flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

thats cool match, but i cant get it to download either, did the "whip" search, (no longer available) down loaded some autodesk thing, but it keeps going to a paint file that wont read, I think thats my puters fault,, how about listing some specs, ws,auw, length, thickness of profile and wing, root chord,tip chord, tail group??? did see the video, always want ed to try something like that in 1/2a...Rog

matchlessaero

The interest in this thing has been great, so I wanted to put up some more photos of how to do a few details I have been asked about.

The first two pics show how the reciever and battery are mounted. I put a very light 1/8" balsa platform inside the wing resting on the leading edge and the two spars. After covering the wing, I cut open the covering, slid the battery and reciever into place (using velcro to hold them in) and covered the hole back up after everything was installed and correct. You could also cut open the bay on the bottom and insert them from that side and recover. As for cutting a hole and covering over it- its much lighter than adding hatches, and this plane is about flying fun, not really looks.

The next two pictures show the servo installation. I also did this after covering the wing and cutting open those two bays. The servo rails are 1/4" balsa with a 1/64" ply cap for the servos to grab. I installed each servo, drilled the hole for the screw, hardened it with CA and drove the screw in. Not one has pulled loose yet.

Also worth noting in the last two pictures are the routing of the controls. On the right side of the plane (when viewed from the nose) is the rudder and elevator servo. The pull pull is kevlar fishing line threaded through the servo horn, with the servo horn screw pinning the line in place. This makes it adjustable. The pull pull lines all go through a small eyelet from the hardware store. Don't forget to put the eyelet in front of the ailerons!!
The throttle pushrod is just some 1/32" music wire with a little kink bent into it for adjustment.
The aileron pushrods are the same music wire. The near one is pretty much a straight shot, and the far one passes through a narrow slit cut in the fuse. (don't forget to make sure that the aileron pushrod does not bind on the pull pull lines.......

matchlessaero

In the next few pictures you can see some more construction details and control details.

In the first pic, you can see the only wing sheeting in the plane. The sheeting is some light 1/32" balsa 3/4 to an inch wide that boxes in the center two ribs through which the fuse tube passes. The sheeting give something for the covering to grab, and for the fuse and nose pieces to glue to.

In the next pic, you can see the detail of the mount. This is cut out and epoxied to the tube and the front of the wing. (rough up the tube before epoxying). The landing gear looks like too much is up against the mount, but it helps to strengthen the tube to mount joint a bit and the two mounting screws give some thing for the rubberband tank retainer to grab hold of. (everything serves several functions to save weight)

In the next pic, you can see the control horn detail for the tail. Notice the 1/64" reinforcements. Don't omit them or the tail will be very weak. The control horns are 1/8" dowel cut 1" long. The are glued in place in a 1/8" hole drilled through the control surface and reinforcements. To run the pull pull, I would wrap the line around the dowel several times, tie a knot and hit it with fast CA. I then would run the line up the fuse through the eyelets and the servo and then back down to the other side. Pull out the slack and then wrap the end around the dowel several times. CA and trim the extra.

Finally, you can see the tank. I won't say much about the tank construction because DickeyBird's explanation is much better than I could ever do, but I will mention the little blocks its mounted on. The tank is sitting on some light 1/4" balsa blocks that have been rounded out for the tank to rest in. I put a dab of silicone on the blocks, pushed the tank into place and rubber banded it.....

I hope this helps anyone who is building one of these fun little planes and I hope I did not bore anyone who is not.

rrragmanliam

My Feedback: (1)

Jeremy, Thanks for the new pictures they really help with some of the details. I've been looking for the thread on the tank but can't fin it. Does anyone have a link?

Rrragmaliam

2fast4u

My Feedback: (5)

THANK YOU!!! Now I understand.....I think....maybe.....sort-of.[8D]

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

HEY MATCHLESS! Today was my 1st time out with almost all the right stuff,[ I'm still looking for the best way to go for an on board battery]. Those HS55s are plenty strong enough! The HALFWIT was RTF at 12.4oz, and hovered at 3/4 throttle. There is a perfect blend of airframe, control authority, and power going on with this thing. The NORVEL on 15% has a superb throttle with the 6-3. I would like to try a 7-2,[ so it's time to whittle on a 7-4 I guess]. There are some manuevers that don't require brute force that this thing excells at, "lolly-pops", knife edge spins, flat U-turns, rudder related stuff. The next stage will be dedicating a servo to each flap, and go coupled to the elevator. This plane will give any one a great way to get a good taste of 3D with the least amount of money, time, or effort, and you should go to MORRIS HOBBIES with this thing![X(]!!

matchlessaero

Thanks CP I'm glad you are having fun with yours.

