Designing a new pattern model
 

I started flying pattern about 1.5 years ago (mostly small models of 50 or 63 size) and since then i've been trying to find a 2m model that's cheap, modern looking and has good flying characteristics. Since all modern pattern planes on the market today are way over my spending limits, i recently started designing my own model using Solidworks. I'm almost done with the design part so i'll post a few images showing the main steps of the process.

From the start, i wanted to design the airframe keeping both electric and glow power in mind. The YS 170 is quite a big piece of equipment comparing to the electric motors, so it looked reasonable to design the front end of the plane around the Yamada engine. I don't own a YS myself, but using drawings from the manual and images i found on the internet, i started building a basic 3D model of the YS170. Well, i got a little bit carried away in the process and ended up recreating it in detail.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

2 renders of the engine in Solidworks, with materials added to the engine components and adjusted lighting:

http://www.videostop.ro/alex/YS8.jpg

http://www.videostop.ro/alex/YS9.jpg

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Wow. Nice work.

-mark

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

OMG ... some people are so so skilled! It will make a great wall paper for the PC ... can't wait to see your plane rendition.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Man that looks awesome I cant wait to see the plane you design

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

I wish I was that good at solidworks! Nice job.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Holy smoke, until I read the comment on Post #2 I thought I was looking at a stock photo that you pulled from YS!

Keith B

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Awesome!

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

WOW awesome!

You must do that for a living [:-]

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

If not, you should be, I DO do that for a living, and that beats most of my work!

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Fantastic, you have done an awesome job. Can you share the file so we lesser mortals can learn from your design tree? I have done a DA 50 recently but it is nothing on this.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Absolutely unbelievable. Can't wait to see your plane's drawing

Adrian

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Thank you for the kind words; i'm really glad you like it.
I work as a CAD/CAM engineer since 2000 and 3D modelling is one of my hobbies; unfortunately most of my projects at work are not as interesting as designing pattern planes :)

For those who are interested in the 3D model of the YS170, i can probably upload it somewhere in IGS or STEP file format. Most CAD software are able to read these formats, but sometimes errors may occur. The Solidworks model is split in 2 files and the total size is simply too large (over 500Mb). Just send me a message at a_voiku -at- yahoo dot com and i'll see what i can do.

Fuselage will be composite with a conventional layout: a removable chin cowl covering the engine and Hatori muffler and a canopy hatch which i think is large enough even for the electric version. Here are a few shots shots showing the main fuselage modelling steps:

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Alex,

Drawing a model and designing a model are not the same thing. Sure you can copy parameters from other models like everyone else does. If you want to do something more original on the design side. contact me directly

MattK

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

amazing!! I like it!

keep the good work

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Modelling the wings and horizontal tail surfaces is much easier than the fuselage. The airfoil is a modified NACA 64A012, with the trailing edge thickness of 7mm at the root and 4.5 mm at the tip.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Alex! Small world.
As usuall, stellar 3D work.
Darrin, AKA "Hammerd"

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Hi Darrin !

It's so good to meet you again. Brings back great memories...of years of hard work ;)
What have you been up to lately? Interested in pattern flying or RC models in general?

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Hi Alex,

Have you drawn a 3D model of a OS 1.60 engine i am also building 2X2 F3A plane for a OS 1.60 engine, your skills are truly amazing, how long have you been working on 3D software. Please guide me how to get started as basics to advanced.

Thanks,
High

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

High,

I don't have a model of the OS160, but i do have a very basic model of the OS 140RX. Unfortunately it's not very precise, but if you have Solidworks you can understand how it was built. Modelling an engine is not that hard, after all it's a combination of very basic shapes. To get started, just try to find some detailed tutorials or modelling manuals for your CAD software. You will need a lot of practice though... I built my first 3D airplane model probably around 1997 in AutoCAD, but trust me, you don't want to see that one :)

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Fantastic!! that's a great job!!!!

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

A few renders of the servos, wheels and propeller. More important, all parts will receive their mass properties, which will be used to compute the CG position.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

this will be fun to watch.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Wow, I also thought the YS was a picture until I saw the drive washer, outstanding abilities, and your plane will fly good, it looks great.

Regards

Alejandro

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

again, congratulations! that plane look realy good.

do you plan to sell a kit?

TUNY

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Thanks you. It's too early to talk about it, but if everything goes well i don't see why not. A good friend of mine owns a small company that manufactures and sells composite models, and he is very interested in this project. It won't happen very soon though...

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

http://www.alexvoicu.domeniuweb.ro/F3A_20.jpg

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Alex, primarily scale building for me. But the classic pattern planes have a special place in my memories as a kid.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

very cool, what color scheme do you plan to go for

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Darrin, i've been reading a few of your build threads in the last couple of days. Really amazing stuff. I think i'll steal a few ideas ;)

High, the paint scheme is next. Hope to post a few images soon.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

The paintscheme was by far the hardest part of the design process. I think i scrapped it and started from scratch more than 10 times and overall it took more than a month to do it.
I wanted something colorful with flowing lines that suits the shape of the plane and strong contrast between upper and lower surfaces for better visibility. The grey areas will be silver in the end, but i couldn't find a way to simulate this in the renders. It is possible to make some improvements, but now i feel i have a good basis to work with.
I haven't decided the name of the model yet, but we'll call it Hypnose for now. Mine will be electric, so i added the proper stickers to the wings to get a better impression of the final look.

http://www.alexvoicu.domeniuweb.ro/hypnose6.jpg

http://www.alexvoicu.domeniuweb.ro/hypnose7.jpg

http://www.alexvoicu.domeniuweb.ro/hypnose8.jpg

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Pretty soon, we'll all have the 3-D printers and can download and print pattern planes!

Nice work. Can you test the aerodynamics and forces in that or any other software?

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Hah... cool thats really amazing... when do u plan to build it? will the fuselage made up of wood or fiberglass

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

Very nice indeed...
If You're using SolidWorks2009 with PhotoView360, try using surface properties - metal - Chrome for those silver lines... Should work :)

Flow analysis could be hard in SW, but if you master Ansys, they have a nice fluid dynamics-program if I'm not mistaken. Model should be quite easy to import.

I liked the colours! Sligthly Fliton-ish, and I've always liked those scemes.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

I believe Solidworks is packaged with Cosmos. I know you can apply loads and stuff but never thought to try flows when I was using it.

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woww.... drop dead gorgeous...!!

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

It is possible to use the Floworks module for CFD simulations. Unfortunately the Floworks results are not very reliable and, since the airflow around the fuselage and tail surfaces is heavily influenced by the propeller, the calculated values of the forces are not very useful. It is possible to simulate the effect of the propeller, but you will need a very powerful CFD software and huge computing power. I'm not going to stop here though.
Here's an image showing an earlier version of the model in KE flight.

http://www.alexvoicu.domeniuweb.ro/airflow3.jpg

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

when do u plan to build the model & will the fuselage be made up of fiberglass?

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

The fuselage for the model in the images i posted above will be composite. I am also working on a wood version and will post images soon. If everything goes well, work will begin probably this week on the wooden fuselage. It really depends on when i get the materials and how long the laser cutting will take.

RE: Designing a new pattern model
 

With that amount of work I'd consider 3 or 5 axis milling a fuselage.