critterhunter

Just wondering if anybody can point me to any links where somebody has hot wired a foam plane just for aerial video? I'm currently kicking around the idea of hot wiring out a design myself to house my Aiptek 5100M (5200M?) digital pocket cam corder. My initial thinking is of using a thick solid "box foam" fuse about four to six inches thick to really help protect the camera should a crash happen. I'm planning to mount the camera about half way down the fuse inside it, with the lens pointing straight down. I'm mainly interested is doing AP of hunting areas so I don't really care about being able to aim the camera forward and such. Stability is the key word here, probably using a 36" clark-y hot wired wing, a single aileron, and an elevator...since I've built a foamie that uses that setup and it's a pretty simple and stabile platform. Would love to see pictures of any other homemade foamie APs. When I get around to building this one I'll post some photos.

Wild Foamy

ive got a mustek DV4000 digicam and it will easily bolt onto the side of the fuselage (you may need to move the radio gear to teh other side of the fuse to balance.

and if you have a servo and channel going spare you can rig up a servo to rotate and hit the shutter/record button via your transmitter

critterhunter

I've got a 512MB compact flash card in the camera so it has plenty of record time. I'm just planning on turning the video record on before installing it into the plane. I believe this camera will not turn off with the view screen closed so long as you press record before closing it. The camera feels like it weighs less than the two AA batteries it takes, so I'd prefer to drop the weight even further by powering it off the plane's battery. I wonder if the 4 to 6 volts from a RX plug will be too much voltage for it. Even if it wasn't I bet the camera draws too much power for the UBEC to handle? On the other hand, I could use a 3 volt voltage regulator to power the camera off the plane battery. I also wonder if this camera can be powered via it's computer plug or if I'd have to rig the power source up to the battery leads. Anybody know where I can get my hands on a 3 volt voltage regulator? Ideas or part #s?

critterhunter

Here's my diagram for what I've come up with. It's not to scale or anything. Just a quick throw together of some of the features I want this plane to have. It will house an Aiptek 5100M 5 (6?) megapixel pocket camcorder. This camera is capable of doing stills as well but I just want to do video and with the 512mb compact flash card in it it's plenty capable of recording a very long time...Longer than needed. It probably can hold ten to 50 flights of video on it. I just plan to turn the camera on record before installing it into the plane and launching it. I may run it off a 3V regulator off the plane's lipo because the two AAs the camera takes probably weigh more than the camera it's self. This thing is mainly going to be used to do ground video over places I hunt to locate new ponds for waterfowl hunting as well as locate land feature bottleknecks to deer hunt where they are forced to travel through a narrow area. I'll also be using it to try to locate some lost planes for a few friends.

lamogio73

Nice idea with the homemade foamie. I was thinking the same thing, so I went and bought the x-plane from Silverlit. It really good stable flyer for beginners like me. It comes with all sorts of gadgets. Including a mini digi-cam which can take pics. via transmitter. The problem is that I can't figure out what mode I should have it in while in flight so I can take shots. The instructions that came with the kit really don't specify that part. If anybody can help and has an x-plane it would be much appreciated. Good luck on your project, can you post some pics when your done with it? Peace.

lvspark

Crazy herb is the king of pink foamies for AP http://www.crazyherb.com

Centexflyer's Zagnutz is a great FFF flying wing http://home1.gte.net/texhills/index.html

critterhunter

Begun hacking out the body parts last night for my ugly aerial video platform. I've traded for all the parts so it isn't going to cost me a dime, except for a crystal for the RX. Had two BP21 motors laying around that needed re-winds. Traded them to a guy who re-winded them and gave me one back. Traded some Sub C 3300ma cells to another guy for a 25 amp brushless speed control. Traded some junk Stryker, Challenger, and Extreme boards to another guy who fixes them for a Hitec RX that is positive shift and thus compatible with my JR radio. Also was given an HS55 servo (maybe more than one) for some JR ST47 servos that came with my radio and are too big for my needs. Also gave a guy a 700ma nicad flight pack for an already wired up 3V regulator complete with a protection circuit to keep my plane battery and the pocket digital camcorder I'm going to run on it happy. This way I am able to ditch the two AA batteries in the camera and save that weight. The foam was already laying around in the garage. Nice to build a plane by getting rid of parts I don't need. I already have some 2000ma 3 cell 10C lipos packs laying around that should power the plane nicely.

