Balsa Build Along for 2019-2020

[Newton1357]

Your first post on the Flite Test forum, and it's in the balsa section. Well done, sir!

Thank you. I've been building and racing FPV quads and foam wings for a few years now. I don't have a dedicated work space, so traditional balsa building has been off the table. These WillyNillies kits are small and shouldn't take too long.

 

[TooJung2Die]

GLH kit should be delivered today. Looking forward to my first wooden build.

Welcome Newton1357! Welcome to our happy obsession. We're looking forward to watching your build.

 

[rockyboy]

GLH kit should be delivered today. Looking forward to my first wooden build.

Awesome! Welcome aboard, both to the forums and the build along!

Please do start up a build thread so we can all cheer along and help with any questions you have.

 

[Turbojoe]

GLH kit should be delivered today. Looking forward to my first wooden build.

I doubt you'll have any questions but if you do make sure you post them. If Doug doesn't respond first at least someone who has built the GLH will.
Welcome!

Joe

 

[applecrew135]

I'm even more curious with the release of the newest Willy Nillies designs. Some of them look to be slow and floaty enough for someone like myself (pretty much still a noob pilot) to have a go with. What size receivers are folks using in these?

 

[Joker 53150]

I’m planning on using a small 4 or 5 channel FR Sky receiver in my Cub. These are fairly light to begin with, and should be small enough to fit easily.

 

[Turbojoe]

I'm even more curious with the release of the newest Willy Nillies designs. Some of them look to be slow and floaty enough for someone like myself (pretty much still a noob pilot) to have a go with. What size receivers are folks using in these?

I built and modified my Super Sport to use UMX electronics with the linear servos. I do NOT recommend this modification as it's a major P.I.T.A.! When my Eaglet 250 kit gets here I'll be building as designed using the recommended motor and servos. I'll also be using a Lemon DSMX receiver. They're cheap, lightweight and work well. I have mostly 6 channel but I believe they may have a smaller 4 channel version.

Joe

 

[rockyboy]

I'm even more curious with the release of the newest Willy Nillies designs. Some of them look to be slow and floaty enough for someone like myself (pretty much still a noob pilot) to have a go with. What size receivers are folks using in these?

I'm optimistic that the Cub and Eaglet will both be good as a "second plane" for pilots still on the early side of the learning curve

For receivers, since I'm on a FrSky Taranis radio I'm using small 4 channel like this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-4G-4CH-M...332508&hash=item3b2506e4d9:g:3bMAAOSwiSVcEizB

You can get them at half that price if you're willing to wait a month for free shipping from China.

If you're on Spektrum I recommend the LemonRX receivers too - I had great results with them.

 

[Turbojoe]

I'm starting on the Eaglet 250 build before it gets here! I kinda doubt the kit is setup for steerable nose gear so I made my own. I made the arm first. A piece of brass flat stock, a 1/16" wheel collar and some silver solder and it was done. I suck at design software but I went into TinkerCad and drew up a couple different gear blocks then 3D printed them. The screw holes you see are useless as I there just isn't room for them. The block is only 11mm across. It's TINY! I'll have to wait for the kit to see how much room I'll have to work with and then I can make changes to accommodate mounting screws. I can't wait for the kit to get here. I think the 3D printer is going to get a work out. I just can't seem to leave anything unmodified. LOL.

Joe

 

[TooJung2Die]

The wife asks me what I want for my birthday. "I'll make it easy for you", I said. Just placed an order the the Eaglet 250. It's gonna look so cool with the "PeeWee" motor mount up front. It'll have the gasser guys at the RC field doing a double-take.
Jon

 

[Turbojoe]

It took several changes and prints (this is version 6) but I think I finally have the Eaglet 250 nose gear block that I wanted. I had to add "ears" so there would be room for screws. Servo screws fit just fine. Probably won't need more than two though. Now I have to hope it actually fits the plane when it gets here. I MAY try my hand at drawing and 3D printing a steering arm too but I don't think my TinkerCad skills are quite there yet.

