Help! Water Balloon Bombing?

HenryS

New member
My friend and I had an idea to build a plane to drop water balloons on things. I'm relatively new and my friend is not yet in the hobby. I felt like either a guinea pig or a twin B power storch would work but I don't really know.
Here are some things I'm looking for:
Easy trainer-ish flying
Cheap price under 250 dollars
Slow speed
Ability to carry weight
Any better ideas or are those okay?
Thanks in advance!
 

HenryS

New member
Should I use Power pack C or Legacy power add on? I was just wondering, after all, the value bundle is cheaper.
 

MrClean

Well-known member
Water balloons? I was dropping Flour bombs yesterday, but I've filled them with water before. Just made with foam coffee cups hot glued together, the ones I used yesterday were 8 ouncers. Fill the first cup with flour, glue a paper disk on top to keep the flour up front to make it fall right. Invert a cup and glue it top to top. Glue the third cup bottom to bottom to make the bomb.
Drop mechanism is a servo on retract gear, wire goes out the side of the fuse, re-inforce that point. My plane is wood build up with an inner brace of light ply and covered in thin balsa, I just glued a popsickle stick to the side to reinfoce, use a disk of light ply on Foamcore OR, a popsickle stick. And in my plastic fuse planes where I normally double side tape the servos in place then re-inforce with a wire tie I slip a rubber band through the wire tie But this one I had a brass picture hanger I bent to slip on the fuse under the wing. Yesterdays skys were brilliant blue, sure makes dropping that white bomb from altitude look pretty. I've used bigger cups before but this plane sits too low and the 8 ouncers were all that would fit. They didn't have quite enough weight so I think scoring the front cup with a pocket knife would help disperse the flour better. One fell through the trees at the side of the field, opened up the cup really nice. Big cloud out of that one.
For water bombs with the same method, glue the first two cups together first, poke a hole in the top and fill it with water, you can add temper paint in first to color the water but that generally takes more paint then is worth it. then seal it in with the last cup. That's a pound of water by the way, 16 ounces. It makes quite a smack when it hits.
Weight with THIS aircraft, powered by a 46 size IC engine isn't a problem. Surprisngly DRAG is quite substantial, especially if the bomb hangs sideways. Should try to avoid that. I chain three rubberbands for the retainer, spread the middle rubberband around the seem between the first cups and it stays straight, unless you hit a big bump on takeoff.
 

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HenryS

New member
I'm basically making a shopping list right now. The legacy uses a gens ace 3300 mah battery. It is 3s1p. What is the charging cord like? I have an ECP-1004 used for 2-3 cells. Would a 3s1p work?
 

MrClean

Well-known member
According to specs of that battery and charger they both use jst-xh connections and it does all its charging through the balance cable so should work. Max charge of 2A's(25 watts) for an 11 volt battery that will be under 2 amps/hour so it will take an empty 2.2 amp battery an hour to charge. That's safe, but plan ahead. There are faster chargers out there but many require a 12 volt source and when you're at the field that can mean just your car BUT remember, you need to start your car when you go home. Don't charge yourself into needing a jump.
Also, make sure and posts pictures of your progress, finished project, bomb release mechanism and results.
Gonna be a fun summer. See if you can find any of those nerf footballs with the whistlers in them. Don't know if they make them anymore but they were cool. Parachute men, glow sticks at night for the kids. You can make some of those fold up helicopters or maple seeds, again, kids.
 

HenryS

New member
I was just wondering is the plug OK.
Oh by the way I can't really start yet since I need to get enough money.