CampRobber
Active member
Hello, Flite Test Family. This is my scratch design/build. It's my first, and my first RC at all in a long time, so I'm keeping it simple. It's roughly a "Balsa FTTT": 24" length, 40" span, 4 channel control.
The fuse is 1/16 balsa sides, 1/8 lite ply bulkheads, and 1/8^2 stringers. It's 2" square at the wing and tapers a bit towards the ends. Forward of the wing there is a single lite-ply deck designed so the speed control and radio would attach on top and the battery below, from the opposite side.
The wings are straight with a Clark-Y airfoil and barn-door ailerons. They're constructed with 11 3/32 ribs, top and bottom 3/8x3/16 balsa spars, leading edge sanded from 1/4^2, and trailing edge sanded down from 1/8x1. No sheeting or webs. They are joined at the middle by aluminum tubes through the first two ribs such as to produce 5 degrees of dihedral.
The tailplanes are made of 1/4 stick. There are guide holes in all the aft bulkheads for elevator/rudder pushrods.
The first motor I bought was just the cheapest bldc on amazon, the dubious orange 2212. I ran it to max thrust, one prop blade fell off, and the vibration ripped out the firewall. Is that why they're cheap? I've glued that back in and replaced the motor with an 1806.
These are some things that I wish I'd done differently so far:
The fuse is 1/16 balsa sides, 1/8 lite ply bulkheads, and 1/8^2 stringers. It's 2" square at the wing and tapers a bit towards the ends. Forward of the wing there is a single lite-ply deck designed so the speed control and radio would attach on top and the battery below, from the opposite side.
The wings are straight with a Clark-Y airfoil and barn-door ailerons. They're constructed with 11 3/32 ribs, top and bottom 3/8x3/16 balsa spars, leading edge sanded from 1/4^2, and trailing edge sanded down from 1/8x1. No sheeting or webs. They are joined at the middle by aluminum tubes through the first two ribs such as to produce 5 degrees of dihedral.
The tailplanes are made of 1/4 stick. There are guide holes in all the aft bulkheads for elevator/rudder pushrods.
The first motor I bought was just the cheapest bldc on amazon, the dubious orange 2212. I ran it to max thrust, one prop blade fell off, and the vibration ripped out the firewall. Is that why they're cheap? I've glued that back in and replaced the motor with an 1806.
These are some things that I wish I'd done differently so far:
- firewall better attached
- sheet wings at least where the rubber bands go
- either half ribs or front stringers in the wing
- wing ribs 3/32->1/16
- wing spars balsa->basswood and smaller
- at least a few sheer webs
- wings joined by spar
- tailplanes spar/ribs construction instead of flat sticks
- tailplane leading edges meet inside fuse
- wingtip device to reinforce last rib against monokote
- fuse sides without exposed engrain (?)
- smaller alignment tabs all around
- included flaps
