FT Duster with detachable wings

[mad_milchmann]

Hi there!

I was thinking about building a FT duster with detachable wings, as soon as I've finishe the Baby Blender.
To make it more transportabel, I had the Idea to make the wings detachable.

I had a look at the Article of Backpackmodels but I try to think about an easier way of making the wings detachable.

so I came up with this:
after building the fuselage you simply cut from the end of the holes of the wings to the bottom and through it.
Then you do the same about 1/3 of the wing length from the trailing edge, and you should have a nice hole in the bottom of the fuselage to slide your wing in and out.

To make it more clear what I mean I'll attach a picture.
I guess that you'll loose al ot of stability from cutting in there, so you'll need to strenghten the fuselage with small balsa-wood sticks in the area I marked grey in the picture.

Then you'll just add two barbecue skewers and fix the wing in place with some rubber-bands.

To save the wings from moving to the sides you might add some little foambaord pieses on the underside of the wing right outside the fuselage... but I don't know if this is necessary.


what do you think about it? does that make sense or is it plane stupid?

 

[ViperTech]

Should work, Ft did a very similar thing to the spitfire to have removable wings. My son did his spit like they showed, and it ripped out on the first rough landing. We rebuilt the area around the bbq skewers and reinforced it with gift cards now it holds up very well.

 

[rcspaceflight]

I think you'll need something stronger than just bamboo skewers. ViperTech had a great suggestion of adding gift cards to brace the foam so the skewers don't rip the foam board.

 

[MT Alex]

The FT Duster is a very small, compact airframe with very stubby wings. I'm looking at mine right now, and it really doesn't look like you would save much space by removing the wing.

 

[mad_milchmann]

Should work, Ft did a very similar thing to the spitfire to have removable wings. My son did his spit like they showed, and it ripped out on the first rough landing. We rebuilt the area around the bbq skewers and reinforced it with gift cards now it holds up very well.

aah i'll have a closer look at the spitfire built video then.

I think you'll need something stronger than just bamboo skewers. ViperTech had a great suggestion of adding gift cards to brace the foam so the skewers don't rip the foam board.

gonna look at that too thanks for the tip although you don't get as many giftcards here in germany as in the US of A... bur i'll find a substitute

The FT Duster is a very small, compact airframe with very stubby wings. I'm looking at mine right now, and it really doesn't look like you would save much space by removing the wing.

Well, it would save enough space to get it in my backpack, I hope.

 

[rcspaceflight]

You could always use some hobby plywood instead of gift cards. The point is to increase the contact area of the skewer to the foam. Kind of like getting stepped on by a woman in high heels verses a fat man whom is barefoot. Okay, bad analog.

 

[BackPackModels]

Hey rcspaceflight, I love that analog
@mad_milchmann: Maybe I didn't understand your thoughts about the wing attachement right but if you check out the Flitetest Spitfire buildlog and want to do it similar to that, just use tons of hot glue to lock your skewers in place. In the video, the skewer is fastened in four or five layers of foamboard and with hot glue for stability.
I use that system on my Spitfire as well.
If you want to keep the skewers removable, place a drinking straw in the foam to pass it through...