-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Here's a new "SPAD" foamy I've designed. I call it a "SPAD" foamy, because I used some SPAD-like features in this design... instead of making a square cross-section fuse with Coroplast and PVC or Plywood formers (SPAD-like construction), I made it out of Bluecor foam and 3/4" styrofoam formers. The wing and stabilizers I stole from the foamy that is shown on the http://www.spadtothebone.com (STTB) website's main page, designed by FrankC29. My wing is glued and clamped to set up right now, so I'll post more completed photos later.

I built FrankC29's foamy listed on STTB and have been having a blast with it, but decided I'd like a more traditional fuse to hold my batt and electronics, and so that it looks more like a plane, than a flying stick. I came up with a method to build a square foam fuse with Bluecor FF foam, 3/4" styrofoam, polyurethane glue, and hot-melt glue. The Bluecor is slotted and then folded into a 2" ID square fuse with the slots on the outside. I tried folding with slots on the inside, but found it very difficult to cut V-shaped slots w/o cutting all the way through the foam. These slots are vertical, and when you fold the fuse, the foam snaps neat and clean, while leaving the inside "skin" intact. Now that I have fuse corners that are held together only by the fragile foam "skin", some low-temp hot melt glue is used to "weld" the corners. This technique works extremely well, and makes for a very stiff/rigid fuse. You could save some weight by using some polyurethane glue instead, but I believe the extra weight of the hot-melt glue is worth the extra rigidity it provides... almost like having a spar at each corner of the fuse. The styro formers are glued in with polyurethane glue.

Notice that I mounted the ESC on the top front of the fuse to keep it cool, instead of putting it inside the fuse.

Here are some pictures if you're interested... I'll post completed photos and a flight report later...

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Here are some build photos of the fuse... I've left the left side of the fuse open to facilitate wire routing & electronic parts placement for balancing. After I've settled on the mounting position for the RX and batt pack, I'll add 2-3 more stryrofoam formers and glue the left side up. I will cut an access door in the left side to get at the batt pack and RX. The hole in the bottom of the styro fire wall is for the stick mount... I'll put a PVC doubler on the bottom front of the fuse and screw the balsa stick down to secure it. I prefer this over gluing it, so when I crash it, I can easily replace the stick.

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Here's a photo showing the hot-melt glue "welds" at the corners of the fuse. Hot melt glue seems relatively heavy... I'll probably have 0.8 - 1 oz of hot melt glue on this by the time I'm done! I believe you could use polyurethane glue, but you'd have to squeeze it into each corner of the fuse, prop it up so the V contains the glue and it doesn't just ooze down the side, and let it set up before going on to the next corner... and after all of that, I don't believe it would make the fuse nearly as rigid as the hot-melt glue.

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Here's some more build photos... about 90% complete. That last photo shows the PVC doubler on the bottom of the fuse to screw down and secure the stick motor mount. Drilled some holes in the PVC and in the foam beneath to allow the polyurethane glue to seep through and form "rivets"...

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

Very nice work....

What happen to your last foamy??

if you are like me... you are going through about 1.5 foamies a week!!!


Great job on this one!

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Exeter...

I still have my first "SPAD" foamy, the stick design by FrankC29 (found on the STTB website mentioned in my first post)... going to fly it tomorrow morning, in fact! It flies great, and is quite resilient to crashes (I've crashed it at least 8-10 times)! I use a balsa stick mount for the motor, and in crashes, that is about the only thing to break (I've only broken the prop once)!. I usually have to take the motor apart and clean the mud/dirt out of it if I nose it in bad! I'm trying to build up my foamy fleet to three or more, so I have a couple spares and I can fly w/o worrying about a crash here or there! I've got a UCanDo EP foamy coming via FedEx tomorrow, too... going to chuck that stock brushed motor/gearbox and put a Himax 2812-850 outrunner in it...

rccrasher1967

COOL would the radio and every thing from a sky scooter work in one? .Its a three chanel (t,e,a) so would your plane fly ok like that?

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Sure, you could make this foamy, or the one listed on http://www.spadtothebone.com without a rudder (i.e. just aileron, elevator, & throttle). I don't use a rudder much at this point, anyway. I needed extra weight in the tail for my first foamy, so adding another servo and linkage in back for the rudder helped to balance it, anyway. I do plan to try to knife-edge with these sometime soon though!

I must say that a brushless outrunner and LiPo cells really bring these to life, though! If you're going to put a brushed setup in them, they might fly, but won't be nearly as fun! Mine are propped for 130W of power, and they only weigh about 16oz! The motor's good for about 160W max if I get some higher output batt packs...

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Well, I maidened her this weekend, and she flies quite nicely! I ended up putting the battery all the way forward in the batt compartment to get the CG and handling that I like. This makes it just a little nose heavy at the peak of the airfoil (where the spar would be, if there was one). I need to get some hardwood for the motor mount stick, though, I've been using balsa, and it just snaps too easily! Here are some pre-maiden flight shots at the field...

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Here's a pic showing the styrofoam bulkhead pieces or "formers", and the battery and receiver access hatches/doors on the left side of the fuse. This side access lets me keep the wing on and swap batteries out... much more convenient than the conventional top access hole, covered by the wing...

FrankC29

Very nice, and truly a Spad stlyle foamy!

Flypaper 2

PKH Cutting board plastic makes good motor mounts too. I use it on a little foamy Pizza Box.

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks! You're foamy design got me hooked on these little planes!

Ooooh! That's a great idea, I never thought of that... I'll have to give it a try. It may be a little too strong/durable though... I do want it to snap before it rips the foam apart... hopefully hardwood would do that. I guess I could notch the cutting board so it would bend/break on a hard impact. Thanks for the tip!