Mini F-14 sort of

[Kai-003]

Alright I'm new to the FT forums so idk what I'm doing, but I made an f-14 and decided to share it with yall in case someone wants to replicate it.

It uses a Freewing 5 blade 3s 64mm edf, and a 3s 1800mah lipo. It can get 3 minutes of flight time depending on throttle use. It's wing sweep it controlled by a single servo. It is fairly easy to build. It's wingspan is about 41in out and 26in in and is 36in long. It weight about 600g, and is super stable with the wing out, and with the wings in, it rolls extremely fast. The plane is actually the same one from MESARC, but with a few modifications. It uses FT 5g servos. The CG is a little behind the one marked for forward swept wings.

You can find the original plans here: https://www.mesarc.club/aerialplans
article here: https://www.flitetest.com/articles/mf-tomcat

The modifications I made we're the following:
1. prop to edf
I didn't cut out the slot for the prop, and I instead installed an edf in between the vertical stabilizers. The edf is 2 inches back. I used the front of the vertical stabs, and drew a line, and found the centre of it, and did the same for the back. I drew a line down the middle, that served at my centre point. I cut a rectangle shaped hole 2 inches back. It was 64mm across, and 3 inches back. I then fit in the edf, and glued it in.

2. Wing sweep
I made the wing-sweep using a single servo in the middle of the plane. It is controlled by the f switch on my dx6e.
I used the following servo: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingtm-hk15148-analog-servo-2-5kg-0-14sec-17g.html
I got two pushrods re-inforced with bamboo skewers. They are just taped together, so it makes the pushrod stiffer.
I also put in some pieces of Popsicle sticks, with a hole in it to reinforce the wing.
The pushrods go from the servo to here:

Wingsweep mechanism

3. I added a little canopy stopper thingy, to make sure the canopy wouldn't fly off midflight. Its just a bit of foamboard behind it.

 

[Kai-003]

I forgot to mention that It can fit a 70mm edf, and it has room for a 4s 2200. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Corsair714]

That's super cool. I've been wanting to build a tomcat, but with a rocket on the back instead of an edf. Could you post a video or explain how you made the wings sweep back and forth?

 

[Corsair714]

oh, and welcome to the forums

 

[PsyBorg]

Wow I forgot about you guys out that way. You been super quiet here. Well done gents.

 

[Kai-003]

That's super cool. I've been wanting to build a tomcat, but with a rocket on the back instead of an edf. Could you post a video or explain how you made the wings sweep back and forth?

so here is my tesst bed I used to get the wing speed before I put it into the plane
I had to bootleg the control rods and servo bc my guinea pig is hogging all them. *looks at all 8 servos I HAD*
so below is how the plane woul,d look before you put the wing covers on. The hole is for the servo

this is the hole where the pushrod goes. i didn't add the popsicle stick reinforcement.

this is how it should look with everything installed and the wings out

heres wings in:

you will probably have to fine tune on your own.
here are my servo positions on the final plane:
in:

out:

 

[Kai-003]

I also made a little take-off cart, so I could take off without having to have someone throw it. I dosen't currently work, but I will revise it, so it hopefully can work.

The idea is that the plane sits on it and accelerates, and when it gains enough speed, it just takes-off off of the cart, and ditiches it. I will have to raise the sides, so it dosent slide off.

Any advice for posting on the forums, or building is greatly apreicated.

 

[Corsair714]

so here is my tesst bed I used to get the wing speed before I put it into the plane
I had to bootleg the control rods and servo bc my guinea pig is hogging all them. *looks at all 8 servos I HAD*
so below is how the plane woul,d look before you put the wing covers on. The hole is for the servo
View attachment 186789

this is the hole where the pushrod goes. i didn't add the popsicle stick reinforcement.
View attachment 186790

this is how it should look with everything installed and the wings out
View attachment 186793

heres wings in:
View attachment 186794

you will probably have to fine tune on your own.
here are my servo positions on the final plane:
in:
View attachment 186795

out:
View attachment 186796

Thanks that's super helpful. Great idea on how to make the wing sweep. I probably need to beef mine up quite a bit though to withstand the amount of g-force that my plane will be subject to.

 

[Kai-003]

Thanks that's super helpful. Great idea on how to make the wing sweep. I probably need to beef mine up quite a bit though to withstand the amount of g-force that my plane will be subject to.

Glad it helps. I would recommend having supports under the servo, because mine is just glued on top. The way I've made mine, makes it a little hard to access everything once you have glued it in. Let me know how your f-14 goes

 

[Kai-003]

here is a video of the plane flying
wing sweep in air:

preflight test:

 

[DinosEatPeople1]

Dare I say plans?

 

[Corsair714]

Dare I say plans?

He's got a link to the plans in the first post if that is what you're asking