FTFC24: Build-ruary by Fishbones Air

[FishbonesAir]

Deal me in.
So, I'm putting in with this one:
FTFC24: Build-ruary by @FishbonesAir
Build Skill: Depends. Are we talking Balsa or Foam? Foam: 2'ish, probably better but I'm really, really slow, and afraid of making mistakes.
Pilot Skill: 1.8 Can take off, land without a gyro now. Usually. Sometimes. With the FT Tutor. Even go a little crazy in the air. )
1. FT Mini Guinea
2. B-25 (Fishbones Air plans, if you can call them that, lol)
3. AP Kwak
4. Woodstock - Another Fine Fishbones Air Original. First one flew kinda like Snoopy's sidekick, hence the name. Rebuild is gonna have a bigger tail.

 

[FishbonesAir]

Step one, recover parts from trashed planes. My son's cat, Peanut, is "helping" sorta.

 

[FishbonesAir]

https://aerofred.com/details.php?image_id=83425&mode=search Prairie Bird MAN on AeroFred
This is actually a complete rebuild of this airplane, and I call it Woodstock, after this guy:

, due to how the first one flew.

About the plans... take those with a grain of salt. I used them as a guideline. The wingspan was increased to 20", the fuselage was made a bit thicker, vertical stabilizer is, I think already taller than the original plan, and going to get bigger... Eventually I'll put this all into a real plan to publish, that someone might be able to follow. But the original Peck plan was were I started.

About Woodstock I: It actually flew pretty good, sometimes. The big wing made it soar reasonably well, but it was touchy - really touchy. too much rudder, and it was doing all sorts of funny things, all over the sky, in very unpredictable ways. Having no ailerons made it difficult to recover, once it was in the Woodstock Death Looptm. After the first 6-12 landing/crashes - with Woodstock, they're pretty much the same thing, I moved the motor from the front of the plane, to a pusher configuration behind the wing.

The landing gear, while intended to be useful, turned out to be for show:

You see, "landing" just wasn't a thing for Woodstock. It was, on a good day, more of a controlled crash, just like the cartoon character. I did, on one occasion, manage to takeoff from the ground using the landing gear. That ascent looked very much like it belonged in a Charlie Brown Special, right next to Snoopy's dog house... The flight went well, until a gust of wind caught it in a turn, flipped it over, and, well... yah. It was a fly-in/demo, and I think the kids enjoyed the little bird, tittering around the air on the brink of disaster. I'm really not sure why the landing gear performed so poorly.

Better luck next time Chuck - Peppermint Patty.

 

[Scotto]

https://aerofred.com/details.php?image_id=83425&mode=search Prairie Bird MAN on AeroFred
This is actually a complete rebuild of this airplane, and I call it Woodstock, after this guy: View attachment 242541 , due to how the first one flew.

About the plans... take those with a grain of salt. I used them as a guideline. The wingspan was increased to 20", the fuselage was made a bit thicker, vertical stabilizer is, I think already taller than the original plan, and going to get bigger... Eventually I'll put this all into a real plan to publish, that someone might be able to follow. But the original Peck plan was were I started.

About Woodstock I: It actually flew pretty good, sometimes. The big wing made it soar reasonably well, but it was touchy - really touchy. too much rudder, and it was doing all sorts of funny things, all over the sky, in very unpredictable ways. Having no ailerons made it difficult to recover, once it was in the Woodstock Death Looptm. After the first 6-12 landing/crashes - with Woodstock, they're pretty much the same thing, I moved the motor from the front of the plane, to a pusher configuration behind the wing.

The landing gear, while intended to be useful, turned out to be for show:
View attachment 242542 View attachment 242543
You see, "landing" just wasn't a thing for Woodstock. It was, on a good day, more of a controlled crash, just like the cartoon character. I did, on one occasion, manage to takeoff from the ground using the landing gear. That ascent looked very much like it belonged in a Charlie Brown Special, right next to Snoopy's dog house... The flight went well, until a gust of wind caught it in a turn, flipped it over, and, well... yah. It was a fly-in/demo, and I think the kids enjoyed the little bird, tittering around the air on the brink of disaster. I'm really not sure why the landing gear performed so poorly.

Better luck next time Chuck - Peppermint Patty.

From what you describe I think Id try building it with about half the dihedral this time. It sounds like Woodstock 1 had a bad case of Dutch roll. Goos luck and have fun

 

[FishbonesAir]

From what you describe I think Id try building it with about half the dihedral this time. It sounds like Woodstock 1 had a bad case of Dutch roll. Goos luck and have fun

I'll give that a try. I'm building smaller, as the 1104 seemed to struggle unless wide open, and trying to reduce weight. Probably will eliminate the landing gear (6.5g) which also eliminates some drag.

I got new batteries which are half the weight of what I was forced to use previously, and that's a huge savings in a plane this size.

 

[FoamyDM]

I have to find my APKwak plans

 

[FishbonesAir]

I have to find my APKwak plans

I also found that the AP Kwak fits quite nicely on 11x17 if you take the pdf image, and let the bottom writing be sacrificed. I did this using Inkscape, for a "Duckling" model. I haven't built yet.

 

[LitterBug]

I have to find my APKwak plans

This AP Kwak? https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/ap-kwak-kwak-the-fast-mighty-mini-duck.32705/

 

[FishbonesAir]

Update on Project Woodstock. This is a picture of the original balsa and tissue Peck free flight airplane, as required for the challenge:

The original plan is already included above. I'm actually following the plan closer than I did the first time. I'm drafting my own though, for building in foamboard, so that someone else can do this airplane the way I did if they wish. I am keeping my major refit of the motor being behind the wing. The long, lanky landing gear on the picture above is gone, though I may fit some kind of dachshund gear to it. We'll see.

Wingspan is back down to the original 16"/406mm, though it is about 100mm wide cord now, a bit wider than the original. I'm hoping to have everything assembled today.

Shalom

 

[FishbonesAir]

Update picture. Wing will be held by rubber bands.

 

[FishbonesAir]

Looking like flight weight will be around 75-80 grams.

 

[FishbonesAir]

Woodstock II Build complete, but maiden delayed due to weather.

Here's the completed airplane. One static display, and one with my wife hamming it up model-magazine cover style. 😎

Addenda: All up weight 75g with a 350mah 2s battery.

 

[FishbonesAir]

Next up: Mini Guinea
Plan link: https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?resources/ft-mini-guinea.169/

 

[FishbonesAir]

Wing done, except for links. I decided to use DTFB, and a balsa spar as an experiment. The wing also features a smooth airfoil.

The servos are two JX PDI-D56MG Metal gear. They come in at 5.6g, with the control horn. I have used this brand, but not this particular servo before. I've stripped multiple FT 5g servos in my wings however, which is why I'm trying these.

 

[FishbonesAir]

90% done, with 90% left to do. 😆


I especially like how the cockpit came out



Receiver needs to be tied down somewhere. I'm going to install lights, but haven't decided about landing gear.

 

[FishbonesAir]

The completed aircraft

I didn't have any stars and bars or a Coast Guard emblem. I can't print white on a sticker so I'll probably get something somewhere down the road.

 

[FoamyDM]

Great Job! it is Builder's knife down time for judging purposes. I look forward to the maiden vids!