Monte.C
...
Inspired by the Rutan Quickie. Many thanks to @slowjo for naming this crazy thing (Bush Quickie ---> Bush Tandem).
I can't see any way to belly land this so it has to get wheels, and the best I can get to is some hard gravelly sand surrounded by rough grass, so they'll have to be big wheels. Big honkin' wheels on a plane that looks like some sort of sci-fi racer are entirely incongruous. It's almost like a joke!
Early design development:
Ready to template:
This build is turning out to be a surprisingly "standard" FT build. Definitely had to take some care with the wings, but after that it's just a box fuse. Both wings will be glued in place and there's loads of room for a great big hatch on top.
I figured I'd put the elevator on the front wing like on a canard, but today I realized you want the elevator as far away from the CG as you can in the front/back direction, so they'll go on the rear wing. Ailerons are most effective as far from the center axis as possible. Duh. I have a sneaking suspicion the optimal solution would be to mix all four control surfaces together, but I don't need that level of complication right now!
Not looking forward to building landing gear, but I do have a plan.
It's almost ready to start looking like something:
I don't like burying servos - I'd like to be able to remove them when it's time to retire the plane - without destroying the plane - so I cut those notches in the bottom plate. I let in a piece of bamboo into the foam for strength, a BBQ skewer split in half. With a good knock I might still get a minor crease in the foam, but it won't break.
It'll be so much easier to paint the wings before glueing them in place, so I've got to shift gears to painting now.
I can't see any way to belly land this so it has to get wheels, and the best I can get to is some hard gravelly sand surrounded by rough grass, so they'll have to be big wheels. Big honkin' wheels on a plane that looks like some sort of sci-fi racer are entirely incongruous. It's almost like a joke!
Early design development:
Ready to template:
This build is turning out to be a surprisingly "standard" FT build. Definitely had to take some care with the wings, but after that it's just a box fuse. Both wings will be glued in place and there's loads of room for a great big hatch on top.
I figured I'd put the elevator on the front wing like on a canard, but today I realized you want the elevator as far away from the CG as you can in the front/back direction, so they'll go on the rear wing. Ailerons are most effective as far from the center axis as possible. Duh. I have a sneaking suspicion the optimal solution would be to mix all four control surfaces together, but I don't need that level of complication right now!
Not looking forward to building landing gear, but I do have a plan.
It's almost ready to start looking like something:
I don't like burying servos - I'd like to be able to remove them when it's time to retire the plane - without destroying the plane - so I cut those notches in the bottom plate. I let in a piece of bamboo into the foam for strength, a BBQ skewer split in half. With a good knock I might still get a minor crease in the foam, but it won't break.
It'll be so much easier to paint the wings before glueing them in place, so I've got to shift gears to painting now.