Anyone have plans/ideas for a foamboard 3D profile (foamie) airplane?

[The Alpine Ace]

I've been practicing a lot on the simulators, because of winter, and I've gotten good at the 3D planes. I want get a real life counterpart, and I have a lot of spare parts and foamboard. Anybody have any designs for a profile or foamie 3D airplane that I can make out of foamboard? I know there's the FT3D but that is a full fuselage airplane. I'm looking for an easy to fix airplane that's very minimalistic.

I have few design ideas, but I've never had a 3D plane let alone designed one, so if I do end up designing my own are there any guidelines I should follow? Thanks for the replies,

 

[RCman50]

Ive been wanting to do this for a long time now and just haven't had the time. I built the "got amit bipe" from plans on rcgroups with the paper off and covered it in packing tape and carbon spars in the fuse and wings but i built light with no hot glue and shes still tail heavy. So its shelved for now. There was an article on the ft3d converted to a profile but was made from depron if my memory serves me right. Im interested though.

 

[The Alpine Ace]

Ive been wanting to do this for a long time now and just haven't had the time. I built the "got amit bipe" from plans on rcgroups with the paper off and covered it in packing tape and carbon spars in the fuse and wings but i built light with no hot glue and shes still tail heavy. So its shelved for now. There was an article on the ft3d converted to a profile but was made from depron if my memory serves me right. Im interested though.

If I end up creating my own design I'll let you know And also I think I might take the ft3D into mind when deciding sizes of control surfaces, distances, etc. It seems like they really worked hard to dial it in and I don't want to have to re-learn everything if it's already available.

 

[ViperTech]

Here is a edge 540 in profile that I know of and have built and flown but I was not ready for such a plane at the time and it died from a dirt nap.

http://www.rc-help.com/download/rchedge540.pdf

 

[Bayboos]

There was an article on the ft3d converted to a profile but was made from depron if my memory serves me right. Im interested though.

Oh yes, there was

FT 3D PRO(file) depron conversion

There was also a forum thread explaining how the plane was built:

FT 3D depron profile

There are no plans for this airplane as of today, but it was actually quite easy to build it using the original FT 3D plans. There were just four noticeable modifications:

1. The fuselage length was increased by one inch (at the tail). Note that the horizontal stabilizer was NOT moved back; thus, the cutout for the elevator moved from the rudder to the vertical stabilizer.

2. The horizontal section of the fuselage was widened to 3 inches (at the wings leading edge).

3. All the "horizontal elements" (wings, horizontal stabilizer) are located in one plain, following one straight line from the motor to the original elevator cutout.

4. Both wings are cut from one sheet of foam.

No other things were changed; especially the control surfaces were not modified in any way. And it seems they don't need to. The plane is still in flyable condition, even after replacing 1/3 of one wing due to one inverted harrier mishap I already stated I can try to create the actual plans if the need arise (never did that before), but there was almost no response to that.

I believe the plane can be built using de-papered TDFB in exactly the same way. You may also try to leave the paper in place (or replace it with packing tape) and it should be stiff enough without any carbon reinforcements. I would love to see someone trying that just to check what the AUW will be (the depron version weights 220-240g ready to fly, which is below FAA registration treshold). I would do that myself, unfortunately I don't have access to DTFB.

You can watch the short playlist of my flights under this link:

FT 3D pro playlist

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!


BONUS:

A comparison photo between the original FT 3D and the PRO(file) version (copied from the original build thread)

View attachment 45762

 

[The Alpine Ace]

I watched your video and it looks like it flies incredible! Nice and smooth! Might I also ask what electronics you think would work best and how you placed them on your FT3D Pro(file)?

 

[ridepate]

Wow I just did a post on this subject.....

 

[The Alpine Ace]

Wow I just did a post on this subject.....

Oh wow, I just replied on your thread without checking this! XD

 

[Bayboos]

I watched your video and it looks like it flies incredible! Nice and smooth! Might I also ask what electronics you think would work best and how you placed them on your FT3D Pro(file)?

Both electronics setup and layout are explained in the build thread; but I repeat it here anyway The setup is:

Motor: hexTronik 24g 1300kV
ESC: HK Plush 12A
Receiver: HK TR6A-V2 (compatible with Tgy 9X transmitter)
Servos: 4x hexTronik HXT500 (5g analog)
Battery: 2s 1000mAh AND 3s 500mAh
Prop: XOAR 9x5 Beech wood

The prop is actually a recent change. I had enough broken plastic props. This one offers better performance than any other prop I tried, and is virtually unbreakable. Two battery choices come from the fact that this is what I have The 2s setup is still capable of hovering, but not much more. The 3s setup is a rocket, but gives much shorter flight times.

The layout:

Both receiver and ESC are mounted just behind the motor on both sides of the fuselage. The battery is installed inside the cutout in the middle of the fuselage, below the wings - exactly in the CoG. Aileron servos are installed at the leading edge of the wing, tail servos are installed in the fuselage, just behind the wing's trailing edge.

I don't know how heavy the DTFB version would be; but I'm sure the 3s/XOAR 9x5 setup will work ok up to 300g (10.6oz) or even a bit more.

 

[The Alpine Ace]

Just for practice I've designed my own out of foamboard. And I'm hoping to eventually post some plans. it's even compatible with the swappable pod... for those who have it. While that 3D Pro(file) does look and fly amazing, I've been wanting to design a plane for a while now, and I think this is a good place to start, with multiple examples for inspiration and reference. I also wanted something to work with my swappable, and maybe I'll save the extra electronics in my drawer for a twin engine or something. But here are some pics of my quick Sketchup model.

 

[JohnRambozo]

I just started flying a Tech One Sbach 342 800mm. Here's a video of my second flight. No 3d experience and a lot of wind.

Would anyone be interested if I put the measurements on paper? (figuratively speaking until you click print, of course)

 

[RCman50]

That would be awesome

 

[JohnRambozo]

That would be awesome

Cool. That's all I needed to hear. I'll get to work on it. Too bad I didn't just trace it before I put it together. It won't be too hard to measure, though. It is 10mm thick so doubled up dtfb should be nice and sturdy.

 

[RCman50]

do you think youll get back to the bird dog, i love that plane and was watching closely.

 

[JohnRambozo]

do you think youll get back to the bird dog, i love that plane and was watching closely.

Thanks for the interest. Yes I will. I'll try to work on it at the same time. The prototype delaminated due to misapplication of the paint and I got distracted by other things. Sorry for not seeing it through. I'll be reworking it very soon.

 

[ridepate]

I just started flying a Tech One Sbach 342 800mm. Here's a video of my second flight. No 3d experience and a lot of wind.

Would anyone be interested if I put the measurements on paper? (figuratively speaking until you click print, of course)


I'm In!!!

 

[The Alpine Ace]

Cool. That's all I needed to hear. I'll get to work on it. Too bad I didn't just trace it before I put it together. It won't be too hard to measure, though. It is 10mm thick so doubled up dtfb should be nice and sturdy.

Do you think the weight distribution will be the same though?

 

[RCman50]

i was wondering that myself, i think thats the issue im having with the got amit bipe from rcgroups i built. this time im gonna play with different foams instead of doubled dtf with paper off. im thinking mpf or ross board with paper off, that stuff is sweet with the paper off, somebody on rcg said it is like depron but i wouldnt know i never worked with depron. id love to but the cost with shipping.....not right now. ill have to look up the specs and see what foam the SBach is.

 

[The Alpine Ace]

I have an update on my version of the FT3D profile/swappable. It's almost the same as the pic I posted earlier, but with a few minor changes. I didn't get a chance to fly it before the sun went down today, but I'm hoping to try it out tomorrow. (In the snow... wish me luck!)
Here's some pics, they might be sideways but I don't know how to fix that, sorry.

 

[The Alpine Ace]

Good news, I flew it for the first time yesterday. It flew like a dream! It did better than I thought it was going to! Although I'm not skilled enough to hover on the prop yet, it did barrel rolls, loops, and other tricks really easily. Some of the things I might change are the placement of the servos and the motor (the pushrods bend a lot, and to compensate for the servos being moved back I'd have to put the motor further forward) and I might also make the wingspan bigger, it just seems a little tipsy and loose when flying and I think a bigger wing surface might help with that. Also might add a little reinforcement like a wing spar, because the wings bow the slightest bit when pulling out of dives and loops.

Does anybody want plans? I would be happy to go through the work to put them up, but I know a few others are planning on doing the same thing. I don't want to end up putting the same plans as someone else up if it's not needed. XD