Solved FTFC20 Design Challenge Draft Idea Thread
- Thread starter rockyboy
- Start date
MarioGdV
Active member
I'm getting ready to launch the FTFC in the next day or so, and the timeline will be starting now and ending in January. The goal of the challenge is to promote learning, designing, and research - not to solve a particular technical objective, but to encourage, teach, and enhance people's skills to promote the hobby in general. So if you want to start before I get the official post up, that's fine - and anyone who has an in-process project that qualifies can enter too - and it's perfectly acceptable for more than one person to do the same plane/plans, and for one person do to more than one entry.
No size or scaling restrictions - build, update, modify, adjust, scale, etc. to your heart's content - as long as you have a picture of a balsa plan to share with us for the model you're building and talk about all the cool things you're doing to make the foam board version of the plane, it's all good!
Awesome, thank you!
Vimana89
Legendary member
Ok. So no last laugh, or even lancer. Not substantial enough plans or build guides. This would have been a bit of a bummer...but I've started to look through the enormous list of plans at Outerzone, and I've already found a few I like even better than my original ideas. This place is a gold mine!
Check out some of these great videos and discussions on how to create DTFB plans
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/part-1-how-to-design-dtfb-planes.11967/
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/ft-style-cad-templates.25514/
Also in many of the forum challenge build threads from the last several years people like @willsonman @localfiend @Mid7night and myself have done some detailed step by step explanations of the software and design process too.
Helping people learn to make plans is a primary goal for this activity, so jump on in and let us help!
Vimana89
Legendary member
so far I've been through like 50/180 pages there on outerzone...things I've learned: This hobby has a super long history that's more colorful than I know, and the Nutball is not a new concept at all! I see so much cool stuff and how it evolved into a lot of the designs we enjoy today. I've seen a few lower aspect deltas too from early days, and even an anular wings and stuff. Theres a pusher biplane with a very nice setup I want to do and many more!
Vimana89
Legendary member
There's so many planes to choose from that are awesome, so I'll end up doing more than one, and possibly more than two or three before the year's out, depending on many things, including learning how to make plans. There's one that stuck out so far as a great place to start, because it is an oddball plane, but similar enough to a Nutball and such to know what to expect for flight characteristics. I can prototype this over an evening and test before wind the next morning.
Here's my first entry:
Vimana89
Floating Kobra (Floating Kidney)
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.p...ting-kobra-floating-kidney-by-vimana89.59747/
Outerzone balsa plan
Vimana89 Rough Concept Sketch
Here's my first entry:
Vimana89
Floating Kobra (Floating Kidney)
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.p...ting-kobra-floating-kidney-by-vimana89.59747/
Outerzone balsa plan
Vimana89 Rough Concept Sketch
Attachments
Vimana89
Legendary member
I have a prototype nearly complete already. I actually spent quite a bit of time sketching up a fancy A fold high mounted pusher style nose. Then I didn't like the way it looked and the whole idea of it for this plane-a basic tractor just looked a lot better so I changed it up. The spine is off center just a tad bit don't think it will hurt. This is a quick and dirty prototype, so once I get it flying I'll have more time to polish it up.
Yep - just looking for plane that can fly with FT power pack sized motors so it's easier for others to build your design. Just let us know which FT Power Pack size fits and it's all good, no matter which manufacturer's motors you end up using.
kilroy07
Legendary member
Let’s talk washout.
Seems to be pretty common in the designs I’m looking at (“might” rhyme with Sweet Pea)....
So, I’m not sure there’s an easy way to do that in foamboard. One option I saw was simply build it with each (both) ailerons a tad up (above the wings surface.)
I also wonder if this is why we see undercambered wings on most FT designs?
Thoughts/comments?
Seems to be pretty common in the designs I’m looking at (“might” rhyme with Sweet Pea)....
So, I’m not sure there’s an easy way to do that in foamboard. One option I saw was simply build it with each (both) ailerons a tad up (above the wings surface.)
I also wonder if this is why we see undercambered wings on most FT designs?
Thoughts/comments?
I do believe this is why we have undercambered FT wings - has a very similar aerodynamic effect and much simpler to build in foam board.
Vimana89
Legendary member
Last night I finished up my prototype after ditching the fancy but ungainly pusher nose for a basic tractor. A polished version for published plans may have a nicer box fuselage and no visible electronics, but I went "Mad Max" for the prototype so I could get it working as quick as possible, so it's all just scrubbing from here👍. I just got back from the maiden, and I was nervous...but...this baby flew GREAT!It can do all the basics no prob and some stuff I'm not ready to do consistently(inverted) and recovered in a snap when I accidentally pushed it into fancy unintended maneuvers. This entry is my warm up plane. Something fun and odd but easy and quick to get running. I'll be doing more planes for this competition, pretty much all of which are more complex to build than the Kobra/Floating Kidney design.
Attachments
Vimana89
Legendary member
Uncut maiden still with crappy time stamp.Went better than I could have expected! I forgot my trusty FT shades so the sun threw me off a bit at first. I recovered and started getting a feel for the handling. By the end of the clip I'm flying much better, and bring it in for a nice smooth, gentle flop landing. Small bit of commentary in this, but mostly concentrating on flying. Could have run all day though-that is indeed a 1300 you guys see in that pic. It brought the CG about where it should be, and the plane has plenty spare wing loading and doesn't mind. A radial 1806 with a 5x3x2 on 3s 1300 mAh is extremely efficient and has a long run time per charge, and surprisingly, an abundance of power and thrust to support this airframe even with the mild prop.
Sure - that works just fine, and is pretty much what I've done recently. Or you could import the image into Inkscape and trace over it there (works great if you want to make printed decals). Or print the balsa plans out, make the foam board plane over the plans with folds and changes as necessary, then diss-assemble the plane to make plans from the pieces.