This picture is just a quick throw together of the parts to get an idea of what it's going to look like. Everything still needs sanded as you can see by the botched wing. I used two 2" slabs of foam glued together to form a 4" thick fuse to really help protect the camera. Wing is a hot wired out clark-Y 36". Tail and rudder are Cell Foam 88. I was going to go with a single aileron and elevator but, after talking it over with a fellow flyer, decided on a rudder and elevator for control with no ailerons. I always wanted to try a rudder setup and he convinced me the plane would be much more stabile in the air for less jittery aerial video. When you turn left/right the plane won't tend to tip on it's side like ailerons do. I'm going to hitch the rudder servo up to the aileron port on my RX so I have rudder/elevator on the same stick. Don't trust my flying skills with a rudder control on the throttle stick.

In the picture the elevator is too small yet. I decided to go slightly bigger on those. The tail end of the fuse also is going to be cut off at an angle from the belly up to the tail for a better look and to streamline the plane a bit better. The BP21 motor is going on the end of the fuse near the top for a pusher setup. The prop will clear the ground good this way for added durability, probably running a 7x4 or 8x4 APC E on it. The camera compartment is going directly under the COG point so the plane will fly right with or without the camera installed. Camera is going to be inserted into a hole from under the fuse and secured in it's chamber via velcro loops. I mainly want straight down video but will also taper the bottom of the fuse to allow the camera to point somewhat forward with an unubstructed view if I want. Camera will sit a good couple of inches up inside the bottom of the fuse to protect it from landings.

Since I've also got a 2 watt 2.4ghz tx/rx for a wireless camera I plan to also make sure the compartment will hold that setup when I want to use it. I'm probably going to run two HS55 servos on the plane, perhaps two HS81s. I'm a little worried the plane might be too much for the HS55s. It's ugly and going to be real slow and a docile flyer but that's the way I want it for aerial video. Also have a 800mw 1.2ghz setup laying around that I've only used a few minutes on a Stryker before. Having so much aerial equipment sitting around that I've never even used it's time to stop making excuses and use it. I have at least four lost planes to look for for friends (And my Extreme) on a friend's property and this should work well to search the woods from above while the leafs are down. I also am building it because I want to do some fly overs on land that I hunt to discover new ponds, land bottleknecks for deer hunting, etc.

small_rcer

This link is to a pusher drone type aerial platform. Foam, hot wire cut, and all cut files for a CNC foam cutter are on the site. Learn French or use google to translate.

http://osegouin.free.fr/cncnet/bibli...ne/drone.phtml

Myself I use a Multiplex EZ-Star. Wing mounted 2 megapixel plastic lens $50.00 CDN camera. For an example of results look at

http://www.lobstercove.ca/cgi-bin/ya...num=1160323567

So building home made is probably going to be more expensive in time and effort than an EZ-Star and an inexpensive camera. If there is interest I will prepare photos of the mount on the EZ-Star. Simple light aluminum. Mounted on the CG under a wing aiming about 25-35 deg below horizon. Fly level and get shots as in above. The electronics to trigger from receiver are at rc-cam.com as you will find elsewhere in these threads. http://rc-cam.com/ and go to special projects.


Jim H

critterhunter

Figured I'd post another couple of photos of my aerial platform I'm building. Running BP21 motor, a 7x4 or 8x4 APC prop, 2000ma 3 cell lipo, 25 amp speed control, two HS55 servos for an elevator/rudder setup. 36" wingspan, 4" thick fuse by 5 and 1/2" inches tall (Yep, wanted it thick to protect the pocket camcorder that is going up inside the fuse right at the COG spot). 3V voltage regulator to ditch the two AAs in the camera and run it right off the plane battery, complete with a protection circuit. Rudder/elevator should give the plane more doscile traits for stabile video. Didn't want a rocket or a real agile platform. Having never flown a rudder/elevator setup (no ailerons) I decided to put some deheidral in the wing. Even though I've flown this type of clark-y wing on other builds that was only with aileron/elevator so this was new to me, as you can tell since I probaby spelled it wrong. A few people warned me that rudder might present more of a problem to correct wing tipping. I figured the massive fuse under the top mounted wing would help prevent any problem but figured I better curve it just the same to be safe. I just weight it down and propped it up to the proper curve and then heated the foam with a hair dryer to temper it, then used some spray glue and Extreme strapping tape to give the curve more strength. Despite the rather thick carbon tube I put in the bottom of the wing I was able to tempter it pretty easily. Was also surprised just how strong the temper is. Won't budge unless you really tork on it. This hot wire cutting has taught me more about planes than anything else. Haven't decided where the motor as a pusher is going yet. I was planning on the very end of the fuse but may mount it on top of the fuse just behind the wing. Always wanted to try that sort of setup. I was tempted to throw HS81s in it but I'm trying to keep the weight down. Man, those HS55s are tiny compared to them. Hope they hold...

