Fowl Flyer Swappable - Scratch Build

CrashRecovery

I'm a care bear...Really?
Mentor
Hey noob question here. They said they only made one tail the rudder. Could you connect the two using two more horns and a piece of rod? Or will this cause too much stress on the servo?
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Hey noob question here. They said they only made one tail the rudder. Could you connect the two using two more horns and a piece of rod? Or will this cause too much stress on the servo?

It will work perfectly. Most likely, they did it for the simplicity of a single rudder.
 

Georacer

Junior Member
I 'd like to report my experience with this scratch build.

I needed an aerial platform with ample fuselage space since I am experimenting with UAV systems and I needed a housing for the electronics.
When I saw the fowl flyer swappable I liked the slow flight characteristics and the big accessible fuselage.

I built it with a 1200kV (I think, that or 1500) motor and a 10x4.7 propeller.

But things don't always go your way: I couldn't find two balsa sticks straight enough for the tailbooms in the local suppliers. They were all too crooked. I decided to pick up some walnut ones.
But then the tail was too heavy and in order to balance it I placed another 3S battery in the front.
But then the plane was too heavy for the wing lift and couldn't even take off properly (judging by my limited experience).

That chain of events, and two crashes from 1m high, lead me to abandon this platform.
One solution would be to move the wing further back for its balance point to match the C.G., but the mounting method doesn't easily allow for that.
Another solution would be to build a new, larger wing, but at this point I won't pursue it, since I don't feel that would guarantee results.

I think I 'll be moving to something commercial for now.
In the aftermath, it would have been nice if I knew the lift capabilities beforehand.

Thanks for the plans and the experience, though!
 
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FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
Geo, you could try making the tail booms from triangular shaped tubes of foam. It would give good strength, and be more than light enough for your needs.

Looking through the other posts, I see that's how coa106 did his.
 

Georacer

Junior Member
I saw the video. I spot a single centered vertical stabilizer. I think I see the elevator and rudder servos placed on the horizontal stabilizer. That would weigh that tail down a bit (and I think it shows in the video), but no-where near what I did.

His total weight is stated at 2.5lbs/1.13kg. Definitely less than my 1.51kg.

It looks fun, but I had a permanent-ish platform in mind for my experiments and I now see that's a bit hard with a home-built foam plane.

I may make another take on the Fowl Flyer Swappable, but that day isn't tomorrow.
 

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
A flying wing might be more the direction you could need to go. These can be done with a KF airfoil, or a more traditional one. It all depends on what your needs are, of course.
 

Georacer

Junior Member
I don't want to highjack the FF thread, so if this is deemed offtopic, mods, please move it.

My cargo needs are the following:
I have an Arduino Mega board and a custom shield @ 150gr.
This needs to be connected to an external board housing a small GPS unit @ 17gr,
and later to the 3DR pitot sensor kit, also a few gr.

Cameras are not a concern for now.

A flying wing may have more accessibility but it won't be able to taxi or take off autonomously and has more aggressive flight characteristics that make my life harder.
I was thinking about the ST model Discovery. High wing for stability and hopefully enough internal space.
 

Curins

Junior Member
Hi All,

So I'm not to good at the arts and crafts, which makes working with the tiled plans a real pain. I'll use it for parts with curves, but for square parts I can use a ruler and a pencil and get a much better result. So for you guys like me, attached is the fowl flyer wing with the dimensions overlaid.
 

Attachments

  • Fowl Flyer Swappable Plans - Wings - 4of4 with dimensions.pdf
    689.4 KB · Views: 211

sleb

If it's RC I can crash it
Was waiting to see if a kit was coming, but since it does not seem to be, the scratch build is next on my list. Anyone else built one lately?
 

hotwax

Active member
Maiden last Weekend

104_0428.jpg

I closed the wingtips with posterboard and made the tailbooms 2 Inch longer, I noticed no wingrocking.
 

Natester

hacker
Amazing finish

Wow hotwax, the finish on that thing looks amazing. How did you do it? Is that made of Adams readi board and painted or taped or made of something else?
 
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hotwax

Active member
Wow hotwax, the finish on that thing looks amazing. How did you do it? Is that made of Adams readi board and painted or taped or made of something else's?

Welcome to the forum,

material is "Foamboard weiss, weisse Kante" sold by modulor.de, decoration is color packing tape from various sources.
 

hotwax

Active member
Wow, awesome. It looks like Foamboard weiss, weisse Kante is paper covered foam board. Did you then cover it entirely with tape or paint it to get that nice, waterproof I assume, shine?

Yes, this is my favorite material. The paper is rather thick and not very senistive to water. Weight is about 1/3 more than Adams Board.

I taped only the stripes you see, everything else is left bare.