Well,
It has been a long summer on the road but I managed to fly for real at least once every two months and kept my G2 stuff in my backpack for the rest of the time. I hate not building and flying in real space. Don't get me wrong, I think cyber space flying on G2 and other such simulators is great for practicing most of the basics. But......nothing beats building and flying.

Here are some pics of the evolution of the Scale Flat Foam Flip 3D ( now called the 3D Flipper) that started early this year. this is the prototype of the 3D Flipper V3 with an all foam, built up 20% semetrical airfoil wing. It should maiden tomorrow if weather permits. As a prototype it lacks a bit of finish flash but I think you will like the concept.

I will post some construction pics on this thread as well as a flight review as soon as I can. These posts and pics will focus mainly on the wing build as many of the other techniques are the same as before. The finished product will have to have a beter treatment to the Fuse because I think structurally the wing is very sound and deserves a beter Fuse even if it means steping up to the next size motor/ESC combo. This wing is extreamly ridged. Untill I get some more time here is a pic of the finished prototype.

Enjoy!

That looks cool. Huge control surfaces :-). My next little eletric plane will definitely have an airfoiled wing. Maybe this would eb a good candidate.

Got no chance to maiden the new V3 design today so here are some construction pics for you to check out.

The wing parts consist of laser cut 6mm Depron Ribs, Intermediate LE cap strip supports, LE strip, TE strip, End caps and Rib Supports. 2mm Depron hand cut Cap Strips and rear section sheeting. two 4mm carbon tubes. The foam parts are designed to fit together like a puzzle. The modification to the rib supports shown will not be necessary in future designs as the supports will be moved forward 4 mm to allow the tubes to be glued to the back side of them. Using CA and accelerator the wing went together in about two hours with the cap strips.

The pics show basically how I put it together. I don't really use any high tech assembly equipment so that everyone has a chance to find what they need in their workshop. The ridgidity of this wing far exceeded my expectations.

I started by gluing the center two ribs together as one 12 mm rib then began attaching the ribs from inside to outside to the LE Strip.
Next I modified all of the rib supports, this was the most tedious part of the build and will be eliminated.
Then in my high tech wing jig I fit all of the rib supports and held it all straight with one of the carbon tubes.
Again using CA and accelerant the rib supports were in place.

Here is my High Tech wing jig in action as the rib supports, TE strip and carbon tubes are fitted. As you can see I didn't spend a lot of time or cash figuring this setup out. As poor as it may look the wing came out super straight. Next I added the wing end caps leaving a lip for the cap strip to butt up against.

The basic wing is still a bit flexible even with the carbon rod until the next steps were complete.

It is amazing how well the cap strip tied everything together and really strengthened this wing torsionally.
First I cut four inendical rectangles to fit from the end cap inside lip to the center of the wing and a bit more than from the LE strip to the notch on the Ribs for its rear anchor. Then I held each cap strip against the LE strip, folded it back and marked it at the wing root notch and the wing tip notch in thos ribs and cut this piece for the angle to follow the carbon tube.
Then I attached the front of the Cap strip all the way along the LE strip with CA and accelerant.
Next I attached the Cap strip to its centermost rib and working outward attached it to all of the ribs and LE support ribs.
What did we do without CA before.

Ok,
Now I had a lot more faith in the wings strength so it was time to build and install some servo mounts. I like using a seperate servo for each aileron because it allows you to use som cool mixing features if you want to, and I do. I have used this method of servo mounting for a while and it has become my prefered method. Normally the cutout mounts just glue on to a surface and your done but in this case I had to back them with 3mm Depron that I had. Once don I CA'd them in place following the airfoil as close as possible at the rear lower edge of the wing.
Here you can see the one piece of 2 mm depron that I used to span the center 4, or now 3 with the center two glued together, ribs for more center area and support as well as the installed servo mounts.

