Dat Eagle

Namactual

Elite member
I think it is done...
HatchDemo.gif
Both hatches will operate with a popsicle tongue latch up front and a little velcro strip at the back.
There will be plenty of room for electronics with the combined bays and depending or your final battery resting place you should only have to remove one hatch once built unless you have to service something in the other bay.

After I physically build the new nose and hatches to verify the operation it is on to the skins.

I can also shoot out some beta plans once I fly it and the hatch is proven if anyone would like to try to build one. There will be no build guide, but you could probably use the Rhino build guide as a reference for most of it. I also took a hundred pictures of my build as well so if there is any questions I can give you a visual.
 

Namactual

Elite member
I have been working on this all day and Version 1.1 is ready to be built...
Corev1101.jpg Corev1102.jpg
Core V1_1.jpg
It may not look like much, but I probably have more hours into the new V1.1 Core than the entire V1 airframe.:cautious:

Once built I am going to see about retrofitting the V1 airframe with the new Core. It should not be to difficult as the nose is design to break way, but we shall see.

I am off to cut foam...
 

Namactual

Elite member
v1.1 complete...
F15-Xv1_101.jpg F15-Xv1_102.jpg F15-Xv1_103.jpg
Good news:
I like it. It is much easier to build, it looks cleaner and the separate canopy hatch will allow for a quick highly detailed 3D printed version without any modification. I think it's ready to be skinned.(y)

Bad news:
It's way past my bed time. I mean like WAY past. Like have to be up for work in 4 hours past. I am not going to enjoy tomorrow at all.:sleep:

It was worth it though. Overall it is a much better/easier build than the Rhino, let's just hope it flies as well too. There is room for a few more tweaks. It still has the same "hand carve and fit" on a few select parts, but they work and I am not sure I can do away with that completely anyway.

,but I will worry about that another day. It's bed time for me.

Night all
 

Namactual

Elite member
:D

The 1550mAh 3s battery is in the middle of the rear bay. For this build it works out that I will never have to remove the canopy hatch at all. If you plan on using a larger battery, you may have to tuck it under the wing plate to get it to balance?:unsure: It is hard to say. I am taking an educated guess as to where the GC should be, but it may end up farther forward. I will know more after the maiden.

I want to go out and fly sooo bad, but there is no way I can today.:cry:
Maybe tomorrow.
 

Namactual

Elite member
The first time I have flown in like 6 months and I decide to maiden a new build. :sneaky:I was nervous as all get out. I don’t think I was breathing for the first 60 seconds of flight. I did record the maiden, but my camera was set too high and I was always just out of frame at the bottom. I can upload if you wish, but it’s mostly just sky.

This was the second flight, which was not that much better. It's hard to see as I was flying really high and far when doing maneuvers because of the wind. It was rather windy and it was from the West. (the airstrip runs north-south, the wind was hitting me in the back) This thing floats. It could actually use some more weight, especially in that kind of wind. I think it will be perfect once I get the extra weight from the skin on there.

I had WAY to much authority on the control surfaces. I do not run expo because I like the consistency in the controls during full range. I would rather dial down the throws mechanically. This thing’s roll rate was ballistic. I was only using about 25% of my stick’s range most of the flight.

The handling is very neutral. Zero self correct, but also no drift. It tracks like an arrow in the attitude wherever it was in when you let off the sticks. (outside factors excluded of course)

It slows down very well. I don’t think it will handle post stall as well as the Rhino, but it definitely likes inverted better. This thing tracks just as straight inverted as it does upright. Only needing ever so slight up elevator.

This was running a RS2205 Red Bottom with a 5040 hex blade on a 1550mAh 3s battery. The AUW was 460grams. I plan on testing a RSII2306 Race Spec with a 5040 tri-blade on 4s at some point, but I still do not expect it to be a speed demon. The nature of these builds just has too much drag. They are great for slow acrobatic flights in small fields though.

I wanted to fly more today, but as it got later the wind was picking up. We are supposed to have really good weather here Tuesday, and have already planned to take the day off and make the entire day a personal airshow.

I am off to start working on the skins for this bad boy. I will try to get better footage Tuesday.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
I was always impressed by how well the rhino handled high alpha, I am really hoping this does the same, despite what you think.
 

