“Pondfrog” tilt rotor flying boat experiment

[perhapsleiana]

I flew this thing today
To see if I still feel…

Heavily modified Dynamic C-188. Twin C pack radial motors on 6S (1700mAh). Pivoting motor mounts using 17g servos.
No flight controller, just manual control of the pivoting, and a little roll mixed into differential thrust.

Maiden flight over water was… harrowing. This unholy love child of an Osprey, a Catalina, and a cropduster weighs 4 pounds and flew pretty badly. I’ll need to redesign or completely replace the outboard floats, and they snapped off before I actually got the plane in the air. I knew I could lose control of an aileron at any moment after a wing dipped in the water slightly.

The thing about this build is that I chose the name first. The goal was to build a plane using things I already had that could live up to the name. A v/stol tiltrotor design seemed promising for silly hopping behavior, and the large horizontal stabilizer helps with the “frog” look. I plan on repainting it when I finish getting it to fly decently well.

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

I LOVE your opening line and will totally steel it. I read it and heard it in Cashes voice for some reason not Resner’s.
Like the plane as well.

 

[perhapsleiana]

New outboard floats added. Got some old stock from my LHS of HobbyZone Super Cub floats- if there's any brushed plane still in production it's that one. Funnily enough, that's also the plane I learned to fly on, what was it, 15 years ago? Back when lipo batteries in planes were just becoming a thing. I have both the props that plane came with mounted on my wall (along with lots of other props I won't be using ever again).

I'll be adding a small motor to the tail to increase rudder and elevator authority and provide a little extra lift in the tail when the motors are tilted up. The tail motor throttle will be a multiplication of the main throttle and tilt input. The motor will be mounted at the upper leading corner of the vertical stabilizer at about 45 degrees. I'll be doing lots of low-power tests to see if it needs any angle changes due to spiral slipstream and torque and such.

Also, I'll be putting a bigger battery in it hopefully, if I can find a good source.