stratos x-air

Junior Member
hey people,
after researching the topic intently, I decided to create a solar powered airplane. yep...you heard me....a SOLAR powered RC plane. its basically going to look like a really hacked up ft simple soarer at first, then not look like at all like it later( ten feet of wing is REALLY hacked) and ...ummm...I cant really post pictures here because its giving me an error message that says the file is to big. if you want to see pics and more cool stuff, visit http://rcappetite.blogspot.com/
(wow, real smooth shameless plug that was;))
 

FAI-F1D

Free Flight Indoorist
That's a lot of wing. Make sure your spar is strong enough. Carbon is your friend on that one...
 

Ron B

Posted a thousand or more times
reduce the pixels of your photo to 800 horizontal and they will post
 

stay-fun

Helicopter addict
Cool! There are at least 2 threads on this forum on this topic. I'm curious how you'll make it work!
 

quorneng

Master member
I will be interested to know what solar cells you are planning to use.
Its not the power generated that is the issue but the really light ones are also really expensive!
 

quorneng

Master member
Cheap yes but I not sure you could use the 'bare' solar panels. They are very fragile. You have to solder them up as well. The weight is not shown. I can't tell if the substrate is glass - it usually is.
If so you will have to design your plane to fly with a thin glass upper wing surface. Not at all easy. :eek:


The semi flexible type would be tough enough as they are encased in plastic but expensive at $300 for just 20W of power and the unit weighs 4.5 lbs!
 

Klinger RC

Member
Awesome! That's a big wing. I want a video when you get it flying please. If I were you, I would test fly it before putting on the solar panels.
 

stratos x-air

Junior Member
Yep...the wing barly fits in the car;) it seems strong enough...even with the spar only being foam (the carbon fiber hasn't come in yet) also, I just ordered the solar panels... (750 sq.inches worth) The project has only cost $180 so far.