XB-70 Valkyrie: FT Style

[Pieliker96]

Great job on the Valkyrie, a shame that this airframe met a rather unfortunate fate.

If what I've learned from building is true, then the second time around will be much easier.

Keep it up, and don't let this discourage you.

 

[SlingShot]

Ahhhh....sorry brah. It looked awesome.

 

[Mid7night]

Thankfulness, and lessons learned.

 

[foamtest]

Man I really wanted to see this fly (please do a V2!) Or maybe do a twin 70mm edf version, that would be another really cool project. Either way this is an awesome project and I hope you do more like this in the future.

 

[Sotm]

Sorry it didn't make it, but
I'm sure there is video of what happened. Let us see it.

 

[PsyBorg]

Nice post flight break down Ben.

I have done the same thing on maidens and lack of patience. At least you didn't do what I did my first maiden EVER back in the late 70's. Spend over an hour and a half in freezing weather with on and off snow squalls trying to get an .049 cox engine that had never been run let alone broke in started to get my long awaited Christmas present in the air as soon as possible. I managed to do it and technically the crash was not my fault. I blame the policeman that pulled up to watch it fly. The second he keyd his mic to say he was out of the car to dispatch that 72 mhz radio was stepped on by the repeater in his trunk not 20 feet away. Looked exactly like a quad when they fail safe. That slow roll over as if to say I think I will take a nap.... HERE!!!

Lookin forward to round two!!

 

[Ricci]

Ok Buddy, lessons learned done, fixing and next try! Never give up!

 

[Ray K]

Hi, Ben. Sure sorry about the mishap. Your dad said it well, 'glad you weren't a little-bitty man in the front'. I don't want to play Monday morning quarterback here, but I was an Air Force test pilot at Edwards in the mid-60s. There was a cut-and-dried procedure we used testing every new plane, and we almost never had civilian press present during the earlier phases of most testing. One notable exception was the XB-70. Mistake. High speed taxi runs were an absolute requirement, complete with increasingly long crow-hops. We caught quite a few potentially deadly faults that way. I hope you don't abandon the project. You have a great idea there.













xb-70.

 

[Sotm]

Where's the video of the attempted maiden? We know it was filmed.

 

[Mid7night]

Oh it was filmed alright, from many angles! I'm not uploading the footage from the day just yet. I'm still trying to sort out how best to put it all together, since I have a lot to work with.

Meanwhile, let's get on with round 2!

 

[Pieliker96]

Glad to hear that most of the electronics survived. From experience, the long nose of the B-70 makes a rather effective crumple zone that protects the expensive bits :black_eyed:.

I wish you good luck on V2!

 

[Sotm]

Just some thoughts for V2

Oh it was filmed alright, from many angles! I'm not uploading the footage from the day just yet. I'm still trying to sort out how best to put it all together, since I have a lot to work with.

Meanwhile, let's get on with round 2!

My take Ben is you went over board with the number of batteries used. I truly think you could have used 1, 4S 6000 for each two EDFs symmetrically connected and just one flight pack battery. You would cut about 4 pounds that way. Flight time is going to be short any way and you are only going to cycle the gear up and down once per flight. Same with the wing tips if you keep them on V2. Just my take, it would help the weight.

 

[Sotm]

Did you do any sketches or drawings yet?

 

[Mid7night]

My take Ben is you went over board with the number of batteries used. I truly think you could have used 1, 4S 6000 for each two EDFs symmetrically connected and just one flight pack battery. You would cut about 4 pounds that way. Flight time is going to be short any way and you are only going to cycle the gear up and down once per flight. Same with the wing tips if you keep them on V2. Just my take, it would help the weight.

It's possible, yes a single 6000 4S would be adequate for two fans - that's what I usually run in my F-4 actually - but that would be dropping the flight time drastically, going from 6000mAh/fan to 3000mAh/fan. And, I was already up to 17lbs without batteries, so it's not like I was going to be a light bird anyway.

Ultimately, a few pounds wouldn't have made a difference on this particular incident. I ran off the runway for a whole host of reasons, but weight isn't one of them. The chief one was a lack of rudder authority, which I would HAVE had if I just had it on "high" rates.

CG, now that's another issue - I probably shouldn't have put that extra lump of lead in the nose to pull the CG forward. Looking at my math and simulations, I think my original CG would have been fine.


Yes, there are plans - rough ones, anyway - I will post them at some point.

 

[F106DeltaDart]

Sorry about the airplane Ben, but glad to see all of the power systems and expensive bits seemed to survive. Very excited for V2, gives a great chance to put the lessons learned into an even better model this time around. I’ve been there with a beloved scale heli, also lost to inadequate rates. There’s no worse feeling than watching a model slowly depart your control while holding full stick the other direction. Good luck, and I can’t wait to see it come together again!

 

[TheWes]

Ben, that was an incredible plane and it was a terribly hard lesson to learn! I had a similar experience with an ill-fated FT Arrow. I want to see the V2 so badly now! Watching this build is like getting hooked onto a new TV show and now the first season is over.

When is season 2?
I'm watching season 1 over again...

 

[DamoRC]

Before we get to season 2, are we not missing the tragic finale to season 1?

DamoRC

 

[foamtest]

Or even better don't show the ending to season one until the first episode of season 2... or is this not evil enough?

 

[Mid7night]

Thanks all, for the encouragement and continued following. Rest assured, the "whole story" will be told, but I'm just not ready, nor do I really have the time to do it properly right now.

Right now I'm focused on rebuilding V2, assessing what new parts I need to order and what can be reused, and getting some other little projects out of the way...AND try to have some fun with it all.

Thank you for your enduring patience, please stay tuned for more!

 

[Mid7night]

Update on V2 progress!

After recording this I was able to get the WHOLE WING ON! I also got the canard glued into the nose and canard flap servos hooked up last night. Sorry no pics of that yet. It feels good to get the wing on, that's a big milestone and weight to relieve.