CapnBry
Elite member
I'm always impressed with how quickly the Flite Test team can put together the giant projects they do for their youtube channel. Giant flying battleships, a big ole cargo plane, a paper airplane bigger than any room I could build it in. Today is my last day off before starting a new job where I may not see daylight for a few weeks (crunch mode software development) and I want to make the most of it. When I checked the weather last night, it said today was going to be a perfect day for flying a glider. Partly cloudy, high approaching 80F, maximum wind gusts 4 knots. I decided to put all these conditions together and challenge myself to scratch build a new design and have it in the air before the sun goes down.
I don't have enough time to come up with my own original idea, so I just stole one-- the Volantex Phoenix V2 2000.
Wingspan of 2m is a bit of a stretch for DTFB and because I don't have time to go to the store, I'm only doing this with stuff I have on hand. That means no carbon fiber or aluminum reinforcements. I sketched up a design for the wing last night along with some key dimensions I can work from. These are literally all the plans I have, except I'll steal the Ridge Runner's tail surfaces, scaled up a bit.
The wing will have a 200m chord and an 11% thickness, and will use 3 foam spars running almost to the tips. The center section will be a full width (30") section of foam board, with one of those pieces I sketched above attached to both ends. I am not planning any dihedral or polyhedral, although it would be easy to add some of the latter by just jacking up the "second section" above. The tips are kinda undercambered but it is also easy to just glue a second tip on and taper it to the end.
The tail boom is going to be a triangle that sockets into a square fuselage with an overall length of 1100mm. I made a little mockup last night to test the dimensions and try some techniques.
I know it is noon so I'd better get started, eh? Actually I started at 7am and have been making good progress, I wanted to feel like I'd have a shot at getting it done today before I posted anything and failed. The day is now half done and as I pound down a PB&J sandwich for lunch I realize the day is already half over. I think we're going to have to scrap a few of the plans, like an iNav flight controller and flaps. These can be added later though.
Odds on being able to build a decent 2000mm DTFB plane in 10 hours whose wings won't just fold up on the first turn?
I don't have enough time to come up with my own original idea, so I just stole one-- the Volantex Phoenix V2 2000.
Wingspan of 2m is a bit of a stretch for DTFB and because I don't have time to go to the store, I'm only doing this with stuff I have on hand. That means no carbon fiber or aluminum reinforcements. I sketched up a design for the wing last night along with some key dimensions I can work from. These are literally all the plans I have, except I'll steal the Ridge Runner's tail surfaces, scaled up a bit.
The wing will have a 200m chord and an 11% thickness, and will use 3 foam spars running almost to the tips. The center section will be a full width (30") section of foam board, with one of those pieces I sketched above attached to both ends. I am not planning any dihedral or polyhedral, although it would be easy to add some of the latter by just jacking up the "second section" above. The tips are kinda undercambered but it is also easy to just glue a second tip on and taper it to the end.
The tail boom is going to be a triangle that sockets into a square fuselage with an overall length of 1100mm. I made a little mockup last night to test the dimensions and try some techniques.
I know it is noon so I'd better get started, eh? Actually I started at 7am and have been making good progress, I wanted to feel like I'd have a shot at getting it done today before I posted anything and failed. The day is now half done and as I pound down a PB&J sandwich for lunch I realize the day is already half over. I think we're going to have to scrap a few of the plans, like an iNav flight controller and flaps. These can be added later though.
Odds on being able to build a decent 2000mm DTFB plane in 10 hours whose wings won't just fold up on the first turn?