Vimana89 Arrowhead Tailed Delta(Tried and Tested, Plans Released!)

[Grifflyer]

Wind resistance testing completed! Uncut clip showing last couple passes and landing in 9+MPH with gusts. Wind flight edit compilation coming soon.

That looked really stable!

 

[Vimana89]

That looked really stable!

Surprisingly stable for its size in wind, as long as the throttle is kept toward the higher end, especially on turns. Didn't take me long to get it flying well even with the wind conditions.

 

[Vimana89]

Going to start working up prototype 2(which will hopefully be 1.0). going to have a partial or full box fuselage with extended nose, and try to get CG with a lighter battery. I will shoot for 650 3s, as opposed to the 850 it currently uses. 2s could be feasible, but is a stretch. I think 3s 650 is reasonable. I will also most likely add winglets. I will extend the span of the tail plane by one inch, and extend the elevator by a quarter inch.

 

[Vimana89]

Next build will use the same colored on one side/white on the other slightly heavier papered foam, (blue this time😀). I am going to take the paper off of one side of the reinforcing spine. I'll be adding a box nose partial fuselage that will put the battery in front of the wing and get CG with a 650. No winglets or extra surfaces will be added,and the size of the "taillet" will be reduced(it adds some stability but is shadowed/dead weight and drag on high alpha). I'll be adding an inch to the tail plane span and adding another quarter inch of elevator. Ailerons will stay the same. If I do everything right, I'll have a lighter plane with more elevator authority, better high alpha, better pitch stability, and equal or better directional stability compared to the prototype. With the box nose and through-wiring of servo cables,it will also be cleaner and better looking.

 

[Vimana89]

So far, so good. Ready for linkage and electronics.

 

[Grifflyer]

Looks great!!!

 

[Vimana89]

By the way, backwards prop in the pic is a placeholder. Took the motor right off a failed pusher.

 

[Vimana89]

I was impatient enough to maiden this plane in 15MPH+winds with gusts. She flies, and did a couple passes,but can not handle that level of wind. 850 battery on 10 mph winds not too bad. 17 mph winds with a 8.5 oz fully loaded plane with 650 battery was too light. Shredded a cheap prop and have a small bump on the nose , but the plane is fully intact and ready to test fully and dial in under ideal conditions, hopefully tomorrow morning.

 

[Grifflyer]

I was impatient enough to maiden this plane in 15MPH+winds with gusts. She flies, and did a couple passes,but can not handle that level of wind. 850 battery on 10 mph winds not too bad. 17 mph winds with a 8.5 oz fully loaded plane with 650 battery was too light. Shredded a cheap prop and have a small bump on the nose , but the plane is fully intact and ready to test fully and dial in under ideal conditions, hopefully tomorrow morning.

Did you get any video?

 

[Vimana89]

Did you get any video?

Not of today's maiden and couple passes in the nasty wind. I probably should have, would have been kind of cool to see is last for a bit then just get dominated into a stall by the wind, but really just wanted to make the testing quick and less equipment to think about, so didn't record today🙁. I am gonna add a little bit of simple aesthetics and fit and finish type stuff and I'll be sure to get video of the flights when I test it and dial it in without all the wind.

 

[Vimana89]

Gotta dial in the subtrim and screw the servo arms down good and then she's good for a proper test flight.

 

[Vimana89]

Sadly, the nice new plane was a waste of foam🙁. Cam was dead,charging now, but would not have been interesting/worth fixing. It stalled often and flew wonky, and it was more than trim. It had no real momentum or wind resistance either. I could sit around and trouble shoot this one, but why, when the first one already flies great? I nailed it on try one, and second guessing myself did not help. Mission accomplished, I'm happy with prototype one as the 1.0, it could be through-wired next time I build it for a cleaner look,and the elevator linkage has some slop/limited throws,but that's it. Design is solid👍. It was a learning experience though.

 

[Vimana89]

Can't wait to get new, sturdier props in and do more flight testing with version 1. needs a little trim issue addressed, and ideally, elevator slop fixed for better throws, but other than that, I nailed it with the first prototype.

 

[Vimana89]

New props came. Very good quality for the price. The are sturdy, rigid but not brittle, and not super tick, but not thin and flimsy. The material is very tough and scratch resistant. The brand is called Ethix. Not bad at all, I'll see what other sizes they have.

 

[Grifflyer]

Do you have any idea of when this will be finished? I'd like to build one.

 

[Vimana89]

Do you have any idea of when this will be finished? I'd like to build one.

That would be quite an honor and really exciting to have such a great builder and pilot try my humble but quite fun little plane👍. It's always nice to get different people's opinions and perspectives, and you've been a great friend and help to me here so I definitely value your input and experience! As far as the design being done it is ready for launch(in all ways👍). I'm bad at plans but this is so easy it can be drawn by straight edge and I can send you all the measurements any time you'd like. I tried two prototypes and number one,which is still flying well,won out by a large margin.

 

[Grifflyer]

That would be quite an honor and really exciting to have such a great builder and pilot try my humble but quite fun little plane👍. It's always nice to get different people's opinions and perspectives, and you've been a great friend and help to me here so I definitely value your input and experience! As far as the design being done it is ready for launch(in all ways👍). I'm bad at plans but this is so easy it can be drawn by straight edge and I can send you all the measurements any time you'd like. I tried two prototypes and number one,which is still flying well,won out by a large margin.

I'll have those measurements as soon as possible

 

[Vimana89]

I'll have those measurements as soon as possible

Alright, I should have some time here in a few minutes to start getting them to you. I will actually post them here on this public thread for anyone interested. Good to list the exact specs on its own build thread for more detail too.

 

[Vimana89]

Here is a quick and crude sketch with everything laid out with measurements. Unlike my first prototype, you may want to through-wire your servo cables to the bottom along the spine, or make your motor mount stronger by cutting channels and really locking it down in there, but the benefit of just glueing it on with a backplate is it will rip off clean and absorb shock in a crash. There's tons of small fit and finish tweaks you could make, but the design is solid. Will post parts list next.

 

[Vimana89]

If you need clarification or would like pics of the actual plane in any area let me know. Also, I plan to add a build guide, but the build process should be straight forward enough. Let me know if you have any questions. The parts list is:

Motor: FT Radial 1806 2280kV or equivalent
ESC: 12-20A
TX/RX
Prop: 5x3x3(most thoroughly tested) 6x3x2(seems to work well, needs more testing)
Battery: 3s 11.1V 850 mAh 45-75C
Servos: 3x 9g
Extra: Y harness, 2x servo extender cable