I want to fly an A-4 at Flite Fest...

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
How did you create the pdf?

I am looking to design a plane and wondering what exactly you did for the plans?

I confess: I do 3D modeling as a large part of my job, and I use similar tools for my hobby designs. So I modeled the A-4 in CAD, then unfolded it and placed the pieces on a 20x30" area, then save as a DXF, then covert to PDF using Adobe Illustrator. The program I use (MOI3D), has the ability to save a PDF or DXF (which can be converted to a PDF). That's the short version anyway. :)
 

SlingShot

Maneuvering With Purpose
Congrats!! and... Yikes! That's quite an "after" shot. At least you got some successful air time though, that's something! And it looks/sounds like you can salvage most of it. You just need a new nose, mostly.

Oh yeah...and don't forget the Velcro! Or get a bigger battery... :p

<sigh> I had velcro strips but I obviously did not have a good grab/seal :(

Then it occurred to me that I have a few velcro cord straps that I can re-purpose. And I believe I will put some sort of partial former/bulkhead in there for the battery.

Hmmmm........what about a loose overhand knot at the battery connection like you do with an extension cord?
 
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SlingShot

Maneuvering With Purpose
:black_eyed: I took the hint and did a good repair on my A-4. I rebuilt from the forward most, topside EDF cradle slot on the fuse. Beat out the dents on the nacelles and the tail, and hot glue "Bondo'd" the creases. The wing was fine. With a little sandpaper and some paint, it would actually look good. Re-maiden tomorrow. My rally cap is on.
 

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
:black_eyed: I took the hint and did a good repair on my A-4. I rebuilt from the forward most, topside EDF cradle slot on the fuse. Beat out the dents on the nacelles and the tail, and hot glue "Bondo'd" the creases. The wing was fine. With a little sandpaper and some paint, it would actually look good. Re-maiden tomorrow. My rally cap is on.

That's great!! Can't wait for you to get it back in the air! :cool:

I did some nozzle testing today, and pretty much confirmed that the exit area is the single largest contributor to "jet whoosh" vs. "hair dryer" sound.

I'm going to look for ways to get the exit area - and sound - without sacrificing too much thrust. More testing needed.
 

JDill

Member
Ben, I currently have a 12-bladed Viggen that I fly and it's been a great intro to EDF. The one thing I'm not as happy with is the flat wing so I was planning to rebuild it this winter, but now I think I'll just build your A-4!

Any chance/talk about FliteTest adding your design to their lineup?

Nice work and thanks for sharing!

Jeff
 

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
Happy Thanksgiving! As a special treat, SP0NZ has just finished his redraw of my A-4 plans (and tiling, and formatting, and everything awesome he does)!!

So now you can enjoy the wonderful buttery goodness that is the "SP0NZ" formatted set of plans, and see how easy and smooth it is to build an A-4 for your very own! :p

They're linked here, and in the first post.

View attachment XF_A-4_b0.7_AIO.pdf

View attachment XF_A-4_b0.7_Full-Size.pdf

View attachment XF_A-4_b0.7_Tiled_A-Size.pdf

View attachment XF_A-4_b0.7_Tiled_B-Size.pdf
 

Air Force One

New member
I might be missing something here, but did you shoot a build video? It'll be interesting to see as I just can't seem to find a way to mount the battery and maintain the CoG. Using a 4S 2650, might be too light. but scared that 2 4S 2200s paralelled is too heavy.
 

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
I might be missing something here, but did you shoot a build video? It'll be interesting to see as I just can't seem to find a way to mount the battery and maintain the CoG. Using a 4S 2650, might be too light. but scared that 2 4S 2200s paralelled is too heavy.

I started to shoot a video, but it's just too much for me to wade through editing-wise right now.

The battery is supposed to slide in through the nose-hatch, and slide down under the inlet and under the EDF, essentially in the middle of the wing. That's why the upper surface of the wings are cut back relative to the lower surface. That's your battery compartment. If you need to slide it further aft, you need to cut away more of the wing upper surface, or just fly a little nose-heavy - it actually flies rather well that way.

A 4S 2650 is a decent lightweight battery for the 70mm that I use, but will only last maybe 1.5 to 2 minutes of hard flying. Weight-wise, if you've got a good arm and at least a little headwind, the A-4 will fly on a 4S 6000mAh Graphene battery. It certainly flies 'heavier' (you've got to manage your wing and energy more), but then you've got more flight time to play with.

I usually fly on a single 4500, and set my throttle timer for 4 minutes, based on throttle-percentage. I think 4500 is a nice balance between capacity and weight.
 

TeckRC

New member
Im starting this build and im wondering how the creases go on the part where it looks to be the air inlet? does anyone happen to have a picture or can tell me how these creases should be? im not sure how they are supposed to go? Screenshot-2017-12-1 XF A-4 Skyhawk Tiled A-Size - XF_A-4_b0 7_Tiled_A-Size pdf.png
 

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
Im starting this build and im wondering how the creases go on the part where it looks to be the air inlet? does anyone happen to have a picture or can tell me how these creases should be? im not sure how they are supposed to go? View attachment 98814

The piece with a curved edge folds 'out', and the other piece (with two creases) folds 'in' to form the inlet bifurcation.

See this post for pics of the inside: http://forum.flitetest.com/showthre...-at-Flite-Fest&p=347954&viewfull=1#post347954

The pictures show an earlier version with squared-off nacelles, but the fold-out and fold-in process is identical.

Hope that helps!

Believe me, I want to put out a build video of this as much as you guys want to see one... :D
 

TeckRC

New member
The piece with a curved edge folds 'out', and the other piece (with two creases) folds 'in' to form the inlet bifurcation.

See this post for pics of the inside: http://forum.flitetest.com/showthre...-at-Flite-Fest&p=347954&viewfull=1#post347954

The pictures show an earlier version with squared-off nacelles, but the fold-out and fold-in process is identical.

Hope that helps!

Believe me, I want to put out a build video of this as much as you guys want to see one... :D



Ohh perfect, I dont know how i missed those pictures i thought i went through all the pages, thank you very much thats what i needed.
 

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
Awesome, Chuppster! Hope it goes well for you. Please post any questions you have here in the thread so others can have the answers too! :cool:
 

Chuppster

Well-known member
The only problem I've had yet is with the "Lower EDF Mount." In the plans there is a notch cut out for the slots in the side of the fuselage, but the other (I'm assuming front) side actually extends up. This doesn't alight well with the side inlets in my fuselage, so I cut it down so the part is symmetrical.

In the pictures, I cut the part I circled in red to fit where you see it in the second picture. Was this the right thing to do?
lower_EDF_mount.JPG
edf pic.jpg
 

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
The tabs and slots do line up as-drawn; the front/rear slots in the fuse are not identical. But as long as everything fits in, that's all that matters!

Maybe I need to add a "this way front ---->" arrow on that part for clarity.

The order of assembly for all those parts is tricky too, so props to you for getting it together yourself!