Joe

 

[Turbojoe]

Insomnia SUCKS! If I start making weirder posts than usual sleep deprivation is my excuse. I go through this for 2-4 days every now and then and I'm now heading into day 3. Might as well get out of bed and try to do something productive. I really wanted to 3D print the steering arm to go with the nose gear block so I went at it. After a few failures I'm happy with this result. Made a few spares just in case I damage one somehow. Even if it doesn't fit when the kit gets here I can easily adjust as needed. For a few insane minutes I considered trying to make my own retracts for the low wing Super Sport. A hard slap to the face knocked that crazy idea out of my sleep deprived noggin. I did start on a servo tray with push rod guides though. I need to print one to see what adjustments are needed to insure the guides will line up with the servo arms.

Joe

 

[TooJung2Die]

That looks great. Guess we'll see how it holds up to the abuse of landing. The soldered arm is probably sturdier but this one is quickly reproducible. Do you think you can make some more? I have an Eaglet on order. It'll be the first airplane in my hanger that isn't a tail-dragger.

 

[Turbojoe]

Guess we'll see how it holds up to the abuse of landing.

I guess it depends on your definition of a "landing". If it's nose first, full throttle from 30 feet up then the gear may be compromised. Most changes were made after seeing what I could break on the bench by hand with reasonable force. If using normal .031 micro push rod then it'll flex and cushion forces on the arm. From what I put the latest arm through I'd trust it up to .047 wire. The nose gear block has been strategically beefed up as well as I seriously doubt there will be room to mount normally on the front of the firewall. It'll likely have to mount on the back and all landing impacts will be directly applied to the lower pivot. If that breaks it's better than having it rip the firewall out though that hard of a landing will likely require repairs anyway. LOL.

I'm in no way an engineer and I don't have any clue what I'm doing so everything is just a W.A.G and each success is a total surprise.

Once I get the kit if I find the gear holds up I'll be happy to share the files. Heck, maybe there will be more room than I expect and I can enlarge and beef it up even more. I'm not doing this to market it. It's just a project to help me to learn to work with TinkerCad and finally put the 3D printer to better use. I'd love to work on a 3D printed main gear mount but I don't have any measurements to work from. Maybe I should have ordered TWO Eaglet kits so I'd have one sacrificial lamb to test my crazy ideas on before building a final version.

I.....need.....some......sleep.....

Joe

 

[rockyboy]

I agree, the nose gear mount looks great! I'd also suggest a theory that if the Eaglet takes a rough landing that does break the mount, that's a good amount of energy being bled off that will hopefully reduce damage to the rest of the airframe. Planned failure points can make it easier to rebuild after crashes!

 

[TooJung2Die]

Planned failure points can make it easier to rebuild after crashes!

Good point! When a landing goes wrong <crash> and something breaks you're always going to be happier if it was something easy to fix like a glue joint or landing gear mount instead of the balsa. I often attach wire landing gear using little zip ties. When there's an oopsy landing the wire bends and the zip ties snap saving the fuselage from damage.

 

[Turbojoe]

I think the real beauty of these Willy Nillies kits is in the incredible amount of airframe strength with such light weight. I think it'll take a real effort to hurt one in a crash.

I calibrated my scale and re weighed the entire nose gear assembly with wheel and the metal arm and the same with the 3D printed arm. With metal arm it weighed in a 5.7 grams. With printed arm it's only 4.5 grams. Based on what I saw with my Super Sport even though the gear doesn't weigh much it'll actually be beneficial to have a little extra weight forward of the CG.

Joe

 

[kilroy07]

Is it too late to join up?...... I just tripped over this thread, I saw a previous thread and promised myself I would join the next one.

 

[Joker 53150]

Is it too late to join up?...... I just tripped over this thread, I saw a previous thread and promised myself I would join the next one.

Consider yourself joined! What are you planning to build?

 

[kilroy07]

Consider yourself joined! What are you planning to build?

Not sure yet, I like the Jr. Falcon 250, Eaglet 250 and the Ace GLH 250 looks like a lot of fun...

This would be my first Balsa kit (excepting a couple guillows kits as a teenager...) But the kits do seems to be pretty close to complexity throughout the range, it might just be cosmetics or flying traits.

Any advise would be appreciated!