Namactual

Elite member
I was always impressed by how well the rhino handled high alpha, I am really hoping this does the same, despite what you think.
I am sure the Eagle will high alpha just as well, it's just the part of the control surface that is in the prop wash is larger on the Rhino. Naturally that would give it more leverage post stall. The Eagle definitely does not have a leverage problem in forward flight, but I have not been brave enough to post stall with it yet. I will be more aggressive with it once I am done with testing. Who knows, it may work just as well as the Rhino.:unsure:

I have been getting ready to skin the Eagle, but before I can start painting I have to remodel the aircraft again in a different manner than the Foam-Fu model. The foam model is made up of multiple objects. One for each face of the model...
Explode.jpg
This is a very time consuming process, but it is the only reliable way I can translate the 3d models into 2d plans. (with my software anyway) Once I am happy with the design, I remodel the individual faces of each part as a single mesh that I now can assign UV coordinates to.

Here is the Foam model...
Foam.jpg
And here is the UV model...
UV.jpg
As you can see, the UV model is a lot smoother and represents the actual build more accurately. As a side note, this UV model is actually modeled quite bad from an artists stand point. Most 3D models used for detailed renders or film have a different approach to them. There is a basic set of rules for models of this type that are in place to keep rendered images from breaking the illusion of realism. The UV model I have created above breaks a lot of those rules, but I am trying to keep it simple yet keep the UV canvas accurate. There are ways to make a low polygon count model look more detailed than it really is using vertex normals and seams.

I can go into more detail if anyone is interested, but I should probably start a new thread as I could quickly write a novel on meshes, lighting, UV, rendering, etc.

Anyway, I should have the UV model done tomorrow and then it's on to painting.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
I am still in awe with your talent in not only in designing amazingly scale aircraft out of foam board, but also your graphic design abilities to make the best skins I have ever seen on an aircraft. I really think you should do a whole article on your design process for making foam models and skins. If you're interested in making some videos for yt let me know as well and I'll help as much as I can. Your work is truly amazing and more people need to see it.
 

Namactual

Elite member
I am still in awe with your talent in not only in designing amazingly scale aircraft out of foam board, but also your graphic design abilities to make the best skins I have ever seen on an aircraft. I really think you should do a whole article on your design process for making foam models and skins. If you're interested in making some videos for yt let me know as well and I'll help as much as I can. Your work is truly amazing and more people need to see it.
Thanks for the kind words brother. It's much appreciated. I am not sure what an article requires or entails, but I will make a thread for sure. I will probably start with "polygon modeling 101" or the like then move on to designing aircraft from there. I am not sure when I will get started on that though. First is the FFVA'19 aircraft.

I finished the UV model...
1.jpg 2.jpg
Unfortunately for me, the next part requires me to fire up my iMac which has not been on in 6 months. I will probably spend the rest of the day getting that updated and ready to paint.

I will miss sitting on the couch with the Macbook.:cry:
 

Namactual

Elite member
Well, I am now on my iMac.(y) Surprisingly the updates were not that bad. I spent forever consolidating files from three different computers though. They are now all consolidated and backed up, which is something I have been meaning to do that for a while now anyway. I do not want a repeat of losing files like I did with my original Thresher.:cry:

Anyway, the ground work is done for the Eagle skin...
F-15XTextEx01.jpg
First I take the parts of the prints that will translate into painted surfaces and lay them out in an organized fashion like above. Once I have the surfaces to be painted laid out I fill the entire canvas with a pattern to check for UV distortion when laying out the UV coordinates later. I also mark the orientation of the surfaces with text as well. When assigning UV's to a model it is very easy to swap faces as you have no idea if your projection mapping is looking at it from the front or back of the surface normals. It's hard to explain, but the 2d projection of the 3d model can do things that you can not do in the physical world, like take a picture of an object from the inside out.o_O

Now that the template is laid out I use it as a guide to assign the UV coordinates to the 3D model...
F-15XTextEx02.jpg
...seeing no distortion and seeing the text on the proper surface and in the correct orientation means my UV's are good to go.(y) For the Vertical Stabs anyway. Once I finish assigning UV's and can start the actual painting process.

This may look like a lot of work, and it is, but with this set up I can see the quality of the paint job on the fly and make adjustments as needed. All before a single sheet is printed, cut or glued into place.
 
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Namactual

Elite member
And don't forget a couple mm of bleed. ;)
Will do brother.(y)

I learned a lot from the Rhino which changed my approach on a lot of things. Bleed was just a part of it. The cut lines will be a completely separate layer that I can turn off as well. That way if the image is off a bit when laser cutting, it will not be so noticeable.

I also changed my work flow this time around. Reformatting new skins for the Rhino was a nightmare just because of the way I initially set everything up. The Eagle will be a lot more streamlined which translates into cranking out different skins faster.

I have a emergency part printing for the robotics team which should be done in an hour or so. I have my batteries on the charger as well, so in a few hours I should be out flying this bad boy again. I plan to make a day of it and record the flights too. As I get more comfortable with flying again I am sure I will really get to test the Eagle's flight envelope. I may even get to testing it's durability...:p
 

Namactual

Elite member
Good news: I had a great day with the Eagle. I landed it inverted on my second battery, but no real damage to speak of outside of pulling a glue seam from one of the VertStabs. Just a little bead of glue and she will be right as rain.(y) I think it actually slows down better than the Rhino, but it definitely does not have the post stall leverage to match. It's not bad, just not as good. I have some video I will post in a bit.

Bad news: The Thresher is no more. Total loss. :cry: I had a radio issue and attempted to fly it 3 times. Each time, somehow would manage to bring it back down without breakage. Except the last time. :poop:

That is the second time I lost a Thresher at that airfield. Truth be told, I could have easily repaired the damage, but I pulled the guts to force me to finish my Monster Thresher. And when I do, I will not be flying it there.

Anyway, hopefully some cool video came out of the Eagle flights at least. I am off to review...
 

Namactual

Elite member
Still uploading video.:cautious:
Aye, a crap internet connection and you tube do not mix well.

Anyway, I finished the uv model...
1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg
Everything looks good, no distortion.(y)

I even finished my first skin...
5.jpg
I know it looks like poop, but sometimes crap happens.:sneaky:

Yeah, that was bad...:cautious:
Speaking of :poop:, I am off to work on panel lines and rivets. Fun stuff.

Edit: Finally...
 
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Namactual

Elite member
All aboard the hype train...:cool:
Just messing around with iMovie again.:p
I enjoy video editing, I just wish I had better footage to work with.:cautious:
 

Namactual

Elite member
Where do I buy a ticket?
"don't need no credit card to ride on this train"
The only thing this will cost you is patience. You do not even need that if you would like crappy straight black and white un-formated prints without skins or a build guide.:D I am pretty sure the design will not change. I am happy with the current build.(y)

I’m just hoping all your skins aren’t that crappy.....
Man, the crap is really flying now. Lets just keep it from hitting the fan.:LOL:

Update: My Hasegawa Eagle kit is at least two weeks out, it must be coming straight from Japan. o_O I should have ordered it sooner. :( In the interim I am using some images i snagged from the internet to get me started...
Bot.jpg
The panel lines are on this particular image, but no rivets or fine details. That's ok, this will get me started at least. Basically what I am doing here is cutting parts of the plan view and projecting the image onto the surface. A 2d projection onto a 3d object does not translate quite right, but all I use it for is a guide anyway. It gives me a rough idea where the panel lines are when I start painting. Obviously, the foamboard airframe is not exactly the same shape as the real aircraft either. Consequently I will move panel lines around when I paint them to help match the foamboard shape. They may not be 100% scale, but close enough and it will look better.

I doubt I will get much done the next few days, we are un-bagging the robot tomorrow so we have a lot to prepare for. I can not wait until they get rid of this bag rule nonsense next year...
 

Namactual

Elite member
I started working on the details, but I had a constant nagging in my head about wanting to move my battery/CG a little more forward. :unsure:After looking at the scale panel lines, I decided that if I moved the motor back about one more inch my foam lines and angles would line up better with the scale lines.

So, I went ahead and moved the motor back. On my foam model, on the UV model and on the prints. This should allow me to move my battery forward a bit. I also made a slight change to the elevons to make them more scale. You can now see the nozzle separation as well as the part of the fuselage that fits in between. It took a while, but I am back to where I originally started today.
01.jpg 02.jpg
I was also toying with the idea of filling out the rest of the rear end and making it an EDF platform. It would easily take a 50mm and I may be able to shoe horn a 64mm in there as well. It would not take much, but I am going to wait until after all of my other projects are caught up.

As a side note, I also downloaded and installed OBS on my iMac and I plan to record some of the skinning process. I am not sure how well this will work as the canvas I am working with is 15600x15600 pixels with 10+ layers. My iMac is quite old and I am not sure it is up to the task. I just ordered another 4gb of RAM for it last night which should help. It should be here by mid next week.

No guarantees, but if I can get this to work I will start working on some video lessons/examples.