FT-22 V-Tail Elevon combo mod

[mesolost]

FT-22 V-Tail Elevon combo mod and results

Results of test on post 5

Ok, so I've tried this before on the first FT-22 I made and I had too heavy of a battery and insufficient thrust. So then I made a stock FT-22 and it flew beautiful till i tore a wing off on a power line. Then I made one like this but I left the stock rudder angle so the V-Tail acted as an airbrake and destroyed my elevator authority so I drop kicked it in half. :black_eyed: And here we go on FT-22 #4 with more changes.

I used elmer's board for all but the cockpit piece so it's more rigid and unfortunately heavier. (was free pieces and I only have scraps of DTFB left) I used heavy-duty landing gear thick wires for the elevons this time because the old thin ones were worn out but 1 alone was long enough to make the rudder control rods lighter since they don't have as far to reach. Rather than glue the zip tie wire guides in I cut the head off of another zip tie and use it like a nut on the inside of the foam. Does anyone else do this? The nose was reinforced with a paint stir stick, half on each cheek, to protect the FPV camera. I also decided to increase the rudder angle to be closer to proper V-Tail specs. I just grabbed a random piece of foam I saw that had a steeper angle and it worked out nicely. Lets hope she'll actually maiden this time so I can start doing some super speed FPV.

Comparison between previous and new rudder angle.


V-Tail alignment angle view.


Electronics arrangement.


Nose reinforcement and view of receiver in port air intake.


Magnetic hatch low-profile nose.


Rudder servo mount position and zip tie nut.

 

[Heavy313]

This is awesome, I was thinking about building this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzFN2YpzR4I
and doing just the same type of mod!

 

[mesolost]

just make sure that your 2 V-tail pieces are closer to 90 degrees relative to each other otherwise it will act more as an airbrake at lower angles is and more like elevons if it's between 90 and 180. I learned this the hard way If you keep them more vertical/parallel then you can just use them as rudders only and not mix in elevator and be safe. ^_^

 

[mesolost]

OK so I maidened it today and the first 3-cell 1000mah bat went great The rudder authority at 100% input to the 40-45 degree throw it's capable of is just frigging INSANE! I'm gonna need to tune it down to like 40% or or possibly even less. I'll do up the programming on my transmitter tonight so i can use the 3-position switch on the turnigy 9xr-pro and do a fancy elevator control surface selection switch so I can see how each surface feels at different speeds/velocity and then find a path of mix from there.

Anyway, second battery I ended up in the sun and then slipped behind a scoreboard just out of LOS so I cut throttle and run just in time to see it almost kiss the roof of the schoot! :O FULL throttle and it just goes WHOOSH! up and right behind the sign in my view again (bad angle) and instead of being in 1 piece on the roof it looped over into the wall and split in half. Tore the nose part right off but none of the FPV stuff or battery was hurt after the reinforcement I did. CA, hot glue, packing tape, and gotta replace an elevon servo gear. -.-

I couldn't help be think the entire walk of shame that if I had just done the FPV googles I so would have known where I was and completely avoided the wreck. But all but the servo gear is fixed already so we'll do the goggles tomorrow.

 

[mesolost]

OK so I did up the 3 position switch so i could test the elevator response on the v-tail portion. I was less than impressed. However the rudder authority was EXTREME so I'll make another one with the stock rudder angle and a servo in the center to run them.

So the verdict is elevon+rudder has the optimum flight quality. ^_^ If anyone wants the details on all the little bits and changes let me know and i can draw everything up and take some pics.