FTCC'18 WWII Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake"

[Sir Fly]

Looking good, nice progress.

Thanks.

I finished the design and was laying out the plans in Sketchup when I checked to make sure that the body would fit on a single piece of DTFB and found that it did not. The picture shows the body plan over two pieces of virtual DTFB, long edges together. Unless they make DTFB larger than 30" x 20," I will have to make the body out of two pieces glued together.



At first I thought I should just have a seam running the width of the wing on the top, but I wasn't sure if that was the best approach. Any thoughts?

 

[PsyBorg]

Could you move the lower foam up a bit to align the edge with that first seam / bend? If it gets cut there that gives some overlap in a key place on the leading edge. Then the top and bottom halves being a two piece fuselage would not matter. You would still have the same bends / folds in the same place so the plan would be exactly the same just have one seem.

 

[Sir Fly]

I can't move the wing geometry any higher without distorting the shape. I can move it down so that the seam is on the first crease for the airfoil, but that might be worse.

 

[Sir Fly]

Flying Pancake Mk. I

I went ahead and formatted the plans, printed them out and started prototyping. It definitely looks like a pancake, but the question is will it fly!





Overall I am pleased with the progress so far. Most of it looks scale (with some exceptions I'll get to in a minute), and it was surprisingly easy to build. It was much larger than I expected but that was quite alright! The main issue I had was the size difference between the wing/body pieces. Since I am using the my.SketchUp web app so I can access the design on the cloud, I can't export the plans as a 2D vector image, I have to take a screenshot and scale it in a program like DoubleCAD or MS Publisher. I don't have DoubleCAD on my PC, so that left me with MS Publisher. Obviously, vector graphics and DoubleCAD are better suited to the job, but MS Publisher also gets the job done. Unfortunately, you can not scale an image by a set value, so when I went to scale the two wing/body pieces, a small difference in scaling created a substantial issue when putting the plane together. Thankfully, I know how to fix that issue and I will get it repaired.

Second major issue was the cockpit size. I reverted to the simpler cockpit design instead of the geodesic one due to time sake (had a wedding I had to attend to ), so it is not final either.

Finally, I need to make the "taileron" control surfaces on the winglets larger and find spaces to install servos. More on that later on!

Once I get a working, flying model I will release the plans for feedback to see what I can improve/add before the design deadline!

 

[Sir Fly]

Prototype Mk 2!

Second prototype has been finished and electronics have been installed. It is ready for a maiden flight!!!!







The servos were placed a little haphazardly, especially the elevator servos. I would like to keep the elevator split to two surfaces, but because of how the servos have to be oriented I might have to instead consolidate them into one large elevator and one servo. It will save a servo, but at the cost of accuracy to the real plane. I am not sure. I'll have to redesign that part later. The wires are a little messy as well, but that is less of a concern.

Thankfully, my fears of balancing issues was unfounded, and it balanced very nicely with a 3s tucked in the nose under the impromptu battery hatch I made. And now the maiden! I'll make sure to take video and pictures when I go fly it later this week!

Wish me luck!

Sir Fly

 

[DamoRC]

Well done on a very nice build and best of luck with the maiden.

DamoRC

 

[Sir Fly]

So, noticeably I never went to maiden the pancake later that week. We went camping, visited family, and just moved my brother to college. So needless to say, I have been pretty busy recently. I am also going back to school starting on Monday, and I have to finish all of my summer assignments I have been putting off.

I will try and find some time this weekend to maiden the plane, and if not maybe the weekend after that.

Sorry for the wait guys!

Sir Fly

 

[HilldaFlyer]

Yeah, don't you hate it when life gets in the way of a hobby.

 

[Sir Fly]

LOL ikr. Pesky responsibilities, always messing everything up.

 

[Namactual]

That is looking good Sir Fly!

And I hear ya on the responsibilities.

I will say this though, the responsibilities make the hobby what it is. If the hobby becomes the life, it becomes a chore rather than the escape.

 

[Isaiah Austin]

Wow! I have always wanted to see someone make a Vought V-173 out of foam (because it's one of my favorite planes). Great job, Sir Fly!

 

[foamtest]

And I hear ya on the responsibilities.

I will say this though, the responsibilities make the hobby what it is. If the hobby becomes the life, it becomes a chore rather than the escape.

I have to say that this is all too true. During the beginning summer I had basically planned to build planes the whole time and make a ton of YouTube videos. After about a week or so it definitely became more of a chore than a hobby. Because of this I really haven't done much with the hobby since. (or at least no where near as much as I used to) I am just starting to get back into the hobby after the few month break. The starting of school is actually been the main reason I've gotten back into the hobby, because now I need an escape again. I guess it's another lesson learned the hard way.

 

[Sir Fly]

WOW!!! I have always wanted to see someone make a Vought V-173 out of foam (because it's my favorite plane). Great job, Sir Fly!!! :applause:

Thank you so much for the support! I definitely agree it is an awesome plane. Hopefully I can maiden my mk II build sometime this month and upload plans for community revisions (if it flies )

You should also check out localfiends Flying Flapjack build! The Flapjack was the finished naval fighter that was developed from the V 173. His design is much more detailed and better represents the plane's actual shape.

 

[rockyboy]

Any luck on getting that maiden flight in yet?

 

[Sir Fly]

...no

School. 3 AP's and multiple extracurriculars doesn't leave much time for planes.

But without a doubt the plans will be finalized by the deadline. At the latest I am hoping to maiden over fall break. But that is at the latest!

 

[rockyboy]

Hopefully that's plenty of time to get everything in on the challenge timeline without adding any more stress to an already crazy schedule!

And I can sympathize on the wacky schedule. My daughter is a freshmen in high school and it sounds like we've got similar schedule insanity - two volleyball teams (one playing, one coaching) and kempo and rock band on top of school work is a lot.

So hang in there, keep up the school work as first priority (well, health first - then school work) and don't let the hobby or this challenge timeline become a source of extra stress. This should be the fun stuff, and we'll all be excited to see you finish whenever it happens!

 

[FoamyDM]

Keep up the good work... This looks wonderful.

Come on over to the TEAM ALLIED FORCES page to talk stink and color schemes. (link in Sig.)