Plans by hotwax - FB Flitestick Plans
Graphics - FB Flitestick Graphics v1.0
Maiden flight on 8/15/15 - National Model Aviation Day
Maiden Flight Video
All ready for electronics
Keegan built this one for his uncle
Keegan and I are building a pair of FB Flitesticks (designed by hotwax). The plan is to have them done to bring along to Flite Fest this year. Just got my order from HK in the mail today! This was by far the best experience I've ever had with HK. Order placed late Tuesday night (US East Warehouse), arrived early Friday morning.
I'm going to keep up with this build log for my own records and for anyone else that wants some more detailed instructions on how to build one. We will probably be experimenting with the design a little as go. We are both planning on trying Peter's waterproofing method for the entire aircraft as well. I scaled up the graphics I created for my Bloody Baron to work with the 55" wing span on this stick.
Planed Power Setup
I've already got most of the parts traced to foam board and started cutting out my fuselage. I'm hoping to make some good progress on it over the weekend.
Build Log
Fuselage
Made some progress on the fuselage last night.
First step is to glue the two halves together using a tape hinge on the outside to hold it in place.
**Build Tip: Do not cut out the slot in the back for the vertical stabilizer until after you glue the fuselage together. You'll have to trace the lines for that cut out on the outside in order to do that, but it will help to not crease the foam in this area when your gluing it up.
MODIFICATION: The plans call for dowel holes to hold the landing gear on. We chose to make a plywood hard point inside the fuse to bolt our landing gear too. I will add more details on the aluminum landing gear we are using later. Plywood is 2-9/16" X 2-7/8" X 1/16" thick hobby grade plywood.
Carefully line up and glue in the fuselage doublers. I had to notch out around my landing gear hard point.
**Note: If you make the plywood piece 3/8" narrower you wouldn't need to notch out the doubler.
Remove the foam and paper for all the fuselage B-Folds and glue both side plates 90° to the bottom plate.
Once both sides are glued add the fuselage formers 1-5 (and 6 if you are making a swappable version) as indicated on hotwax's plans. Ours are not going to be swappable.
I wasn't exactly sure from the plans where former #4 was supposed to go. Here is how I placed it in mine.
Then when I placed former #5, I seated it all the way down on the top of former #4.
The fuselage feels plenty stiff in this area now. I dropped former #5 lower than the plans show because I am going to be adding some alignment pieces to the wing and I wanted to make sure they would clear this former when the wing is installed.
MODIFICATION: I added some additional support and surface area to mount the firewall too. This wasn't ever necessary for the NTM 3536 910kv motor that Keegan ran on his in the past. However, with the 3548 900kv putting out over twice the power, I thought it would be a good idea to have the extra support. The extra support pieces are two layers thick and are mounted vertically in the nose. They are 1-1/8" wide X 2-3/8" long.
Custom fabricated landing gear. These were made to similar dimensions from the Great Planes GPMQ1840-L4 Large .60 Dural Landing Gear (see parts list) that I bought for one of Keegan's old Ugly Sticks last year.
I still need to drill the mounting holes and the axle holes in these.
MODIFICATION: I added (2) two BBQ skewers in the horizontal stabilizer for added rigidity. Keegan has had some issues with it warping over time on his other sticks. The skewers are 11-1/2" long.
Applied the graphics to the fuselage and started covering with orange packing tape.
Fuselage is nearly complete now. I should be starting on the wings tomorrow.
I think the orange is looking pretty sharp.
Wing
The wing takes 3 sheets of 20x30 DTFB. I wanted to leave the ailerons attached so I chose to use a tape seam at the leading edge. Keegan likes to tape on the ailerons which allows you to cut the top and bottom panels of the wing halves from one sheet.
Top and bottom panels of one wing half. Make sure you cut a left set and a right set.
I use green frog tape (painters tape) on the inside to temporarily align hold the pieces together. stick the tape to your shirt a couple of times to make it less sticky. This will prevent it from lifting any of the paper on the foam board.
Then flip it over and apply extreme packing tape to the outside leading edge. Once the extreme tape is on, flip it back over and remove the painters tape on the inside.
Double bevel the leading edge. I've been trying a new technique with my builds lately that I think is working out nicely. Before I cut the score lines for the airfoil, I carefully and slowly fold the wing at the double bevel until it is completely flat. This creates a very nice, tight, leading edge.
Next cut the score lines for the airfoil. I follow that up by running down the score cuts with a BBQ skewer/dowel to open up the score cuts similar to other FT planes.
MODIFICATION: I believe that hotwax's plans call for a little bit of dihedral based on the wing joiner pieces that are in his plans. Keegan and I have been building them without dihedral.
Keegan suggested that I try to form the entire wing at once. He had an issue with his not being exactly the same when he joined them together. I made a tape hinge with extreme packing tape, folded it in half, applied glue to the seam, then unfolded it flat onto the table to glue the two halves together.
Spars and ribs glued in place on top half of wing.
Glued leading edge and bottom of wing up to the spar. left the back half of the bottom of the wing unglued so i can add the servos later.
Graphics are on and some of the color. I'm going to have to finish the rest of it at Flite Fest. Heading out tomorrow.
Here is the underside of the wing. This should help with orientation. Not that it's really an issue with this size of a plane (at least not for me), but hey, I think it looks cool too!
Graphics - FB Flitestick Graphics v1.0
Maiden flight on 8/15/15 - National Model Aviation Day
All ready for electronics
Keegan built this one for his uncle
Keegan and I are building a pair of FB Flitesticks (designed by hotwax). The plan is to have them done to bring along to Flite Fest this year. Just got my order from HK in the mail today! This was by far the best experience I've ever had with HK. Order placed late Tuesday night (US East Warehouse), arrived early Friday morning.
