Too late but here's mine anyways!

[andybenton]

It's to late to enter the frankenplane contest, but I built one anyways. Teaching my nephew to fly killed his p51. Similar fashion to mine lol. So I made this little guy. Umx p"fugly"1

Anyways . All working control surfaces. And it does fly.... It's fast, I replaced his plane with my t28 so my nephew could keep learning.

 

[Craftydan]

Aww Snap!

That's an awesome frankenplane!

A shame it's late, but there will be more compitions -- a "holiday" one is just starting, and we're looking at a "melding" compition (melding two or more plans into one) in the early spring.

Let us know how this littl' guy flies!

 

[andybenton]

alright so far lol. The wing is just taped on with two sided tape, so I've been playing with the location for and aft. Got it to stop flying in a weird high alpha kinda stance and down level. Then it started raining. Sigh


Well anyways I may try to get a video or two. But it does fly pretty well. And this was in 9 mph winds. Man that as3x is awesome... Well anyways, bummed I missed it. But hey at least it's awesome to do it anyways.

 

[Craftydan]

The "wierd high alpha" speaks to me of "very tail heavy," but sounds like you've gotten that a little better balanced.

The rain however, cannot be helped. Here's to clear skys for you!

 

[andybenton]

Yeah. It was initially going to be a flying wing, but i gave up in that pretty quickly. Yeah, moving the wing back about a half in made it much much better... Now poses another question... Bearing in mind my limited fixed wing experience...


I kept the tail in the same location in relation to the wing, but now the elevator feels anemic. I allready moved the rod in 2 holes (1 more and it will be maxed out) with no great effect... Down elevator is good and works well. Up on the other hand....

Well won't be working on it anymore today or tomorrow, 25-30 mph winds and rain. Possibly severe thunderstorms. Man. Looks like I'll be on the forums a lot! Lol

 

[Fledermaus]

Excellent build!

 

[p-air-o]

nice one, like it.

 

[andybenton]

I can outline it really quickly. Basicly took some 1/4x3/8 balsa stock, cut it to the original length of the fuse, fashion a motor mount from the same material, tape it to the nose for some crash resistance, bends, but doesn't break... Glue the tail on the very back, mount electronics and battery, play with wing placement to get a rough cg. Then take the wings on and test it... Mine is using no angle in the wings relative to the thrust line... Actually neutral thrust line...

It took all of 30 min to cobble together lol

 

[Craftydan]

Andy,

I wonder how much the as3x is "helping" you . . . It may be helping too much. It's a pretty clever system, and the more recent variations have been extreamly clever -- I wonder if you lack elevator authority because the AS3X controler is automatically giving a high "up" to keep it level, but then can't go much further up, because it's out of throw.

I haven't played with the UMX P-51, but other HH UMX planes have a "U" shaped bend on the control rods to "center" the servos -- squeeze with pliers to move the neutral position of the surface one way, bend outward to move neutral the other. If yours has that, give the elevator's U a pull before the next flight and see how it does.

 

[andybenton]

Just tried that, brief break in the rain, the frankenplane has met its demise for now. Needs new tail feathers, I don't think I've got the cg right... I bent the rod out a bit, I mean a little bit. And she's was very sensitive. She sensitived herself right into my big maple! Got it down just as the rain started again. The horizontal stab is trashed lol. And I'm out of micros to steal from........ I do have some 1.16th balsa sheet tho... Hmmm to be continued

 

[xuzme720]

Yeah. It was initially going to be a flying wing, but i gave up in that pretty quickly. Yeah, moving the wing back about a half in made it much much better... Now poses another question... Bearing in mind my limited fixed wing experience...


I kept the tail in the same location in relation to the wing, but now the elevator feels anemic. I allready moved the rod in 2 holes (1 more and it will be maxed out) with no great effect... Down elevator is good and works well. Up on the other hand....

Well won't be working on it anymore today or tomorrow, 25-30 mph winds and rain. Possibly severe thunderstorms. Man. Looks like I'll be on the forums a lot! Lol

Moving the wing back solved (or close to solved) the tail heavy condition, but it also shortened the moment arm the elevator can effect the airframe with. If possible, try moving the wing back forward after checking where on the wing it is balancing currently. After moving the wing forward, make it balance in the same place on the wing it was when it was 1/2" back but making the stick longer to get the motor and battery further forward.

I hope this makes sense and that it's not too late. I'm hoping that it will help with the rebuild...

 

[Craftydan]

DT foam board is cheap . . . .

 

[xuzme720]

DT foam board is cheap . . . .

That is very true!

 

[andybenton]

I knew that >.< oh well I'll fiddle with it some more this weekend. Can't seem to get it to bind now. It's strange

 

[andybenton]

Still can't get it to bind to ANY of my radios... No evidence of physical damage to my board.. Still sorting things out.

Radios tried so far
Lp5dsm2
Dx5
Dx6i
Friends dx8 and 18
Fathers dx7
Stock eflight rtf transmitter

Loosing hope rapidly...