critterhunter

Spent the better part of the day working on some planes. Mustang is ready to go again with a motor re-wind. In about two maidens this bird had random motor shut downs. Really cheesed me off because it flew well with what little time I had on it. Remember, this is build #3 of this plane.

Worked a bit more on the AP build.

The SE5a bipe is finally ready for a maiden. [X(] Not going to paint or finish covering it until I get a few flights in. Should have used a bigger piece of flat carbon for the elevator. As it stands now one end might flex and cause a corkscrew on a hard loop. Not going to fix that until I see the need.

Figured I'd start working on the TA-183 I've had sitting around. Junked the original body and used some tiled prints to cut out a scale fuse for it using the new EPS foam a buddy is getting for free from a roofer. 4.5" thick slabs that are about 4x6' in size. We won't need to buy any foam for a LONG time.

This stuff is about three times (or more) denser/stronger than Home Depot white box foam. I'm amazed at it's strength. It does weigh a good bit more but you can probably save that in less strength mods needed. We cut some 3 foot wings out of the stuff and it was very stiff even with no carbon rods or such. Reminds me of EPP in that it will bend very far (not easy to do!) before breaking, and even then the break is clean with no crumbling that the normal Home Depot EPS is prone to. In fact, I think I'd say it compares most to the Z-Foam the Stryker is made out of, but it's even smoother/stronger than Z-Foam.

The tail boom on a TA-183 serves dual duty as the vertical stab and is much thicker than a typical one. That extra thickness might be enough strength with this strong foam, but I'll add a carbon tube or two if I see the need once I thin it down.

The print in the picture is only being used as a template. Body will be rounded off to be as scale as possible. The wing and tail were just thrown on for the pictures. Both will change. The wing is too wide at the tips, needs a more agressive taper, and isn't swept back as far as it should be. It also is cut from the a weaker foam that I don't want to use. Fuse length is about 30". It'll be using a KA450H motor from www.donsrc.com as a pusher, swinged around a 4.75" prop. It should be a rocket.

critterhunter

Got a little more work done.

The first fuse I posted a picture of a while back for the AP bird was using Home Depot foam. Since it's going to get a chamber carved out pretty deep at COG to house my digital camcorder, I figured I'd re-do the fuse using a stronger foam.

Picture doesn't show it well but I sunk two thick dowl rods on to of the fuse for the wing's nylon bolts to thread into. I always used a big piece of basswood to glue to the top of the fuse for that, but I'm thinking the dowl rods will work much better. Less weight and no gap between the fuse/wing. The tail boom is a strong plastic that is smaller and lighter than PVC. I'll cut down the boom's length to achieve COG with the battery sitting as far into the nose as possible while still protecting it.

The TA-183 is using the new even stronger foam that a friend is getting for free. It is heavier but I love it. It's so strong that I don't even think I'll need carbon tubes in the verticle stab boom. It also sands nice and smooth without chunking, even with the real coarse sandpaper I had on my belt and orbital sanders. I'm sure with fine sandpaper it will get even smoother.

Sanding has begun but it still needs a lot more work. The fuse needs rounded off way more, and the tail boom needs thinned out, but you get the idea. The only major difference from scale is I think I'm going to round the nose off to a point. If I kept to the original outline the nose would be a lot of drag. The tail end of the fuse where I'm going to mount the motor may also be rounded off more than scale to slick it out.

ken 68

SE5A Bipe ? I have cut out one of Tony's models from RCGroups but only have glued the monoblock together. Been working on my 52" BBAP KF3 and its comming along nicely.
On your single boom plane you need to think about a V-Tail. You could have enough diehedril to let if fly level by its self and still have all the control you have with an aileron plane.
My old Firebird Commander came alive when I did the TOTAL bash on it. Bet its as cold at your house as it is here. Keep up the good work and i'll be watching.

