FTFC19 Lockheed N+2 SST designed by FAI-F1D

JTarmstr

Elite member
That super hard balsa isn't good for planes. Get the good C-grain from Sig, or better yet, buy contest grade C-grain from specializedbalsa.com (my preferred supplier).

Ok thanks, I will look into it, when I build rockets, they generally are going really fast so I like hard balsa that wont warp but medium is good too.

D engines would put this into F class, but would also shred it to bits at nearly 300 mph. So instead it's going to launch on a single D, or better yet an Aerotech E6 which will give almost 10 seconds of power at 80-100 mph and put this thing 500-600' up. I reckon some od my cheating ways should be acknowledged: I'm basing this setup off the Dynasoar Rocketry designs.

Yeah, I have heard about the dynasoar rockets, never seen any in person. I have a few books on rocketry and one of them is pretty laudatory of them. The Aerotech engine would give a fairly slow looking flight at that speed. Well if you ever have any expendables of this model try a D12 or E12 and see what happens ;)
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
Ok thanks, I will look into it, when I build rockets, they generally are going really fast so I like hard balsa that wont warp but medium is good too.

Don't get caught in the trap of "fast needs hard balsa". It's a false dichotomy. The only reason to use hard balsa on the flying surfaces or on your rocket's fins is on components where you need drag reduction at the expense of weight. Examples would be the fuselage on a glider or the fins on an altitude competition rocket. For a given total weight, light balsa used in a thick surface is stronger than thin hard balsa.

The Aerotech engine would give a fairly slow looking flight at that speed. Well if you ever have any expendables of this model try a D12 or E12 and see what happens ;)

It'll be strong enough to handle a D12. No expendability required. You'd want to be more careful on a Dynasoar kit, of course, because those are bare Depron.
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
Don't get caught in the trap of "fast needs hard balsa". It's a false dichotomy. The only reason to use hard balsa on the flying surfaces or on your rocket's fins is on components where you need drag reduction at the expense of weight. Examples would be the fuselage on a glider or the fins on an altitude competition rocket. For a given total weight, light balsa used in a thick surface is stronger than thin hard balsa.

Ok, thanks, I dont like to make my rockets go to high generally, last time I tried a high altitude build it landed about a mile away in the woods. I actually didnt know that. I always thought you wanted hard balsa for keeping your fins from warping and breaking.



It'll be strong enough to handle a D12. No expendability required. You'd want to be more careful on a Dynasoar kit, of course, because those are bare Depron.

Ok, cant wait to see it. Will this be a RC glider or free flight (for the rocket version)?
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
Ok, thanks, I dont like to make my rockets go to high generally, last time I tried a high altitude build it landed about a mile away in the woods. I actually didnt know that. I always thought you wanted hard balsa for keeping your fins from warping and breaking.

Yeah thin balsa, regardless of density, is always more prone to warp than thicker balsa. One noticeable benefit of hard balsa, of course, is ding resistance on less than perfect recoveries. You can eliminate some of this problem by skinning the fins with tissue paper.

Ok, cant wait to see it. Will this be a RC glider or free flight (for the rocket version)?

Two channel R/C (elevons) plus throttle when the EDF is installed, and (hopefully) retractable landing gear.
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
I'm the world's greatest procrastinator. At least I have all the parts finally.

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FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
I'm building this model in parallel with my Dynasoar Stratodart X.

Last night I made a fair bit of progress, mainly because this model is really simple to build. The wing was made in one piece. Not a bad deal! I did make doublers, which will be provided on the plans. Additionally, I'm going to get rid of the gull wing layout since it's really subtle and unnecessarily complicates the build.
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The foam is all glued with Uhu Por. I used the fuselage as a prop to set the dihedral. The tailcone is formed merely by slotting the fuselage tube and pinching it together. It was fairly simple, although I'm not particularly happy with the result. Here's everything laid out and drying. I just butt glued the tail fins onto the center nacelle.
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And a basic mockup. Not much left to do!
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FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
Much progress has been made, a failure has occurred, and hopefully, corrected. Let us begin...

I slotted the top of the fuselage for the wing (yes, this is detailed in the build video). This proved surprisingly easy.
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After attaching the wing, which I tack glued with CA before sealing filleting with Uhu Por so I could do one more task, I tacked on the nacelles and set it aside to dry:
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I cut out the pattern on the plans and made a pylon from three layers of foam. Then I attached the center nacelle/tail:
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I tacked the servos on with Uhu Por and taped them down to dry. Also punched in the control horns. Easy peasy. Not so easy was routing the servo leads up into the nose area:
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Looks absolutely killer doesn't it?
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I added pushrods and friction fitted an EDF into the center nacelle. This proved absolutely disastrous. It might have had enough power to maintain level flight, but I never found out. It was so terribly underpowered that I plopped it into the grass twice, the second time disconnecting both servo connectors. Well crap.

