Better wing for the FT Viggen

JDill

Member
The FT Viggen was my first EDF and it's been fun plane to fly. It's a great design and actually goes together fairly easily.

The one thing I haven't liked is the flat wing design. It's a big wing that, when made out of a single layer of foam-board, is weak and tends to warp. I even added some carbon fiber and still wasn't happy with it.

So I cut away the existing wing with the intent to mod the Viggen with a traditional built FT wing. Using the Viggen wing template I made the bottom of the wing, minus the wing tips and ailerons. Then using the template I made left and right wing tops with ailerons attached. The leading edges of each set (top and bottom) were beveled and joined with packing tape to form a double-bevel. A spar was added to each wing and I marked and scored bend lines on the underside of the top wings to contour them. Glue everything and fold them over. Just needed a little trimming for the fuselage to set down in between the wings. Oh, and the servo's needed to be moved higher so they were positioned above the new wing.

I really like the way it turned out. Much stronger, and straight! The new wing didn't even affect my battery position much to attain the proper CG. Painting and a re-maiden will take place in the spring.
 

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AircPirateNinsei

airc-pirates.com
I think the Viggen flies much better with a folded wing. That's how it is with my Mini Mirage. FT should revise the plan of the Viggen and give it a folded wing. By the way: nice skull logo.;)

Good luck on the maiden flight.
 

JDill

Member
Nice! Curious how it will fly.

Me too. The new wing will provide some lift that the flat wing didn't. That should be a good thing as I think the Viggen could use it. Will the canard angle still be ok? Not sure.
 

JDill

Member
I think the Viggen flies much better with a folded wing. That's how it is with my Mini Mirage. FT should revise the plan of the Viggen and give it a folded wing. By the way: nice skull logo.;)

Good luck on the maiden flight.

Nice design, thanks for sharing your Mirage. Looks like something I should add to my build list :)

Good eye on spotting the skull! I can see from your avatar that you have an affinity for them...
 

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epsilon

Active member
Darn, wish I had seen this. Almost done painting my rebuild I had to do to replace creepy servos. Been thinking about mudding the wing myself, partially because I like the idea of adding retracts to it. Do you think there would be enough room in this design?
 

epsilon

Active member
well, trying this new wing myself. My maiden went absolutely great! Till it didn't lol... anyway. certainly challenging for someone that doesn't know what they're doing. If this turns out to fly better i agree, i hope they update the plans. I'm also hoping i might be able to put retracts in this. I personally prefer taking off and landing on wheels.
 

JDill

Member
well, trying this new wing myself. My maiden went absolutely great! Till it didn't lol... anyway. certainly challenging for someone that doesn't know what they're doing. If this turns out to fly better i agree, i hope they update the plans. I'm also hoping i might be able to put retracts in this. I personally prefer taking off and landing on wheels.

The wing I built wouldn't have been thick enough for retracts as it had a thin spar. But, it could be built thicker to accommodate retracts. You might look for posts of others who have added retracts to FT designs to get some inspiration.

So the maiden was a success, sort of?
 

mrjdstewart

Legendary member
very nice. i have a Viggen in my hanger that is probably the most stressful airplane i have to fly. i would say about half of that has to do with the wing and vert stab being single, non-reinforced foam board.

the other half is that it's not really my plane and is signed by 4 guys from FliteTest, including the Bix himself. the owner doesnt really want to fly it and wanted me to add landing gear. i was glad to oblige. that being said, it's not something i want to crash, then have to give back to the real owner. i don't think he'd really be mad, but i would be. :rolleyes:

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laters,

jason ;)
 

epsilon

Active member
So the maiden was a success, sort of?[/QUOTE]

Lol, yeah... sort of. Hey, gave me a reason to try the new wing design! Shared on the FB group my experiences so far but yeah... First maiden was going ok. Then she got away from me and no matter what i did couldn't get it to turn back and dropped out of view in what i thought was basically a little forested area. I could hear it so i kept trying to pop her back up above the tree line but after a few seconds of that I figured I'd better abort before it flew off to who knows where. Chopped the throttle, waited a couple seconds, flared up hard, said a little prayer. lol... jumped in the truck and went down the road around the corner to a little path entrance (non vehicle) and started hiking. Thankfully, there turned out to be a field back there and after a bit of searching i popped the throttle up and heard her spin up! Not sure I would have found it otherwise. Couldn't believe it! She made a perfect landing all by herself... about 5' away from a mini lake in the middle of the field! I got lucky on sooooo many levels there.