Ken In COLD upstate NY

critterhunter

Thought I updated you guys on the SE5a Bipe? I finally threw a BEC in it (ESC was shutting down with too much stick input on the 4 servos) and it's ready for a test maiden. Haven't finished covering it with the Tyvek paper or painted it yet 'cuz I want to see what it does in the air first. Was going to maiden it today but it's windy.

Yea, I'm thinking V-Tail for the AP bird. Still might, but right now I'm leaning towards rudder/elevator. It isn't going to use ailerons. I do like V-tail based on my Challenger/Extreme early days. I know it tends to save you weight...less tail feathers.

Yep, it's cold here too....but I've got a heater in the garage so I'm good.

ken 68

Critterhunter
I just got a new V-Tail mixer from www.hobbycity.com that only weighs 4 grams & a big $2.95. Its made by Turnigy and looks well made. I thought I would build a small fast plane with a 24 gram 1700 KV Blue Wonder on it. I just like how they work with only 2 servos & have it all. Hope it warms up a bit so I can paint (outside) my grandsons 42" Blue Baby. I bought some new receivers the other day from Sombra Labs. The Synthesized 8 channel only 9 grams. Any transmitter channel can program to it. Also got a couple of the Lepton-6
Crystal receivers. Im going to use one on my Mini Telemaster that im going to add ailerons to. I read you can marry the rec. to your transmitter and try another trans. on the same channel and it's faithfull to you. Not to many women like that. Ha Well its time to go glue something.

Ken

critterhunter

Ken, my JR sx600 radio has a v-tail and other mixing modes, so I don't need a v-mixer hitched up to the RX.

Did some building yesterday. Got some new wings cut for the TA-183, along with a motor mount for the AP pusher.

Here's my version of the FW42. 3' wingpsan, 25.5 inches long. It turned out a bit smaller than I had pictured, so I may scrap this body and scale one up to a 4' wingspan or so. Made from that really dense/strong EPS foam. Will cut the canard/v-stab in Cell Foam 88.

ken 68

I got bored yesterday and started on a new one. Body like a Piper Papoose, V-Tail. Low KF wing from FFF. Got the wing cut out , sides , monoblock & V-Tail done. Going to try to roll some FFF with heat gun over a tapered ? (baseball bat) for the top of fuselage behind cockpit. It will be a trike. IF I can figure something lite for it. Yes I need pictures. Talked to sister about getting some faster service here . Dial up SUCKS ! Lets go glue some foam.

Your projects are looking good. You will be working this week cause it's going to be nice. Maybe in the 40's

Ken

critterhunter

Thanks. I donated the 3' wingspan FW42 to a friend who is going to use it as an indoor flyer. I wanted something bigger so I started cutting out a 4' wingspan/34" long fuse version. Now it looks like a big bomber. Mostly scale and will use a 2409-18.

Gravity cutting (one of SaucerGuy's tips) really does work well. Just hang the bow over the foam, plug it in, and let gravity do a perfectly straight cut when you need it.

ken 68

Yep they have a cutting setup that holds the bow on cables that seems pretty good. I just want to get back to Tenn. and load up all my stuff so i'll have my toys. The CNC cutter was all done except putting it on some boards or metal. Have everything done with electronics, & ect. All the circuit boards done & tested , all the cabels and wire to the 4 stepper motors all ready.

The rolling the FFF around a pool Q worked great. Im thinking a person can build a plane that way real nice. Hollow and with strong foam. It seems to temper it when you hit it with the heat gun. I did a tapered roll and then bent it up at rear of cockpit. Got to get a camera !

Ken

critterhunter

Yea, you've got to get a camera going so we can see some progress.