Fine then...Tossed the fan assembly back in the box, and built the 24mm motor mount I bought from eRockets. And then I cut the shoulder off a 24mm nose cone and mounted it to a 1306 motor (yeah, there's a firewall on it...I glued it on so there's no getting to the screws). What's really cool is the engine retainer clip holds the assembly in the back of the engine mount! Note masking tape on the rear centering ring for a firm friction fit.
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And fitted in place. This should do nicely. It's got plenty of thrust on 2s, and this setup will run fine on 3s as well. Re-maiden tonight, hopefully.
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FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
We had a gathering at church last night, and Hope and I met up from work early to maiden this rascal. Well, it flew. There are some major trim issues that I need to figure out, but it flew and did not crash, and I'm able to tell it to go somewhere and it does. So the primary goal has been met, at least on the electric side. If time and weather permit, I'll launch it tonight and we'll have met the goals of this project short of publishing video, build instructions, and of course the finalized plans. It's definitely an easy build and it's stable, if a bit weird in its stability.

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And yes, I have video of all of it. Y'all just have to wait a little longer.
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
IT'S DONE!

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Believe it or not, in one fell swoop, I've wrapped up ALL of my obligations for this project. Yes indeed, here's proof it flies!

And here's how to build it:

And plans links are back in Post #2 as well as the video descriptions. I hope to see some of y'all at Flite Fest Ohio 2019, and I might even have some spare E6P reloads for y'all to fly in your own N+2 rockets. Or, buy some yourself from dynasoarrocketry.com and let's have a drag race!
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
IT'S DONE!

View attachment 119922

Believe it or not, in one fell swoop, I've wrapped up ALL of my obligations for this project. Yes indeed, here's proof it flies!

And here's how to build it:

And plans links are back in Post #2 as well as the video descriptions. I hope to see some of y'all at Flite Fest Ohio 2019, and I might even have some spare E6P reloads for y'all to fly in your own N+2 rockets. Or, buy some yourself from dynasoarrocketry.com and let's have a drag race!

Congratulations, looks spectacular!
 

burkefj

Junior Member
dynasoarrocketry.com makes great kits, of course I'm biased as I'm the one who makes them:) Josh, this is a nice looking concept to use for a rocket glider and well executed. The long burn E-6 will be your friend, you'll never go back to black powder.

Frank


Yeah, I have heard about the dynasoar rockets, never seen any in person. I have a few books on rocketry and one of them is pretty laudatory of them. The Aerotech engine would give a fairly slow looking flight at that speed. Well if you ever have any expendables of this model try a D12 or E12 and see what happens ;)
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
I did another flight test last night with a sub fin taped to the underside of the fuselage tube at the very back, and the result was quite impressive, especially in conjunction with the 4s Lipo I was running. No more wing rocking in high alpha, and no tendency to fall into a spin during stalls. It also tracks better at high speed, making it, well, even faster. It's quite a well rounded model now, and I can fly it with a lot more confidence. It still won't win any awards for glide performance, but you can pretty much pick a spot to land it and then just gently plop it there. Hope got some video of this and I'll be uploading it in a couple days. Hopefully I can get the plans updated soon as well.
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
I decided it's time to make this bird look properly good. All that's here is a light coat of matte white and some colored packing tape. I'll add some more markings here and there... hoping to add in a special surprise there.
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FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
Ok, flight footage is up. Enjoy. Sorry about the camera not cooperating for some of it. Filming at dusk is pretty difficult, and this time of year that's when most of the opportunities occur here. Still, you get the point. The roll rate on this bird is insane.

 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
Time to tie a bow on this as I wrap up this project. I'd like to get one last flight video in with it looking pretty just before the deadline but that's not a big deal since I fly this airplane regularly and it's definitely a good flier, if a little underperforming compared to a serious parkjet.

I think the final color scheme really pops, and more importantly, allows me to maintain orientation a little better in low light conditions. And I've got those SWEET FTFC'19 logos that were graciously designed by @JTarmstr that are just fantastic!

Lastly, I really hope others will give this plane a try. It's a really simple, affordable build and flies quite well for something so crazy looking. Y'all have fun now. :)

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DamoRC

Elite member
Mentor
Beautiful job.

Is it possible to remote trigger the rocket while in flight on the electric motors?