Foamboard p51

lobstermash

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Well, I still haven't maidened the Predator, as I haven't got wheels for it yet. But yesterday I picked up some foamboard for just $5.99 for an A1 sheet. In Aus, that's about as good as it gets (everything costs an 'arm and a leg' here ('pound of flesh' for a more widespread euphemism)).

Anyhow, big thanks to those who posted links to plans. I picked out the blu-p51 from:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=389720

I built the 30" one. I used a KFm-4 airfoil with about 2 degrees of dihedral. I don't think I need a spar at this stage, as the foam is really stiff. Instead of skewers and all that nonsense for a motor mount, I also made an EPS foam backing for a ply mount. The plane minus hardware is 200g, so a little on the heavy side, but glides OK across the lounge room... The plan on this has the wing in the center, which I was going to correct, but I'd already glued the horizontal stabs in. I think it's OK for profile planes to do non-scale stuff ;)

I'll post photos tomorrow, but it's almost finished. I plan to run a KD A22-10S 1200kv motor, as its 50g weight is just about right, and it packs quite a punch. I reckon I'll run a 7x6 APC and see how it goes.
 

ananas1301

Crazy flyer/crasher :D
Looks like a pretty fun plane to fly from what I see in the link.

The 50g motor should get it up pretty easy and take the foam to its limits :D
A bit overpowered but should be fine.
 

lobstermash

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IMG055.jpg IMG056.jpg IMG057.jpg

Here you go. Haven't bought paint for it yet.
 

lobstermash

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Going to do a variation on the Big Beautiful Doll, with a yellow tail (kids insisted), a thick red stripe up around the motor and black and white check to just in front of the canopy. Should look pretty good in the air
 

lobstermash

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Here's a quick snap of it after the kids helped me paint it. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the silver and yellow combined with the check make it look really striking. Now to pull a couple of servos off something else and power this sucker...
12112011240.jpg
 

ananas1301

Crazy flyer/crasher :D
Nice!

How did you make the squared boxes on the front part of the fuselage?
I always think there is a quick way of doing that but many tell me that they do simply paint every single box!
Then my lazyness comes into place and I don´t paint it squared and only simple colours.

(btw: 500th post :D:D:D)
 

lobstermash

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Yeah, no shortcut. Just measured out the lines with a ruler and coloured in the (mostly) right ones. My wife insisted on the check pattern. The kids on the yellow tail. Looks pretty good if I may say so. Hope it survives a few flights...
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
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Yeah the checkerboard stuff is cool, though tedious to make. I remember my classmates would get bored and color checkerboards on notebook paper (A4 size) but in two colors! It would take them about a week to finish.
 

lobstermash

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OK, it's all but ready to maiden. We'll wait until the weekend I think. I'll try and get a vid.

The AUW has come out a lot heavier than I anticipated: 444g. The battery weighs 87g (1000mAh 3s) and motor is ~50-ish grams. Still, should have plenty of grunt from the 2210 1200kv.
 

ohDamn

Junior Member
Im gonna watch this maiden tomorrow :) hopefully we should have 2 predators (Reaper, MQ1/MQ9 hybrids), an extra260 and this p51 ready, so should be a great day of maidens and the weathers looking awesome! Now to finish charging the buckets of LiPos were gonna need!
 
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lobstermash

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I've got the boys tonight. Mrs is babysitting other kids. I've postponed the maidens due to winds above 25kph. I haven't sat on my hands though. I've mowed the lawns and built a funbat... Installed the motor but don't have any spare servos (need to crash the predator...)
 
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lobstermash

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Finally maidened the p51. It was tail heavy and hung off the prop until I couldn't balance it, and crashed. I've moved the battery and cog forward.
 

lobstermash

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Well hot diggety! This thing flies! Pleasantly fast roll rate without having to dial in the expos. The 9x4.7 prop gave far too sluggish performance though and I've switched it for the 8x6 (untested as yet). I don't think it's going to be all that fast though unless I put a higher kv motor on. My criticism of the funbat design, while pretty snazzy, is that I find it loses altitude when turning. This thing doesn't. I didn't have a partner in crime to video the flight today, but when I do I'll post it.