Spid

Great work! Very cool stuff.

There is a guy on RCGroups that did alot of the Star Wars and Star Trek ships. Lots of good info and plans to boot in his build threads. Here is his blog with links to the build threads.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=78981

Here is his Tie Interceptor build thread with a video of it flying.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=871840

FlooredCOBRA

Hey thanks Spid.

I seen his thread and read about how it makes sudden turns without him doing it. I had the same problem with mine also. I been there also haha. This thing was a handful learning to get it right. But after 25 or so crashes I worked them out. Definitely fun and very easy to fly... well now it is.

Hoping to complete it this weekend. I finally found some paint that works with foam. I looked everywhere for acrylic or water based paint to use on the foam. And the whole time I could of ran to Walmart and used Testors model paint. All of them are foam safe. It says it on the can foam safe. Only if I had known earlier.

Teenage Pilot 14

I'm really not a big Star Wars fan, but that thing is freaking awesome. I like how with flat foam it's possible to make almost anything fly (enter: Pizza Box Flyer, flying lawnmower, any variety of spaceship)

FlooredCOBRA

Hey thanks!
Yes the foam stuff is pretty cool to mess with. The possibilities are endless. Stuff like this was not really possible about 10-15 years ago. With the huge progress in technology in electrics I am looking for things to make fly. This is becoming addicting.

Teenage Pilot 14

Personally, I've been considering a "Flying Person", like a sheet of foam shaped like a person with their arms stretched out. The prop would be disguised as one of those propeller hats and the feet would serve as elevons

Just a thought, you might try gluing CF rods to ALL the foam edges to increase crash resistance and stiffness by quite a bit while not adding much weight. That's what I did with my PBF after I hit the ground at a few dozen mph and cracked/bent the foam. Never had any foam damage since!

FlooredCOBRA

Completed the main wing today and got it painted. Just going to let it dry over night then cover it tomorrow.

The only issue I see is my canopy. I bought one of those foam balls from Hobby Lobby craft store. It was the only one I could find but it is quite heavy and very porous. It is not smooth at all. I just got done hollowing it out and the weight is significantly less but still feels heavy for foam. I may end up scrapping that idea and use something else. Maybe Lexan or something not sure yet.

Anyone have any better ideas what to use for the canopy? I do want the canopy to be completely round and not a tube. From there I will work with air flow holes for air to pass through.

Anyways here are some more pictures. I'm getting there slowly but surely [:@]

CWHFSR

That looks great! Maybe do a paper mache covering over the round ball? It would be hollow and should be pretty light... I'm out of ideas

FlooredCOBRA

Hey thanks!
You know buddy of mine mentioned trying that also. I think I will give it a shot. I will make one up and see how it feels. I guess a craft store would have the stuff for that.

CWHFSR

I've actually never done it before but I think all you need would be found around the house... unless you want to go with a stronger mixture (I would recommend something stronger). Try here: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/pap...sinpmpaste.htm

Good luck!

Teenage Pilot 14

Mix glue and water (1.5:1 or 2:1 ratio) and run some paper through it. Flour and water (1:2) also works but it smells bad when it dries. I think fiberglass would be cool.... Or you could shape a chunk of balsa into a ball and vacuum-form plastic over it....

I made a paper mache head for a puppet in art class a few weeks ago. It's fairly simple but it takes awhile and gets rather messy. Also, you end up with wrinkles and corners in the finished product...

FlooredCOBRA

These are some good ideas thanks for the help guys

Teenage Pilot 14

Hmm... Forgot to mention those foam balls are almost more of a plastic, like what you'd get from a 3 foot Styrofoam ball if you dropped it into a swimming pool full of non-foam-safe CA.

You could try a solid block of regular foam (like the kind you get in a TV box) and chisel it down to a round shape, or you could make a dome out of flat foam circles/rings glued together and hollowed out. Or possibly a disposable foam bowl. Those are extremely light but not perfectly round. Just some more ideas...


And if you're really desparate, you could use potting clay

Ion01

SWEET!!! That looks awesome! I think the easiest thing would be to make a dome out of flat foam circles/rings glued together and hollowed out as already mentioned. I cant wait to see it when its done!

FlooredCOBRA

Hey guys thanks for the ideas on the canopy. I think I'm going to try a couple different ways. Was going to try the paper mache but I think the foam or plastic will look better and weigh less.
For the foam I will keep hollowing out until it is pretty thin. I was looking at it last night and I still have a good bit of foam to chisel out. After I get it cut out more I will see how much lighter it is.

Then just a little while ago I hit the hobby shop and picked up some lexan squares. I am going to make a vacuum mold and give that a shot also. I will make two halves then sandwich the wing with them. Either the foam or lexan and see what works out best weight wise.

I ordered some of those small rare earth magnets and will use that to hold the canopy together. Well thats my plan at least. We shall see how it works out in the end. haha

This weekend there is a indoor electric fly in down the road from here. I have to have it done before then so I can take it. My plan was to complete it for this past weekend but ran out of Monocoat bummer... It is fairly big so will have to see if it will workout flying indoors not sure yet. I really want to make some videos and get them up so y'all can see it. The pictures dont really look all that great, hard to get the idea on how it looks.

CWHFSR

Unless you are going to be flying it in a super dome I don't think you would have enough room... The video of flying in the field would make me think you will need more room-at least until you learn to fly it really well.

Going to be making up any plans?