After only two "maidens", I've decided to retire Big'N. Why? I want to re-build it using this stronger foam we have now. I also want to make a less thick fuse since I had originaly intended to fly my camcorder in it but with the AP platform build I'm working on I won't need to use it in Big'N. A few other dimensions I want to tweak on a new build of it as well, but for the most part it'll be the same monster with a 6 foot wingspan. In the mean time, I plan to use the 35-36-1100 HXT motor from it to throw on the FW42 build. With a 4' wingspan this motor will be a little too much for it's size, which is perfect...unlimited verticle and gobs of power. [8D] Later, after I re-build Big'N, I'll swap the HXT motor back onto it and put a 2409-18 on the FW42, which should still give it unlimited V.

I finally got around to making some more wing airfoil jigs out of Handyboard. For FW42, I'm using a USA27 airfoil, 9" at the root, 6" at the tips, to make it scale. This airfoil has moderate lift but less drag/more speed than a Clark-Y. I'm also making up various other size Clark-Y and Raf6 airfoils. Clark-Y is very high lift as we all know. Raf6 is a high speed airfoil which works well on jets and such.

ken 68

I always liked the Clark-Y modified. It isn't totaly flat on the bottom. But will fly slow like the Y I (think) the DC-3 used it. Scratch build is coming along. Nice day yesterday so I got some painting done on the Blue Baby 42" for grandson in Iowa. Got to paint some stars on top of wing thats white. Bottom of wing & fuselage is blue almost the same color as the FFF it's made of. Got some 2" colored tape on order that should have been here the 3rd. that i'm going to put a layer on elevator & maybe the rudder. Im headed to copy shop to copy plans of a Mini Telemaster I bought to hone my stick & covering skills. Happy Landings

Ken

vtrc

Hmm, that jet looks familiar!

calvino

ah, ken, got a link to a pic of one, heard about it, but everone is all vague about links...?????

critterhunter

Ever since I first saw a picture of this plane in a magazine I've wanted to build it. The FW42 never went into production but wind tunnel models were being tested. The German's blew up the facility where the plans were housed and they remained unknown until years later when the site was dug up.

Far as I know there are no commercial RC kits available. In fact, I've only been able to find two RC builds on the net. You either love it's looks or hate it. I think it's very mean looking myself and decided to build one.

I had cut out the body parts for a 3 foot wingspan version of this plane but decided I wanted something bigger. A friend is taking those to build an indoor flyer, so yesterday I cut out and sanded the body parts for a 4 foot FW42. Glad I decided to build a bigger one, it's coming out pretty nice. Breaking my personal speed record for building. Electronics probably start going in tonight.

Installed a carbon arrow shaft into the wing. That along with this really dense EPS foam makes it stiff as a board. Vertical stab and canard are Cell Foam 88 and will get bambo skewers to stiffen them up. Would have prefered to use flat carbon but I'm out at the moment.

Fuse Length: 34 1/2"
Wingspan: 4'
Airfoil: USA27 (Sanded down a bit, so it's between that and a RAF6)
Canard Length: 19"
Motor Setup: Single Pusher
Controls: Ailerons (HS81s), Elevator (HS81), Rudder (HXT500)
Speed Control: Tower Pro 30 Amp
Motor: Hextroniks 35-36-1100
Prop: APC E 10x7 (About 40-46 ounces of thrust, drawing 21 to 25 amps)
Battery: HXT 2200 20C 3 Cell

This is a little too much motor for this size plane. Did I say "too much motor"? It might do unlimited vertical at around half throttle if I hit my weight range. It'll be getting landing gear and a full Nazi splender of camo and decals. I'm also planning on making bubble canopies for the gunner stations at the nose and tail.

critterhunter

I could use some advice on the FW42 setup. I know canards can be tricky and have zero experience with them. From what I understand you want the canard to stall before the main wing. Since my canard is flat foam and has no airfoil, if I mount them both flat on the plane should that be OK, or does anybody have a best guess as to incidense for either one of them? I could also use suggestions on COG and motor thrust angle for the pusher.