I won't bore you with the details of covering the wing other than to say that I used H9 Ultracoat Lite because it is what is available at my LHS. I have never been a fan of the transpearant covering but it is the lightest available at my LHS so that's what I used. I ironed on great at 4 - 4.5 on my H9 Covering iron with a sock very quickly. The Depron takes this heat without any trouble although I didn't linger in any one place for too long with the iron. I could not warp the wing with the covering, Iron or Heatgun shrinking the Ultracoat Lite. I am impressed with the ridgidity of the foam wing.

Time to move on to the Fuse. Not much to do but round the edges and install the motor mount.

Next I prepped the tail group for hinging, covering or attachment. By now many of you know that I am a big fan of the real control surface hinge and can't stand to use tape here. I use the DuBro package of 15 smallest nylon hinges for about $3.50 everywhere. This costs a little more money, time and weight but has huge benefits in the air that you can really feel.
Consequently every control surface has a half depth 45 degree angle at the hinged edge from the top and the bottom rather than just one 45 degree angle from the bottom to the top side. Centering the hinge is important to me so I do it every time.
I tried the lightened aproach to the ailerons as well as the tail group pictured here but could not keep them from twisting with the covering so I opted for solid pieces that are larger than the original design called for. Just because I wanted to try it.
I had no trouble covering the smaller elevator and rudder without warpage from the covering.
One weakness in the tail group that showed up was the horizontal stabilizer so I use a short piece of the 4mm carbon tube here.

There looks to be a small chance of flying this afternoon so I will try to post some of the final assembly pics later this evening and maybe a flight report.

Enjoy!

Bud

i want one

Flip3d454,
Thanks for the encouragement and desire.

I did not get the chance to fly the prototype yet. Hopefully today. The main landing gear is a place where my design suffers a bit as it failed durring a minor adjustment. This plane came in right at 15.8 oz AUW with landing gear and
Kok 1500 3s1p
GWS 6 channel
2= Bluebird BMS-306
2= Hitec HS 55
CC Phoenix 10
E-flight Park 370 @ 4100 Kv
GWS 6.6:1 Gbox
GWS 12x6 slowfly prop
I used quite a bit of 5 Min epoxy on the prototype after the wing was built because I trust it where the wing attaches. I still have some work to do to the fuselage as I think the wing is worthy of a beter option. Even if that means going to a CCPhx 25 and E-flight Park 400 or some other option. This is the prototype developed to see if the wing would even work built of foam and how well it would fly. After the build I already have some revisions to that design. If the evaluation flight is sucessfull and the airfoil wing is a significant improvement to the flat wing then a kit can be developed. It would be difficult to properly hand cut the wing parts acurately from the cutting plans. I had the prototype parts laser cut to make it more precise for evaluation.

As for what will be available very soon, over the course of this weekend I will be updating my web site at http://www.rcxplanes.com with free plans of six planes with the original flat plate wings an triangulated fuse that has been very sucessful in reducing torsional distortion. These are available in *.pdf tiled format. Look for that to happen by Sunday night or Monday morning. They include;

Original 39" 3D Flipper
29.25" or 75% Indoor 3D Flipper
Edge 540T
Extra 330 S
CAP 232
YAK 54

Thanks

Here is the rest of the build of the 3D Flipper V3.

I will spare you the details of covering save the marking for center and provisions to not cover the glue joint area. I made marks for the wing center and 3 mm on either side of center to be able to center the wing in the fuselage and to align the covering out from center about an additional 2mm.
The wing is fit most of the way into the Fuse and set in my gluing jig. I added some 5 min epoxy between the marks I made that represent the fuse thickness. I think good results can be had with CA and accelerant but I used epoxy on the prototype. Once the epoxy was in place on the bottom of the wing I slid it into place and lined up my marks with the edge of the fuse on both sides. Then I measured from the wing TE tip to the fuse side at the Rudder attachment edge on the very bottom most point of the fuse and made sure these were the same on both sides. Once cured I turned the plane over, pushed the fuse out of th way and applied epoxy to that joint.
The rear stabilizer was in loosely place during this process to keep the fuse located at the rear and once the wing joint cured I marked the Rear Stab in the same manor, epoxied it in place measuring from its TE tip to the wing TE tip to keep it all square.
Remove a small section of the covering at the LE and TE of the main wing in prepearation for the installation of the 90 degree supports. These were all fitted and epoxied in place du to having run out of CA accelerant. Water works but causes a really white finish on the CA.

Next was the hinging of the control surfaces.

I started with the tail while I figured out some details with the ailerons. I had a pair cut out sort of like the tail feathers and covered but unlike the tail feathers I found it impossible not to twist them with the covering. I ended up cutting new slab ailerons out and increased their size substantially in the process.

I have a lot of good information on how I achieve a perfect hinging with the small DuBro nylon pined hinges at http://www.rcxplanes.com/ConstStep7.htm with good pictures and detailed information. If you use this method, your time and effort will be rewarded with precise control for the life of the plane. You will love it and probably never use tape again.
At any rate tape was out of the question with the covered control surfaces. Note the extreme control surface deflection you get with the hinges. The action is as smooth at the extreme throws as it is in the center.

Here is a few shots of how the electronics got mounted.

In the first two you can see how I attempted to get the main landing gear on as well as the layout for the equipment. In the third picture you can see the servo mounts I use and the end of one of the really cool 0.050" carbon rod, 1/16" shrink wrap and 0.032 wire CA'd pushrods I started using to eliminate flex and servo extensions. I used to add the weight of servo extecsions and move the servos back to avoid pushrod guides and keep the pushrods short and flex free. I didn't think these were going to work when I first tried it but I was amazed at their holding power at the joint and flex free opperation.

Here is a couple of shots of the finished Prototype.

I got the chance to Maiden her this afternoon and let me tell you what. This thing is now a true floater and tracks very straight. It no longer depends on just angle of attack of the wing to float but can use that equally well. The increased aileron size or more aero wing shape really gave the roll rate a big boost. Rolling circles and harriers are really easy. the same loop and rudder turn in its own length are still there. I was really just getting ready to explore the limits when I suffered some kind of power system problem that shut down everything about 6 minutes in during a rolling harrier. The plane did fall out of the sky with no servo or motor power from 6 feet up or so on to a grass field. The plane went in spinning hiting on one wing LE tip and the prop and flopped to a hault. I saw the rear section of the fuse shift from left to right and heard the familiar cracking sound of Depron in this area. Ouch

Dammage report:
1= Bent GWS Prop shaft (as usual).
1= Missing GWS rubber spinner.
1= Slight bend to the front lower area of the fuse tip.
1= Detachment of one front edge of a rear 90 degree support from the wing TE.
1= Crack in the middle of the same rear 90 degree support.
1= Unknown dead electronic part. When plugged in at home there was no radio or motor support together or seperately. ESC or Rx?

The wing is conspicuosly missing form the dammage report. While I knew it was strong and quite ridged, I didn't exactly want to crash test it at 6 minutes in to it's maiden. Absolutely nothing happened to it save a grass stain on the impacting LE tip. When I say nothing happened to it I mean nothing at all. Even where the 90 degree support detached is fine and the shifting load to the other side did nothing to the thin TE stringer at the other 90 degree support. I think I want to design a ground up Fuse for this wing and tail set up. It will be worth it in the end.

Bottom line is that the airframe could have been repaired and airworthy before the battery reached full charge again. the electronics problem has me worried though because it seemed to have a lack of power about a minute before shutdown. I use the stopwatch on my JR 8103 when I fly these things to get an indication of the flight time available and have never lost much power prior to 10 - 11 minutes in with this setup.

BTW I have updated my web site at http://www.rcxplanes.com with six downloadable plane plans for all to try out. I think you will all enjoy the flight charicteristics of these foamies a lot. Please just let me know what you think of them as you build and fly them.

Thanks,

Hello all,
The FREE download plans in RC-Xplanes ZIP files have all been updated with a Rev1 in their title to include both A0 (841x1189mm) and Arch E (34"x44") PDF size formats. These can be printed on your plotter or at Kinkos and other locations.

Don't foreget to leave me feedback or drop me an email

Enjoy

Bud @ http://www.rcxplanes.com