Simple Beech Staggerwing
- Thread starter Mr NCT
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- beech fusion simple staggerwing
luvmy40
Elite member
Finished it tonight. No major issues. I did have to cut a second set of main wing spars. I fought with them when they were scored for the dihedral and actually glued one up with an A fold instead of a B fold. I just eliminated the center score line and cut it when I glued the dihedral.
The printed struts don't match the wing profile perfectly, but they are close enough to be un noticeable from 5 feet away.
BTW, How do you separate the "Brim" from the part? I had the Devil's own time cleaning them up. I've never used the "Brim" mode before. I rarely need anything other than a skirt for bed adhesion.
All in all, it was an enjoyable build and it looks fantastic, at least in my eyes anyway.
I plan to take it to Wings at Work tomorrow for the maiden.
luvmy40
Elite member
I cut the power pod with some down/right thrust.
Josh Bixler flew the maiden flight today and pronounced it air worthy. He praised your design as genius. I then, of course promptly put it in a tree!
When I rebuild, I'm going to try to cut in an access hatch up front. A removeable wind screen/nose that gives access for connecting the battery rather than taking the top wing off.
Here's a short video of me "landing" in the tree.
Josh Bixler flew the maiden flight today and pronounced it air worthy. He praised your design as genius. I then, of course promptly put it in a tree!
When I rebuild, I'm going to try to cut in an access hatch up front. A removeable wind screen/nose that gives access for connecting the battery rather than taking the top wing off.
Here's a short video of me "landing" in the tree.
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
Glad to hear it flew and got the official thumbs up. I pull the power pod to install the battery, it slides right through the cowl.
Of course its in a tree
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/still-up-a-tree.68321/
Were you able to get it down?
Of course its in a tree
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/still-up-a-tree.68321/
Were you able to get it down?
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The Fopster
Master member
The joys of flying line of sight and the challenge of depth perception! Looked to be flying really nicely too. I maidened a war bird once and flew at almost full throttle into a tree just like that (turning back towards myself and not realising I was behind the tree). The fuselage came right through leaving the wings and tail behind in the tree. Hope your repair isn’t too challenging!
luvmy40
Elite member
I got it down. I had to climb half way up to knock it out with a 20 foot long flexible pole that one of the other attendees had for just such an occasion.
There's really not that much damage. The cowl is broken, maybe repairable, and the lower panel of the nose got crumpled, along with some minor bruises and contusions to the wings and tail that should be fixable.
I will make an extension for the ESC control lead so I can pull the pod without disconnection the ESC. Right now, I have to unplug it from the receiver to get the pod out. That will will be far easier than working a hatch in. Thanks for opening my eyes to the forest!
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
You have no idea how happy I am that someone else likes the Staggerwing! It took building three of them to get to this point. How would you rate the build difficulty? What changes or modifications would you recommend? Will you send me your needle cutter?
luvmy40
Elite member
You have no idea how happy I am that someone else likes the Staggerwing! It took building three of them to get to this point. How would you rate the build difficulty? What changes or modifications would you recommend? Will you send me your needle cutter?
I'd rate the build as "Easy" for a seasoned Foam Board builder. It might be a bit of a challenge, though not undoable for a Newbie just due to size.
Having the needle cutter makes cutting any design "Easy" though I'd say this one would not be terribly difficult to hand cut.
I would eliminate the score cut at the center of the wing spars. It's easy to cut after the wing is folded and it makes gluing the spar up a little tricky. At least it did for me. Other than that, the only problem I had was forgetting to glue the tail servo backers onto the fuse before gluing the fuse up. It was a little challenging to get them glued in after the fact, but ultimately manageable. I also made a mistake with the nose panels. but again, that was all me and not a design issue. All in all, it's a well thought out design and it goes together nicely.
The ERC Needle cutter was actually not that hard to put together. I had some challenges at first caused by trying to reuse steppers from a scrapped 3D printer that were not compatible with the RasPi CNC Shield. The availability of the RasPi right now would be the sticking point. I think I have a little over $200.00 into mine, but that was when the RasPi was a $35 board you could get anywhere.
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Mr NCT
Site Moderator
That's repairable.
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
I was able to keep it from being run over and had a pleasant flight. I'm currently at 1° right and 2° down. It needs more down so keep that in consideration if you build it. Flaps are fairly effective but the ailerons are a little anemic on low rates. Here's the proud parent boring video. If you squint you'll see some loops and rolls.
luvmy40
Elite member
Did you look at the thrust mod I did on the power Pod? Mr. Bixler seemed to think it was perfect.
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
No, I didn't see that mod. How much down thrust did you put in?
luvmy40
Elite member
I don't know what the angles are, but I shaved about 4 mm off the pod face both down and right. You can see it in the modified plans I sent you.
luvmy40
Elite member
I had some problems printing the cowl initially. I set it up to print nose down with standard support and tried three times. All three hung up about 30% in. I never did figure out why. The fourth print I did nose up, no supports and it printed to completion. It did need significant work in cleaning up the loose stuff inside(where it'll never be seen anyway) the nose end. I then printed another nose down with support and it printed perfectly. Go figure!
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
The skewer in the elevator is a good idea. I used 9g Amazon special (cheap) servos and and did the holes so that the flange on the servo was against the spar but to do that I had to put the pocket in the upper part of the wing. I printed the cowl with the front down and no supports. It left the rounded part a little rough but light weight filler fixed that. Hope you enjoy it!
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