I'm just about to finish up the prototype build for this plane, and as soon as I finish flight testing it, I will start on the production model which will incorporate retractable landing gear, sequenced gear doors, horizontal stab trim, and some other scale features of the full scale BUFF. For the time being, I will post some pictures from the prototype build to give everyone a general idea of how I am building it.
Basic Specs (prototype):
Built from 1/4" Dow Protection Board
Length: approx. 8 feet
Span: approx 9 feet 6 inches
Flying weight: approx 5 pounds
Motor: E-Flite Power 10 Brushless Outrunner
ESC: Generic 40Amp
Batteries: 3s 5,000 mah lipo, 2s 1,300mah life
Servos: 2 HS-81 (elevators), 1 HS-85 (Rudder), 2 HS-56 (spoilers), 4 HS-55 (bomb bay doors)
I started by finding a decent paper model that I could enlarge to the correct scale. This involves a lot of printing, trimming, and taping to produce sheets of parts. I take the sheets and glue them to heavyweight posterboard with 3M 77 spray adhesive and then cut out the individual parts to make templates.
I trace the outline of the templates onto the foam using a fine-point sharpie marker and cut the parts out with a #11 X-Acto knife. Once the parts are cut out, they are rolled into their proper shapes.
For the larger parts, I use a 2.5" diameter wood dowel supported at both ends:
As the individual sections are completed, they are glued together with white Gorilla Glue. The nice thing about the white variety is that it dries fast, sands easily, and it doesn't expand as much as the original formula.
The wing sections, like the fuselage, are hollow, reinforced by foam spars and ribs in areas where strength is necessary. This method of construction produces a very strong part with a very low weight.
As the components are completed, they are dry-fitted together to check for fit. Where necessary, the original templates are modified or replaced to fix issues encountered during the building of the prototype
Basic Specs (prototype):
Built from 1/4" Dow Protection Board
Length: approx. 8 feet
Span: approx 9 feet 6 inches
Flying weight: approx 5 pounds
Motor: E-Flite Power 10 Brushless Outrunner
ESC: Generic 40Amp
Batteries: 3s 5,000 mah lipo, 2s 1,300mah life
Servos: 2 HS-81 (elevators), 1 HS-85 (Rudder), 2 HS-56 (spoilers), 4 HS-55 (bomb bay doors)
I started by finding a decent paper model that I could enlarge to the correct scale. This involves a lot of printing, trimming, and taping to produce sheets of parts. I take the sheets and glue them to heavyweight posterboard with 3M 77 spray adhesive and then cut out the individual parts to make templates.
I trace the outline of the templates onto the foam using a fine-point sharpie marker and cut the parts out with a #11 X-Acto knife. Once the parts are cut out, they are rolled into their proper shapes.
For the larger parts, I use a 2.5" diameter wood dowel supported at both ends:
As the individual sections are completed, they are glued together with white Gorilla Glue. The nice thing about the white variety is that it dries fast, sands easily, and it doesn't expand as much as the original formula.
The wing sections, like the fuselage, are hollow, reinforced by foam spars and ribs in areas where strength is necessary. This method of construction produces a very strong part with a very low weight.
As the components are completed, they are dry-fitted together to check for fit. Where necessary, the original templates are modified or replaced to fix issues encountered during the building of the prototype