To-Go transforming plane

[JGplanes]

After constantly trying to cram my larger planes in the car without damaging them, building transforming objects with Legos, and seeing the folding wings on Peter's javelin video, I had this idea for one of your episodes to feature a fixed wing "backpack plane". Perhaps something fairly large, that could fold up into a very small, sturdy, portable plane that wouldn't easily damage, but could fold out with a minimum of assembly (rubber bands), into a larger platform.

As an episode... it could be an engineering challenge between a couple guys to see what they can come up with, and still make it fly well. You could give them requirements; maximum dimensions folded, fixed amount of building material, speed of assembly time, motor specs, etc...

Hope that makes sense.

JG

 

[fliteadmin]

After constantly trying to cram my larger planes in the car without damaging them, building transforming objects with Legos, and seeing the folding wings on Peter's javelin video, I had this idea for one of your episodes to feature a fixed wing "backpack plane". Perhaps something fairly large, that could fold up into a very small, sturdy, portable plane that wouldn't easily damage, but could fold out with a minimum of assembly (rubber bands), into a larger platform.

As an episode... it could be an engineering challenge between a couple guys to see what they can come up with, and still make it fly well. You could give them requirements; maximum dimensions folded, fixed amount of building material, speed of assembly time, motor specs, etc...

Hope that makes sense.

JG

Hey JG!

Thanks for the suggestion! Sounds like a fun challenge and interesting as well! I will make note of it and throw it around at the shop and see if anything sticks!

Also anyone else who wants to comment...Let me know if any of you would agree with JG and want to see this as an episode or a quick tip or even on a VLOG etc...

Thanks guys,
Stefan!

 

[rockyboy]

Yes! This would make a great 'old school' style challenge

 

[TexMechsRobot]

Hey JG!

Thanks for the suggestion! Sounds like a fun challenge and interesting as well! I will make note of it and throw it around at the shop and see if anything sticks!

Also anyone else who wants to comment...Let me know if any of you would agree with JG and want to see this as an episode or a quick tip or even on a VLOG etc...

Thanks guys,
Stefan!

This would be awesome to see. Especially if you can make it out of foam.

 

[Mid7night]

This reminds me, I did something like this with a slope-wing a while ago: I made it split at the centerline, reinforced with small CF rods and held together with magnets. Worked great! I've wanted to scale it up, but I've been distracted.

Also, I sidestepped those pesky vertical wingtips with chopped drag-tips for lateral stability...it makes for a really cool flat profile!

And while it does have some wood in this version for reinforcement, the wing is entirely just one thickness of DTFB.











More details/pics here and here

 

[rockyboy]

Great design! Very nicely done!

 

[Hai-Lee]

Nice execution! Folding wing and fuselage sections are possible but difficult to build simply with reliability.

Look at the Tiny Trainer and the FT Explorer as the fuselages do break down into smaller sections. Perhaps a combination of the Backpack Spitfire wing joining mechanism with a TT type multi-piece fuselage in a single design might be an interesting project!

I will watch and see if there are any others wishing to push this barrow

 

[PsyBorg]

Make the wings sweep back like the old F-14's but have them spring loaded or so they get pinned in so the whole air frame will slide into a properly sized mail tube for art work or blueprints. Make the vertical stab and elevators hinged so they fold backwards and just need something like body clips for RC cars to clip them in place.

Might be an easy place to start after the short video of it all ran thru my head.

 

[Userofmuchtape&glue]

I would love to see this, I am all ways on the look out for fold able planes as we have a VW van with a tiny boot.

 

[rcspaceflight]

I started to build one, but I never finished it.

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?13075-Build-a-Folding-Wing-FT-Plane

The sad thing is that it's just sitting there, almost ready to fly but I ended up quitting the hobby.

 

[JGplanes]

Make the wings sweep back like the old F-14's but have them spring loaded or so they get pinned in so the whole air frame will slide into a properly sized mail tube for art work or blueprints. Make the vertical stab and elevators hinged so they fold backwards and just need something like body clips for RC cars to clip them in place.

Might be an easy place to start after the short video of it all ran thru my head.

I like the idea of having it fit in a mail tube. That would be quite the challenge though! Maybe a glider with a foldable prop and ailerons that can fold back over the wing? Hmmm...

JG

 

[Mid7night]

You mean, something like this?

It's not a powered/controlled model (yet), but it was a proof-of-concept balsa test I did to see how much wing I could unfold out of a 2" PVC pipe.

Both wings are sprung open by a single rubber band, pulling on a series of strings.