RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Heya Critter! :D

Long time, no hear/see.

Hope your finger has healed-up and fantastic to hear that you're getting into work that you love doing. Can't ask for much more than that ;)

I've been a bit slack lately too - not much "building". Not even a lot of flying lately either. Lost my mojo a bit somewhere along the way. We'll just have to work on getting that back :D

I bought a 4-axis CNC foam cutter, and was pretty enthusiastic with that for a while. The software is a bit of a mongrel to get your head around, so it's kinda tappered off atm.

Re searching for pics, it's easy to do on RCG - they have a specific search for attachments, so it's easy to find most of the pics (so long as they are attachments and not URL's). Alas, that feature hasn't been presented here on RCU yet.

However, if you enter 'pic' in the "search this thread" section up the top there, you will at least see posts that have the word 'pic' in them. That might get you at least a few posts either side of a pic, as most ppl mention "pic" somewhere in their post.

Also, while once you've started a "search this thread", there's option right up the top under NEWS that says "For search help click here".

Clicking on that shows you some different syntax options to help refine your search.

Maybe that will help a bit - ideally, a 'show attachments this thread' option might come along some day.

BJ:)

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Just found this section and went to look at the original plans and they are not there where can I find a current set of plans. I have a surplus of blue foam and was wondering how big this plane can be scaled up to? Thanks for any info in advance been away from the hobby for a while getting back into it. Larry

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Dude - send that blue foam down here... we can't get it ;)

BJ:)

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Hi all and nice to hear from everybody. Here's hoping Saucer Guy or Fisher chime in sometime. Miss gabbing with them and hope all is well for them too.

Thanks for the search tips. Will try that.

(Editing this post to put the new link in for the plans....found it yesterday by way of clicking on his web page on the first page of this thread I think and then it's near the bottom of page links on his webpage....Let me see if I can dig it up directly to re-edit/post here in a sec...)

OK, got it...Here's his new location for his web page...

http://www.foamflyer.info/

And here's the plans on that page...

http://www.foamflyer.info/plane.html

The dimensions of the plane aren't critical. Many of us have changed things to suit our particular wants with say a 2nd or 3rd build as needed when severe wrecks caused us to build again. For instance, I shrink the length of the booms and also increased the size of the h-stab, elevator, and ailerons/elevons (whatever they are called....man forgot the name of them at the moment). Same deal with the v-stabs. If you look through this thread (good luck with that :D ) you'll find people listing their new dimensions they used.

I know I probably did with the last build of this plane that is current intact in my hanger and waiting for it's next chance at a flight. I found by shortening the booms and increasing the control surface areas a bit that this plane grabs air even better at super low speeds and will spin around and turn the other way on a dime. It's a unique little aspect to it, where you kind'a give a little nose up and hard left or right and it seems to turn right around like a kid kicking a skateboard around like that. Saved me more than a few times from taking a header into a tree or such.

Not that you need to change the original dimensions. It'll fly great and do all this stuff with stock sizes listed, but if you do use one aileron then for sure oversize it to help with rolling doing tricks I would say.

PS- Be sure to check out his build log of other planes. That guy really has built some incredible planes out of EPS, many of which are just renditions of this dual boomer but with a nice twist on the final design. I'm going to re-look those over here in a day or two to see what else he's come up with over the last few years, as well as refresh my memory on his prior designs. We all owe this guy a debt of gratitude, as he's made one rock solid design that has so many unique traits to it like no other plane IMO, and also is very durable even without the major strength mods I always do to my planes.

One thing that I got stuck on early on when learning scratch building was trying to pin down every little detail to the original plans to follow precisely. Truth is that you've got way more freedom in approaches to building these planes. Have fun at it and don't feel you have to do the steps as listed. Do what makes sense to you and don't worry about not following any kind of protocol. You'll figure out what works best for you after a build or two. I know I did, and was able to let my hair down, so to speak, after getting over that sort of thing.

