FoamyDM
Building Fool-Flying Noob
Foamy S-3b Viking - By FoamyDM, 1:15 scale, original design by Lockheed
Build Thread
3-views
Background:
i looked through my motors while attempting in vain to organize and clean my hobby room and discovered that I have purchased over the years, a pair of edfs ranging from 55mm, 64mm to 70mm with one 90mm. This led me to start thinking... it may be time to work on some jet planes!
Inspiration:
Why the pick this plane? I have a work associate that I happened to be on a plant tour with. while on this we introduced as having some things in common... came around that our interest was in aviation. Where he proceeded to tell me about his 21 yr. naval and aeromedical experiences, and I relayed my recent and avid interests in Aviation. He mentioned that as a pilot and Flight deck oversight guy (real technical... I know.) he has flown nearly every plane the navy has, In part, to know what pilots landing on his Aircraft Carrier are dealing with to be able to talk them in if needed. This was like a dream come true. and I could have talked to him for weeks likely, however we were together for work.
But in that brief discussion, I explained my love to discover the history of, design, and build aircraft I previously knew nothing about... when he talked about the tendencies of planes, I would relay that the same tendencies would appear in the RC models too. He told me that he really took his hat off to us remote pilots, that it is a marvel to him how we can pilot outside the craft. I told him about FPV and he seemed very interested. He seemed curious to learn more.
I told him I love to deign and build aircraft and had attempted 27 to date, and asked him what was his favorite plane? He answered the S-3 Viking. He said it was because it flew well, no bad tendencies, it was maneuverable, and versatile it is the workhorse of the air in much the way a P-38 of Yesteryear could assume many roles. from Recon, to fighter escort, to bomber, to transport. I mentioned that If I build a plane on his recommendation, I would be honored to give him a ride after the maiden flight proved it airworthy. At that point, it was a deal!
First Hand Experience:
He sent me a few photos:
This is a picture of him taking off
This is, "me leading a four ship dropping rockeyes on a moving water target."
This is him ready for at Cat Launch. He said at one point,"I bagged 33 landings 34 cat shots in less than an hour."
Quite the pilot. I would love to see an FPV Waterdeck Launch/Landing simulation. And see if we could manage that feat!
Hmmm
(at 1:15 scale... that would be 72' long...). Maybe I'll work up a much smaller version later.
So this is an attempt to build this and be worthy of his inspiration and service.
decided to build this to with a ~54" wingspan... that brings it to 1:15 scale... using the two 55mm motors.
Specifications:
From the Wikipedia pages:
Data from Standard Aircraft Characteristics[41]
General characteristics
I originally wanted to use the 55mm EDFs that were unused before this project...
I took the three view image, scaled it so the Turbines were 55mm and started to work. I used the 3-views with the Cross sections, to set up the core, and then worked. up the wings, pods and then tackled the skins. I leaned on paper craft work, to get the major forms right and them matched measurements.
Consider the room inside the fuselage, I will possibly make the core much larger to accommodate a cargo bay for troop drops.
With the check it through wingcalc yielding this:
So that Said, it means, the RC Design Specs are as follows:
Length :43"
Wingspan: 55"
Power system (125g) (2x) (1 system Claims 950g thrust)
Min 4 - 12g Metal Gear Servos - 36g
5 sheets of Foam Board - ~500g
Estimated Thrust - 1900g
Estimate AUW - 1,176
Thrust Ratio - 1.6 : 1
Wing Area : 385si
Plan: (V 0.1 alpha)
Build Pictures:
Cutting:
Assembly:
Electronics:
Flight Video:
Maiden Success Here
Takeaways:
Ambitions:
Bomb Drops, Cargo Drops. Folding Wings. and Full FPV Cockpit with working light instrument panel
Build Thread

3-views


Background:
i looked through my motors while attempting in vain to organize and clean my hobby room and discovered that I have purchased over the years, a pair of edfs ranging from 55mm, 64mm to 70mm with one 90mm. This led me to start thinking... it may be time to work on some jet planes!
Inspiration:
Why the pick this plane? I have a work associate that I happened to be on a plant tour with. while on this we introduced as having some things in common... came around that our interest was in aviation. Where he proceeded to tell me about his 21 yr. naval and aeromedical experiences, and I relayed my recent and avid interests in Aviation. He mentioned that as a pilot and Flight deck oversight guy (real technical... I know.) he has flown nearly every plane the navy has, In part, to know what pilots landing on his Aircraft Carrier are dealing with to be able to talk them in if needed. This was like a dream come true. and I could have talked to him for weeks likely, however we were together for work.
But in that brief discussion, I explained my love to discover the history of, design, and build aircraft I previously knew nothing about... when he talked about the tendencies of planes, I would relay that the same tendencies would appear in the RC models too. He told me that he really took his hat off to us remote pilots, that it is a marvel to him how we can pilot outside the craft. I told him about FPV and he seemed very interested. He seemed curious to learn more.
I told him I love to deign and build aircraft and had attempted 27 to date, and asked him what was his favorite plane? He answered the S-3 Viking. He said it was because it flew well, no bad tendencies, it was maneuverable, and versatile it is the workhorse of the air in much the way a P-38 of Yesteryear could assume many roles. from Recon, to fighter escort, to bomber, to transport. I mentioned that If I build a plane on his recommendation, I would be honored to give him a ride after the maiden flight proved it airworthy. At that point, it was a deal!
First Hand Experience:
He sent me a few photos:

This is a picture of him taking off

This is, "me leading a four ship dropping rockeyes on a moving water target."

