DRAFT 2019 Fantasy Aircraft Design & Build Challenge Guidelines

[b-29er]

I was thinking a 30inches span would be good. However I was thinking if I could use full size power pods then I would save some money on electronics.
Thanks

If you want to do a 30 inch'ish wingspan I'd suggest going with a twin power pack A, but if you wanted to do it with full size power pods you'd probably be approaching a 40 maybe even 50 inch wing span.

Griff's got it on the nose. Nice thing about Power Pack A is there is a lot of versatility coming off multirotor hardware, so if you feel power is anemic you can go to a 4s, less pitchy props or a larger motor with the same mountings, or if you think its too much of a rocket, drop to a 2s and larger props to keep pitch speed down. I would probably stick to 2-blade props if you like having your plane belly land without chewing through props, but you could go to 3-blade if you want to be that much truer to design. You may need to change up the cowl a bit though to accommodate that engine, but its the right choice. I'd also plan on using some CF or something on the wings just to make sure high-G maneuvers don't cause a wing failure with that much weight so far out (leverage and what not).

Also if you havent designed a plane before, you might take a moment and do something a little more predictable to start off with, like a piper cub or something with simple construction techniques where you can experiment, figure things out, watch videos, etc. Because looking at the fuselage on your guy

I can tell you theres some good, complex curves unless you wanna do just a profile/square look, and even then you might have a fun time with that.

 

[rockyboy]

Griff's got it on the nose. Nice thing about Power Pack A is there is a lot of versatility coming off multirotor hardware, so if you feel power is anemic you can go to a 4s, less pitchy props or a larger motor with the same mountings, or if you think its too much of a rocket, drop to a 2s and larger props to keep pitch speed down. I would probably stick to 2-blade props if you like having your plane belly land without chewing through props, but you could go to 3-blade if you want to be that much truer to design. You may need to change up the cowl a bit though to accommodate that engine, but its the right choice. I'd also plan on using some CF or something on the wings just to make sure high-G maneuvers don't cause a wing failure with that much weight so far out (leverage and what not).

Also if you havent designed a plane before, you might take a moment and do something a little more predictable to start off with, like a piper cub or something with simple construction techniques where you can experiment, figure things out, watch videos, etc. Because looking at the fuselage on your guy

I can tell you theres some good, complex curves unless you wanna do just a profile/square look, and even then you might have a fun time with that.

Arrow shafts could make a good spar all the way across between the power pods on a 30 inch wing. If you want to use them on a bigger wing, just get some carbon fiber tube with the right interior diameter (I forget exactly what it is, but I've got a couple packs of the right size tube I'm using on the Monster FW-42 project for mounting the canards and vertical stabilizer).

 

[Airkooled]

Really have been wanting to do the “desert fox” from the Xbox crimson skies. Or something silly like the “twin t-34 mentor” I build t-34s In real life so that’d be kinda neat.

 

[b-29er]

Arrow shafts could make a good spar all the way across between the power pods on a 30 inch wing. If you want to use them on a bigger wing, just get some carbon fiber tube with the right interior diameter (I forget exactly what it is, but I've got a couple packs of the right size tube I'm using on the Monster FW-42 project for mounting the canards and vertical stabilizer).

Ah, i forgot fall is coming, so walmart will have an abundance of CF wing spars for that size of plane, good catch!

 

[rockyboy]

Really have been wanting to do the “desert fox” from the Xbox crimson skies. Or something silly like the “twin t-34 mentor” I build t-34s In real life so that’d be kinda neat.

Awesome ideas! Welcome aboard

 

[LitterBug]

Played a TON of Descent (1, 2, and 3) back in the day. The ship looked something like this:

And at some point, someone made a flying Depron model and had some plans. All the links are dead on the two RC group threads and his domain is a dud too. Might be cool to attempt in Foamboard

 

[Namactual]

Man, talk about nostalgia. I used to play the heck out of that. Even more so the spin off Decent Freespace.

Ooooh, I forgot about Wing Commander as well...
...I will be right back.

...Back.
Wing Commander Piranha
Wing Commander Vampire

"Tee minus five"

 

[Pilot_35]

Thanks for all the help guys. I can't wait to get cutting on foam board. For cutting foam board do you guys just use a razor blade or is there a better way to do it. I will likely be making my own thread of all my questions. This is going to be a awesome project!!!

 

[Grifflyer]

Thanks for all the help guys. I can't wait to get cutting on foam board. For cutting foam board do you guys just use a razor blade or is there a better way to do it. I will likely be making my own thread of all my questions. This is going to be a awesome project!!!