Look forward to future pics and builds from everybody. Even if they aren't this particular design, all foamies welcome here, especially EPS stuff. Oh hey, by the way, a friend I showed how to hot wire is going nuts these days with EPP foam. He says he'll never go back to EPS. I prefer EPS for the less weight factor, but truth is if I had EPP laying around I'd probably start using that too on some builds where extreme durability without as many needed custom strength mods to EPS needed. Mainly for me sheeting the bottom or both left/right sides of the EPS fuse works wonders for strength, as well as a carbon tube arrow shaft (cheap at Walmart when on sale) to strengthen the wing. Some tyvek tape (found in the foam insulation isles at home improvement stores) works wonders for sticking well to foam and protecting leading edges and such.

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Forgot, you asked how big it can be scaled? I built one with a 6 foot wingspan and it flew for one maiden but crashed at the end due to severe trim issues. Search for "Big Red One" or something like "Big Red" perhaps and you'll find some pics of it. I think Saucerguy was talking of building one with an even bigger wingspan. You can build as big or as small as you like, just use the right motor for it. My big one I was using a cheap motor for and it pushed it along just fine. Tons of low speed high torque type of deal. Hextronics HXT3536 maybe? Man I'll be surprised if I remember right. I probably posted the info in the build of it somewhere in this thread if not the prior part 1 thread.

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Shipping would be a serious deterrent ! Have had the bundle for a while got it at a Lowes store in Omaha Nebraska only place in a 50 mile radius that had it ! If I could shrink it would send some to you but the mail system woould probably screw it up good !

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Thanks for the info. At 60 getting started in building foam planes i a bit of a challenge and after a 2 year lay off from flying I am determined to start again.

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Here, I dug up a few pics of the Big Red One with the 6 foot wingspan. The antifreeze bottle in the picture is for scale. Used the standard 2200ma 3 cell lipo for it and as said I think a HXT3536 motor if memory serves. Very cheap. If details are wrong you'll find the info in prior posts about it.

The plane had major trim issues on it's maiden that couldn't be compensated completely for via the external radio trims being maxed out. Needed to land to adjust them further inside the radio computer settings.

After a few minutes of fighting this beast in the air to keep it upright my hands were shaking, so I handed it over to a friend who has extensive flight experience, as he's a much better pilot than me. Problem is he is used to instant reaction with the very fast planes he builds, so he was mobbing the controls and not waiting for it to respond a few seconds later, much like navigating a large boat. You needed to hold the stick for the response you wanted in that position for a few seconds and then let it come around to doing that. I should have conveyed that to him but didn't, so it crashed. I could have repaired it but wanted to re-build with some design tweaks, but never got around to doing so...

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Testing something...Didn't work, sorry...

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
 

Critter,

I have been pursuing other activities over the past year or so. My wife is a science teacher and I have been conducting flight demos for her classes every few months with my YB-22. I pulled an old SO off the shelf and put it up for a class the other day and it managed to do well with a few missing bits. The SO is still probably the best first build for a new pilot. Low parts count and easy setup.

Another plane a new pilot should consider is the Vapor. It is very capable and can allow hours of stick time in calm conditions. I fly it at my wife's school during open houses and can keep it going continuously for hours with the multi charger and a half dozen batteries. I would also reccomended the Yard Bird YB-22 as well. Easy build with the same power plant as a SO. Very capable airframe too.

For anyone with an iPad, there are now two or three pretty realistic flight sims available from the App Store. RC Plane 2 is a very good one to check out. For a PC deffinitely get FMS with the SO model.

My most recent stunt was to take the Motorcycle Safety Class and get my license. Managed to run off the road and bang myself up some. Kind of like learning to fly without a flight sim. Repairs to the body take longer though. I got off easy and only ended up with a few scrapes and some deep bruising.

Best of luck to all the new builders especially Gofer303! I am 51 and hope to continue learning new skills for a long time to come.

Cheers.