This is my FliteTest Blunt Nose Versa Wing during the first week of flying and shaking it down. I had a perfect maiden flight day. It took off an flew absolutely perfectly with no trimming required whatsoever. The beginning of this video pokes fun at how my overconfidence and carelessness led to a sequence of comical fails. The rest is just pure fun which is what this is all about.
I've applied a lot of techniques I've learned on FliteTest and elsewhere in building the wing. Specifically:
Tape Covering strategies and kissing tape technique for trailing edges from Ed at Experimental Airlines.
I used a hobby iron for beveling and tapering the edges of the foamboard instead of sanding or cutting it. Shaping the foam with the iron allows the paper, and the strength it provides, to remain with the foamboard. All trailing edges, including the winglets,were tapered by pressing a hobby iron set to ~330F, against the edges to form the desired angle.
The inside trailing edges of the wings were beveled with the hot iron so they would come together at a more eye pleasing tapered edge instead of being squared off. There's a picture of this at the tail end of the video. There is likely some aerodynamic advantage to this too, but whether I'm seeing any benefit from it is hard to tell.
I'm currently using a turnigy NTM 28/26 1200kv motor, turnigy basic 25A ESC, 8x6 APC prop,& turnigy nanotech 1800mAh battery, but will likely try to step up to a stronger motor 28/36 in the weeks to come. The 28/26 motor works fine for cruising around and can generate some decent speed, but I would like to see what added performance can be had with more power. With the current combination of parts, plus a Mobius camera onboard, the Wing needs about another 153g or 5.30z of weight up in the nose. Total flying weight with camera is around 910g. If I had to build it again, I would not use cheap Hextronic 900 servos like I did because they just cannot handle the torque on the control surfaces at high speed.
Enjoy
I've applied a lot of techniques I've learned on FliteTest and elsewhere in building the wing. Specifically:
Tape Covering strategies and kissing tape technique for trailing edges from Ed at Experimental Airlines.
I used a hobby iron for beveling and tapering the edges of the foamboard instead of sanding or cutting it. Shaping the foam with the iron allows the paper, and the strength it provides, to remain with the foamboard. All trailing edges, including the winglets,were tapered by pressing a hobby iron set to ~330F, against the edges to form the desired angle.
The inside trailing edges of the wings were beveled with the hot iron so they would come together at a more eye pleasing tapered edge instead of being squared off. There's a picture of this at the tail end of the video. There is likely some aerodynamic advantage to this too, but whether I'm seeing any benefit from it is hard to tell.
I'm currently using a turnigy NTM 28/26 1200kv motor, turnigy basic 25A ESC, 8x6 APC prop,& turnigy nanotech 1800mAh battery, but will likely try to step up to a stronger motor 28/36 in the weeks to come. The 28/26 motor works fine for cruising around and can generate some decent speed, but I would like to see what added performance can be had with more power. With the current combination of parts, plus a Mobius camera onboard, the Wing needs about another 153g or 5.30z of weight up in the nose. Total flying weight with camera is around 910g. If I had to build it again, I would not use cheap Hextronic 900 servos like I did because they just cannot handle the torque on the control surfaces at high speed.
Enjoy
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