A forum who builds in the 1/2 pound range. Check out some of BIPEFLYERS previous posts, or replies the last few days. But considering that you did it with what you had laying around is outstanding! I am both inspired and jealous! Keep us posted on how it flies, and yes, T.T.isN.A.C! Does anybody make a 7-2 prop?

TERMAGATOR

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looks cool Jeremy. I think its lighter than my TRIDENT

fadmuker

JOLLY GOOD SHOW, OLD BEAN!
CAN`T WAIT TO SEE HER FLIGHT REPORT!

ITS FUN TO FLY FUNFLY

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

Looks awesome, I am sure it will be an excellent flyer. I mean, you did design it right?

AJC

matchlessaero

Thanks guys.......

CombatPigg, in reality, I spend most of my time in the Half-A forum, and have only built 2 or 3 airplanes(of well over a dozen built) in the last 2 years that weighed over 1 pound.....So I generally have the stuff around to build a light one....

AJ, yes, I claim that design[:'(]. I am hoping I want to claim it even more after I fly it.

Some things I did to eliminate weight-

Very little structure to the plane- or just enough. Only bad thing here is that the covering does not have much to support it so its probably the most wrinkled covering job I have ever done...

All contest balsa- easier to do when Lonestar mistakenly ships you a shipment of the wrong size of high grade contest balsa.... (they made good on my order and shipped me the right stuff immediately)

All micro equipment and no switch. Don't really need a switch.

All pull-pull tail- made the lines from kevlar fishing line. Control horns are dowels

Wheels are electric model lightweight versions.

Fuel tank is a Fuji Film Cannister

Heading out in an hour- wish me luck.

Burrito Bandito

Hey Mad Scientist.......

Nice design, I'll probably be out there in an hour or so, so maybe I'll get to see it.

Now that you have all that time on your hands, check your RCU inbox

See ya in an hour or so.

J.

Vref

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That thing is killer Jeremy, you've got a talent for designing and building.
Have you considered ditching the landing gear for weight. Not that it isn't light enough allready?

DICKEYBIRD

Mini-flight test review with a few pics over in the 1/2A forum: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Half...1332715/tm.htm

Edit - Oops, got the : to close to de http!

boberos

Hi Jeremy,
Very nice indeed.
Will plans or at least some dimensions be forthcoming for this unnamed masterpiece?
Thanks,
Bob G

combatpigg

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Hi there, MATCHLESAREO! Glad to hear about your successful first flights. Bet you got a smile that was pretty hard to wipe off. When you get around to it could you post some of the dimensions and details? I gotta have one!!! At 13 ounces are you in a hovering "sweet spot" with the BIG MIG?

matchlessaero

No name yet.... but I will come up with one. Dickeybird had a good suggestion this morning, maybe I will use that.

As for weight, I could remove the gear and lose some weight, but this thing handles great on the ground with the gear... as for power to weight ratio, it easily accelerates vertically out of any harrier/hover type maneuver. I tried several props today, but I ended up with a rubber Cox 6-3 running on a box stock Norvel .061 on 35% nitro (what I normally run in my half-a's).

I will try to get the plans cleaned up and detailed this week. I'll put a note up here after I have added them to my site. I would love to see others build and fly this thing- It really is that fun (so much fun that I flew it 14-15 times today......)

Shortman

My Feedback: (21)

*stupid me* How well does it fly? Looks very cool, especially when you design your own plane and build it from nothing! Good luck[8D]

SWICK

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Jeremy awesome job. I cant believe it only weighs 13oz and hovers in the wind. All you need to do is set it up on the mode so I can give it a whirl....

Shane

fadmuker

MATCHLESSAERO,
ROCK ON TOMMY!!
ANY CHANCE OF A VIDEO
LOOKS LIGHT ! I`VE GOT A NORVIL 049 AND I WANT TO DO THE SAME!
ITS ON MY LIST

ITS FUN TO FLY FUNFLY

matchlessaero

Thanks FM..... Yes, Santa came early, so there may be a chance of a video after Saturday.

