roversgonemad
Member
So about a month ago I discovered flitetest.com. Not sure that was the best thing for my pocket book... At any rate when I saw the Old Fogey I had to build one! I did build one, and it is a great flier. However, I was wanting something a touch more, like ailerons and a little more speed. So, I took the Old Fogey plans and did some sketching. I took two inches off the bottom of the fuse and raised the tail surfaces the same amount. Of course, the under-camber polyhedral wing is probably not the best for ailerons and faster flying so I built an Armin wing with a little bit of dihedral. The initial flights were done with the motor and prop I was using on the Old Fogey. It flew, but the performance was a bit weak.
As far as lessons learned, I think I had too much incidence on my wing. I actually added a bit after the initial build and can probably take some out. It also would have been better if I had used CAD rather than hand modifying the plans, I ended up with just a bit of twist in my fuselage due to cuts being off just a shade. Trim was actually fairly neutral, with the exception of a touch of down elevator to compensate for the incidence. A little more down thrust on the motor might also help. Bracing the Armin wing with dihedral seemed a bit complicated so I opted for some struts from the Horizon Cub. For $3 it's a good solution.
I happen to have a motor and speed control from a planned mikey's Sport Trainer that should give it a bit more punch. I got the speed control soldered up today, so if it's not too windy tomorrow I might be able to fly it with the bigger motor and see what it can really do.
Here's some pictures of the finished plane. Total flying weight with the swap-able pod from the Old Fogey was just under 16 oz. The length is 30 inches and the wingspan is 40 inches.
I apologize for the horrendously bad pictures, a photographer I am not. There is also some really bad video in my Photobucket album. It's been more than 20 years since I have flown RC and was never that good to begin with The very first flight landed it squarely in a ditch, but no mishaps in subsequent flights.
http://s961.beta.photobucket.com/user/roversgonemad/library/RC%20Planes/Old%20Fogeys%20cousin%20Fred
I will probably close in most of the back of the fuselage, with the exception of a vent to get some air through for cooling. With the larger motor and speed control, I want some airflow to help keep the ESC cooler. Not knowing what I was doing initially, my ESC is probably a little small for the motor I am using. Keeping it slow should keep it from burning up I'll have to do some load tests before I put it in the air. I will order a larger ESC, but they are currently all backordered with Hobbyking
As far as lessons learned, I think I had too much incidence on my wing. I actually added a bit after the initial build and can probably take some out. It also would have been better if I had used CAD rather than hand modifying the plans, I ended up with just a bit of twist in my fuselage due to cuts being off just a shade. Trim was actually fairly neutral, with the exception of a touch of down elevator to compensate for the incidence. A little more down thrust on the motor might also help. Bracing the Armin wing with dihedral seemed a bit complicated so I opted for some struts from the Horizon Cub. For $3 it's a good solution.
I happen to have a motor and speed control from a planned mikey's Sport Trainer that should give it a bit more punch. I got the speed control soldered up today, so if it's not too windy tomorrow I might be able to fly it with the bigger motor and see what it can really do.
Here's some pictures of the finished plane. Total flying weight with the swap-able pod from the Old Fogey was just under 16 oz. The length is 30 inches and the wingspan is 40 inches.
I apologize for the horrendously bad pictures, a photographer I am not. There is also some really bad video in my Photobucket album. It's been more than 20 years since I have flown RC and was never that good to begin with The very first flight landed it squarely in a ditch, but no mishaps in subsequent flights.
http://s961.beta.photobucket.com/user/roversgonemad/library/RC%20Planes/Old%20Fogeys%20cousin%20Fred
I will probably close in most of the back of the fuselage, with the exception of a vent to get some air through for cooling. With the larger motor and speed control, I want some airflow to help keep the ESC cooler. Not knowing what I was doing initially, my ESC is probably a little small for the motor I am using. Keeping it slow should keep it from burning up I'll have to do some load tests before I put it in the air. I will order a larger ESC, but they are currently all backordered with Hobbyking