I'm going to keep up with this build log for my own records and for anyone else that wants some more detailed instructions on how to build one. We will probably be experimenting with the design a little as go. We are both planning on trying Peter's waterproofing method for the entire aircraft as well. I scaled up the graphics I created for my Bloody Baron to work with the 55" wing span on this stick.
Planed Power Setup
- NTM PropDrive 35-48 900kv
- NTM PropDrive 35 Series Accessory Pack
- Turnigy Plush 60amp ESC
- Zippy Flightmax 3000mAh 4S1P 20C LiPo
- HXT900 9g Servos
- Lemon RX 6-channel Receiver
- 12x6 APC or Master Airscrew Prop
- Great Planes Dural Landing Gear Large .60
- Great Planes Socket Head Cap Screws 8-32x1-1/2" (4)
- Great Planes Hex Nuts 8-32 (8)
- Dubro Super Lite Wheels 3" (2)
I've already got most of the parts traced to foam board and started cutting out my fuselage. I'm hoping to make some good progress on it over the weekend.
Fuselage
Made some progress on the fuselage last night.
First step is to glue the two halves together using a tape hinge on the outside to hold it in place.
**Build Tip: Do not cut out the slot in the back for the vertical stabilizer until after you glue the fuselage together. You'll have to trace the lines for that cut out on the outside in order to do that, but it will help to not crease the foam in this area when your gluing it up.
MODIFICATION: The plans call for dowel holes to hold the landing gear on. We chose to make a plywood hard point inside the fuse to bolt our landing gear too. I will add more details on the aluminum landing gear we are using later. Plywood is 2-9/16" X 2-7/8" X 1/16" thick hobby grade plywood.
Carefully line up and glue in the fuselage doublers. I had to notch out around my landing gear hard point.
**Note: If you make the plywood piece 3/8" narrower you wouldn't need to notch out the doubler.
Remove the foam and paper for all the fuselage B-Folds and glue both side plates 90° to the bottom plate.
Once both sides are glued add the fuselage formers 1-5 (and 6 if you are making a swappable version) as indicated on hotwax's plans. Ours are not going to be swappable.
I wasn't exactly sure from the plans where former #4 was supposed to go. Here is how I placed it in mine.
Then when I placed former #5, I seated it all the way down on the top of former #4.
The fuselage feels plenty stiff in this area now. I dropped former #5 lower than the plans show because I am going to be adding some alignment pieces to the wing and I wanted to make sure they would clear this former when the wing is installed.
MODIFICATION: I added some additional support and surface area to mount the firewall too. This wasn't ever necessary for the NTM 3536 910kv motor that Keegan ran on his in the past. However, with the 3548 900kv putting out over twice the power, I thought it would be a good idea to have the extra support. The extra support pieces are two layers thick and are mounted vertically in the nose. They are 1-1/8" wide X 2-3/8" long.
Custom fabricated landing gear. These were made to similar dimensions from the Great Planes GPMQ1840-L4 Large .60 Dural Landing Gear (see parts list) that I bought for one of Keegan's old Ugly Sticks last year.
I still need to drill the mounting holes and the axle holes in these.
MODIFICATION: I added (2) two BBQ skewers in the horizontal stabilizer for added rigidity. Keegan has had some issues with it warping over time on his other sticks. The skewers are 11-1/2" long.
Applied the graphics to the fuselage and started covering with orange packing tape.
Fuselage is nearly complete now. I should be starting on the wings tomorrow.
I think the orange is looking pretty sharp.
Wing
The wing takes 3 sheets of 20x30 DTFB. I wanted to leave the ailerons attached so I chose to use a tape seam at the leading edge. Keegan likes to tape on the ailerons which allows you to cut the top and bottom panels of the wing halves from one sheet.
Top and bottom panels of one wing half. Make sure you cut a left set and a right set.
I use green frog tape (painters tape) on the inside to temporarily align hold the pieces together. stick the tape to your shirt a couple of times to make it less sticky. This will prevent it from lifting any of the paper on the foam board.
Then flip it over and apply extreme packing tape to the outside leading edge. Once the extreme tape is on, flip it back over and remove the painters tape on the inside.
Double bevel the leading edge. I've been trying a new technique with my builds lately that I think is working out nicely. Before I cut the score lines for the airfoil, I carefully and slowly fold the wing at the double bevel until it is completely flat. This creates a very nice, tight, leading edge.
Next cut the score lines for the airfoil. I follow that up by running down the score cuts with a BBQ skewer/dowel to open up the score cuts similar to other FT planes.
MODIFICATION: I believe that hotwax's plans call for a little bit of dihedral based on the wing joiner pieces that are in his plans. Keegan and I have been building them without dihedral.
Keegan suggested that I try to form the entire wing at once. He had an issue with his not being exactly the same when he joined them together. I made a tape hinge with extreme packing tape, folded it in half, applied glue to the seam, then unfolded it flat onto the table to glue the two halves together.
Spars and ribs glued in place on top half of wing.
Glued leading edge and bottom of wing up to the spar. left the back half of the bottom of the wing unglued so i can add the servos later.
Graphics are on and some of the color. I'm going to have to finish the rest of it at Flite Fest. Heading out tomorrow.
Here is the underside of the wing. This should help with orientation. Not that it's really an issue with this size of a plane (at least not for me), but hey, I think it looks cool too!
Last edited:
I'm really sorry about that. I'll look it up right now and add it to the first post. I don't know why HobbyKing doesn't just include them with the motors. 
