My funky noob tandem wing(flies!)

[Vimana89]

Front wing mounts and motor mount installed. Wing blanks cut. Figuring out exact placement and mounting for electronics and how to close up the fuselage and leave a way to get at the battery. Will probably make a hatch or a piece of top section that pops on and off with Velcro.

 

[Paracodespoder]

Fired up sketchup last night and designed one too. I haven’t started building but it has a 26in wingspan, 27in length. It is based around a tandem wing ground effect and I hope to use it in ground effect on this winters snow, who knows if it will work, but it will be fun to try!

 

[Vimana89]

Took quite a bit of influence from the Mignet line of designs, though mine is far more utilitarian looking and has less graceful lines. Gotta trim the skewers( I know they are uneven and sloppy,but the wings are even, at least by eye). I also gotta sand the control surfaces cause I never cut the bevel just right. After that it's time to install the electronics and close everything up, having part of the top pop off with Velcro to get at the battery and whatnot. Think I'll call her the "over and under" if I get her flying.

 

[Vimana89]

Empty airframe with wooden motor mount and no electronics installed glides good and straight when tossed, that's a good sign.

 

[Grifflyer]

Empty airframe with wooden motor mount and no electronics installed glides good and straight when tossed, that's a good sign.

That's very good

 

[Vimana89]

That's very good

Only time it doesn't glide straight is when I toss it with a bit of rudder, in which case it turns nicely. Double good.

 

[Vimana89]

So, I botched what I had and had to start over. Looking good, but I just realized something when throwing it. Stupid me put the elevator on the front wing when those are usually in the rear, based on the Mignet design on which the whole front wing angles. It's tough to tell just from chucking it and starting the elevator in a chosen position, but if anything, seems to have a reverse pitch effect: elevator down pitches nose up and elevator up pitches nose down. Will this fly at all? If the plane will respond well but in reverse it is fine, I have servo reversing on my transmitter.

 

[Grifflyer]

So, I botched what I had and had to start over. Looking good, but I just realized something when throwing it. Stupid me put the elevator on the front wing when those are usually in the rear, based on the Mignet design on which the whole front wing angles. It's tough to tell just from chucking it and starting the elevator in a chosen position, but if anything, seems to have a reverse pitch effect: elevator down pitches nose up and elevator up pitches nose down. Will this fly at all? If the plane will respond well but in reverse it is fine, I have servo reversing on my transmitter.

Yes it will work fine as long as you have enough control.

 

[Vimana89]

Yes it will work fine as long as you have enough control.

That's good to hear, because it's looking and feeling good in every other regard. All I have to do is mount the servos and push rods and get that working well, and then close her up and leave a way in.

 

[Vimana89]

Going to wire the servos/control surfaces tomorrow, do systems check, and hopefully fly. I'd hate for that frontal elevator to be the nail in the coffin for this build, I put a lot of work in. I could always redo it, but that's getting pretty old. I've made a top cover of thin, soft arts and crafts type foam that peels back easily with Velcro, allowing easy access to all electronics.

 

[Vimana89]

Doing repairs now, about to head back out. She got airborne and responded to control inputs. Too early and too little experience to tell, but my problems are likely do to piloting error. I'll try to give her a bit more throttle and altitude this time, and go very easy on the control inputs.

 

[Vimana89]

Sadly I'm going to have to buy more props before I trouble shoot further.I had one left and it wouldn't fix with hot glue. I think I'll just double down and get an f pack or another pack that takes 6x3, and work on something else with a pusher at the same time, because I've got quite a few leftover bulk pushers, and the best deals on cheap props are always half and half packs.

 

[Vimana89]

Repaired and sitting until more props come, should arrive by Thursday. Hopefully I can get this one flying well, if not, I can tweak the build again or try something else simple. Other very basic planes I'd like to perhaps try if this doesn't work out are a plane with a t-tail configuration, or perhaps a basic delta slow flyer.

 

[Vimana89]

Found a spare 6" prop from a quad today, not sure it was the right twist rate but it was producing enough thrust. Same problems I had before with the correct props. It lost stability every time I began to climb, and crashed before I could even assess the situation let alone correct. It's now completely wrecked. This was an aweful build. It could get airborne, but had abysmal stability and no control. These are the type of things that make me want to just have somebody build a plane for me to my specifications. I think had I had onboard mixers at the time, just building the slender delta would have had a better shot of success than this thing. After "flying" a nutball and this pile of junk, I'm thinking I'm not really partial to yaw and yank builds. Time to try elevons when I get my mixers.