Scratch build TailSpin Sea Duck
- Thread starter nevenelestate
- Start date
ClearSkiesCalmWinds
Active member
Thanks for the info.
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Coming along, the tape work isn't flawless but i think she is looking good. Wing floats next.
BridgeInspector
Flite Test Groupie
That looks great!
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Quick video from flight yesterday, shot with my cell phone in my throttle hand.
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nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Differential thrust taxiing in the snow
I decided that taxiing on water would be easier with differential thrust. Fortunately I figured out the setups on my Mini Guinea so it was a quick job. Here is a short video of testing it out on the snow in my yard.
I decided that taxiing on water would be easier with differential thrust. Fortunately I figured out the setups on my Mini Guinea so it was a quick job. Here is a short video of testing it out on the snow in my yard.
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nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
And a flight from on-board
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nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Booms 2.0
Yesterday went out flying with two friends, we had three Mini Guineas and some other park flyers. I also had the Sea Duck with me, she was flying great! One of the other MGs was using 6*4.5 props and the other was on 6*3 and the SD was flying loops around them, almost literally. I even took her up to about 200ft and just completely cut the throttle, it has a very good glide ratio and I was rather impressed with how good it floated back down. About that time I started to notice that the left with seemed to be a bit bent. Turns out that the wing was bending upward a little just outboard of the boom. It was still handling great though. I have decided to remake the wing/booms/tails.
Tonight I redesigned the booms a little, made the part forward of the wind taller to come down to the bottom of the wing. This is what the first version looked like.
I also remeasured the the wing trailing edge angle where the boom should lay on the wing. This is what it looked like on the first version, less than perfect fit for sure.
The other thing I did was tapper the lower side, as well as the inner wall to meet at a closer point on the aft end.
Here are the plans I came up with, then the foam cut. I also taped the back side of the foam before cutting it, last time I taped it all up after it was built and that was a pain.
And here are the two 80-90% finished booms, the tops are not glued down yet. I am considering running the rudder pushrod internally.
With the deeper front end I have a larger ESC cooling air inlet. I haven't experienced any issues yet, but this should help anyways.
Next up is stripping the servos, ESCs and wiring from the old wing then building another wing. I am also going to replace the JST y-harness I had used with some 16 gauge stranded wire in a new y-harness.
Yesterday went out flying with two friends, we had three Mini Guineas and some other park flyers. I also had the Sea Duck with me, she was flying great! One of the other MGs was using 6*4.5 props and the other was on 6*3 and the SD was flying loops around them, almost literally. I even took her up to about 200ft and just completely cut the throttle, it has a very good glide ratio and I was rather impressed with how good it floated back down. About that time I started to notice that the left with seemed to be a bit bent. Turns out that the wing was bending upward a little just outboard of the boom. It was still handling great though. I have decided to remake the wing/booms/tails.
Tonight I redesigned the booms a little, made the part forward of the wind taller to come down to the bottom of the wing. This is what the first version looked like.
I also remeasured the the wing trailing edge angle where the boom should lay on the wing. This is what it looked like on the first version, less than perfect fit for sure.
The other thing I did was tapper the lower side, as well as the inner wall to meet at a closer point on the aft end.
Here are the plans I came up with, then the foam cut. I also taped the back side of the foam before cutting it, last time I taped it all up after it was built and that was a pain.
And here are the two 80-90% finished booms, the tops are not glued down yet. I am considering running the rudder pushrod internally.
With the deeper front end I have a larger ESC cooling air inlet. I haven't experienced any issues yet, but this should help anyways.
Next up is stripping the servos, ESCs and wiring from the old wing then building another wing. I am also going to replace the JST y-harness I had used with some 16 gauge stranded wire in a new y-harness.
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Wing/booms/tails 2.0
Last night I finished up the new wing and tails. Due to the slight changes in the booms I had to modify the horizontal tail and I ended up changing the vertical tails also.
Here is the new wing before I folded it up. I started taping all the pieces before folding/gluing and like the finish much better.
The holes in the lower corners, of this picture, are for the float pylons. I extended the MG wing plans out a bit to surround the pylons. Here is a picture of that are after gluing the wing together, with the MG wing on top for comparison.
I also made the wing just a little bit larger in wing span, pictured here again compared to the MG wing
New wing on the fuselage.
With the new boom design I also decided to run the rudder servo inside the boom.
Last night I finished up the new wing and tails. Due to the slight changes in the booms I had to modify the horizontal tail and I ended up changing the vertical tails also.
Here is the new wing before I folded it up. I started taping all the pieces before folding/gluing and like the finish much better.
The holes in the lower corners, of this picture, are for the float pylons. I extended the MG wing plans out a bit to surround the pylons. Here is a picture of that are after gluing the wing together, with the MG wing on top for comparison.
I also made the wing just a little bit larger in wing span, pictured here again compared to the MG wing
New wing on the fuselage.
With the new boom design I also decided to run the rudder servo inside the boom.
SnowRocker88
Amateur pilot and builder
That's great!! Well done!
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
I should be able to have some plans to post by the time it gets nice enough to try her on the water(in the North East).
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Well I found the first weak point, on first flight of the new wing I had a minor wing fold, that turned into a pretty bad one (around 45deg). The wing folded at the outboard edge of the boom, the top layer of the wing tore. I am going to try running a wooden spar the full length of the lower wing surface to give more strength. Now I have to point out that I am by no means a "scale" flier, I like to fly the plane to the limits so that doesn't help with this type of issue. I don't believe it is due to the added wing length because I had started to see similar symptoms in the first Sea Duck wing.
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Took the Sea Duck out for the first flight since I rebuilt the wing after it snapped a few weeks ago. I added a wooden spar from boom to boom, then an extra 5" on the outside of each boom also. I had to leave a gap to allow for the servo and wires to pass through. The plane handles great! I need to add some sort of supports for the elevator pushrod, as it can be seen to bow rather drastically when I fly in high rates.
Second flight in this video I did a flat spin and then didn't recover in time and bumped the ground pretty hard. The impact knocked the 808 camera free and I looked for it for about 5 minutes before deciding to fly my Versa wing (maiden). About an hour after the impact and walking around looking I finally found the camera, by a miracle. It had stopped recording after 45 minutes, but there are bits of me walking around looking in all the wrong places, the Versa wing flying around, and me running out to pick the Versa wing up after I landed out in the field. Not a bad day...since I found the camera!
Second flight in this video I did a flat spin and then didn't recover in time and bumped the ground pretty hard. The impact knocked the 808 camera free and I looked for it for about 5 minutes before deciding to fly my Versa wing (maiden). About an hour after the impact and walking around looking I finally found the camera, by a miracle. It had stopped recording after 45 minutes, but there are bits of me walking around looking in all the wrong places, the Versa wing flying around, and me running out to pick the Versa wing up after I landed out in the field. Not a bad day...since I found the camera!
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nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Got some HQ Direct Drive 3 blade 6x4.5 props and man do the rock!
I still need to make up wing pylons and floats, and I need to rebuild the fueslage (it's a little smashed up right now) and waterproof it, but my friend was considering maidening his Kraken build last night so I took the Duck out with me and flew a bit.
First video was flying with 2x 850mAh 2S batteries in parallel to get 1700mAh and it flew nice. I will likely use this setup for the first water test, the power is a little calmer. For the second video I used a 2200mAh 3S battery and man does she scream! I guess there is the slightest bit of up angle in my motor mounts, or its just the ridiculous thrust, because at full throttle it takes a fair bit of forward stick to keep her level. I am debating setting up a mix to try to add a small amount of down elevator as I increase the throttle (more to come on that).
Sadly I do not know when I will get around to rebuilding the fuselage and wing pylons, I purchased another race motorcycle and have to have that prepped and ready to race for Memorial Day weekend and I have a few business trips before then also. I will definitely post any updates on here though, and once I build the new fuselage I should have some plans that I will be satisfied to release.
I still need to make up wing pylons and floats, and I need to rebuild the fueslage (it's a little smashed up right now) and waterproof it, but my friend was considering maidening his Kraken build last night so I took the Duck out with me and flew a bit.
First video was flying with 2x 850mAh 2S batteries in parallel to get 1700mAh and it flew nice. I will likely use this setup for the first water test, the power is a little calmer. For the second video I used a 2200mAh 3S battery and man does she scream! I guess there is the slightest bit of up angle in my motor mounts, or its just the ridiculous thrust, because at full throttle it takes a fair bit of forward stick to keep her level. I am debating setting up a mix to try to add a small amount of down elevator as I increase the throttle (more to come on that).
Sadly I do not know when I will get around to rebuilding the fuselage and wing pylons, I purchased another race motorcycle and have to have that prepped and ready to race for Memorial Day weekend and I have a few business trips before then also. I will definitely post any updates on here though, and once I build the new fuselage I should have some plans that I will be satisfied to release.
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marc60
New member
Same with me, crashed a FT spitfire and lost a cam, didn't notice it at first, but in the end found it
You've build a nice plane!
Greets Marc
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