SteveOBHave
Senior Member
First post - I'll just chuck this in here - Loving the Flitetest videos and website. It's a great, friendly and informative presentation. You guys deffo need to keep up the good work. I also like the move toward the site being an informative and supportive information base and moving away from just being about reviews. The project work has been hilarious to follow and massively inspirational.
So - Project Flying Wing MK2 (Jokingly referred to as STH2, STH being my initials).
This was my second flying wing attempt here, the first wing was a learning experience and it was built out of a Hobbyking delivery box because it was faster using the box than waiting for Hobbyking to send a back ordered wing out. The first wing was a complete failure and a really good example of not doing enough research and going at the project like a bull in a china shop. Still having the failure and understanding why it was a failure allowed me to drastically improve my approach.
The wing is built out of 5mm foam board. The wingspan was dictated by the maximum allowable space on a single sheet to create both a top and bottom surface of the wing using a technique close to, but not as elegant as, the Armin Wing from ExperimentalAirlines. 1740mm wingspan, 400mm root chord, 150mm tip chord and 350mm sweep.
In terms of electronics I'm using 2.4GHz radio gear, 2 unknown servos ripped from a cheap plane that didn't live up to it's potential (I assure you that lack of flight experience had nothing to do with it being written off... honest...), a 30amp ESC coupled with an 800kv motor and a 2200mah batt. The power output was not even remotely close to what it really needed and I have a 1200kv motor waiting for next weekend (or the weekend after) to remedy the issue.
The entire build including batteries, ballast and motor comes in at around 1.2kgs (2.6 - 2.7lbs) which is not brilliant but again it's been a learning experience and I think my next one will have a shorter wingspan, broader wingtip chord and more power It needed around 250g (0.55lbs) in weight to get the COG right as calculated by a flying wing COG calculator which worked out well because this is a potential payload for chucking a camera in.
All in all I think it was pretty successful and as a model it has quite a bit of life left in it. I removed some of the balast and stuck my Contour HD camera in the nose of the plane and have flown it with that in it, I'll post the video of that as well.
First version of the wing had too much tape on the elevons and the end result was a terrible COG and servos that could barely shift them.
Second edit - Tape removed and replaced sparingly, engine installed and COG shifted a good 60mm forward which I hoped would make it less of a handfull.
Maiden Video - Excuse me giggling like a child but I was immensely chuffed with it's flight characteristics and genuinely surprised at how flyable it was even in its underpowered state. The motor had been flown into the ground 5-6 times which is why it sounds so rough. I was also having to fly it at 100% throttle all of the time. Please excuse the terrible landing.
This was about the 4th flight and the second with a camera in it. The first had the camera pointed too far up and it was mostly a video of sky. This attempt was significantly more successful and the landing markedly better.
Then I stuck a camera in the nose.
Hope you enjoy. I have and I get the pride in building your own plane and having it fly well
So - Project Flying Wing MK2 (Jokingly referred to as STH2, STH being my initials).
This was my second flying wing attempt here, the first wing was a learning experience and it was built out of a Hobbyking delivery box because it was faster using the box than waiting for Hobbyking to send a back ordered wing out. The first wing was a complete failure and a really good example of not doing enough research and going at the project like a bull in a china shop. Still having the failure and understanding why it was a failure allowed me to drastically improve my approach.
The wing is built out of 5mm foam board. The wingspan was dictated by the maximum allowable space on a single sheet to create both a top and bottom surface of the wing using a technique close to, but not as elegant as, the Armin Wing from ExperimentalAirlines. 1740mm wingspan, 400mm root chord, 150mm tip chord and 350mm sweep.
In terms of electronics I'm using 2.4GHz radio gear, 2 unknown servos ripped from a cheap plane that didn't live up to it's potential (I assure you that lack of flight experience had nothing to do with it being written off... honest...), a 30amp ESC coupled with an 800kv motor and a 2200mah batt. The power output was not even remotely close to what it really needed and I have a 1200kv motor waiting for next weekend (or the weekend after) to remedy the issue.
The entire build including batteries, ballast and motor comes in at around 1.2kgs (2.6 - 2.7lbs) which is not brilliant but again it's been a learning experience and I think my next one will have a shorter wingspan, broader wingtip chord and more power It needed around 250g (0.55lbs) in weight to get the COG right as calculated by a flying wing COG calculator which worked out well because this is a potential payload for chucking a camera in.
All in all I think it was pretty successful and as a model it has quite a bit of life left in it. I removed some of the balast and stuck my Contour HD camera in the nose of the plane and have flown it with that in it, I'll post the video of that as well.
First version of the wing had too much tape on the elevons and the end result was a terrible COG and servos that could barely shift them.
Second edit - Tape removed and replaced sparingly, engine installed and COG shifted a good 60mm forward which I hoped would make it less of a handfull.
Maiden Video - Excuse me giggling like a child but I was immensely chuffed with it's flight characteristics and genuinely surprised at how flyable it was even in its underpowered state. The motor had been flown into the ground 5-6 times which is why it sounds so rough. I was also having to fly it at 100% throttle all of the time. Please excuse the terrible landing.
This was about the 4th flight and the second with a camera in it. The first had the camera pointed too far up and it was mostly a video of sky. This attempt was significantly more successful and the landing markedly better.
Then I stuck a camera in the nose.
Hope you enjoy. I have and I get the pride in building your own plane and having it fly well