. . . and for the build (apologies for the length) . . .
In any other contest, I'd hang my head in shame, however, our Benevolent Emperor Monkey (may he live forever) had bestowed on us the rules of:
Rules? There's no stink in rules.
So I give you: Craftydan's Totally-Not-Cheating STOL Stretch Night Vapor-Beaver hybrid.
Concept phase: I was flying my Night vapor around the aerodrome, contemplating the STOL contest, bemoaning that I had no motors/servos/escs/rx's to put together something, when it struck me -- this plane takes off and lands on a dime *AND* the wing layout is very traditional! I've built a *LOT* of paper models in past, including a J3 (about 3 in long) and a few others, and I had the patterns! The only concern was how close the motor and leading edge were -- needs to look good.
Need to turn this:
into something like this:
Initial design phase: Pulled up one of my favorite pattern
sites I use, and took a look at my options. after a quick look I narrowed it down to:
J3 Cub (tried it, not quite right proportions)
Aeronca-C3 (ugly)
Lockheed Vega (pretty, but not really a brush plane)
Velie Monocoupe (Also not a brush plane, oh, and it's ugly too)
DeHavilland Beaver (ohhh . . . that's nice . . . but will it fit?)
Fortunately, I'd made one of these for my mother for VBS a couple of years ago-- survived the week, then got bad hangar rash back at her house.
been here awaiting repair ever since -- well how does it line up:
And the pattern colors match my recovered wings! Excellent! Well, except the fuse is way too short. Beauty of a paper model is the same with foam -- need more parts, just print more!
Development/construction phase: Printed them out and started with cutting out the tail:
Scored and pre-bent the fuse then cut notches for the rear wing mount:
Test fit and marked the point the control rods would exit the tail:
Then cut notches for the rods, disconnected them from the control horns and fed them through:
Now to start closing things up . . . normally I use Elmers clear glue -- takes a few hours to dry but can look seamless -- But who's got time for that?!?!? instead cheated using:
Scrapbook tape squares (you don't even have to cut them or peal them off. How lazy is that?!?). Taped the tail together in several spots, cut and folded the nose, and taped it together:
For the stretch, I just cut out another nose/cockpit pieces and sliced it square just in front of the window.
cut a hole in the "firewall" for the gearbox, cut notches for the gear and battery cable, then tried a dry fit:
Hmmm . . . seems I've miscalculated a bit. no worries! Hit print once more and it's up and running! Huzzah!
Taped on the final section, added a velcro patch behind the gear and ran a thin strip of packing tape trough the middle of the center wing spar and attached to each side.
Ran a few test flights, then broke the landing gear mount. (Dang!) A little string and CA, and it was back and flying!
So it's together, and really quick. I even "scratched" the vapor box a few times!
How does it fly? like a pig! It lumbers up slowly at full throttle, can't pick up speed and won't stop short like the vapor would (more massive). Flight time was also cut by 1/3. It still has good control authority, but much more sensitive to CG placement. But doesn't she look nice? As the Bixler would say "I like it!"
Stats:
AUW: 26g (yes, grams), up from the stock 16g
Engine: 4ohm, 6mm pager motor w/ 6:1 gearbox
Prop: GWS 4530 (4.5x3")
WOT thrust: something more than 16g, less than 26
Battery: Efilght 1S 25C 70mah Lipo (a full 4g of mass!)
Modified wing/stabilizer coverings with Mylar and cellophane and added prop saver.
Re-enforced (read: repeatedly repaired) landing gear, landing gear mount, motor mount (in 3 places), Elevator hinge, Rudder hinge, and prop shaft -- I've been hard on this little guy.