FTFC'18 WWII Focke-Wulf FW-42

Spacewalker

New member
Bv141 Wing Complete.JPG

Just Wings & Things here on the Bv141,...

Spacewalker pic.png :black_eyed:
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
He Rockyboy.. looks like you got my first words of advise right by going >>> That way REALLY fast. You just forgot the part where if something gets in your way TURN! (this includes the ground my friend) Luckily that'll buff right out.

Seriously though from the description of the event I'd say that survived quite well for a first actual serious crashing. Maybe since there needs to be more forward weight there is potential for doublers up front. Maybe like using an inverted power pod "U" shape from the change in fuse width forward?
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Thanks guys! Yeah, some extra reinforcements in the nose wouldn't be out of place. Interesting that both these canard designs had the same reaction to tail winds... probably deserves some more research to see if this is a known and common design effect, or just our rough luck :)
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
The sudden nose drop when there is a sudden loss of airspeed is integral in the design. The canard is loaded to stall first at low speed so that the nose drops and the airspeed increases thereby restoring stable flight.

With early canard designs, (full size), the method of combating gusting winds was to keep the speed up and level out above the runway, raise the nose as the throttle was cut before letting the speed drop too far. At a very very low height if the canard stalled the wing lift could also be dumped if using elevons and the whole plane would just drop safely on its landing gear. Without elevons the nose was already being held up and the drop of the nose reduced the wing incidence as well and the wing lift was reduced anyway. Again the craft settled down on the runway instead of nosing in. Nose up angle is rather slight but important. If not achievable it means that perhaps the craft is a little too heavy or the total lift not properly distributed as yet.

Practice nose up angle of attack with little or no throttle and landings will always be sweet. It is not easy but practice makes perfect.

Have fun!
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
That makes sense - in the case of the FW-42 I crashed, I think if the elevons were larger perhaps it could have let it drop with a more level attitude in the incident I had - but I will definitely try the method of nose up, throttle down - that sound like fun! :)
 

Spacewalker

New member
Trashed Counter Top.JPG

See Hilda, Wee apartments work too, LOL ;)

Bv141 Belly Shot.JPG :black_eyed:

Spacewalker pic.png
 

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Spacewalker

New member
Maybe we should rename this thread -

"Meet the Focke-rs", LOL!!!

I just printed a set of the plans off, thanks Rocky! I think I'll paint my RKY-FW-42;) something like this Focke Wulf FW 190 A-5 - 2:

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I kinda dig the Schwartz Adler (Black Eagle) fuse Art & yeller tail.



Any new flight vids? Great aircraft choice guys!!!
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Awesome! Let us know how the build experience goes and if you run into any questions. I'm going to get a set of build instructions and photos done, but that will probably be a mid to late November activity given my current rate of progress.

And I love the Black Eagle paint scheme - or the top of at anyway. I have lost more planes to pilot orientation issues than all other reasons combined, so I am really big on making the top and bottom very different color wise. I know invasion stripes were an allied thing, but I'm thinking some large white or yellow areas on the bottom would really help keep it aligned properly in the air for me :)
 

Spacewalker

New member
I guess I'll have the "Yeller Belly Sapsucker FW42",... Lol. I appreciate the insights. Thank you for all your hard work on this whole effort Rocky! It's a big undertaking, not just the FW but this entire challenge & I would sincerely like to say "Thanks Brother!"




Weltraumspatziergang.jpg

Spacewalker pic.png Salutes you, Focke Wulf -"Squadron Commander"- Rocky!!!:black_eyed:
 
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Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
I am not sure if you are aware but you keep posting pics of a model of a german officer who died labelled as a traitor. The model is I believe of Col Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg who tried to kill Adolf Hitler with a bomb carried in his briefcase.

Have fun!
 

Spacewalker

New member
I am not sure if you are aware but you keep posting pics of a model of a german officer who died labelled as a traitor. The model is I believe of Col Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg who tried to kill Adolf Hitler with a bomb carried in his briefcase.

Have fun!

Great Catch Hai-Lee,

Fitting as I have an entry on both sides,... don't ya think? (not to mention Choosing the Eagle with the Yellow Belly FW-42)

Axis Entry-Bv141:
http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?37406-Spacewalker-s-BV-141

Allied Entry G-38:
http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?37439-FTFC-18-WWII-Grokhovsky-G-38-by-SpaceWalker

For those interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_von_Stauffenberg

:black_eyed:

That said,.. In real life I've served in the US Army for 22 Years (& with many a good lad from Australia(I even have Aussie Para-Wings from a jump exchange,... Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi! Oi! Oi!))
Cheers Mate
 
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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Thank you for all your hard work on this whole effort Rocky! It's a big undertaking, not just the FW but this entire challenge & I would sincerely like to say "Thanks Brother!"

You're welcome! I'm building on the work and advice of those who came before me with this community challenge thing, and it's a whole lot of fun - I highly recommend it! :p
 

Spacewalker

New member
Started sorting out the plan sheets for my RK-FW-42, Pulled un-needed sheets out(saved for future scribbles ;) ) & trimmed the rest for overlap so I can "77" them to a set of posterboard templates for future useage. Was interrupted by mail lady for some Flite Test parts(updated in other build threads).

Maybe I'll get one cut out this weekend,.. if so I'll send pics!:black_eyed:
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
I did run into a problem though with turning into a tailwind that was a lot stronger than I thought it was. And unfortunately when you turn into a strong tail wind, the effective airspeed drops - a lot - and all the lift goes away. And if you do this when you are only one mistake high, then you end up with a nose looking like this...

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No other damage though, so I might just build a new nose on this one real quick so I can keep testing it while I finish up the decals for the pretty one. :)

So the rebuild / repair is underway. With some more tweaking and figuring, I have been able to get the FW-42 v3 plans convered to gcode and actually cutting some parts out on the Lowrider CNC! :applause: It's cutting a lot slower than it should, and I have a lot of learning to do on the software side to get it tuned, but hey - it's working :)

Seems my hot glue joint on the wing join sort of sucked, and the wings separated in the crash or transport back home too. And the rudder got moist and warped. So instead of just replacing the nose, I think it's better to just keep the wings from the old one and move them to a new frame.

So to help with that joint, I'm adding a pair of bamboo skewers for spars across the wing join, and a couple wing saddle supports in the fuse too.

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And a trusty paint stick to stiffen up the front end - although I don't think it would have done much in the crash I put it through :black_eyed:

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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
I forgot to take beauty pic last night, but the v3 prototype rebuild is complete and she's ready for a remaiden. It's half a new plane now - all I saved from the first build were the wings and nacelles. :black_eyed:

I did make a couple more tweaks to the plan in addition to the ones shown above - added some partial fuselage doublers, a radio/battery tray, and tweaked the fuselage canard cutout shape a bit. I'll release the v4 plans and skins as the final as soon as I get tiled and full size PDF's done for them.

Just for fun, I'll also include my gcode and links to the Easel CNC project file in case any of you needle or laser cutter folks want to give it a try. I will warn people that the gcode generated by Easel is really, really, really, inefficient for needle cutting though. On my machine the travel moves are actually slower than the cuts, and it took almost 2 hours to run the fuselage gcode. I'm going to learn Estlcam for the next plane I'm cutting. :)

But, getting back to this project, I do have a full set of foam cut and skins printed to build v4 - and I'll be taking pictures and documenting the build on this one. There are some things about the order of build and assembly that only work easily one way, unlike most of the FT designs I've built which can be sort of banged together as you like.