Christmas is Coming! Challenge

[localfiend]

Wow guys looking good. I'm impressed with your dedication that's a lot of cutting. I'm gonna try and get the skinned version done and uploaded tonight. I've been very distracted with another project.

After a lot of cutting, ... a whole lot of cutting.

Now to pick out the electronics?

Is that the 30" version? I like how you blended santa into the reindeer. I'd stick an F pack motor (2204 2300kv) on it if it's the 30". If it's 50 go with a C pack (2215 1100kv).

After about 4 hours of cutting I have started building Santa. It is coming together nicely but I have one question. How far down did you place your servos? It is bigger than I thought it would be. Can't wait to see it in the air.

I stuck mine inside the spar and used some really long push rods and zip ties to hold them in place. I don't think that's really needed as much with the big one. The weight needed up front to account for servos is minimal. Just stick them wherever your longest pushrods will let you.

 

[Snowblind]

I never remembered his sleigh having patterning on the side in the old one, had to watch again anyway!

 

[RC Sea Foam Guy]

Is that the 30" version? I like how you blended santa into the reindeer. I'd stick an F pack motor (2204 2300kv) on it if it's the 30". If it's 50 go with a C pack (2215 1100kv).

30 inch version. I got a couple of 1806 2280kv motors laying around that I think I may use. 5 gram servos should be plenty I think. And will add landing gear so it looks just right as a center piece. ... not sure when the wife will let me fly it?

 

[dengar256]

I stuck mine inside the spar and used some really long push rods and zip ties to hold them in place. I don't think that's really needed as much with the big one. The weight needed up front to account for servos is minimal. Just stick them wherever your longest pushrods will let you.

After I posted the question I reviewed your video and found a fram that shows the underside of the craft. Zoomed in a little and was able to make out what you did. Picked up some 36 inch wire I will use for push rods. Hopefully I will get some time to work on it tonight and get the servos installed.

 

[DKchris]

Todd and Kevin, a couple of the foamboard CNC specialists are working on an open source MDF CNC machine that looks to be pretty awesome. It's targeted at cutting foamboard and price was supposed to be somewhere not much over $500. I think they're in the final prototyping stage, not sure when release will be though.

Ehh....sorry to budge in with more off-topic.....could I bug you for a link,hint or something on where to find something about this project?

 

[dengar256]

It's done and ready for maiden flight. Just need a little velcro (I ran out on my last build). I might have to wait until the weekend. It gets dark before I get home from work.

 

[RC Sea Foam Guy]

looks good dengar256. are you going to put landing gear on it?

 

[CrazyRCJoe]

I don't see how anyone could cut that out by hand.

 

[dengar256]

I don't see how anyone could cut that out by hand.

It was not all that bad. The first two took me a while but by the end I found a method that worked well. Went through 10 - 12 blades and just went slowly. All in all it took about 4 hours to cut out.

 

[LitterBug]

Busy couple of weeks and haven't had much time to work on this till last night. Finished up the Danaus last night so it is ready for LOS testing. Owl and tiny whoop are ready as well. Have the "standard" plan printed up small ready to cut out for attachment to the Tiny Whoop. Bought some glitter deer and a sleigh for the owl at Dollar General. Need to attach them to struts and mount them to the owl frame. Going to work on upscaling the plans a bit for foamboard cutouts for the Danaus. Hope to recruit my son for the coloring work. No pictures at the moment. Hope to have all three ready for an indoor Dome fly here in Columbus next weekend! http://horizonindoor.com/

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[dengar256]

Reindeer really do know how to fly! Santa had his maiden flight this afternoon and it went great. His a little tail heavy but was able to get him down safely. It flew a lot better than I thought it would. Now that I know it flys time to trick him out with some color, lights, and the all important bells. Video below that my wife took. If you go to the end you will see that a bunch of neighborhood kids came out to see the crazy guy fly.

 

[LitterBug]

The flyers are built and things are starting to look ready for the dome fly in next weekend!

Going to use colored card stock for the inductrix version. Will minimize the amount of coloring needed to complete. The card stock should be stiff enough to hold it's shape.


Have glitter deer and sleigh for the Owl


Going to fly santa around with just his sleigh and a package too.


Going to work on upscaled foamboard templates to mount on the big frame.

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[LitterBug]

Inductrix size ready to mount!

Spent a bit of time with a razor blade cutting out the card stock for the tiny whoop. Used 1/8" dowel rods and will temporarily mount it all up to my frame with hot-glue.

Here's the rig on the scale. Barely 4grams! This should work nice.


When I was about 3/4 the way done cutting, I thought, gee, wonder if my wife's scrapbooking cutter could have done this for me. LOL

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[LitterBug]

Yeah, wish I would have remembered my wife has a scrapbook cutter... what took me most of last night cutting, was done in 5 minutes. LOL


Scaled it up a notch and made another set in case Santa looses it in the dome this weekend.


If only it could do foamboard and balsa.....


Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[dengar256]

localfiend could you post your original reference images? I am trying to color mine but having difficulty figuring out where the sled ends and santa starts.

 

[dengar256]

Looking good LitterBug. Can't wait to see it fly.

 

[LitterBug]

Santa maidening his new ride

Well.... wishing I would have spent more time on the big size and done foamboard. The paper versions on the whoop failed miserably. Would hover and that's about it. Even without the wood sticks to lighten it up, they flopped around and it was basically unflyable. The Glitter dear and sleigh for the owl ended up being 150ish grams. That's 1/2 the AUW. Doable, but would have not put on a very good show. I did get a nice sleigh and Santa mounted up on the Danaus. With it's current config, I could probably get a reindeer in front of it too. Got a lot of good laughs and thanks. Here's a video my buddy shot for me:

Thanks for this idea! Great fun!

Horizon Indoor 12-17-2016
Lumenier (Shen Drones) Danaus
Seriously Pro Racing F3 FC
BetaFlight 3.0.1 STOCK PIDs
LemonRX LM0037 Diversity RX
DYS XM20A ESCs
SunnySky X2204S 2300KV V2 motors
Strix 5x4x4 Lemon Props
Tattu 4S 1550mah 75C battery


Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[LitterBug]

While this flight was a complete FAIL, not done with the three builds I have going.... More to come!

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[dengar256]

Here is Santa 2.0 in all his glory. This was on Christmas eve and I had not had time to color him. I thought I would fly him anyways with just the lights. However I had put Santa on the table to do a few final tests and then my wife grabs the markers and starts coloring. Next thing I know 3 other people are at the table coloring as well. In 15 minutes it was done and a real family effort. I was a little nervous about flying it because it was dark outside and a 20 km wind gusting to 35 km. But I thought it's Christmas eve and when else is Santa going to fly? The first attempt end with a crash into a fence. the person who launched it for me accedently held on to one of the push rods so instead of full up it went full right. Some minor repairs and 5 minutes later we wee ready for flight number 2. It had some issues with the wind and the cold did not help the battery so it was a short flight but everyone was happy with the results.

 

[localfiend]

Wow, lots of activity I this thread and I haven't been paying attention. Glad to see it flew well for you. Certainly looked like the kids enjoyed it.

The original graphics I drew this from didn't have any color or detail, it was just a silouet. I was aiming for lighting it so that it would look good in the dark as a profile. The sharpie work on yours worked out great!