FT Swapable Mooney

BabyBrit

Fly jacRC
DWRC Swapable Mooney


This is my first design/build

Background

As recommended by some of the members, I thought I would begin to create my first scratch build. Only having found the flight test community, I was immediately interested in developing my first design. One of the planes I have always been fond of is the Mooney Bravo also known as the M20. I was first introduced to the plane through MS Flight Simulator, and always had a great time flying the plane. Known for its speed and very widely known for the deadly tip-stalls that make it a challenge through tight turns, needing a lot of rudder to balance it out. Many of these things I knew I wanted to fix in the design of the swappable M20.

Brief History:
"The "M20" was the twentieth design from Al Mooney, and his most successful. The M20 series was produced in many variations over the last 50 years, from the wooden wing M20 and M20A models of the 1950s,[5] to the M20TN Acclaim that debuted in 2007." - Wiki
mooney1.jpg

The Design

To begin the design process I went looking on google images to look for the layout images to get the prospective and the dimension of the aircraft. Many of the lines that are iconic to the M20 are easy to pick out from afar such as the tail line and the wings. These were easy to create from memory joined with the drawings I located.
Mooney Bravo.jpg
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When I placed the design into Google Sketchup for the first time, I had not scaled the images correctly at all. The plane ended up being over 200,000 ft long and wide (which my wife would have killed me for keeping in the house!). After adjusting the model to a more appropriate scale I adjusted the model in Sketchup to accommodate the PowerPod. Many techniques I borrowed from JasonEricAnderson and his A10. Google Sketchup has a plethora of resource great for RC design.
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Specs:

Length:​
27"
Wingspan:​
40"
Weight:​
TBD
Anticipated Learning Level:​
Beginner
Build Level:​
Easy
# of Sheets of foam:​
4

Downloadable Plans V2.1: Here

- Update to the plans to follow

Build

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more details to come!

Flight Characteristics

TBD

**Thank you to NerdNick and JasonEricAnderson for inspiring the post.
 
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TTMR

A leaf on the wind
If you want it to be the bravo ensure you use M20M three views, the M20 changed quite a bit over the years and the side view plan you have selected appears to be one of the older ones with shorter cowlings and fuselage.

Edit I see you have the J model, which is one of the "short body" mooneys
 
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BabyBrit

Fly jacRC
Well, after experiencing some scaling issues, I had to start the model from scratch. When creating the model for the first time, I had not adjusted the measurements and the plane ended up being aprox 210,000' long.... not quite what I originally had in mind, and my wife would have killed me for attempting to store something that large in the house!
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After fixing the scaling the airframe will be just under 40" wing span by 27" fuselage.
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During making the adjustment I created the turtledeck with a very non intrusive top of the frame that will be easy to form with some left over poster board.
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The digital model is now finished and my next step is to convert it to a flat surface for printing. If anyone has any recommendations on exploding the components.

One thing I will note is, due to the complex wing shape, the wings will be removable with a system of rubber bands and bbq skewers, more details to follow.
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
Mmmm... Mooneys. The need for speed...

Yeah, I've flown a few. All of them were the old short bodies. Ridiculously slick airplanes that don't know how to slow down. Downside is that they are the biggest pain to work on of any aircraft I've dealt with.

Anyway, should be a fun build to watch.

Wash the wingtips out a good bit lest you get the infamous, deadly Mooney tip stall.
 

SnowRocker88

Amateur pilot and builder
Mmmm... Mooneys. The need for speed...

Yeah, I've flown a few. All of them were the old short bodies. Ridiculously slick airplanes that don't know how to slow down. Downside is that they are the biggest pain to work on of any aircraft I've dealt with.

Anyway, should be a fun build to watch.

Wash the wingtips out a good bit lest you get the infamous, deadly Mooney tip stall.

It looks like he left the tips open underneath so it'll have a large undercambered wing profile at the tips.
 

TTMR

A leaf on the wind
Mmmm... Mooneys. The need for speed...

Yeah, I've flown a few. All of them were the old short bodies. Ridiculously slick airplanes that don't know how to slow down. Downside is that they are the biggest pain to work on of any aircraft I've dealt with.

Anyway, should be a fun build to watch.

Wash the wingtips out a good bit lest you get the infamous, deadly Mooney tip stall.

The late model (actually a bravo) that I've worked on wasn't bad to work on for the airframe, but with dual everything and a turbo 540 in that tight cowl any engine work was not pleasant.
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
The late model (actually a bravo) that I've worked on wasn't bad to work on for the airframe, but with dual everything and a turbo 540 in that tight cowl any engine work was not pleasant.

Ouch. Turbo anything is a recipe for some maintenance pain.

The airframes on the older Mooneys have two nasty areas. One is anything between the firewall and your side of the instrument panel. I liken that region to a mass of hardened spaghetti. The other nasty points are the landing gear linkages (all manual, so a mess of springs, tubular pushrods, and linkages), and the more than 2500 screws on the surface of the aircraft, which are particularly fun to remove from the belly of the aircraft which sits 6" from your face when you're lying flat on your back in a pool of oil.

The fun in of course multiplied when the owner never, ever washes his machine so there's a 1/16" thick layer of grime encasing the belly of the aircraft.

No, I'm not bitter. Not in the slightest.

Still, it's an awesome piece of engineering with a well-deserved reputation for speed. I'll always choose a Bonanza over a Mooney, but I'll always respect the capabilities of the Mooney (and both are unbelievably strong aircraft).
 

TTMR

A leaf on the wind
New ones used 1/4 turns on the belly and have more room under the panel. Helps a lot there. Hope to have the chance to fly one at some point.

I'll choose a C product as being quite tall the U shaped cabin gives me the headroom I need vs the n shape of the low wings. Flew a Bo once. Nice plane but my head and the ceiling got too well acquainted.
 
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TTMR

A leaf on the wind
Extend that cowling out to cover more of the motor, it will clean up the look and make it more Bravo like;)
 

BabyBrit

Fly jacRC
The current power pod thats in this design is the "beef package". It will lie flush with either a 2200KV or similar brushless Park flyer Motor.
 

BabyBrit

Fly jacRC
Build day 1

Today was all about transferring my plans to the foam. after a week of design, this is probably the most rewarding part of the processes and seeing your design come to fruition. There were several things that I wanted to note on the plans that i realized need some adjustment and once I gather my electronics and maiden ill fix on the plans and get ready for version 2. The inlet for the wings at the moment are not aligned with the accurate depth for the wing, so I doubled the area to give room to accommodate the foam plates for the aero foil. The fuselage and tail are now joined and ready for flight, the under plate is also attached and the Power Pod is aligned and ready to go.
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I also wanted to make note of one really neat feature i incorporated into the design, an enclosed support plate for the power pod. To do this, I needed to create a space to accommodate a tab from the plate. This adds extra rigidity and support to allow a bigger motor to lay flush with the cowling.

Step one is to punch through the first layer of paper. and remove the paper in the area being worked on.
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Once thats complete, take a popsicle stick or the blunt end of a skewer and crease around the spacing
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taking the sharp end of a razor blade slowly pick out the foam in the center being delicate not to puncture the layer of paper on the opposite side.
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Complete, the space should comfortably fit the plate.
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be mindful when glueing the top plate of the fuselage, you need to add glue to both the side cheek and the plate tab.


Meanwhile at the tail, the small shape on the front side was preventing the tail to sit level.
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i made the adjustment on the shape and will be correcting it on the plans.

More to come when the wings are being formed!