FT Bloody Wonder - Scratch Build

[cpo]

CPO FT Bloody Wonder Build Overview and Maiden Fight

In this video, I show you the final FT Bloody Wonder before taking it out for a maiden flight...which, of course, I bring you along to watch.

I will probably follow this up with a more detailed afterthoughts video...because today's flights did give me some "must do" changes . I'll give it away to you now, though: Minwax or taping the entire plane is a MUST DO. Just the light dew on the grass basically soaked right into the paper on the foam board, causing it to separate all over. I figured it would be time limited without protection...but 4 or 5 landings on damp grass really did a job on it. If you are like me, and like to fly in the morning before the winds pick up...then dew on the grass is a reality this time of year. Yes...I was properly warned. I even have Minwax and foam brushes...and was planning on coating it down after the maiden, but I didn't want to invest more time/money until I knew it was a keeper. YOU ALL WARNED ME. Thank you.

I honestly didn't even think about how bad the light dew would be on the plane. It's no biggie. It will cost me $2 plus some glue sticks to redo the entire plane! That's not bad at all! I wish my helis could be rebuilt for $2.

Regardless... this thing is a blast to fly!

 

[eaflyer]

Nice job CPO. I'm building this as my first plane. Glad you had a great maiden flight.

 

[eagle4]

nice one cpo, good to see another bloody wonder in the air.

eaflyer, the bloody wonder was my first plane too enjoy it. my best tip would be to spend some time playing around with a simulator, as this plane doesnt have any self righting characteristics, so if you get out of shape it wont be trying to help you. but its truly a blast to fly. enjoy it

 

[eaflyer]

Thanks eagle4 I'm on the sim.

 

[Flynn]

Gratz on the maiden! This is one fun plane! It is a blast to fly.

 

[Trafficked]

About 5 pages back I posted wondering what was wrong with my BW which I built for the school I work for. Well it flew so nicely after we ironed out the bugs that I had to build my own. As it was my birthday I only needed to beg an plead with the missus a lil to place an order on Hobby King. In Australia the board we use is $10 a sheet boo however it comes in a huge range of colours I choose yellow and blue to contrast the wing with the tail and fuse. After measuring and cutting out the bits I started drawing a pattern on the wing to help with orientation. Black spikes on a yellow board hmmmm that looks familiar...... OMG PIKACHU!!! So I asked the my wife to draw me a pikachu on the top of the plane and cause she is awesome and I washed up she did.

Power is a 1300mah 3cell Turnigy running to a Turnigy 25amp plush ESC and a Turnigy Park 450 with a 8*6 prop this gives 850 gram thrust. Considering the flying weight is 600esque grams I have more power than weight. Boy this thing motors along I love it heres a vid

And a picture of how happy I am with the maiden
Big Thanks to CraftyDan for the help with my original and the rest of the FT community.

 

[cpo]

Nice @trafficked. You got me thinking about landing gear too... I hate dropping it in the grass (especially now that I see what happens when you drop it in wet grass). Or maybe I should just learn to catch the thing out of the air!

 

[Trafficked]

Cheers @CPO. Your flying in a confined space on your vid is impressive. Yeh the gear is more to save props than anything. That and I like have to have the option for a smooth landing (if I could ever actually achieve one). How do you tell orientation on an all white plane? I had to put cover film on the schools. As for catching the plane that a vid I'd love to see.

 

[Craftydan]

Nice Job trafficked -- Clean build, nice flight!

Any pics of the underside?

(and I'm thinking you've watched just the right amount of FT )

 

[Flynn]

Trafficked. Awesome job! I would love to see some close ups of your landing gear setup. Nice work!

 

[eaflyer]

I love watching this plane fly. I also would like to see the underside.

 

[Trafficked]

Man I love forums as requested more details and photos.
First Up this is to reinforce the tail as I had to hot glue the schools BW every other day. This stops the fulcrum lever action that happens during landings and travel.

Next photo is the Turnigy Park 450 motor that I now love and will name my firstborn after.... if I can convince the wife. Also not the undercarriage which is Josh Bixlers 15inch of wire bent at a 45 in the middle, 1.5inches out from the middle the angle is 90 and an inch in from the ends the angle is also 90. Heres the gear designed for a bixler http://flitetest.com/articles/DIY_Landing_Gear
Mine has been permanently fixed using an MDF coaster to reinforce the pod hotglue and tongue depressors.

