Omaha_RC_Flyer

Spadders,
Sorry it has taken so long to make this post. I have been waiting to get a digital camera. I finally got it a few days ago (Christmas gift from parents, shhh don't tell).
This is something I came up with this past summer, as an alternate method for the plug in wing. I used a swim noodle (floatation device), hollow aluminum shower curtain rod, 1/2" PVC pipe.

Aluminum rod= 22 1/2" long
1/2" PVC pipe= 37 1/2" long
2 pieces of swim noodle= 22 1/2" long

The PVC pipe fits in the aluminum rod with very little movement.
Take one piece of noodle and put the curtain rod in it, this will be one spar.
Then take the other noodle and put the PVC pipe in it, this is the other spar.
15" of the PVC should be on the outside of that piece, which will plug into the aluminum spar.
Welder seems to work for adhereing the noodle to the coro. You will have to try different adhesives on test pieces, if welder can't be found.

Photos attached for more detail
#1 shows the aluminum pipe piece
#2 shows the PVC Pipe piece
#3 PVC Pipe piece on right wing
#4 Aluminum piece on left wing

Omaha_RC_Flyer

More photos

#1 plugged together on both wings.
#2 Weight of spar 13 0z.
#3 Aluminum spar in left wing.
#4 PVC spar in right wing

Omaha_RC_Flyer

More Photos

#1 Right wing plugged through old fuse for demonstration.
#2 aluminum spar of left wing on the PVC Pipe
#3 same as #2 with wing underneath
#4 Both wings plugged onto old fuse for demonstration purposes.

More photos will come as I progress on the build, maybe this will give you guys something to go on.

*One suggestion I think will help is to put the PVC spar on the opposing side of the muffler to counterbalance the plane. It weighs more than the Aluminum spar. Photos show it on the same side as the muffler (demonstration purposes only), which is not how it will be built.

thirsty003

My Feedback: (2)

Hey Omaha,

This looks like a good idea for my next Extra. Had you thought about mounting the PVC pipe in the fuselage - sticking out either side say 1 foot and have an aluminium spar in each wing for the PVC to slide into? Might be a little heavier I guess but something to think about,

Tony

Omaha_RC_Flyer

Thirsty,
That sounds like it would be lighter and easier. At the time, I only had a short piece of aluminum pipe, when I came up with this (only enough for one wing).

thirsty003

My Feedback: (2)

Something related to this also is the method of attaching the wings to the fuse ie wing bolts. I saw a 30% (I think) Extra on the weekend and the wing attachment was the normal aluminium wing spar with rubber bands holding the front and rear wing halves together - that's it - no bolts at all just some rather large rubber bands pulling the halves together.

This got me thinking about my Extra and I reckon I'll give the bolts a miss and just have a dowel at the front and rear of each wing half and screw a hook into each dowel then put several rubber bands on each to hold it together. Can you see a problem with this? This way the dowels position the wing and also hold it together,

Tony

wdennie

hey that idea worked ive been building one for about two days and was having trouble with the yard stick coro spar this idea worked great except i used a full spar of pvc about 50 inches so it would be almost whole wing span should make it a little more sturdy i just used it to plug each wing on just like the real somethin extra .
Great idea
Thanks

acam37

My Feedback: (16)

Hey Omaha, That is a great idea. After about 6 spad extras I kind of lost interest in building for a while. But I'm glad there are those who are improving on the design. The next one I build will have your wing assembly. Lets see some of those spad extras that have been built.

Omaha_RC_Flyer

I decided to go with Tony's advice in post #4 and use aluminum/noodle spars in both wings with the PVC pipe in the fuse. Here are a some photos of the final steps of the wing being assembled.

#1 Welder applied under the spar and on the opposing side.
#2 The wing being clamped after welder was applied (notice the wooden dowel stuck in the table with pvc pipe inserted).
#3 The other end with the dowel and pvc pipe inserted. I measured from the wings LE to the forward part of the pvc pipe (2 1/2" ) the reason for the dowels was the spar wanted to creep back when I clamped it. Coming up with this allowed the spar to stay in one place while the welder dried.

Omaha_RC_Flyer

More Photos

#1 The root end after after being taken out of the clamps.
#2 Tip cap installed
#3 Root cap ready to be installed

Omaha_RC_Flyer

The final photos of assemble (servos still need to be installed).

#1 Root cap installed
#2 Finished wing with the pvc inserted in the root end (12" of pvc will stick out of each side of the fuse for the wings/wing spars to slide over).

Omaha_RC_Flyer

Update on the fuse. I was able to recycle the canopy and the forward portion of the canopy from my first Extra, the rest of it is new. I will be mounting the servos in the rear of the fuse close to the tail, over and under one another. Rudder servo on one side of the fuse and elevator servo on the other (see attached photos).

thirsty003

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Omaha,

That looks like the way to go with the spar - I'm mounting the wing to the fuse at the moment the "old" way and it can be a little tricky to get everything lined up properly. I'm not going to use nylon bolts though - I'm going to screw a cuphook into each dowel and hold the wings tight against the fuse with zip ties or rubber bands and I'll also drill a hole through both spars where they cross over inside the fuse and put a bolt through there to stop any possibility of the wings coming apart.