Glad to hear you got the weight down and it responded like you thought it would. Keep me posted on how the dual aileron servo goes. I really wanted to do that myself, but my limited supply of micros would not let me on this one... I am very interested how this thing will do with flaperons on.

I flew mine for alot today. No one was at the club field for a couple of hours, so I got pretty crazy with it....[sm=spinnyeyes.gif] Some other maneuvers it does (that I can repeatedly do, not just do it one time lucky) are-- Flatspins into landing, inverted to upright (repeatedly) elevators, and it will actually elevator into landing quite easily.

Also, with the fat wing and the low wing loading, I had a lot of fun climbing to high altitude, killing the engine and seeing how many maneuvers I could do before landing. I could do a really cool looking deadstick blender, then drop the nose and roll quickly and finish by landing at my feet....

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Match, I had a boatload of questions until I went back and looked over the other forum pics I have almost everything cut out and glued , I suck at covering but this should be okay, except where is the CG? and is the rudder attached at the top and bottom of the frame?, I ordered a mini great planes Rx and 5 of the 9 gram (dragonfly on ebay) servos,, got a 6 cell 270 mah batt , stuff I'll use again in other planes so really I have $10 in balsa in this plane, hope I can handle it but if not, I got no problem crashing a $10 plane that I can build again in a couple of days, hope to have a blast with this thing,, looked at your site, you do nice work, I like the bipe too...anyway a big thanks again for making this available to all who are interested..Rog

matchlessaero

Rog, it sounds like you got the right stuff. Actually, the little servos from dragonfly are what is in the prototype. I am glad you are having fun with it. The real fun will begin when you start flying the thing.....

I have had a huge amount of emails on this plane (thanks everyone). All the input was much appreciated. One of the things I did was to add the CG to the plans (have not gotten the PDF done yet) and for those who don't want to redownload the plans, the CG should be at 2.75" from the leading edge for the first flights, but should be at 3 1/2" from the leading edge for best 3D performance. I put the corrected plans on my website.

I also found that the engine rail spacing on the plans is incorrect. I apparently grabbed the wrong Norvel template out of my files. The plans one the site are corrected now (thanks Rog for mentioning it) and if you have already cut yours out, you can just stick a piece of 1/8" thick hardwood on the bottom rail before drilling your mount (that is the way the prototype was done)

I'll get some pics and put some info up about control throws when I get home from the field this afternoon.

matchlessaero

Marius and a couple of other people inquired what throws I was using on my Half-Wit, so I wanted to post a pic of the thing with full deflection. Keep in mind that it is perfectly OK to fly it on lower throws. These are pretty extreme- but they make it fun!

blvdbuzzard

I just finished building one tonite. I have it all framed up and ready for covering. I did not have any 1/4 ply so I used some 1/8 lite ply with 1/16 baltic birch ply on each side. I am glad I found this thread because it shows how to setup the tail feather with a pull/pull. I was wondering where to put the servos and Rx, battery. I will be running it with a 4 cell AAA 800 nimh pack. I have the same pack in another plane and it works well.

Dru.

matchlessaero

Thats great Dru! Can't wait to hear about a flight report. Get some pics of your plane if you can. I would love to see it!

Your batt pack should be right on. I am running a 720mah 4 cell pack (aaa cells) in mine and performance is more than enough.

Flew mine about 8 times today. Managed to land out of a flatspin twice, out of a harrier twice, and to really get the thing hovering down low.

blvdbuzzard

I snapped a couple of picsof her before she gets dressed. Sa you see her with a AP Hornet 0.061 she weighs in at a whopping 5 7/8oz. I am waiting for the 3 Ciruss 9 gram servo's to get here. I am going to use 2 for the Alierons so I can get flaperons. For me it also makes setup easyer. I have a Ciruss CS-20 BB servo for the Elevator. Throttle will be by a Ciruss CS-10. See any problems with these servos?? The 9 grams put out 11 oz torque and the CS-20 put out like 20oz of torque.

Dru.

P.S. I have made a few changes from the plans. With the nose being 1/4 inch ply, I just taped the engine mounting holes with 4-40, thin zapped and retaped holes. No blind nut needed. I did not have 1/4 inch so I made it up with a core of 1/8 liteply with a skin of 1/16 inch 5 ply. I also added some truss work to the spars to stiffen it up. My was really flexible. It could be that I am not using Ca, and the glue does flex a little. I still need to get my Rx battery, aluminum for the gear, and the wheels.

phuffstatler

My Feedback: (20)

Oh my... I'll have to crank one of these out! Seems to be super cool... Needs landing gear... I can do that...

Maybe a GWS electric combo with Li-Po's???? I've got all that here.... hmmmmm...


phil in austin

DMehalko

My Feedback: (42)

Alright, I'm really into 3d larger stuff, but would love to get into a Half Wit!!!

