FT Bushwacker BUILD

The Hangar

Fly harder!
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Good news and bad news.
Good news I’d that I got some more done on the bushwhacker! Got the wing halves cut out.
Bad news if that I made a STUPID mistake. I ended up with two right wings😆 @BATTLEAXE that might make you feel better about your wing mishap though😂 Well since I don’t want to waste another sheet of my ftfb, I just taped the cuts on one side with packing tape and it looks a little shiny but really not that bad. I can’t wait to see this thing fly! I’m going to dive into my dx6e transmitter and see if I can do dual ailerons that can be used as flaps similar to what is done on the timber x. If not, we’ll see what other options there are.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Good work man, another funny wing story, I swear this plane is cursed lol

Not only did I lose a whole wing due to my stupidity and have to build another. In building the second wing I did mess up on my flap sizing by an inch to one of the halves so the flaps were offset, noticed this halfway through gluing one of the halves and had to start that half over again from a new sheet. I did manage to get it done and symmetrical now. Sheet count on this build between making two fuses and two and a half wings is now 7, 7 fricken sheets to get one good solid build. I have made 3 crucial stupid errors on this plane so if the law of 3's applies, this plane should be my golden boy, fingers crossed.

Anyway it looks good and like I might have mentioned before I do have a little surprise to show you in the next little bit as to how I did the flaps. It is something I haven't seen from FT or anyone else here on the forums or on YT so it should be unique, and was simple to do, and will apply to pretty much all folded wing designs. It is really cool and I will post some pics and explain how I did it once I got the servos installed.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Got the flaps all sorted out, servos in and working. I wanted to get the best of both worlds on this one. Doin flaperons is an option but just watching @The Hangar deploy the flaperons on his Cub and pitch up out of picture was a bit of a turn off, way to much control surface. Option 2 is split flaps, cuts down the flaps surface area significantly, but you also sacrifice roll authority from the ailerons. This is a 3D plane and I won't be flying it scale for the most part. Option 3, flaps separate from the aileron surface, and really I wonder why I didn't think of this before. Maybe someone else has already done something like this, I just haven't seen it. Check this out:
20191118_110701.jpg

Flaps fully deployed, same surface area as split flaps so it isn't overwhelming to pitch control...
20191118_110844.jpg

This is half flaps. you can see how it drops out as part of the bottom wing panel, separate from the ailerons and a lot closer to the CG. How did I do this?...
20191118_110946.jpg

This is the wing half not yet folded. The back edge has a secondary spar that I C folded in, instead of the separate 3/8" strip, but i also added an extended panel that covers the flap itself. Reason being that i wasn't to sure how much stress this area would endure around the cut out flap once folded and glued, plus closes the inside of the wing off to the elements. It overlaps the flap by a half inch on the sides and just covers the hinge line. I made sure to be careful not to interfere with where the main spar lays down to the bottom wing panel.
20191118_111028.jpg

From the back it blends in closed just like it isn't there, nor raised areas and lays smooth and flat, and the extended panel from the rear spar gives it something to rest against when closed...
20191118_111103.jpg

Open it hinges out from the outer paper, Because it only moves in one direction there is no need for a bevel at the hinge line, which also negates the need to have your control horn hole directly over the hinge line, just like Peter described in the build vid. I think its pretty cool IMO, and works like magic.

