nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
I have built several 70% scaled Versa wings, and loved every one, so when the Mini Arrow was released I jumped on building it. I flew the Arrow with a 1300mAh 3S battery and Emax 1806 motor spinning a HQ bull nose 5x4.5 prop, and she flew great! Two days later FT put out the Micro Planes Project video, that made me remember that I have a pile of UMX electronics laying around.
I decided to make a scaled down version of the Arrow. I wanted to use DTFB so I knew that weight would likely be too much for the standard brushed motors, luckily I had purchased a micro brushless motor used in the Blade mCP X helo,
http://www.horizonhobby.com/product/helicopters/helicopter-parts-15100--1/helicopter-motors/brushless-tail-motor:-mcp-x-bl-blh3904, this motor puts out a good bit more power than the brushed ones. I also had the receiver from one of the ParkZone UMX P-51Ds that I had crashed beyond repairable, the pkzu2164. Using this receiver board required some programming to unlock the external servo ports to allow channel 6 function, I found the instructions here http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/docs/spektrum/AR6410UserGuide.pdf. Along with that receiver I used two of the micro servos from the Horizon, http://www.horizonhobby.com/23-gram-performance-linear-long-throw-servo-spmsa2030l.
Now that I had electronics sorted out I had to print the plans and cut the foam. I downloaded the plans from Sponz, http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?24402-FT-Mini-Arrow and opened them in Adobe. The way I have found easiest for scaling down the plans is in the printing options. To do this you select "Poster" and then adjust the "Scaling," I also like to check the "Cut Marks" box to help with cutting off the edges of each page.
Planes printed on 65lbs weight paper and then cut out and taped together.
To reduce weight I removed the paper from the inside of the foam. Additionally, instead of making the full spar like the full size, I cut a single layer of foam to the same length and height as the spar plans. To do this I measured the height of the spar and the gap for the A fold, measurement A below.
I then removed the paper from both sides of the spar pieces also. When gluing this together I used the absolute minimum amount of glue that I could, only spots on the ends and one in the middle of the spars and then a few dots of hot glue on the trailing edge of the wing. I did put a good bead of glue along the seam joining the two wing pieces. I knew that with the size of this airframe that the full spar would not be needed. After getting it all built and putting the battery on it, I still needed a little nose weight so I put on a small motorcycle wheel weight under the nose. This should also give it a little protection on nose in impacts and landings.
Built, and electronics installed.
Weighs in at 55.9g with E-flite 150mAh 1s 45C battery.
Here it is in my hand and next to my DX6 radio for size comparison.
The NanoArrow flew better than I expected on the maiden! Being the impatient person I am, it was a bit windy for this plane but it still handled well. In the video you can see it getting pushed around and in the third flight it got thrown into the ground. The small servos don't give a lot surface deflection so it isn't exactly a overly agile flier, but perfect for lazy flying in the yard.
I decided to make a scaled down version of the Arrow. I wanted to use DTFB so I knew that weight would likely be too much for the standard brushed motors, luckily I had purchased a micro brushless motor used in the Blade mCP X helo,
http://www.horizonhobby.com/product/helicopters/helicopter-parts-15100--1/helicopter-motors/brushless-tail-motor:-mcp-x-bl-blh3904, this motor puts out a good bit more power than the brushed ones. I also had the receiver from one of the ParkZone UMX P-51Ds that I had crashed beyond repairable, the pkzu2164. Using this receiver board required some programming to unlock the external servo ports to allow channel 6 function, I found the instructions here http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/docs/spektrum/AR6410UserGuide.pdf. Along with that receiver I used two of the micro servos from the Horizon, http://www.horizonhobby.com/23-gram-performance-linear-long-throw-servo-spmsa2030l.
Now that I had electronics sorted out I had to print the plans and cut the foam. I downloaded the plans from Sponz, http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?24402-FT-Mini-Arrow and opened them in Adobe. The way I have found easiest for scaling down the plans is in the printing options. To do this you select "Poster" and then adjust the "Scaling," I also like to check the "Cut Marks" box to help with cutting off the edges of each page.
Planes printed on 65lbs weight paper and then cut out and taped together.
To reduce weight I removed the paper from the inside of the foam. Additionally, instead of making the full spar like the full size, I cut a single layer of foam to the same length and height as the spar plans. To do this I measured the height of the spar and the gap for the A fold, measurement A below.
I then removed the paper from both sides of the spar pieces also. When gluing this together I used the absolute minimum amount of glue that I could, only spots on the ends and one in the middle of the spars and then a few dots of hot glue on the trailing edge of the wing. I did put a good bead of glue along the seam joining the two wing pieces. I knew that with the size of this airframe that the full spar would not be needed. After getting it all built and putting the battery on it, I still needed a little nose weight so I put on a small motorcycle wheel weight under the nose. This should also give it a little protection on nose in impacts and landings.
Built, and electronics installed.
Weighs in at 55.9g with E-flite 150mAh 1s 45C battery.
Here it is in my hand and next to my DX6 radio for size comparison.
The NanoArrow flew better than I expected on the maiden! Being the impatient person I am, it was a bit windy for this plane but it still handled well. In the video you can see it getting pushed around and in the third flight it got thrown into the ground. The small servos don't give a lot surface deflection so it isn't exactly a overly agile flier, but perfect for lazy flying in the yard.
Attachments
Last edited:
