spete2000

When I was a kid, some of us had go karts and mini bikes. One of the guys had an old Briggs and Stratton 7 HP gas engine and was going to build his own cart frame. He didn't have a welder, didn't need one because he figured out a better way. He made his frame out of electrical conduit and fittings. Testing it, he started off slow and increased power and speed. It really was fast for our go carts. After he hit a thick tar strip at maybe 30 to 35 miles per hour, the frame did a slow collapse with it folding first under the seat, then moving towards the steering and folding the front wheels, and then finally twisting the rear end so far out of shape that it jammed the throttle cable wide open. (Remember the older cars in the 60's that would allow the engines to lift when a motor mount would break pulling the throttle linkage wide open?) I do. Many times. Too many times. He was kind of lucky as the older cars had higher frames and while the rear wheels hit the rear wheels of the car, he ducked and slid under the parked car and only banged up his head and arms and legs and stuff.

Anyway, using relays or homemade 2P2T switches to reverse the fan engines seems somehow familiar, especially considering using your own memory to wait till the engines stop turning before switching the polarities. Also, I don't think the motors and / or ESC.'s will like intermittent current demands even in regular flight without using some kind of buffer system to protect them.

Not really trying to knock your idea, but that is a big beautiful wing that looks very nice. If the rest of the plane is planned to have the same high level of quality construction, I would hate to see it turned into a 1950's go cart built of conduit. Scale brakes are not that expensive, nor, if you are mechanically inclined, that difficult to manufacture. Also the full size aircraft uses clam shell reversers which can slow down or possibly stop the plane by themselves. You will not see a 747 use it's reversers to back around the airport. The mirrors would have to be too big. You will also never see a 747 popping chutes at the airport.

I am sure that with your skills you can build a more true to scale plane that will function perfectly without trying to experiment with "stuff" that has questionable reliability, functionality, or cost savings.

You might consider one of the previous members mentioning using a carbon fiber tube for a main spar for the wings. If you want to do it again, you may want to use a carbon or aluminum tube for a wing spar as they are much lighter, stronger, and can be useful should you decide to make the wings removable. You may want to build new wings if there is a minor inconvenience in the air concerning the operation of the motors.

All the best to you in the future and good luck with your plane. Keep us posted.