She's still a bit rough around the edges yet but that's 'cuz it's still under construction. Wasn't planning on trying to make it look good but all things considered for a free hand two minute design she's turning out better looking than I thought. Sort'a like a water tanker or military cargo plane.

lvspark

Looking good! I would opt for a high mounted prop just cuz you can hit the ground at full throttle and usually not break a prop..

critterhunter

Well, I had the fuse done for this AP plane but decided I wanted to extend the wing to roughly 46" long and increase the fuse length to about 36". Lucky I decided that before installing the electronics. So, I'll be salvaging the tail, rudder, and maybe the wing off of it to start fresh. I want a ton of lift so the plane will float at very low speeds. Will post pictures and perhaps build step photos soon.

critterhunter

Here's a few pictures of the new camera platform build. 4" wide by 36" long fuse. I think the fuse height is 5 or 6 inches or so. 7 inch wide by 48" long clark-y wing containing a carbon tube for strength and has been tempered with heat and extreme strapping tape to curve it for maximum stability. Controls are rudder/elevator. Right now with servos, ESC, and motor and prop installed the plane weight is only 17 ounces! That's without the RX, battery, or some tape in strategic areas. Still, with those added and the camera (very light) I'm expecting it to be well under 30 ounces. If that holds true she should land at a walking speed. She's still a work in progress so she aint too pretty yet. Have to hide the electronics in the fuse and if Gorilla glue isn't sandable then she never will get to be a ten. First time I've worked with the stuff. But hey, either way, I wanted a good aerial platform so looks come second. Some of the "fine" features to notice are the motor mount made from a fish filter tube and some kind of fish filter 90 degree bend at the top. It's very light yet strong. Hope it doesn't look so "fishy" once it's painted. I put a pack of smokes on top of the wing for scale. Still have to figure out how to mount the wing to be removable for transport.

critterhunter

Just did some wing loading match for this camera platform build. It looks like the plane should fall well below 30 ounces once complete. With the 48"x7" wingspan (336 square inches) and a worse case weight of 30 ounces the wing loading will be 12.857 ounces per square foot. A typical glider has 10 ounces of loading per square foot and a typical trainer has 15 ounces per square foot. So, it looks like the plane should have very good slow flying ability which is what I want. Just hope I can keep the weight at 30 ounces or lower. So far that looks like a very good possibility, but even if I go a few ounces over 30 it should have very good slow speed ability if it falls into the trainer range.

Last night I mounted the removable wing system. A basswood block glued to the top of the fuse. Thin plywood epoxied to both sides of the wing at the fuse area. Two nylon bolts with washers go through the wing top/plywood and thread into the basswood. Works good and not much weight to it.

critterhunter

Need a little help figuring out the motor thrust angle for this build. I normaly just mount the motor looking as straight as possible but figured I might want to be as percise as possible with this build. First, on a pusher with the motor at the very tail of the plane cocking the motor's prop end a little lower than the front will cause down thrust and force the nose down a bit. Elevating the prop end up will cause the nose to lift. I would figure on a setup with the prop mounted on the nose as a puller setup the reverse would be true (prop at front a little high will cause lift and a little low would cause downward thrust).

I've read reference to the standard being one degree right thrust and three degrees downward on a mount (or maybe I have that reversed). I'm also confused as to how this off setting will effect things if the motor is near mid body. As you can see from the photos the motor is mounted roughly 2/3rds back on the fuse. If things become neutral towards mid fuse then does that mean up/down thrust should be at neutral but I'd still want a little right thrust (cocking the prop pointing slightly left)? Currently I have the motor mounted with the prop end a hair up which should cause the nose to lift. However, I've noticed that many like to have downward thrust to keep good air pressure on the wing for better control. Either way, if anybody can walk God's less gifted through what degree of up/down left/right I should probably shoot for that'd be of great help. Also, how to measure this using a balsa disc on the prop shaft instead of the prop as a guide, probably using a protractor?

critterhunter

Plane is nearing completion. To my dismay I see that despite the wing being somewhat back on the fuse it's still going to be tail heavy with the battery near the nose. knew I should have stuck the wing back another inch or two. I drilled some holes with a wood drill bit into the bottom of the fuse from past COG to tail to try to lighten it up some back there. Also a good way to save some ready to fly weight anyway and the 4" thick fuse can take the honeycombing without loosing strength. The two 2" slabs of foam glued together using gorilla glue are really strong and overkill...I just mainly wanted a thick fuse to protect the camera up inside the belly. I normaly melt chambers/holes in foam as a I believe it retains more strength but probably doesn't drop the weight as much as drilling (melting will compress the foam more that vaporize it). May also drill some holes through the basswood wing mount on top of the fuse as it's much more wood than needed for two bolts going through it.

Melted out the camera chamber up inside the belly directly over COG spot to allow the plane to fly right with or without camera in. Important for doing a test maiden without the camera onboard but also great to do if you want to fly the plane without doing video on certain days. Melted out the ESC chamber (on top of fuse directly behind motor post) and the wire channels for the servos and ESC to RX location. Also melted out ESC battery leads channel to near nose of plane where the battery is going to sit. Camera is going to be secured in it's chamber with cloth velcro wrapped around it that has been epoxied into the battery chamber. Also plan to protect camera even further with soft insulating strip foam to line the chamber and really snug/cushion camera in there.

Today I'll probably wire up the 3V regulator to the ESC battery wire leads and route that into the camera chamber. Still wondering exactly how I'm going to plug the power into the camera. Could use a mini DC jack but that would require drilling the camera case and I don't want to do that as it'd require me to take the camera apart. Second choice would be to make a dummy battery module that plugs into the two AA battery holders in the camera to feed power to it. Third that I prefer most would be to power the camera via it's USB port. However, not sure if the camera goes into "PC mode" when that is done and might not allow me to control it unless using a computer. Also concerned the mini USB jack on the camera might have it's power on different pins than the standard pinouts on a USB as it came with it's own cable. I also think I've read that USB devices need 5V so not sure if it is using 5V or 3V via that port.

Removable wing system using basswood glued to top of fuse, thin ply glued to top and bottom of wing at fuse area, and two nylon bolts that thread into the basswood seems to work well and not much weight. Just still concerned COG will be tail heavy unless I (gulp) add weight to the nose. If I need to I may just line the battery chamber with balsa/epoxy to really bullet proof it and use a little extra Extreme strapping tape on the fuse near the nose. Hate to just add ballast. Would rather add weight that provides some kind of function to strength, etc. Shooting for 30 ounces or less ready to fly weight that will put the wing loading at just under 13 ounces per square foot. Gliders are 10 and trainers are 15. As long as I don't go over 15 ounces per square foot I should have plenty of lift at slow flying speeds.

critterhunter

Here's a few more photos of the AP build which is nearing completion. Keep in mind that I haven't sanded the extra glue off the foam yet (first time working with Gorilla Glue) and that most of the foam is getting covered with clear or Extreme strapping tape anyway. Mostly the Extreme tape will be on the bottom of the fuse and such, while I'll have clear over the leading/trailing edges of the wings, over the vertical fin and tail, etc. Not only doing that to hide a few foam imperfections but also to give the surfaces a little more strength and less flex. Still, I'm not building this thing to be a beauty queen. Want a good AP ship, bottom line.

Currently without the RX installed but all other gear and 2200ma 20C 3 cell lipo installed the plane weighs 29 ounces. That's a little over what I wanted at this point as my target was 30 to keep the 48" wing between glider and trainer in wing loading. But, if need be I can always increase the wing size to 50 some inches to get things back where I need them if the plane doesn't fly as slow as I want. Should be OK, though. The wing it's self with the plywood epoxied to both sides for the two nylon bolt mounting system, carbon rod through wing, extreme tape on both sides is only 5.5 ounces and pretty darn strong. When I tape the clear tape to the leading and trailing edge it will gain a tiny bit more weight.

The basswood I had to use for the fuse top to screw the two nylon bolts through is a let down. Shop didn't have the thickness I needed and two of these layered are a bit thicker than I wanted. Still, think I'll drill some weight loss holes in that wood as I've done in the picture of the bottom rear fuse area to get the COG closer to where it should be. The fuse is still very strong as it's two 4" slabs gorilla glued together. You can also see the camera chamber with one velcro loop around epoxied in. Going to glue in another velcro loop and line the chamber with soft insulating foam.

