Mountain Man

My club is trying to come up with a low cost indoor design that could be used to introduce youngsters to RC. We have two motives:
1. To gain young membership; 2. To reduce frequency problems from random parkfliers who are unaware of the potential disaster of shooting down planes at the club site.
I have designed several depron "X" frame planes like the European "Shock Fliers". The airframe weighs about 2.5 ounces and has a 36" span with an area of about 1.7 sq.ft.. We have been using a EPU-6 motor from MAXX Prods. and an eight cell NiMH 370mah pack turning a 10/8 prop (we fly at 5000 feet out here so we haven't killed any motors or ESCs yet). That is what we had.
Please advise of better and maybe even less expensive systems. Are LiPOs safe enough for youngsters?
Thanks'
JIM

Greg Covey

Jim,

If you're flying a 36" span aerobatic plane indoors, you must have an impressive facility or suberb flying skills. In either case, a ShockFlyer-like design is typically not for youngsters.

The GWS Lite Stik and Slow Stick are inexpensive ARF kits that come with the power system. Both can be flown indoors with little difficulty. The cost of the kit is little more than the cost of the power system so it is a great value. One uses an IPS DX-A geared motor and the other an EPS 300C geared motor. Both kits include props.

Good luck!

ricktkenny

I agree, the small depron planes are very sensitve, I feed in 70% expo just to calm mine down. far better with the Lite stick or slow stick. They are cheap, take plenty of knocks and are slow enough to learn on.

Regards

Rick

www.rcwing.co.uk

stoneware

I tried making all the ultimate bipe and 3dx plans and found that the end results were underpowered planes with the suggested power plants. Add to this that they were all 4 axis control and well I didn't have too much fun stalling and crashing.

So I made my own. Its 3 axis so far and will most likely support alerons. The importan parts are that it flys well with gws 300 C and speed 400 plants with a tranny. So far no gear but I'm sure that will be no problem, I plan for a trike set up. I've never made one. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Here are some web cam shots, sorry about the quality, I can't find my digital's charger.

stoneware

Check my gallery for some shots of the plane.

Sir Crash-A-lot

Try foamfly.com's Frog. Easy to biuld, and durable as heck. I personally intend to make mine out of EPP, but make a profile fusalage and use a CF tube for the tail to save weight. It should be nearly indestructible.
Li-Po's can be dangerous, but unless you do somethign stupid (ram them into the ground at 40 mph+) they are maderately safe. I have a set, and so far I have done fine. A 2-cell 1200 pack with an IPS would be the way to go for a small airplane like this one.
P.S. I highly reccomend making a profile plane, as the standard version is a pain to make. Just make 2 fusalage pieces, cut out the bit where you put in the battery and servos, and add velcro for the reciver.

stoneware

You know I built a couple of profile models (3DX and Ultimate 10 300 3D Aerobatic Park Flyer) with the carbon fiber shaft in them. Lots of fuselage rigidity but still looks like a profile. Half the fun I find is making them somewhat scale, and when you make a full body you don't need the shaft. It was only 90 pieces; top, bottom, top nose, sides and 3 bulkheads also made of depron. I've bounced the prototype off the ground a few times and all it took was a little glue to reseat the motor.

Depron is much tougher than plain EPS and thus suitable for trainers.

Either the suggested motors are seriously lacking in thrust (although I didn't try the 12 inch propeller) or I'm a crappy pilot. The truth is probably a little of both, but since I'm a beginner I need something that will fly easily with a reasonable amount of lift.

Any way I found a line drawing of Cessna 185 which is my next semi scale project right now I'm working on a park flyer version of a Hawker Hurricane and it's looking very cool.

ciao

Sir Crash-A-lot

EPP can be found at 50 cents per square sheet, and if you use Cf instead of a full fuse, you can make up the added weight. EPP is a lot tougher than depron, and it is in fact possible to make wings using EPP that will actually spring back after you bend them in half. All you have to do is make an airfoil frame out of 6mm EPP like you would a covered-balsa plane, and skin it with 3mm epp. Or, just undercamber it and it will not break, period-it should flex a bit though.

stoneware

Well then educate me.

EPP is expanded polyproplyene ?? Is this like pink foam insulations they sell by the 4 by ' sheets?

Or is it the rubbery stuff you sometimes find in paking crates, the kind that will bend but not breaK? If it is, isn't that stuff much heavier than styrofaom?

If it is, I stand corrected.

Cheers