Got the control surfaces all cut out last night and am ready to mount them. Since the scale fuse on this beast in pretty big, I'm thinking about installing a bomb drop.

critterhunter

Got a few requests to find build #3 of the "So" plane I did in this thread. I know it isn't easy to search through it and my posts tend to be endless. Did some looking back and build #3 starts on like pages 16 and goes through 23 or so. I pretty much had all the bugs worked on with that build (right dimensions to avoid being tail heavy with a BP21 and 3 cell 2200ma lipo, etc). Printed it out myself because I'm going to do build #4 of this bird using the new denser foam I have now. Miss that plane. Might do it scaled up to a 4' wingspan this time and use a 2409-18 or 2409-12 motor, if not the good old BP21. Will of course post photos and build steps for it.

By the way, for more cheap lipos check out the Loong Max 15 and 20C packs on United Hobbies website. I hear good things about them and they are priced about what the HXT packs are. Got a 15C 2250 3 cell on the way from them.

ken 68

Critter You need to break down and get youeself a FC 28-22 @ $5.95 from hobbycity 39 grams (aluminum frame) and I'd put one up against your heavy steel bell BP-21. I switched to Towerpro N20's (card programed) @ $10.50 each. $16.45 for power & ESC. 745 grams thrust Should fly one of your full foam builds. ? ? Ya think ? Thats over a pound & a half. Time to go play (Model Building)

Ken

critterhunter

Ken, I'm pretty happy with the BP21 for the So plane this thread was based on. However, I may throw a 2409-12 or 2409-18 on build #2. The 12T has more power and speed. The 18T (get the "D" versions of these motors, they are better built) is slower but has more torque than either one and probably will be my choice. It's also more efficient and with a lower (10 to 14 amp or so) amp draw than the other two. It's one of my favorite Tower Pro motors. I have these motors laying around anyway and money is tight, so I won't be doing any motor shopping for a while.

After doing some snooping back through this thread it brought back some good memories of you, Fisher, SaucerGuy, and a few others as we toyed with the design. It also reminded me that I tend to be long winded. That, combined with the trial and error we all did (mostly me) made for a long and muddy build thread. For that reason I think it's time to start a Part Two thread on the So plane that. We can throw up the Clark-Y airfoil fisher did, how to build the hot wire tools, etc, and really condense things for newbies wanting to get into scratch building with foam. Of course I'll wander later and muddy the waters, but at least at first it will be to the point and clear from us.

With that in mind, here's the link to Part Two...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6910714/tm.htm

Other builds are of course welcome. I'll be posting the FW42 build along with So #4. I'm also itching to build a Warthog and those build steps will be thrown up. Let's create some new memories!

saucerguy

Now you've done it, you mentioned my name so here I am. It's been a while guys, how have you been?

Well, last night I got the urge to build, I tore the guts from a rat shack night flyer rc plane. It never flew at all, probably the worse rc plane I've ever seen in my life, it was absolutely hopless, yet, the gear seems to be quite usable. I transfered it out and made a 19.5" wingspan so, I'll call it miniso. It's only 2 channel, it uses a coil instead of a servo, I have that linked to the single airleron and the COG is at the center of the wing, this should allow it to gain height at 2/3 throttle, and loop at WOT, since it's using an aileron, it should also be able to roll, the motor is one of those little 180's, and the battery pack is 6 volt, not sure what the mah is since it's not rated. This is the worlds smallest RC so. now, so setting a new benchmark for us in this area. I'm sure someone will come along and transfer the guts from an aeroace or something and one up me soon enough, I just thought I'd chime in and show you.

Fisher

Nice job! Looking forward to a flight report.

Critter went and started a new thread so you probably want to start posting over there now.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6910714/tm.htm

calvino

EH, so we don't get people postin in the wrong thread, maybe critt can ask to have this one locked, I say so

saucerguy

Thanks for the link, I already made a post on the other thread, I guess at 63 pages, this one would be kind of intimidating for someone new to it, so it's good he started the second one. Might as well show you guys what I'm building now, yet it's a stick creation, it's the model airplane news plans p51.

Swift427

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Swift427

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Swift427

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