Took her out again the next day and after pumping 2 packs through my storch to warm up, I had a blast with the Viggen. This is the first jet i've ever flown and obviously the flight characteristics are far different from other planes. After figuring out her personality i got 2 packs through without incident. I feel like there's a ton of lift compared to the flat wing. At anything over 1/2 throttle she wants to climb, this could be part of my trimming, time will tell. She turns on a dime if you're not careful and easily bleeds off her speed into a stall. I think this is what happened the other night when i couldn't get it to come back towards me. Feel like the addition of a rudder would greatly benefit her. For now, i'm just going to keep on learning on her and try to get comfortable. I will say this, she's supper easy to land! Tracks like an arrow and her glide slope is huge. A rudder would also help taxi through the grass on her belly.
 

mrjdstewart

Legendary member
very nice.

what motor size and battery are you using?

mine is a 70mm but no idea on the actual motor since i did not build it. i run a 4S-2200 Zippy. he originally said he flew it on a 3S which failed miserably, hence the new nose you see in the pics. with the addition of the landing gear, i am running heavy which amplifies all it's troubles. i would really love to build another and use the new wing. i think it has real potential. until then, just remember always throttle or add a bunch of up elevator in the turns.

thanks for the review.

jason ;)
 

epsilon

Active member
So, using a 4s 3300 and a 3000 mah for my power
HRB 4S 14.8v 3300mAh 35C Lipo Battery Pack With T PLUG For RC Helicopter Airplane Boat Quadcopter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XKQJZ8D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_LJ7BAbFKSEZW2

And for the edf I found this 70mm edf
uxcell 70mm 12 Blades EDF Ducted Fan Set Jet Engine with 2600KV RC Brushless Motor for RC Airplane https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0716RQKMQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_cL7BAb4GG8JFT

Lastly, escape is this
ZTW 70A Brushless ESC with 5.5V/3A Switch BEC output for rc airplane https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771HPTMW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_bL7BAbDYGN0KV

So far I'm happy... that said the guy building Ben Harber'so f4 said he's seen the ztw escs crap out so... shrug, I guess time will tell. I love the sound of the edf I got and for me and my current skill level is plenty fast!
 

mrjdstewart

Legendary member
cool. like i said i have no real idea of the motor but i am going to assume it is the recommended FT one. i fly on a 4S-2200 and with the gear i added i have to shove it about half way into the nose. i can easily get 3+ min flights but like i said, it's a pretty intense 3+ mins...

laters,

jason ;)
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
As an option for the wing design you guys are playing with have you thought of a KFm2 wing? I foreseen a similar issue with the FT-22 as it is a single layer wing. I wanted to get speed out of this plane and was concerned with the wing folding on me. It is of the same kind of design as it uses elevons and is a bank and yank style. I have a link you could look at below in my signature. It won't fit the retracts but it is easier to build and does create a decent amount of lift, reduced drag over a folded wing with fold ridges and a space behind the TE of the bottom plate, and still affords the use of single layer aileron/elevons. Check it out and see if you like it
 
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Headbang

Master member
As an option for the wing design you guys are playing with have you thought of a KFm2 wing? I foreseen a similar issue with the FT-22 as it is a single layer wing. I wanted to get speed out of this plane and was concerned with the wing folding on me. It is of the same kind of design as it uses elevons and is a bank and yank style. I have a link you could look at below in my signature. It won't fit the retracts but it is easier to build and does create a decent amount of lift, reduced drag over a folded wing with fold ridges and a space behind the TE of the bottom plate, and still affords the use of single layer aileron/elevons. Check it out and see if you like it
Drawback of the KFm2 wing is it creates lift while upright and has the opposite effect inverted. Makes it a lot harder to take polaroids while inverted in a negative 4g dive with a mig 28
 
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L Edge

Master member
very nice. i have a Viggen in my hanger that is probably the most stressful airplane i have to fly. i would say about half of that has to do with the wing and vert stab being single, non-reinforced foam board.

the other half is that it's not really my plane and is signed by 4 guys from FliteTest, including the Bix himself. the owner doesnt really want to fly it and wanted me to add landing gear. i was glad to oblige. that being said, it's not something i want to crash, then have to give back to the real owner. i don't think he'd really be mad, but i would be. :rolleyes:

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View attachment 101078

laters,

jason ;)

When you added landing gear, any re-enforcement inside plane? Could you show closeups pics? I'd appreciate it.
 

mrjdstewart

Legendary member
When you added landing gear, any re-enforcement inside plane? Could you show closeups pics? I'd appreciate it.

nothing inside the plane, just a few pieces of balsa to keep it solid. I will see if i have some pics when i get home but the plane is back in @Rasterize 's hands and i know he removed them when he stripped the plane.

laters,

me :cool:
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
Set the printer setup to full size and then select Poster print. On the poster print setting page you can select a few further options including cut marks and the like!

You need a relatively recent version of acrobat reader as those functions are not available on earlier versions!

Have fun!