I'm feeling Bi. Biplane, that is.

[Arcfyre]

@TooJung2Die Thanks again for the thread about your SE5. It was before my time here on the FT forums, but it's pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

I think my plan for now would be to finish the scout bipe that I've started cutting out. I want to see if I can get it to fly and how well. With winter coming though I will need some more projects. I think I may tackle that tiger moth as it hasn't been done yet to my knowledge. When that happens I'll make sure to make a post and tag you. I watched your SE5 video and you're right, it's a sweet flying plane.

 

[Arcfyre]

Still working on cutting out pieces. I have most of them done, with the exception of the wings and tail feathers. I may do more, but fatherly duty beckons here in a few, and green eggs and ham won't read itself.

Here is a quick picture of my mod to the fuselage. I dropped the cutouts for the wings so that the bottom of what will be the lower wing is now level with the bottom of the fuselage.

The internal fuselage doublers will not be added, since as a result of this mod, the wing is in the way. The doublers are mostly there to support the landing gear, and I'm pretty sure I can get away with using the wing as the mounting point for the gear. More to come.

 

[KarlBormanAZ]

I have built the Baby Blender, and am soon to start the SE-5. I've been trying to decide whether or not to upscale the SE-5 as the Baby Blender to scale, is a bit small IMO, and flies a bit sketch on the roll axis. It definitely isn't the plane you can take your eyes off of and let the sticks go nuetral and think it is going to fly straight and level. I'm guessing that is due to the size and the relatively short wingspan. Please let us know and document your build, especially if you decide to up-scale. I really like the mods that [U]TooJung2Die[/U] has done to his SE-5 and plan to incorporate some of them in mine. Oh, also, I'm not super fond of the stock landing gear configuration on the Baby Blender either. It looks good in theory, but the gear tends to pop out of the rubberbands even on "not so hard" landings, and then it just pokes holes in the bottom of the bottom wing. I've modified it a bit to put stops on either side of the V brace in the gear which does help with this some. CG is also pretty critical on the BB since it is such a short fuse. I almost lost it in my maiden flight due o being tail heavy. It likes CG a bit forward IMO.

 

[Arcfyre]

Work has been really heavy this week. With any luck I'll have some time this weekend to really put some effort into this model. I'll take some pictures during the build process for sure.

 

[Arcfyre]

Got the wings assembled today. Dihedral and ailerons for the bottom wing. Top wing is straight and clean.

 

[buzzbomb]

Got the wings assembled today. Dihedral and ailerons for the bottom wing. Top wing is straight and clean.

View attachment 146809

It looks like you did a foldover for the bottom, and a Mini Scout style wing for the top. I didn't think of that! Is the top wing longer, or is it just the angle of the photo? Or is it all angle, and they're the same except for the dihedral?

 

[Arcfyre]

It looks like you did a foldover for the bottom, and a Mini Scout style wing for the top. I didn't think of that! Is the top wing longer, or is it just the angle of the photo? Or is it all angle, and they're the same except for the dihedral?

They are actually both foldover scout wings. The bottom one has dihedral and ailerons cut in, as well as the necessary holes for servos. The top one is clean, meaning no holes and no dihedral.

 

[Arcfyre]

Making some progress on this bad boy today.

Fuselage is mostly complete, minus the electronics and turtle deck. Tail feathers are installed and reinforced with skewers in order to prevent warping over time.



Lower wing is attached (sorry, my son INSISTED on being in the pictures). Notice how the lower wing is flush with the bottom of the fuse, compared to the mid-wing layout of the stock scout.



Temporary braces are held on with a clamp. These will help me keep the upper wing straight and centered while I install the bay struts. I will remove these when it comes time to install the cabane struts.



Here's a quick mockup, just laying the top wing on the temp braces. The top wing will be 2" forward of the bottom one, and 8" above it. Based on the reading I did, biplane wings should be vertically spaced by 0.7 - 1.5 times the chord. As the chord on the scout wing is 10", my model is spaced at 0.8.


I'm thinking of using paint sticks for the bay struts, as they will be stronger and longer lasting than foam. I still need to figure out landing gear as this will probably end up being a little large to hand launch.

All in all I'm happy with the progress. I may end up needing an overly large motor to balance this thing though.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Making some progress on this bad boy today.

Fuselage is mostly complete, minus the electronics and turtle deck. Tail feathers are installed and reinforced with skewers in order to prevent warping over time.
View attachment 146942 View attachment 146941


Lower wing is attached (sorry, my son INSISTED on being in the pictures). Notice how the lower wing is flush with the bottom of the fuse, compared to the mid-wing layout of the stock scout.
View attachment 146938 View attachment 146937


Temporary braces are held on with a clamp. These will help me keep the upper wing straight and centered while I install the bay struts. I will remove these when it comes time to install the cabane struts.