FlooredCOBRA

Well not sure about the plans. I really don't have the know how to draw something something up like that. I do know the measurements of everything so maybe if I got with someone that knew how to do that I could come up with something.

The area where we are going to fly in I will have to see how it goes. I been there but it has been a long time but from what I remember its huge. I am hoping this one will be much lighter. If so it will be way easier to fly. The other one being as heavy as it was with all the weight added was Very easy to fly. When put in high alpha or harrier it really putts around. It looks kind of silly flying it like that but it can be done. If anything I will take it outside off to the side if I have to. Just hope to get some videos up of it.

As for the building going. Well I am down to the canopy halves and the front wing. I been messing with the canopy some and it looks pretty cool even though the foam is not smooth. A little more work on hollowing it out and I think I will have it set. The lexan thing I will still do but will probably do that a little later seeing I have to make the whole jig to make that work. It seems easy but trying to keep from getting side tracked.

Once I get the canopy and wing done radio mounting will be left. That is the easy part since theres only two servos and a stick mounted motor. I got a few more pictures outside today when I got off of work.

CWHFSR

That looks absolutely fantastic. Are you still going to put something up on the front as before? Like with the clear cover over the carbon fiber rods?

Also, what kind of power system are you running? I've got a spare eflight 450 and plenty of 3c 1800 and 2c 2200 batteries laying around and would love it they worked for this too!

Please take plenty of pictures of how you are mounting the motor and servos, it will help for when I look to build this as well (I'm looking at building this and an [link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=887870]Imperial Star Destroyer[/link]!

FlooredCOBRA

I painted the wood black to try to keep it from standing out. But your going to see it regardless so this is the best I could come up with that had strength. I tried a few different ways with less wood but it started to bend when putting the covering on.

I know one thing I will not use MonoKote again. Next time I will order Ultracote only. Years ago when I built kits I always used MonoKote with no issues. I got good at it too and was used to it. Then one time someone convinced me to use Ultracote and ever since then I never went back. Well until this project and know I remember why. Ultracote is so forgiving and very easy to shrink and work with. No chasing wrinkles or such. I think that would have work much better on the foam also.

Anyways with all the wood inside I think the clear part stays hidden somewhat. I mainly wanted the main part of wing to show and it kind of does that. Anyways back to the dremel. Need to do some more cutting on canopy.

FlooredCOBRA

Yes still going to add the front wing. I have to or it wont fly. I would love to leave it off but that little thing actually helps it fly. My test model has the cracks to prove it haha. I will do the two carbon rods for the wing with maybe 3 or 4 ribs in middle to keep it from pinching when I cover it.

As for the powerplant I am going to use the same motor. My E-Flight 450 and 20 amp esc. My battery is a 11.1 1350 3c. I may have to go to something with more run time from what I seen flying the other. I really hope it comes out lighter as I want to use this set up seeing I have it already. If not then I have to get a 480 maybe. I hope not trying to be cheap here.

I will be sure to take pictures of the servo mounting and motor. The stick mount motor is going to be something very different. But solid once all done I think

Ion01

The black wood and clear covering works great! I bet it will be even less visible in flight! I can't wait to see the video!

Teenage Pilot 14

That thing is freakin' awesome! Very, very nicely done.

For the powerplant, you might try hunting around www.HobbyCity.com for a nice motor. They have some real good ones and most for your power/thrust needs are under $20 or so shipped. Just a thought.....

FlooredCOBRA

Hey guys sorry for not posting any more updates. Work has been very busy so time has been minimal. Well I did not make it to the fly in Saturday. Had a few set backs and just ran out of time.

For one My son stepped on one of the canopy halves and crushed it. Then I smashed one myself when marking for the magnets. Those stupid canopies took forever to hallow out and cut and shape. I just ended up re-gluing both of them and working with what I had. If you look close you can see the cracks barely but no biggie not very noticeable as I thought it would be. I just did not have it in me to redo those from scratch again.

I got the front wing spar made up out of carbon fiber rods and some balsa ribs. I really hate to put the thing up there but had to. Covering it was a bit tricky but it worked out eventually.

Next was problem two. The weight of this one was much different than my test model. On the test I just through on weight until I got the CG right. On this one I just kept moving the motor forward until I got it to balance. I am a little aggravated on how far the motor is but it will have to do seeing I dont want to add weight. I was trying my best to keep this thing looking as close as possible to the actual model and not making it look so RC. But the CG issue change things a good bit. I worked it out the best I could and feel okay on how it looks now. Not exactly how I had it in mind or like my test model but oh well.

Now I know what changes to make for the next one I make. Also the next one will be much smaller too. That would keep it much easier to work with.

I will take some pictures when I get off work in the day light. Next is flying it when the wind decides to slow down some. Over all this has been a fun project to build even though it took so long and working on it here and there.

FlooredCOBRA

Okay here's the pictures of it finished. Now you can get an idea how long I had to make the motor stick mount. Real bummer but oh well its done. It came out more or less like I wanted it too.

When I fly it I will fly with the canopy halves off first like the other one. Then with them on and see if it messes with the way it flies. I gutted out as much as I could to keep light and for airflow. I know this thing is going to be a drag monster so will be interesting to see how it flies with all the goodies on it.

FlooredCOBRA

few more shots

FlooredCOBRA

And here is some beside my car to give an idea on the size. As much as I hate the front wing I think the see clear covering worked out okay. I think in air it will look even better. And it all started from this picture below. It has been fun building!