The Tiny Whoop of Scratch Built Planes

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
The Discovery
A little while ago I challenged myself to build a small, slow, and most importantly fun and easy to fly aircraft. My main goal was to make a inexpensive plane to get more people into the hobby, and for $35 for everything not including the receiver I think I definitely hit the inexpensive goal. I had built a full scale prototype as a chuck glider and it flew great, then it sat on a shelf forever. A month or so ago I picked it up again and did some more tests then researched and ordered some parts. I built my first prototype (shown in pictures below) and it flew okay, there was a lot of trouble getting it into the air the first time, but eventually it did and it was an uneventful flight. Then I instantly went home and designed a V2. I ripped the electronics out of V1 and put them in V2. The maiden for V2 was crazy windy and I couldn't really tell the flight characteristics. So I took it home and waited for a calm day, and then I figured out that the angle of attack on the wing made it stall really bad. I went home and removed the wing and cut into the top of the fuselage to change the angle of the wing and then I had it. I took it out ton the field and flew it until my fingers froze off! It was finally the way I wanted it! I have updated the plans according to this angle of attack on the wing and I am relatively certain that this design is mostly done. I have now build V2.1 but have not flown it yet, but I am relatively certain that it will fly better than V2, since it is just a more refined version of it.

Pictures of V1

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If you look at the scale it shows the weight RTF.

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This one shows a rough static thrust estimate.

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Here are some pics of V2.1

discovery.jpg

discovery2.jpg
This last one has both V2.1, V2, and the original chuck glider prototype!

V2 Maiden Flight
This video is of the maiden of V2 before the stalling problems were fixed in 10mph winds.

V2.1 PLANS
Updated 2/6/18
Link to them here
Reason for update:
Changed angle of attack on the wing.

Build Video


This one is at a quite fast pace, my internet does not like long videos. Either way here it is!

Please build one and let me know how it was!
I need input for these plans in-order to make better plans in the future so please build one, even as a chuck glider, any input will be greatly appreciated!

Also if you want to support FT you can use these electronics from their store in your build!

https://store.flitetest.com/rotorgeeks-1407-4000kv-blue/
https://store.flitetest.com/blheli-series-12amp-esc-xt-30/
https://store.flitetest.com/es9051-4-3g-plastics-digital-servo/
https://store.flitetest.com/2s-300mah-35c-battery/

It is a little more expensive than my Banggood electronics (coming in at $48 for the FT ones and $35 for the BG) but it helps support FT and what they do. Also it won't take forever to ship and these electronics can be run up to 4s lipos! (although I would not recommend 4s with this model) They are definitely better quality as well. I might just buy these from now on...

Also let me know what you think! Any input you have is very valuable considering I've never built a model like this before, so if you have don't feel afraid to chime in.
 

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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Time for more details!

First a flight report, but also what's the equipment you're running in it? Motor / ESC / battery, servo size, etc?
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
It is a 3in prop with a 15" wingspan. The battery is a 450mah 2s lipo with a 12 amp blheli esc and some 5 gram servos. The camera is a cheap Eachine one, the TX03 or something like that. I cannot remember the motor size off hand but when I get home today I can get all of the specific technical info and hopefully a flight in if the wind isn't bad. Ill try and get someone to help me film it but I don't think anyone else wants to go outside in this weather.
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
It is a 3in prop with a 15" wingspan. The battery is a 450mah 2s lipo with a 12 amp blheli esc and some 5 gram servos. The camera is a cheap Eachine one, the TX03 or something like that.

Excellent! I already have that stuff in a drawer :)

Ill try and get someone to help me film it but I don't think anyone else wants to go outside in this weather.

Nobody who is sane anyways... :p
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
I'm not sane , but I still fly mostly indoors this time of year. gymnasiums small and large.....

LB
 

CONNXT248

RC Noobie
Looks great!! Now I want to do a smaller, slower plane for my first scratch build... I'll have to borrow my dad's F power pack ;)
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
I think the F would be a bit too large for this model in particular but if someone makes plans for this I'm sure you could make this larger and it would work great!
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
Okay just a quick update, It still has not flown yet but I might take it out soon. I will try and fly it when the snow melts, but until then I will work on plans for it on CAD, If I can.

V2 Plans
The electronics are very cramped in the nose as she sits right now so I plan on extending the nose by an inch (and as it sits now its still tail heavy). I also want to make this swappable but since I didn't account for the servos I had to move the motor to the top of the wing so I plan on making it around 3/4 to 1 in taller. I will still fly this model but I need to add extra weight to the nose, not good for something that I want to be as light as possible.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
I will try, unfortunately I do not have a DVR so the quality of it will be questionable. The first few flights will be LOS just to figure everything out then if everything goes good I’ll try some fpv.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
Okay so v2 plans are “done” but I can’t convert them from a double as file to a pdf but I can print them through double cad. So here they are.
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Actually I just realized something as I was writing this. I still didn’t make the fuse taller. So I guess back to the computer for v2.1 lol.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
V2.1 is done! But I still can’t figure out the pdf situation so I can’t share them yet:( anyways here they are.
image.jpg
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
Okay guys so we had a successful flight with prototype one! Since the flight was a proof of concept I will now scrap take the electronics out of it and start on v2. I will add the video of the flight soon. My girlfriend was able to film but I haven’t finished editing the video yet.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
Okay I have converted the plans to a PDF finally! (This is my first time making plans and could definitely be improved upon, I just placed out the paper plans I had and used them as my reference image so not every line is perfect). These are the beta plans though as I have not used them yet but I have tweaked them a little from V1 and they should be a lot better. If you build some as a plane or a chuck glider please make a post and let me know! During my test flight, and crashes, she is very durable and seems to be a really good beginner plane so far, I can't wait till I can build V2.

Get the plans here
 
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