3.3 Meter Ford Flivver

[Ryan O.]

Since the Shinden didn't fly, I have to come up with something else for a giant scale event where I live. I thought a Ford flivver would be a cool build since it has a short fuselage so it could be stay as one piece for transport. It also has landing gear, a simple wing which will be easy to make a 3 piece, and simple lines. I can also fly it on 6s with a 20x6 for scale speed. I've challenged myself to get this done by the end of August, but if I can't I'll still finish it so I can fly it before Winter. Another benefit of the Flivver is that it can be made light enough that it can be flown at my local field. Like the title says, the wingspan will be 3.2m, and the fuselage will be 2m. Since this will be designed in CAD and transferred to Inkscape, I'll publish plans too. Here's some pictures of the full scale Flivver:

For nose weight I can 3d print a dummy 3 cylinder engine and put weights inside the cylinders if necessary.
(I'm not doing the sub $100 giant Ercoupe because I don't have a motor or ESC yet, and I probably don't have time for shipping)

 

[Ryan O.]

I finished all the basic CAD drawings, and I can probably get it finished and export it to Inkscape by Thursday of Friday. Since cutting making a plane this size tiled would be a pain, I'll just go to the UPS store to get it printed and save some time.

 

[Ryan O.]

It took longer than I thought to clean up the CAD drawing, but now all the faces I need to turn into plans are named and all the unnecessary parts are hidden.

I've also flattened out all the curved surfaces in meshmixer, but ran into a roadblock trying to align these two edges together:

They're fuselage parts, and where they meet will be a score cut. Any tips would be appreciated, and if I can get this figured out soon enough I'll print it out Sunday or Monday.

 

[Ryan O.]

I'm also going to use foam board for my sheer webbing instead of fiberglass (just like Josh's monster FT Cruiser) because it's lighter and cheaper, and since I might run a twin spar wing it should be more than strong enough if I use coroplast or wood for the very center where the two piece wing will come apart. The main spar will also be 2.5" thick with half inch poplar on the top and the bottom running about a meter out on both sides before transitioning to balsa (staggered of course) all the way to the wingtip. The secondary spar will be 1/3" poplar extending only a meter out on both sides.
As for the plans, when I do release them they'll be pretty basic for v1 (red lines for score, black for cut through) since that's all the plane really needs, and I'll be making a build guide to help out.
I've found a guy with a wire bending jig to make the landing gear which will use wire a little thicker than the thickest wire on ft planes, but it should be good enough since the load will be spread over three parts. The wheels will be 3d printed, and the three parts of the landing gear will be joined by a heavy duty zip tie, not solder, which is too strong and won't break on a rough landing, transfering the energy to the airframe. I even found a hollow dummy engine cylinder on thingiverse I can use.

 

[Ryan O.]

I was able to fix the issue by changing the view of the surface before I export it

 

[earthsciteach]

Nice! The Fliver has been on my short list to build with foamboard for a while now. The short list only gets longer.
Were you the guys with the giant Shinden at FF? If so, I did the sketch factor check for you at Stefan's request. I missed the flight attempt but heard the issue was with the trolley you used for take-off.

 

[Quinnyperks]

Nice! The Fliver has been on my short list to build with foamboard for a while now. The short list only gets longer.
Were you the guys with the giant Shinden at FF? If so, I did the sketch factor check for you at Stefan's request. I missed the flight attempt but heard the issue was with the trolley you used for take-off.

Yeah, that was me and ryanO.

 

[Battery800]

I'm also going to use foam board for my sheer webbing instead of fiberglass (just like Josh's monster FT Cruiser) because it's lighter and cheaper, and since I might run a twin spar wing it should be more than strong enough if I use coroplast or wood for the very center where the two piece wing will come apart. The main spar will also be 2.5" thick with half inch poplar on the top and the bottom running about a meter out on both sides before transitioning to balsa (staggered of course) all the way to the wingtip. The secondary spar will be 1/3" poplar extending only a meter out on both sides.
As for the plans, when I do release them they'll be pretty basic for v1 (red lines for score, black for cut through) since that's all the plane really needs, and I'll be making a build guide to help out.
I've found a guy with a wire bending jig to make the landing gear which will use wire a little thicker than the thickest wire on ft planes, but it should be good enough since the load will be spread over three parts. The wheels will be 3d printed, and the three parts of the landing gear will be joined by a heavy duty zip tie, not solder, which is too strong and won't break on a rough landing, transfering the energy to the airframe. I even found a hollow dummy engine cylinder on thingiverse I can use.

Man! What a cool a crazy idea! What electronics are you gonna put in that?

 

[Ryan O.]

The basic plans are done. I don't have any doublers or servo slots yet, but this is what I'll print out and build. If any doublers/reinforcements are needed, I'll add them in future versions.

 

[Ryan O.]

Man! What a cool a crazy idea! What electronics are you gonna put in that?

I'll run this on a 6s 4000-8000 with a 100amp ESC and an Emax GT 5325. If that isn't powerful enough I have a 12s motor that's 1000 watts more powerful

 

[sprzout]

I read this and instantly my mind went back to freshman year in high school, when I picked up and read Brave New World - everything time wise was referred to as BF and AF to refer to as before and after Ford, and they all went from place to place in flivvers.

Makes me want to kinda see one in flight now!

 

[Quinnyperks]

Mine will be done by the end of next week.

 

[Ryan O.]

Mine will be done by the end of next week.

Cool, I'lll also be posting landing gear templates and more detailed plans as I build mine.

 

[Quinnyperks]

Cool, I'lll also be posting landing gear templates and more deailed plans as I build mine.

I might use some old 6” tires I have.....

 

[Ryan O.]

I'll be increasing the wingspan slightly to 3.3m so that it can officially be a 1/2 scale Flivver. I won't need to change the A/B folds becacause the difference in scaling up the plans wiuld only be 0.19mm out of 5, so not really noticable. I'm also considering going to a dual elevator setup, but this plane will only be going about 45mph tops, so a single elevator should be good enough.

 

[Quinnyperks]

I'll be increasing the wingspan slightly to 3.3m so that it can officially be a 1/2 scale Flivver. I won't need to change the A/B folds becacause the difference in scaling up the plans wiuld only be 0.19mm out of 5, so not really noticable. I'm also considering going to a dual elevator setup, but this plane will only be going about 45mph tops, so a single elevator should be good enough.

I will probably have single elevator, rudder, dual ailerons and thrust reverse.

 

[Ryan O.]

The scaled up plans are done. Now the wingspan's a little over 3.3 meters, so it is exactly 1/2 scale. I've also decided on a pilot for the Flivver since this one most resembles Harry Brooks, the real life Flivver pilot who was killed in a crash/ditching after his engine died over water.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1750200

 

[Ryan O.]

I'm having some problems tiling the plans for a 36x48 sheet in inkscape. Everything fits on 4 sheets, but I can't save each sheet individually. Any tips?

 

[Quinnyperks]

I'm having some problems tiling the plans for a 36x48 sheet in inkscape. Everything fits on 4 sheets, but I can't save each sheet individually. Any tips?

You should do it to 30x40

 

[Ryan O.]

You should do it to 30x40

36x48's the largest the print shop does, and the cheapest per square inch.