As you can see the battery sits pretty close to the nose but still has plenty of foam to protect it in a crash. COG is now close but if I need that little extra bit of weight some extra Extreme tape up front on the fuse should get it there, along with two velcro loops to hold the battery in it's chamber. May cover the battery with a Stryker canopy and battery hatched glued together as one piece and held on with magnets to the fuse, unless something else looks better. Might not even hide the battery.

You can also see the elevator/rudder setup using an HS55 for the rudder and an HS81 for the elevator. Both surfaces and the tail and vertical stabilizer are probably bigger than they have to be but I want to be sure the plane is stabile...don't care if it isn't able to turn on a dime or do stunts.

In the various pictures you can also see I've got the ESC chamber melted out with it in, wire channels in various areas already done, etc. All that gets taped over when I seat the wires down. RX is going right in front of the vertical stabilizer in a chamber I'm going to melt for it. You can also see that I measured wrong when I mounted my fish filter tube for the motor mount. Turned out an 8x4 prop for the BP21 motor wouldn't clear the foam by a tad. Figured I'd just sand that area out bigger than it needs to be incase I swap motors or go to bigger prop lengths.

At the tail end you can also see an area cleared out for the flat carbon that joins the two elevator surfaces. Also have flat carbon on the verticle stabilizer to stiff that but, again, tape is going to take the less little bit of flex out of them. Used toothpicks to attach the tail surfaces to the fuse. More photos when the thing is done...

Oh, by the way, the camcorder that is going in it only weighs 4 ounces. Add nother half an ounce for the voltage regulator I'm going to power it with.

critterhunter

A few more...

critterhunter

Well, test running the BP21 a friend re-wound for me I'm finding a random shut down and some times rough starts. Can't find any shorting and the windings look good. Know it's not the ESC or bullet connectors. That motor had been beaten and abused on old stryker builds. So, don't want to trust it. Found out a good candidate for the AP plane is the 2409-18T. It's a low KV/rpm motor that will have lots power power on an 8x4 to 9xsomething that I plan to use on the plane. I could have used another BP21 or a 12T but I don't need or want any speed to this plane and this motor will be much more efficient at low speeds with the 18T. I think the 18T is the same as the 12T motor but just wound different. Going to order it as well as another BP21 and 12T as backups for my planes, along with a few shafts and bearings. The flight times on the 18T should be outrageous....Probably well over 30 minutes or so. Amp draw on it will be much lower at the low speeds than the BP21 or 12T.

critterhunter

Decided it was time to play around with econocoat for my camera platform foam plane. Picked up a few rolls of yellow and black and a $12 iron at the local hobby store. Last night I did the wing. Color scheme of the plane is going to be bright yellow on top and black on the bottom so I can keep a good eye on it at far distances. I'm liking this stuff! While I didn't exactly do a wrinkle free covering on the top of the wing I got better with the bottom when I realized you have to pull it tight so the wrinkles can go somewhere when you heat them to try to get rid of them. If the material is stretched tight and you have wrinkles the heat will cause it to pull the wrinkle right out when you put the iron on the spot. Either way, wrinkles or not it still is way better than painting because it makes for a slick surface rather than having the pourous foam surface present. Also strengthens the foam for less flex and protects it from chunking.

Over heated a spot which melted and an added repair patch is almost impossible to see with this stuff. The wing as seen in the above "before" pictures weighed 5.5 ounces. With the material put on it it now weighs 6.6 ounces. Not too bad. I left the Extreme strapping tape on the wing in the above photos because that's mainly what was holding the curve in the wing. Didn't want it changing on me while ironing the stuff on. You can see in the pictures I started doing the tail with it too. Don't care if it's not wrinkle free. Just want to protect and cover the foam and this stuff will be a lot lighter and looks better than tape.

May use this stuff on my next Stryker build when that body gets beat up.

critterhunter

A few more pictures of the AP plane. Just have to cover the last bit of the fuse on the top near the rear once I get the one mile RX to install. Bottom of fuse/wing/tail is black. The rudder didn't show up well in the photo but it's black also. Top of fuse will be finished off in black as well. The compartment towards the nose is where the battery goes. Camera is mounted inside the belly directly at COG so the plane will fly right with or without it installed.