I use box cutter blades for long straight cuts, and X-acto knives for sharper curves.

 

[Pilot_35]

I did not know If anyone uses a hotwire or something like that.

 

[Fidget]

I did not know If anyone uses a hotwire or something like that.

Hotwire won't cut the paper nicely. Some use a band saw for complex curves. I don't have one so I've never tried it. (And it's a much more dangerous tool.)

 

[Grifflyer]

I did not know If anyone uses a hotwire or something like that.

Lots of people do, but not with Dollar tree foam board. The hot wire is typically used with large sheets of foam core and insulation foam from Home Depot/Lowes.

 

[Pilot_35]

Lots of people do, but not with Dollar tree foam board. The hot wire is typically used with large sheets of foam core and insulation foam from Home Depot/Lowes.

Ok. I did not know if people used it for foam board or not. Are laser cutter expensive? Having a laser cutter would be nice especially for foam board.

 

[kilroy07]

Are laser cutter expensive?

For one that is big enough (and powerful enough) to cut a full sheet of FB, yes.
That said, if you have access to a 3D printer and consider yourself pretty handy, might I suggest a needle cutter based on the Mostly Printed CNC? (If I didn't have my laser, this would be the route I would take.)
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.p...eets-with-a-needle.24251/page-108#post-422642
https://www.flitetest.com/articles/build-your-own-cnc-foam-cutter

Having a laser cutter would be nice especially for foam board.

Yes, yes it is... Check and see if there's a local maker space in your area (or college) you might gain access to one there.

 

[rockyboy]

I will likely be making my own thread of all my questions.

Excellent! (Especially since that's one of the challenge requirements ) In the main challenge thread going up on August 1st I'll keep a list of all entrants so we can all follow each other's build logs and cheer each other on.

Registration for the Design portion of the challenge will be by posting participant members’ FT user name, the model to be entered, and a link to the entries build thread in the main challenge thread (which will be started August 1st, 2018), NOT via PM to the OP. All aspects of the design challenge are coordinated virtually through the forum: in person participation or demonstration is not required (and in fact not available).

Entry format:
AwesomeForumMember
Fantasy Plane Name
http://forum.flitetest.com/showthrea...7-AwesomeBuildThreadLink
[Insert picture of the inspirational aircraft in action]

Build threads should be titled in the format:

FTFC19 Fantasy Aircraft [plane name] designed by [designer name]

With the FTFC19 shortened version of 'Flite Test Forums Challenge for 2019' in the prefix so searches and causal forum browsers are all more likely to notice these projects.

Entrants are encouraged to add why they chose this model, and link to documentation for challenge appropriateness of the design for this challenge. (Wikipedia, Janes' Planes, etc.) Links to historical confirmation should be in the build thread for scoring purposes.

This is going to be a awesome project!!!

Why yes, it certainly will be

 

[b-29er]

I did not know If anyone uses a hotwire or something like that.

I have a shapeoko cnc i use on dow foam and wood. Have not tried dtfb yet, requires good precision and the bed isn't 100% level yet

 

[Namactual]

I was browsing for more planes today and remembered this classic...
Command and Conquer Orca
That would be a cool one for the quad guys for sure.

Then I found this...
Ace Combat 5 FB22
This could actually be built in a few weeks if I just modified my Raptor.

Then I found this bad boy...
YX151
I have no idea who created this thing, but hot dang is she a beauty!
If no one else uses this for the challenge, I might just have to build this one myself. Simply beautiful.


"Tee minus four"

 

[Pilot_35]

I was browsing for more planes today and remembered this classic...
View attachment 111351 Command and Conquer Orca
That would be a cool one for the quad guys for sure.

Then I found this...
View attachment 111350 Ace Combat 5 FB22
This could actually be built in a few weeks if I just modified my Raptor.

Then I found this bad boy...
View attachment 111352 YX151
I have no idea who created this thing, but hot dang is she a beauty!
If no one else uses this for the challenge, I might just have to build this one myself. Simply beautiful.


"Tee minus four"
View attachment 111353

If you keep searching for more planes I think your going to have yourself buried in projects for years. I think the problem with these challenges is it add at least 5 more projects to everyone already bussy project list. Lol. Keep that count down coming.

 

[Fidget]

Was at a restaurant last night & saw a great display of hood ornaments that would be cool subjects.

 

[Pilot_35]

Was at a restaurant last night & saw a great display of hood ornaments that would be cool subjects.
View attachment 111355

Those look fast. And cool. It is cool you can find airplane and inspiration all over the place. If you are creative and imaginative if can pull ideas out of a brick wall sometimes. Lol