Tell me what you think, (y) or (n)
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
Got the flaps all sorted out, servos in and working. I wanted to get the best of both worlds on this one. Doin flaperons is an option but just watching @The Hangar deploy the flaperons on his Cub and pitch up out of picture was a bit of a turn off, way to much control surface. Option 2 is split flaps, cuts down the flaps surface area significantly, but you also sacrifice roll authority from the ailerons. This is a 3D plane and I won't be flying it scale for the most part. Option 3, flaps separate from the aileron surface, and really I wonder why I didn't think of this before. Maybe someone else has already done something like this, I just haven't seen it. Check this out: View attachment 148372
Flaps fully deployed, same surface area as split flaps so it isn't overwhelming to pitch control...
View attachment 148373
This is half flaps. you can see how it drops out as part of the bottom wing panel, separate from the ailerons and a lot closer to the CG. How did I do this?...
View attachment 148374
This is the wing half not yet folded. The back edge has a secondary spar that I C folded in, instead of the separate 3/8" strip, but i also added an extended panel that covers the flap itself. Reason being that i wasn't to sure how much stress this area would endure around the cut out flap once folded and glued, plus closes the inside of the wing off to the elements. It overlaps the flap by a half inch on the sides and just covers the hinge line. I made sure to be careful not to interfere with where the main spar lays down to the bottom wing panel.
View attachment 148375
From the back it blends in closed just like it isn't there, nor raised areas and lays smooth and flat, and the extended panel from the rear spar gives it something to rest against when closed...
View attachment 148376
Open it hinges out from the outer paper, Because it only moves in one direction there is no need for a bevel at the hinge line, which also negates the need to have your control horn hole directly over the hinge line, just like Peter described in the build vid. I think its pretty cool IMO, and works like magic.

Tell me what you think, (y) or (n)
A big 👍 from me! My one concern is that when the flaps are deployed, they will block airflow to the ailerons behind, but then that will act like the half flaps half ailerons like Peter showed in his video, which had plenty of control. If I can’t figure out the split ailerons/flaps that double as full ailerons, then I’ll try this!
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
A big 👍 from me! My one concern is that when the flaps are deployed, they will block airflow to the ailerons behind, but then that will act like the half flaps half ailerons like Peter showed in his video, which had plenty of control. If I can’t figure out the split ailerons/flaps that double as full ailerons, then I’ll try this!
I think this is something you have to plan for unless you plan to make a second wing. Maybe you don't need the extended cover off the secondary spar and cut them in after the fact. Not sure

What I do know is this will work really well for the way my Tx sets up, I don't think I have the ability to set up the dual action flaps, I might be able to do flaperons, maybe. But it will be better then the split flaps for the fact that over 1/3rd of the aileron isn't dedicated to just flaps. The outer surface that isn't blocked by the flaps when deployed will be enough to land and take off as far as roll authority goes. And once the flaps are up there is still full aileron surface along the whole wing.

If you do figure out how to get the dual action flaps/ailerons to work, take a vid of it, I would be interested to see it action.
 

bracesport

Legendary member
@The Hangar - I have split ailerons and flaps on the glider wing - 4 servos - and they work is concert as one big aileron or as crow brakes - it is a reasonably easy setup! in the first image the ailerons and flaps are working together (1+5 are ailerons 6+7 are flaps) and in the second the brakes are on (linked to throttle stick) - if you have a motor you would just put the brakes on a slider or a 3 pos switch.

note that when the brakes are on the elevator has some down deflection to compensate for pitch ups, and the ailerons have a differential of 50%.

ideally, you need 7ch for all this kit including the motor - the ailerons and flaps working together or separately need 4 servos - if you ditch the rudder you could do it in 6ch.

Phil

b.jpg
a.jpg
 
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BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
This is cool, I can't remember seeing anyone doing the BW before and now this plane is gaining traction, I dig it.

Still waiting on the Tx to show up to fly, don't want to chance it on the old Tx.
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
@The Hangar - I have split ailerons and flaps on the glider wing - 4 servos - and they work is concert as one big aileron or as crow brakes - it is a reasonably easy setup! in the first image the ailerons and flaps are working together (1+5 are ailerons 6+7 are flaps) and in the second the brakes are on (linked to throttle stick) - if you have a motor you would just put the brakes on a slider or a 3 pos switch.

note that when the brakes are on the elevator has some down deflection to compensate for pitch ups, and the ailerons have a differential of 50%.

ideally, you need 7ch for all this kit including the motor - the ailerons and flaps working together or separately need 4 servos - if you ditch the rudder you could do it in 6ch.

Phil

View attachment 148408 View attachment 148409
Thanks for all the information. My transmitter is only 6ch and I really want to have rudder so I'm going to keep on researching this idea and see what I can come up with. I should've gone with the dx8e for only $30 more! Oh well.