Seriously if you want some insane roll rates install 2 aileron servos. This eliminates the aileron differential and only costs 12gram in weight. Check out my smooth mounting prowess and linkage stopper FTW. Yes I had to visit the Doctors alot to get all the tongue depressors to use for reinforcing or clevice. Oh and note the skewer its been fitted and the holes reinforced with old takeaway lid.

And now for the most requested photo I have ever had on the internet...*pauses for effect just a little longer* the underside of my build. Seriously all day I have been chuffed with how well receive this build is. My mate told me to by a bigger hat "3 requests and its going to your head." The design contrasts nicely and is easy to tell top from bottom. Before folding the wing I covered it with book cover (leaving the area the where the fuse glues to the wing bare) which helps reduce drag and increases strength and aesthetics.



Once again thanks for all the love this build has received.
Trafficked
May your landings always be planned and smooth.

 

[eagle4]

Just curious. You mentioned using 2 aileron servos to remove the differential, however it seems you're going to be getting huge amounts of differential with the location of your control horns. The hole in your control horns should line up directly over the hinge line of your control surface. It seems as though your hole is almost in the middle of your ailerons.

 

[Trafficked]

Just curious. You mentioned using 2 aileron servos to remove the differential, however it seems you're going to be getting huge amounts of differential with the location of your control horns. The hole in your control horns should line up directly over the hinge line of your control surface. It seems as though your hole is almost in the middle of your ailerons.

Good point I wanted to be sure I was gluing into loads of foam then I adjusted endpoints in my TX.

 

[Trafficked]

Today was a bit breezy in Brisbane Australia with winds gusting from 20-30kph and I had a need... a need to be the very best like no-one ever was. So I shouted out "I Choose you Pikachu" and pitted my electric type pokemon themed Bloody Wonder against the earths wind and ground types. Pikachu used dash and it was SUPER EFFECTIVE completing several landings. We were winning until earth used a gale, gravity ground attack combo on my final approach about a metre of the ground. I lost all air and ground speed nosed in and popped the gear off. Pikachu had fainted. Nothing major everything else survived the gear was glued to cloth tape and the glue just let go absorbing all impact and minimising damage. Man I love this design thanks FT for an awesome plane.

May your landing always be planned and smooth.

 

[bowtech2]

Just got to fly my new bloody wonder for the first time today, great plane, flys awsome.

 

[DDSFlyer]

Alright, I'm bummed because I was all set to build this bird tonight, minwaxed the foam boards with plans drawn on, cut them out and started the build video and chugged away at building it. Then I ran into a snag...the tail fuselage piece that's separate from the main piece seems to be different in the build video than the plans. I can't figure it out, I thought I may have misplaced it or drew the wrong plans but there is no shape that has the dimensions and step on the plans, am I missing something? I apologize for being lazy and not going through the 34 pages of this thread but like I said I'm tired and am going to bed. Can anyone give me the dimensions? I may have to eyeball it and measure it out myself but I'm just trying to reassure myself that I'm not crazy and didnt miss something on the plans. All, the fuse is a B style fold right? I was looking at the diagrams on the plans and it looks like they pictured an A style fold? I know this was early on the FT timeline and I'm late to the party but just trying to build this plane right.
I'm putting a NTM 28-26 1800kv motor and 8x6 prop and 2200mAh battery and trying to blast this thing into the air, so I'm trying to build it right the first time and maybe reinforce a couple of things as well...any help?

 

[Eugene king]

You will need to trim your own step.

My second plane I made that piece slightly longer. To support more of the tail.

 

[Craftydan]

DDS,

yeah, you're not alone. Eugene is right -- it's up to you. Just cut a notch ~1.5in x "the depth of the foam board", and it'll be fine. The other part you're about to run into, is how far forward to I place the fuse. For a motor that size (2836, right? They don't make a 2826 1800kv), you might want to place the nose at about 3 3/8-3 1/2" from the LE. This should give you close to a neutral balance with a 70-90g motor.

Once that's set, and you've got the horsepower to drag it (which that motor has), it'll carry that 2200 happily on the CG.

BTW, my setup is happiest with CG just a smidge forward of the marked CG, but YMMV.

 

[Eugene king]

Also as you printed and cut your plans out fold them in half and make sure there is simitry between the two halfs. Mine were not even when folded in half and I needed to trim the plans a little.