Hi everyone,
I've recently got back into RC planes (having flown small brushed electrics in the past) and I'm very excited about all the new technology with brushless motors and Lipos. I am new to scratchbuilding and have built a few foamies from plans out of dollar store foam board and they were pretty successful. (F-22, F-18) I started designing this current plane after learning from several designs of my own that did not work.
I maidened the prototype and I'm happy to say that it flew! I added a few more pieces of foam to improve the airflow over the body and reduce drag. I'll try to get a video when I re-maiden it.
Here are the specs:
Dollar Store Foam (Paper removed in certain areas)
~1m wingspan
AUW: 325g
Turnigy D2822/14 1450kv
20A ESC
APC Slofly 7x4 or 8x3.8
1000mAh Lipo
2 9g servos
Elevons and Ailerons linked.
WCL ~4
From the ecalc calculations with the 7x4 prop:
Power-Weight: 268 W/kg (122 W/lb)
Thrust-Weight: 1.43 : 1
Flight Time*: 7.6 min
Mixed Flight Time: 13.0 min
Flight characteristics:
Hand launched at 1/2 throttle no problem. Can cruise around at 1/3 to just under 1/2 throttle. Full throttle makes it climb very quickly. Bounces around a lot going into the wind, flies on rails going with the wind.
Makes pretty good turns, but I'd like to see it tighter. Does pretty big loops but can't roll. (Increase servo travel?)
Questions:
Does anyone have any suggestions or modifications that would make this plane fly better?
Is there a way to calculate how much payload I could carry? (extra battery or fpv gear)
Once I get it flying the way I like it, I can post some measurements if people are interested.
Thanks!
I've recently got back into RC planes (having flown small brushed electrics in the past) and I'm very excited about all the new technology with brushless motors and Lipos. I am new to scratchbuilding and have built a few foamies from plans out of dollar store foam board and they were pretty successful. (F-22, F-18) I started designing this current plane after learning from several designs of my own that did not work.
I maidened the prototype and I'm happy to say that it flew! I added a few more pieces of foam to improve the airflow over the body and reduce drag. I'll try to get a video when I re-maiden it.
Here are the specs:
Dollar Store Foam (Paper removed in certain areas)
~1m wingspan
AUW: 325g
Turnigy D2822/14 1450kv
20A ESC
APC Slofly 7x4 or 8x3.8
1000mAh Lipo
2 9g servos
Elevons and Ailerons linked.
WCL ~4
From the ecalc calculations with the 7x4 prop:
Power-Weight: 268 W/kg (122 W/lb)
Thrust-Weight: 1.43 : 1
Flight Time*: 7.6 min
Mixed Flight Time: 13.0 min
Flight characteristics:
Hand launched at 1/2 throttle no problem. Can cruise around at 1/3 to just under 1/2 throttle. Full throttle makes it climb very quickly. Bounces around a lot going into the wind, flies on rails going with the wind.
Makes pretty good turns, but I'd like to see it tighter. Does pretty big loops but can't roll. (Increase servo travel?)
Questions:
Does anyone have any suggestions or modifications that would make this plane fly better?
Is there a way to calculate how much payload I could carry? (extra battery or fpv gear)
Once I get it flying the way I like it, I can post some measurements if people are interested.
Thanks!