In the last photo you can see the 3V voltage regulator, servo plug, and dummy batteries to run the 5100M Aiptek pocket camcorder off of. The regulator servo plug plugs into another plug that is wired directly to the plane battery wires. The 3V regulator has a large heat sink on it to keep things cool and has a thermal shutdown switch for safety. Thus far on test bedding it the regulator only gets luke warm and it'll be getting plenty of airflow where it will sit.

The dummy AA batteries are dowl rod with a nail at the end and the output wires soldered to them. I could have drilled and installed a small DC jack onto the camera but didn't want to take it apart. I was thinking of powering the camera via it's mini USB jack but can't find the jacks alone and cables are like $15. Anybody know where to get them cheap? This setup weighs .8 ounces where as two AA batteries weigh 2.1 ounces so I'm saving well over an ounce of weight but ditching the AAs.

Getting better with the econocoat all the time but the plane isn't wrinkle free. Excuse the dark pictures as I work on my planes in a dungeon...my basement.

critterhunter

I took an easy a dirty shortcut to power the camera. Didn't want to take it apart, so I just soldered a servo plug's wires to the negative and positive battery terminals (left side are the inputs to the cam...don't need to solder the right terminals up since they are just putting the two AAs in series). I can still insert two AAs and power the camera for other uses. Now I just plug the camera's servo plug into another servo plug that's on the 3V regulator, and then the 3V regulator plugs into another servo plug wired directly to the plane battery power (not through the BEC or anything). This complete setup, including a large heat sink on the regulator to keep it cool and noise isolation components, only weighs .5 ounces. That compares to 2.1 ounces for two AAs so the weight savings are pretty good.

With this setup I can now unplug the camera/regulator and take all that out when I want to run my 2.4ghz video transmitter and a CCD camera. Both are 12V. I'm going to try to run them via straight battery voltage as the 9-12+ volts of a 3 cell lipo should be well within their voltage range. I might have to add nose cancelation components to that, though. If I decided I need a 12V regulator I'll probably have to buy a switching type since linear regulators need at least 2+ volts more than the output voltage while switching types can take a much lower voltage (9V as the battery hits LVC) and jack it up to 12V. They run cooler as well.

Airbourne in Japan

My Feedback: (3)

test

critterhunter

Took it out for a maiden yesterday (no camera, of course...want to be safe). Since this plane (as seen in photos) is a pusher with the motor mounted behind the wing on a post, I figured it'd be fun to try a ROG ("rise off grass" take off. What a dream come true! This big tank of a plane slid across the grass with no problem using no landing gear and lugged it's self into the sky after about 10 to 20 yards.

I'm using the 2409-18T on a 3 cell and a 10X5 APC E prop (23-25 ounces of thrust). First time flying a rudder/elevator setup as well. I had to use 4 ounces of clay in the nose to get COG right on. This brought the ready to fly weight up to about 37 ounces on this 48" wing.

Anyway, flying the thing around for a few minutes when the motor has a split second cut out. Decide to keep the motor off and land the thing. It instantly stalls into a nose dive from about twenty feet up and smacks nose first into the ground. No damage! Seems the fuse made from two 2" slabs of foam glued side by side with gorilla glue keeps it very strong.

Quickly figure out the motor mount had come a bit loose and, while it didn't rip any wires out, it had moved enough to cause drag on the motor and the ESC had shut things down. A few minutes of work tightening things up and off she goes again. Getting things more trimmed out and it's flying well for about five minutes or so. Next thing I know the motor cuts out once more from about thirty feet up. Plane quickly stalls and noses straight down into the ground. No damage again! Turns out the motor had once again come free from it's mounting plate. Again, no damage to the windings or ripped wires. Going to have to use a little nail polish on the set screws to keep things from vibrating loose.

Anyway, back to the question...First, have to lengthen the nose on the plane another four inches or so so I can get the battery out a bit further for proper COG without adding the nose weight. Next, going to ditch the 10x5 prop for something a bit smaller, like a 9x5 or so. Mainly, have to figure out why the thing wants to nose dive when the motor is shut down. Was using no brake. Motor thrust angle is up very slightly in back to cause the nose to lift, but on doing one hand launch I noticed the motor is forcing the nose down in my hand. I suspect the huge 10x5 prop is causing so much drag when the motor is turned off that it's stalling the plane? Anybody have any ideas for me? It might have also been just a tad tail heavy as well because COG was off a hair.