This is him ready for at Cat Launch. He said at one point,"I bagged 33 landings 34 cat shots in less than an hour."
Quite the pilot. I would love to see an FPV Waterdeck Launch/Landing simulation. And see if we could manage that feat!
Hmmm
So this is an attempt to build this and be worthy of his inspiration and service.
decided to build this to with a ~54" wingspan... that brings it to 1:15 scale... using the two 55mm motors.
Specifications:
From the Wikipedia pages:
Data from Standard Aircraft Characteristics[41]
General characteristics
- Crew: 4 (Pilot, Co-Pilot/COTAC, TACCO, Sensor Operator/TFO)
- Length: 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m)
- Wingspan: 68 ft 8 in (20.93 m)
- Width: 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m) folded
- Height: 22 ft 9 in (6.93 m)
- Height tail folded: 15 ft 3 in (5 m)
- Wing area: 598 sq ft (55.6 m2)
- Aspect ratio: 7.73
- Airfoil: root: NACA 0016.3-1.03 32.7/100 mod; tip: NACA 0012-1.10 40/1.00 mod[42]
- Empty weight: 26,581 lb (12,057 kg)
- Gross weight: 38,192 lb (17,324 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 52,539 lb (23,831 kg)
- Fuel capacity:
- Internal fuel capacity: 1,933 US gal (1,610 imp gal; 7,320 l) of JP-5 fuel
- External fuel capacity: 2 × 300 US gal (250 imp gal; 1,100 l) drop tanks
- Powerplant: 2 × General Electric TF34-GE-2 turbofan engines, 9,275 lbf (41.26 kN) thrust each
- Maximum speed: 429 kn (494 mph, 795 km/h) at sea level
- Maximum speed: Mach 0.79
- Cruise speed: 350 kn (400 mph, 650 km/h)
- Stall speed: 97 kn (112 mph, 180 km/h)
- Range: 2,765 nmi (3,182 mi, 5,121 km)
- Combat range: 460.5 nmi (529.9 mi, 852.8 km) [43]
- Ferry range: 3,368 nmi (3,876 mi, 6,238 km)
- Service ceiling: 40,900 ft (12,500 m)
- Rate of climb: 5,120 ft/min (26.0 m/s)
- Wing loading: 68.5 lb/sq ft (334 kg/m2)
- Thrust/weight: 0.353
- Up to 4,900 lb (2,220 kg) on 4 internal and 2 external hardpoints, including:
- 10 × 500 lb (227 kg) Mark 82 bombs
- 2 × 1000 lb (454 kg) Mark 83 bombs
- 2 × 2000 lb (908 kg) Mark 84 bombs
- 6 × CBU-100 cluster bombs
- 2 × Mark 50 torpedoes
- 4 × Mark 46 torpedoes
- 6 × mines or depth charges
- 2 × B57 nuclear bombs (depthcharges)
- 2 × AGM-65E/F Maverick missiles
- 2 × AGM-84D Harpoon missiles
- 1 × AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER missile
- The underwing hardpoints can also be fitted with unguided rocket pods or 300 US gal (1,136 l) fuel tanks.
- AN/APS-116 sea search radar, maximum range 150 nmi (173 mi, 278 km)
- Upgraded on S-3B to AN/APS-137 Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR)
- OR-89 forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera with 3× zoom
- AN/ARS-2 sonobuoy receiver with 13 blade antennas on the airframe for precise buoy location (Sonobuoy Reference System)
- AN/ASQ-81 magnetic anomaly detector (MAD)
- AN/ALR-47 Electronic Support Measures (ESM) emitter-location system, with boxy receiver pods fitted to the wingtips, to locate adversary communications and radar transmitters
- AN/ASN-92 Inertial navigation system (INS) with doppler radar navigation and TACAN
- Up to 60 sonobuoys (59 tactical, 1 Search and Rescue)
I originally wanted to use the 55mm EDFs that were unused before this project...
I took the three view image, scaled it so the Turbines were 55mm and started to work. I used the 3-views with the Cross sections, to set up the core, and then worked. up the wings, pods and then tackled the skins. I leaned on paper craft work, to get the major forms right and them matched measurements.
Consider the room inside the fuselage, I will possibly make the core much larger to accommodate a cargo bay for troop drops.
With the check it through wingcalc yielding this:

So that Said, it means, the RC Design Specs are as follows:
Length :43"
Wingspan: 55"
Power system (125g) (2x) (1 system Claims 950g thrust)
D2627 4300kv Brushless by Powerfun 4s ready
55mm EDF 11 Blade
40A ESC w 5V/3A BEC 2-4S ready
Battery 1300mAh 100C Ovonic, 4S (189g) (2x) Min 4 - 12g Metal Gear Servos - 36g
5 sheets of Foam Board - ~500g
Estimated Thrust - 1900g
Estimate AUW - 1,176
Thrust Ratio - 1.6 : 1
Wing Area : 385si
Plan: (V 0.1 alpha)
Build Pictures:
Cutting:
Assembly:
Electronics:
Flight Video:
Maiden Success Here
Takeaways:
Ambitions:
Bomb Drops, Cargo Drops. Folding Wings. and Full FPV Cockpit with working light instrument panel
Last edited: