The Eagle has landed, or is it flying?

[LooseBruce]

My promise to build no more planes until next winter just flew out the window!
I clicked on this link just in case it was a bird like plane and I won!
I love it. Many thanks to you and the FT crew (for the swappable disign).
LooseBruce

 

[degriz]

Thanks for the servo pictures. Does the pod have any thrust angle or is it squared up.

I also have foamtac & other foam glue for the wings.

Going to try covering some scrap pieces, maybe try a spray adhesive. I can always use a combination of coloring / covering.

 

[jamboree1]

Degriz, oddly enough the pod ligns up perfect, a happy accident as this plane was not a swappable design. 3m Super 77 adhesive will work well for your stickies. But i did have my motor shimmed for another plane and it works great, about 4 degrees down and to the right, just mount the pod front skewrs like any other FT build. And a bamboo skewer in the rar to hold it in place, same thing with wing, rubber bands hold it on.

 

[jamboree1]

My promise to build no more planes until next winter just flew out the window!
I clicked on this link just in case it was a bird like plane and I won!
I love it. Many thanks to you and the FT crew (for the swappable disign).
LooseBruce

You're welcome, it's always great to give back to this community, even if I didn't design this plane I found out it is swappable and made a few improvements.

 

[jamboree1]

One thing i thought would be really cool on this bird would be retracts with talons of course and some sort of hidden wheels

 

[degriz]

One thing i thought would be really cool on this bird would be retracts with talons of course and some sort of hidden wheels

I was also thinking of some type of gear, mostly to keep the rudder from taking the hit on landings.

 

[jamboree1]

The rudder so far has never touched the ground, I see no reason why it can't be trimmed odd a bit although you might lose some control. When i land i let it glide in until it is just barely in the air and i flair up and it just stops in the air and just belly lands flat

 

[LooseBruce]

I thought of crayon, then i thought of heat and crayon..not good, so I used pencil, and then i sprayed clear coat over that. My 1300 battery weighs 101 grams, and i even added 30 grams of nose weight to it for a great CoG. So with that in mind you can use a larger motor easily.

Did you remove any paper from your build?
I often remove paper here or there to reduce weight. I can't see paper on the inside of your fuselage close up showing servos.
Also, where is the COG located?
Thanks, LooseBruce

 

[LooseBruce]

A couple more questions if you please.
I don't understand the graphic that reads 100-110 degrees and shows triangle stock. What is it used for?
Is your build the size indicated on the plan, 56" wingspan?
Finally (at least for now), the top of head part. Does that fold down 90 degrees thereby being the double lines shown just ahead of the eyeball?
Thank for your patience,
LooseBruce

 

[jamboree1]

Did you remove any paper from your build?
I often remove paper here or there to reduce weight. I can't see paper on the inside of your fuselage close up showing servos.
Also, where is the COG located?
Thanks, LooseBruce

All paper is left on, I do like light builds but not at cost of strength. I did reinforce the HUGE tail feathers with bamboo skewers though

 

[jamboree1]

A couple more questions if you please.
I don't understand the graphic that reads 100-110 degrees and shows triangle stock. What is it used for?
Is your build the size indicated on the plan, 56" wingspan?
Finally (at least for now), the top of head part. Does that fold down 90 degrees thereby being the double lines shown just ahead of the eyeball?
Thank for your patience,
LooseBruce

The graphic which you refer to is for those that wish to build as a V-tail. if you print at 100% you will come up with a 56" wingspan. Now for the double lines, these are reference lines for the head doublers that glue inside the fuselage, while these aren't necessary for a Blue Wonder motor they might be for a more powerful motor but I suspect the FT power pod would hold up to the abuse without the doublers.. The other lines are for top of head piece, this piece is quite crucial for correct wing and power pod placement, i recommend a test fit before gluing.

 

[hotwax]

Hi all,

I took the plans and modified them to be more Foambord like. I wanted a more rounded nose and less parts.



Standard bevelling and bending techniques



Main part lower and upper feathers plus the end of the mid feathers



Mid feathers and carbonspar attached



Bend and glued



At this stage I decided to do the ailerons too

 

[jamboree1]

I'm not quite sure why you think thats less parts, this is a kfm3 wing and eliminates the need to score, fold, bend the wing. I did toy with the idea of ailerons but concluded the wing surface of this bird would pretty much negate the use of ailerons other than turning, in which the rudder has more than enough authority to do.

 

[jamboree1]

Also note that the foamboard that HotWax is using seems quite a bit thicker than the 5mm DTFB, and i'd like to point out that I also sanded the leading edge of my wings to about a 45 degree angle. I did taper the edge of my feathers on the wing, but i doubt this enhances the aerodynamic much, i did this purely for aesthetics

 

[degriz]

I am glad I removed the paper from the inside of my fuselage, the printed label paper sticks great to the outside paper so I did not add much weight when covering. I plan to spray a clear finish to keep the ink from running if it gets damp.

The power pod fit nicely so now it's on to the wings, not sure how I am going to finish them yet.

 

[SP0NZ]

WOW! Are you going to share those graphics? That looks AWESOME!

 

[jamboree1]

Wow, that covering is awesome, please share that to others

 

[LooseBruce]

Yowza...I agree. The covering is superb. I might have to use the original idea for coloring mine because I just got my wife on board to help use colored pencils on mine. This is the first time she wanted to be involved so I'd better not back out now.
LooseBruce

 

[jamboree1]

LooseBruce, that's what happened with me, my wife's first involvement other than the occasional "hold this for a second"

 

[degriz]

Here are the graphics I used, I just searched Bald Eagle images and printed out the pictures on label paper.

Stuck on from tail to head with a small overlap, smaller feather images toward head. I did remove inside paper on the fuselage because the label paper sticks much better to the paper then foam without any other adhesives used. Took off a layer added a layer, not much weight gain.

Hopefully the wing comes out as nice, but as long as it floats around the sky I'll be happy! and maybe the wife won't be afraid to give this one a try.