Big Fat Newbie Here...Just putting it out there and...

[clutch81]

So...hey yall. In Alabama here. Not a newbie as far as aircraft, fundamentals of flight, aircraft terminology, etc is concerned, but with the whole RC craft and i stress "CRAFT", because that's what this certainly is and I want to learn as much as I can.

My "dream" is to make my own C-130 Herc out of fiberglass, making a plug, and all that stuff, but I know I have to crawl/walk before I can run so I'm starting out with foamboard and a "simple" off of my head scratch design.

From doing a bit of homework and doing the trial and error method my son and I have crafted a fuselage, wing, elevator, and rudder.



The RED CIRCLES are where I intend on placing servos (2 for ailerons on wing hooked up with a "Y" cable, 2 for elevators placed inside the fuselage with a "Y", and 1 for rudder placed on the side of the vertical stab).

The dimensions are: 9in x 30in WING, 6in x 24in FUSELAGE, 6in x 7.5 VStab w/ Rud., 6in x 18in HStab w/ Elev. The height of the fuselage is 3in.

I plan on using the blue TURNIGY servos with them being lightweight and looks to me a famous pick for foamies.

I have in mind a 6ch Tx as well as Rx.

We were thinking about leaving it cockpitless and have the wing set right on the fuselage, but we have a cockpit idea in place to give it a little more lift.

I did a motor, prop, ESC calculator online and came up with:

-4 x 3 prop (thinking I might need a slightly bigger one)
-1200kv Motor (also thinking a slightly "bigger" one)
-20A ESC (Im guessing bigger motor will need more Amps)

Granted, I did some guessing on weights due to the fact I have no clue what all the components coupled with the dry weight of the aircraft weighs. ~2lbs???

I was thinking on buying the FT Power Pack B to begin with along with 1300mAh battery.

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If there's any0ne out there that can give some pointers or tell me if I'm on the right/wrong track would be great. Any and everything will be better than where Im at now...like I said at this point, it's trial and error...just trying to get most of the error stuff out of the way first.

Thanks Guys!!!!

-CP

 

[N4RF]

The C-130 is also on my bucket list so I wish you luck. As golfers like to say, I'm going to go to school on you.

My first sense is that the rudder servo should stay off the vertical stabilizer and maybe get buried in the fuselage. Using two for the elevator is new to me and I'd be interested in seeing how it goes.

I'm also guessing that you're talking about four of the motors, ESCs, etc. I know that you can buy 4-bladed props from Horizon for scale purposes. My thought for mine was to start from there for scale size, ESCs and other stuff. No clue where that would lead - just hadn't gotten that far in my thoughts.

Best of luck. I'll be following your progress!

 

[clutch81]

It's not a C-130 plane...although now that you mention it it does look similar to a top-down viewof a a C-130 and by pure chance, the rear of the plane is angled up just like a C-130...so that part of the design is locked in lol.

Im just a little concerned about the width of the fuselage with it being 6 inches and getting a long enough prop to get it moving as well as a good motor/ESC ratio so I wont burn anything up. Do I just find a motor and look at the AMPs and get an ESC with a bit more AMPS? I dont want to start my engine o the plane and have the engine take off and my plane just be sitting there lol

And as far as weight is concerned, I suppose I need a "wet" weight for everything?

I suppose int he future I need to build something to slide inside the fuselage including engine, battery pack, receiver, ESC, etc...as of now I just have compartments for each and then I'm going to need to make a plate to secure my engine onto. As the diagram suggests, my engine cowling is open for me to mount the engine, just trying to figure out the best strategy for me at this point to secure it.

I will do my best to keep updates on here...like I said everything from day 1 has been "trlal and error". But thanks much for the post!

P.S. Im glad you pointed out about the servo on the VSTAB...because I was thinking about another way to put it inside the fuselage as well...less weight on the end and maybe a little more streamlined.

 

[clutch81]

And another thing about the dual servo for the elevator, in my mind I was thinking why not use a "Y" harness for both servos then plug it into the elev slot in the Rx. SO I guess Ill try it out.

 

[jack10525]

I would say to get your feet wet you should buy a speed build kit with one of the power pack options. It makes this hobby so much easier at least until you get a handle on different motor and esc combos. This is what I am doing after killing several "RTF" planes. I've even crashed a few scratchbuilt planes. I'm taking a step back and ordering the tiny trainer. They have the plans so you could just download them and build this one too.