I finally came up with a name. Being a Half-A, it needed an appropriate name, so I am calling it the "Half-Wit". Of course, as soon as I said that, my wife commented "Oh, so you finally named a plane after yourself!!!" [:@][&:]

I will give the plans to anyone interested in them (will paste a link in below in an hour or so). Here is a scan of the plan, and a pic of the little thing sitting on the back of Swick's patchwork Burrito. Gives you an idea of the relative size.

I can't wait to get out and fly this thing again... It does the coolest slow or fast motion blender ever.

EDIT---- Here is the link to the plans. I put the plans up in DXF format, I will try to add DWG format tomorrow....

http://www.geocities.com/matchlessaero/halfwit.html

matlok

Looks real nice, Jeremy! (as does the Pitts I got in today, which looks really really really nice!!!! ) I keep looking at it and can't help but think it would be perfect for a brushless... [X(][8D] might have to try that instead of getting a Trident...

matchlessaero

Glad you like 'em Matlok!!!

I think the HalfWit might go great with a brushless. It does not take a whole lot more to build than a Trident.... I bet Billium Hellium could hook you up with just the right brushless to make it go.

BTW, thanks to Bipeflyer, I added a tiled PDF version of the plans to my site so anyone could download them.

I have added a few construction pics below that show the radio, lg and engine installation. (these are gonna go on the webpage...)

combatpigg

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MATCHLESSAERO! I can't download the HALFWIT plans, because of problems at my end, so I did my best job of scaling the photos and worked off your 275 sq in guideline. The pull-pull set up works beautifully, I will never go back to push rods for this application. When I first looked at your plane with the short nose and long tail, I wondered how you were able to avoid tail heavyness. Tthe secret is in the details! I've only been tuning in to RCU for a couple of weeks now, but thanks to guys like you, my progress in this sport has been accelerated at least 100 times! Could you do me a favor and give some of the critical dimensions, [span, chord, fuselage length], just to verify the work I've done. A class in how to make a film can tank would be great also. Thanks again, COMBATPIGG.

matchlessaero

Hey CombatPigg!

Yes, the pull-pull setup I am running is working well so far. I used tiny screw-eye's from the hardware store as guides, and the lines are made from Spiderwire 75lbs test. Control horns on the tail are dowels, and the aileron control horns are 1/32" ply.

To make it balance, I ended up using a 720mah battery pack. On the next, I may shorten the tail by 1" and use a smaller batt pack. I think that could cut as much as 1 oz from the plane.

Here are some dimensions to help you...

wingspan 28"
wing chord (wing only) 7 1/4"
aileron chord 2 1/2"
Airfoil is 1 1/2" thick
leading edge to thrust washer 4"
Tail moment 13 1/2" (aileron hingeline to elevator hingeline)
Elevator span 15 1/2"
avg elevator chord 4 1/4"
Rudder is 3 1/2" x 6"
Fuselage is roughly 5 1/2" at deepest point...

I hope this helps you out. I wanna see pics of what you build!!!

putt_13

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Hello,
I have a handy dandy Norvel .061 lying around. I am gonna copy your design, but use 2mm coroplast instead. Should be more durable for my flying style. How many OZ of thrust do these little engines produce, at WOT, on say a 6x2 prop? -Patrick

combatpigg

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HI PUTT13! My 061 engines can pull almost 14 ounces straight up on 15% fuel.

putt_13

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Sweet. I am using 15% fuel. Match, how do you get your engine to survive on 35%. Is that a home-made mixture. They dont even sell that in our LHS. -Patrick

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

PUTT13! They will survive OK on 35%. I top off a fresh gallon with caster oil, and shake it up. The only reason why I use 15% is because I'm cheap. The glow plug life is better with the lower nitro. I can't see how you can build a coroplast plane to be as good a flyer as balsa, even with balsa it is no easy task to make these little suckers light enough. I CAN see how you could build a fun 061 powered plane with that stuff, maybe a flat plate type with the shape of a regular plane. If you could undercamber the wing with exposed ribs on the underside? But to make it 3D capable, 13 ounces is really the max target weight. Getting back to the fuel question, I just get helicopter fuel at the LHS, [when I'm splurging] it is 30% nitro.