Question though (while my plans are printing) What do you cover these things with?
Monokote would half to crush it wouldn't it.

I'll let you guys know when I start it.

David

matchlessaero

Wow Dru, that looks great!!! I like the mods you made to the wing (diag bracing). Looks like it is coming together really well.
As for the servos, as long as you stay sub9g's, you should be OK. If you are going for a 5 servo setup, then I would suggest 6g servos on as many as possible to save weight.

The wing gets almost all of its stiffness from the covering. The original felt extremely flexy until I covered it, then it was extremely rigid. It has also survived 7 cartwheels from regular flight and low knife edges, so it is a pretty strong design.

David, this one is just covered with regular clear monokote and yellow ultracote (just the stuff I had laying around when I built it..) It does pull at the trailing edge of the wing a little, but nothing that affected it too bad. BTW, once you fly this thing, you will hesitate to fuel up your bigger ones......

Keep it at or under 13oz's and it should fly fine!

blvdbuzzard

I had my wing covered. It fell off the bench and the trailing edge shattered in 4 places so I had to remove the covering to fix it. I glued it back together and added a 3/8inch wide, 1/32 inch thick piece of balsa on th efront edge of the trialing edge to add some strenght. I am going to get some of the clear they sell at Dymond. It does not pull as hard as Monacote. I used it on a 44" span E powered Sukhoi that came in at 13 oz before radio gear. The covering I am getting I think is solite or Ora cover. Three steps forward and two steps backwards.[][:-]

Dru.

DMehalko

My Feedback: (42)

Matchless, That is what I was actually thinking, full 3d and fun fly manuvers for thousands less than my 1/3 scales. Got the plans printed and gonna go tape them all up here in a minute. What about reciever batteries, servo reccomendations, modifications.

This thing looks like so much fun, and I will post pics as soon as i start building.



David

crashawk

on the norvel are you guys running pressure to the tank? my norvel doesn't have a pressure tap on the muffler, does it draw strong enough to not worry about pressure? got my plans printed out and am looking forward to building this little gem, I went to the field today and it was just too cold to mess with my bigger planes. with the half wit I could start it in my garage and just step outside to fly [8D] (I allready do that with my little electrics)
thanks

Jason

DMehalko

My Feedback: (42)

Matchleeaero, So the current plans on the website DO have the right plan for the correct norvell .061? I am getting ready to cut the plywood out right now but heard it was not right.

Help?

David-going to go buy wood today

matchlessaero

I am running a Norvel .061 with a tap in the muffler. Honestly, I don't think you will get the hovering performance from the engine without that tap. The pressure provided helps to keep a strong fuel flow when the airplane is in a nose-up attitude. Without the tap, I don't think the Norvel would draw enough to keep running well (leanout-sag-thunk).

Should be easy to get a muffer with the tap. My LHS's have them in stock, and Norvel has them here for 5.99 http://www.shopatron.com/product/pro...VL110156/100.0

Dru, as for covering, I did not shrink my Monokote down that tight. It vibrates like crazy in the air, but it isn't an issue. When I did it, I used my iron on a pretty low setting and worked slowly. This still does not take much time as it is a small airplane.

DMehalko

My Feedback: (42)

What do you mean by a tape? Also, I am getting ready to start building so what do you reccomend on strarting, wing, fuse, tail. And how does the carbon arrow shaft work. do you glue the wing on and then slide the shaft thruogh it or what? Because if you built the fuse with it in in the start, you obviously could not get the wing on.


Thanks
David

matchlessaero

I think you are meaning 'tap'. This is the pressure nipple that is on the muffler that provides positive pressure to the fuel tank and fuel system.

The DXF and DWG plans are correct. If you have the PDF plans, the mount spacing is 11/16". The gap on the PDF plans is 1/8" or so too wide. I will get Bipe to reformat the PDF plans asap (he converted the originals for me, and I need to fix the PDF's still)


Assembly goes like this.

Build wing
Build fuse top and bottom (and cut out the tail, ailerons, etc)
Cover everything (leave 1/4" wide uncovered spot on top/bottom center of wing)
Slide CF tube through wing and into engine mount- epoxy
Attach top of fuse to mount, wing and tube
Attach bottom of fuse to mount wing and tube
mount horizontal


Hope this helps

DMehalko

My Feedback: (42)

Yes, thank you much! I will post away all through test flights.

David

blvdbuzzard

Well she is all dressed and waiting for radio gear, landing gear, fuel tank. Right now she weighs in at 8 1/2 oz. I should be able to get it at or under 13oz when she rolls down the strip.

When I went to recover the wing I did not try to get all of the wrinkle out. I just tried to get most of them and to make the covering some what tight without deforming the wing.

I too was looking for the fuel tank out of film container but was not able to find it under a bunch of different searchs.

Dru.