BTW - have you decided where the wing is going to go yet? How far back from the firewall and what engine are you planning on using?

Regards

Tony

Omaha_RC_Flyer

Tony,
I still have to finish the other wing before I toy around with finding the wing location. I'll be putting an Evolution .61 on it. With the engine weight, I figure I'll have to mount the wings a little more forward than my first one (it had a Magnum .40XL on it), to get a proper balance.

I was thinking about putting a small bolt/nut completely through the wing and spar tube near the end of the pvc piece and using large diameter plastic washers on each end of the bolt and nut, to prevent crushing the wing in when tightened. Any feedback on this would be much appreciated.

thirsty003

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Omaha,

I decided to go away from the nylon bolt idea when I saw the way a large scale Extra has it's wing attached. It has the tubular spar running through the fuse and extending out each side for the wings to slide onto. Then there are forward and rear dowels on each wing half to locate the wing into the fuse. Screwed into each dowel is a metal hook and rubber bands are stretched between each opposing hook and that is all that holds the wing against the fuselage - there are no bolts etc. I reckon if it's good enough for a 2.5 metre wingspan extra then it's good enough for mine,

I'll let you know how it goes - I should have it done in the next day or two,

Tony

toddly24

thirsty do you have a picture of how your wing is attached? If so could you email them to me? [email protected]

thirsty003

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Toddly,

I can send you a photo when I take one - in the meantime just follow the plans except instead of using the 2 nylon bolts just use the locating dowels (I used much larger diameter dowels though) and screw a cuphook into each of the rear dowels - then when you assemble the wing to the fuse tie the two dowels on opposite sides together. I used zip ties (or tie wraps if you prefer) or you could use strong rubber bands. The idea is that the wing doesn't need to be pulled into the fuselage so much as most of the stress on the wing is up and down - not in and out if you get my meaning.

I've pulled one of the dowels out of one half of my wing after getting a little too enthusiastic when putting the tie wrap on - I'll post a pic soon,

Tony

toddly24

Thanks I think I understand what you mean... I really need to build mine, I am so lazy lately with my planes, but I have a lot of school crap and other stuff I'm working on, and I just got a car, so that takes some of my time.

mikenlapaz

Omaha_RC_Flyer
I like your wing/spar idea and the pics are great. Have you flown the wing? If so, maybe a report.

Omaha_RC_Flyer

mikenlapaz,

I haven't flown it yet. I have so many projects going on, I move from on to another and back again. The weather has not been the best here either (cold). As soon as I take it up, the flight report will be posted. Thanks for your interest.

acam37

My Feedback: (16)

Hey OMAHA,call me a traitor but I went and bought a somethin extra ARF and put a ROSSI .45 on it. I am going to use the plane for a more exact coro replica and put my K&B .48 on it. I have only 2 flights on my somethin extra and since I crashed my balsa pattern plane about a month ago I have been a little gunshy about flying with an attitude. It really hurt my pocketbook on that one. I flew today but was so nervous I didn't enjoy myself at all. I am going to go back to coroplast because all I can think of on my balsa planes is how much it's going to cost me when I crash and then having to bring all the pieces back home and here it from the wife.

Omaha_RC_Flyer

Acam,

Sorry to here about the pattern plane.[] What was it? I'll be buying a pattern ship soon for the upcoming season. I thought of getting the balsa SIG Something Extra kit myself. It depends on how well the new spad extra performs. I have a 4 star 40 kit that still needs building. Thinking of bashing it into an Airtractor or a Thrush cropduster.

I flew the Spadet yesterday in about 15 to 20 m.p.h. winds. First time I flew a nitro since this past fall. I have built and flew a few Foamy electrics during the past few months. They are fun!

My next spad on the building table will be a profile fuse with fully symmetrical wing, once the extra in complete. Sometime this year a group of us in the club will be building Spad race cars (hopefully 6 of us) to race in our Labor Day Airshow.

I know what you mean about balsa planes hurting your wallet. Spads are definitly the way to go for building your confidence back up. You don't have the worry so much about, how much is this going to hurt my wallet if I crash. It allows you to concentrate on flying instead of what will happen if I crash. I think my Forum signature explains it well.

IowaSilvia

My Feedback: (97)

Hey Omaha. Check out this Thrush Commander!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flown it about 4 times. Is a sweet plane, just needs a smoke system now.............

Takes off in 12' heheeeheh

Omaha_RC_Flyer

IowaSilvia,

Have you posted it in the scale forum under cropduster? If you haven't done so, the guys following that thread will get a kick out of it. I subscribed to that thread a while back. There are a lot of cool planes and mods discussed in the thread.

IowaSilvia

My Feedback: (97)

Yeah I posted it there too. But I just read your post earlier that you were going to bash that 4* into a crop duster.

Oh mine has the whole cockpit detailed with gauges too