View attachment 146936

Here's a quick mockup, just laying the top wing on the temp braces. The top wing will be 2" forward of the bottom one, and 8" above it. Based on the reading I did, biplane wings should be vertically spaced by 0.7 - 1.5 times the chord. As the chord on the scout wing is 10", my model is spaced at 0.8.
View attachment 146939 View attachment 146940

I'm thinking of using paint sticks for the bay struts, as they will be stronger and longer lasting than foam. I still need to figure out landing gear as this will probably end up being a little large to hand launch.

All in all I'm happy with the progress. I may end up needing an overly large motor to balance this thing though.

This is all looking really awesome. Your little guy is quite photogenic, and of coarse has the Hot Wheels car in hand.

A couple questions for you about the build. I see you did the research into the wing spacing, when you say 8" distance from bottom wing to top wing is that from the wing tips or the root? And where do you plan on installing the servos?

I noticed all the skewers you put in the tail, might contribute to your tail weight. You know you could iron out the edges and get the same strength effect without adding weight to the plane. I have a Tips Vid here if you have never seen this before. I know it is some self promoting but it is something that surprises me on many levels, how strong it is and how many people don't know about it.

If you haven't closed up the bottom yet you could peel the paper off the inside of the FB in the tail to take out some tail weight. It is crazy how much the paper weighs and how it lightens thing up.

Hand launching this plane won't be that hard with the underhand toss. I did it all the time with my Spit and the Baby Blender. Check out those vids in my YouTube channel as well. Link is in my signature

Since you aren't using the original landing gear, to add nose weight you could move up to a larger battery and get longer flight times. The wing is now low enough to get a 2200 or bigger in there.

Looks sharp though

 

[Arcfyre]

Some shots of the upper wing mounted.


@BATTLEAXE to answer your questions:

I measured the 8" at the wing tip. At the wing root it will be roughly 1" more because of the dihedral.

I have ironed the edges of the foam on several other airplanes and have been pleased with the results. I agree, it works well to stiffen the surfaces without adding weight. The skewers, however, are more toddler resistant, a significant consideration for me when I'm at work during the day and sometimes forget to hang a plane up high enough, lol.

I may well fly it with a 2200. It would help the nose weight for sure. I'll have to see when I get the pod mounted in.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

That actually looks pretty cool. The one piece bay struts clean it up some, looks sharp. I also use skewers on my Bipes for struts like your cabanes, never had one break on a landing or crash yet.

 

[buzzbomb]

Some shots of the upper wing mounted.
View attachment 146955 View attachment 146956

@BATTLEAXE to answer your questions:

I measured the 8" at the wing tip. At the wing root it will be roughly 1" more because of the dihedral.

I have ironed the edges of the foam on several other airplanes and have been pleased with the results. I agree, it works well to stiffen the surfaces without adding weight. The skewers, however, are more toddler resistant, a significant consideration for me when I'm at work during the day and sometimes forget to hang a plane up high enough, lol.

I may well fly it with a 2200. It would help the nose weight for sure. I'll have to see when I get the pod mounted in.

Looks real good! You're getting close to maiden time!

 

[Arcfyre]

Yeah I still need to wire up the electrics and install the servos. Not difficult, but by no means my favorite part of the build process.

 

[buzzbomb]

Yeah I still need to wire up the electrics and install the servos. Not difficult, but by no means my favorite part of the build process.

I'm with you on that one. That's exactly where I am with my EAF Edge build. It amazes me how something so simple can be such a PIA.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

I'm with you on that one. That's exactly where I am with my EAF Edge build. It amazes me how something so simple can be such a PIA.

Are you gonna get some video of your EAF Edge, if anything for the entertainment factor

 

[buzzbomb]

Are you gonna get some video of your EAF Edge, if anything for the entertainment factor

Darn tootin! I would not deny my adoring (and laughing) public! It'll be posted with the rest of the build on my 2d3d thread.

 

[Arcfyre]

Ready for maiden.

Motor is a Turnigy 2836-1100kv with a 10x4.7 slowly prop. 2200 3S, 40A ESC.

AUW with the 2200 is 2.04 pounds or 927 grams before paint. Too stormy out to maiden, maybe tomorrow?

 

[BATTLEAXE]

No turtle decks?! I can't wait tot see how this flies. Didn't take you to long to build either. Nice job!

 

[Arcfyre]

No turtle decks?! I can't wait tot see how this flies. Didn't take you to long to build either. Nice job!

I was going to do the turtle decks, and then I remembered I hate doing them with a burning passion. Also, it looks like more of a departure from the scout without them on. I kind of like it.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

I always did them but I have seen it just flat with no formers as well and it still looks good. I like yours, looks like someone went to town on removing everything to build a lightweight biplane racer, like a rat rod.