*Unofficial* FT Sea Duck

[Headbang]

Dear friends.

I just finished my FT Seaduck and took so many helpful tips and ideas from this thread, so I registered here to share my project.

A couple of years ago I re-started my RC hoppy with racing quads so I wanted to have a waterplane with FPV to cruise around our vacation-lake.
The Seaduck came in perfect as I love the cartoon series a lot.

It comes with TBS crossfire, a GPS, a Caddx Turtle V2 and a Matek F405 wing flight controller running iNav.
I like the 3D printed cowlings a lot and also printed one in yellow PLA, but at the end it feeled too heavy to mount and fly.

Fiddling with the electronics, differential thrust etc, was kind of challenging although the betaflight background helped a lot.
But wiring and mounting everything gave me more than 1 headage. I ended up designing and printing what suited best, like the camera or the VTX antenna mount.

I tried different VTX in my "lab" and ended up with a whoop VTX from eachine as the Unify (HV/Nano) just became too hot and I wasnt able too mount + cool them properly.
The VTX is now mounted on a aluminium strip and comes with a headsink to operate internally. If that doesnt work on longterm I will cut the hatch and create a air duct.
Smartaudio is set up, as well as the caddx RX/TX so I can start/stop recording or change settings through my radio.

The fusselage bottom and side walls got some epoxy+GFK enforcements, similiar to what Titan176 did. It added ~30g to the fusselage weight.

The cardboard got a bit sanded and a acrylic matt paint in classic tailspin colors but I decided to paint the windows instead of using the stickers.

Due to the weather I did not maiden it yet and I still work on the iNav settings but I already fell in love with it

thanks to Josh and the FT crew to make this happen and everybody here on the board for the good inspiration and knowledge.

cheers

Looking good!

 

[mfoo]

Hello again.

My seaduck successfully maiden on the lawn and also completed 4 flights in water.
It’s really a cool plane which catches eyes quickly. The HD footage comes out great and if you like I share some video once I’m a bit more practiced.

But I already have to rise a question.

I’m powering through the FT4506 twin power pack C which comes with 9x5 props and run the plane with 2200mAh 3S lipos.
I sometimes hear some weird noise, flapping, rattling like which does seem to be rpm related. It only occurs on mid-high throttle I think.

I wonder if that’s normal as everything seem tight and correct but I can’t find a root cause for it.

Thanks in advance

 

[Headbang]

Hello again.

My seaduck successfully maiden on the lawn and also completed 4 flights in water.
It’s really a cool plane which catches eyes quickly. The HD footage comes out great and if you like I share some video once I’m a bit more practiced.

But I already have to rise a question.

I’m powering through the FT4506 twin power pack C which comes with 9x5 props and run the plane with 2200mAh 3S lipos.
I sometimes hear some weird noise, flapping, rattling like which does seem to be rpm related. It only occurs on mid-high throttle I think.

I wonder if that’s normal as everything seem tight and correct but I can’t find a root cause for it.

Thanks in advance

Mine has had a wierd nose since day one. Like a paper flutter I can not track down. Mine runs the original twin C pack, 9x4.5 apc props, 4s 50c 3300mAh pack

 

[mfoo]

. Like a paper flutter

Yes. That describes it pretty good. I already taped down the hatch because I suspected my magnetic lock.
Didn’t help

 

[mfoo]

A small update.
My seaduck did 30 flights until now and traveled 160km in total. My longest flight took 11:30min and 7.5km.

It already suffers on 2-3 spots where I didn’t seal the foam edge 100% and it starts to delaminate. I would recommend to inspect each cm twice.

I tried a few things to get rid of the flattering noise, soften the edges of the tail, covered the cowlings with tape to eliminate any sharp corner etc. but did not succeed yet.
I wonder if different props would help. Will try some 3blade 6inch later.

Did you guys close the rectangle under the wing where it hits the fuselage? I get some water in from time to time and wonder where it slips in.

 

[AIRFORGE]

Where is the firewall?
I downloaded the Sea Duck plans, and converted them for my cnc, then realized there was no firewall in the full size plans.
What firewall does it use, and where can I get the .pdf?

 

[Sero]

Where is the firewall?
I downloaded the Sea Duck plans, and converted them for my cnc, then realized there was no firewall in the full size plans.
What firewall does it use, and where can I get the .pdf?

It uses the regular FT firewall. If its not on the FT SeaDuck PDF just look on any other FT (non mini) plans and you should find it.

 

[Headbang]

Over 300 flights, and 14months later my original duck was the victim of my stupidity (was the fun kind of stupidity)
New duck in the works with inner flapperons and rudders. Using new radial twin C pack on 4s and 9x6apc props.

 

[AIRFORGE]

It uses the regular FT firewall. If its not on the FT SeaDuck PDF just look on any other FT (non mini) plans and you should find it.

Thank you!

 

[Photo001]

Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.....

"

"

For any of you that think that the 'Duck is a fragile plane!

Lane

 

[RavenFly]

Has anyone fiberglassed the hull, or at least the nose? I'm on my second duck (over 3 summers) and would love to make the nose more impact resistant. I run on 4s, so not too worried about the additional weight.

 

[Sero]

Has anyone fiberglassed the hull, or at least the nose? I'm on my second duck (over 3 summers) and would love to make the nose more impact resistant. I run on 4s, so not too worried about the additional weight.

I contemplated doing this to mine for for water resistance more than anything as I added structure to the inside of the nose (low expanding spray foam). You could use fibreglass cloth with BSI finish cure, but you may want to pull off the paper as I know the epoxy adheres better to the foam. You definitely want to pull the paper if your using the brown water resistant FT FB.

 

[RavenFly]

I contemplated doing this to mine for for water resistance more than anything as I added structure to the inside of the nose (low expanding spray foam). You could use fibreglass cloth with BSI finish cure, but you may want to pull off the paper as I know the epoxy adheres better to the foam. You definitely want to pull the paper if your using the brown water resistant FT FB.

It might be easier to just build an extra hull or two and swap them out if I crash. Probably less work!

 

[mfoo]

Has anyone fiberglassed the hull...

I applied some epoxy and 50g/m2 GFK to the bottom and nose section in 3 different steps. It added ~30g of weight and I wish I also did some on the floats, they started to delaminate while the body is solid as a rock.

 

[joelspangler]

I keep wanting to build a Sea Duck, but every time I decide not to because of transportation challenges. I'd like to keep the original look of the plane, but make the wings past the booms (Nacelles?) removable. I did see someone did this way back in this thread and mentioned he used "telescopic carbon tubes" which look like carbon tubes that fit well together. I've not been able to find something like this anywhere. Does anyone have a source for such a thing, or another suggestion on how I can make the outer wings removable, but still strong enough for flight? I'd also consider just making them fold back on themselves, if there's a method to "hinge" wings.

 

[Byrdman]

I keep wanting to build a Sea Duck, but every time I decide not to because of transportation challenges. I'd like to keep the original look of the plane, but make the wings past the booms (Nacelles?) removable. I did see someone did this way back in this thread and mentioned he used "telescopic carbon tubes" which look like carbon tubes that fit well together. I've not been able to find something like this anywhere. Does anyone have a source for such a thing, or another suggestion on how I can make the outer wings removable, but still strong enough for flight? I'd also consider just making them fold back on themselves, if there's a method to "hinge" wings.

Another idea you may try is 10mm carbon square tube or even 1/2" square wooden dowels may work. I know the old Slow Stick kit had a adapter to add a section of the square tube to lengthen the fuse/boom. I would go the CF route since you can probably find 10mm OD Tube and 10mm ID.

 

[FoamyDM]

Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.....

"

"

For any of you that think that the 'Duck is a fragile plane!

Lane

Those weren't Touch and goes... more like Bounce and go's!
Good stuff

 

[mayoman23]

Do you guys recommend a gloss for paint? I went with a colonial red, marigold yellow, and Kona brown.