XF VIPER - Foamboard F-16 EDF

[Dimi]

What thickness of foam board sheets shall I take?

 

[nevenelestate]

DollarTree Foam Board is around 4.5-5mm thick I believe.

 

[Rose11rose]

Benim uçağım iş tamam

 

[PsyBorg]

[QUOTE = "Rose11rose, post: 593050, member: 49764"] My plane is ok [/ QUOTE]

Wow that build could give @Mid7night a run for the money. That has AWESOME lines and symmetry

 

[rkozak]

Yesterday the maiden flight took place, even with a 64mm EDF it flew amazing and it really looks cool !!!
Thank you Ben for this great design.

I designed a 3D printed canopy if somebody is interested I can upload it to Thingiverse.

I’m interested in your canopy. Can upload the STL?

 

[dehager]

@dehager would you be willing to PM me the G-code for the F-16? I just got the ERC needle cutter so once I get it set up I'd like to cut the Viper out with it. Plus it'll be good to have a proven file to test while I get it set up.

Sorry for the delay I have been away for awhile...

 

[Lester]

EDIT - 10/24/18: Beta plans are UPDATED and in the "Resources" section: https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?resources/xf-viper-foamboard-f-16-edf.47/

(also in the attachments at the bottom of this post)

- Latest version is "b4".
- Current plans are full-sheet only, 5 sheets of foamboard, 1 paper thrust tube


It's been a LONG time comin', but it's out!

SP0NZ has been pokin' at me for quite some time, "when are you gonna do an F-16!?" .... so after the Valkyrie project wrapped up I figured it was time. Surprisingly the design came together fairly quickly.

Starting from a 3-view, I blocked it out....

View attachment 110816

One main design constraint I gave myself was that I wanted to simplify the controls. After designing the F-5 and F-20, both of which were 4-servo jets, I knew that was too much. It's doable, but it's also annoying to set up.
So for the F-16 I challenged myself to try using elevons on the horizontal tails ONLY. I could always add ailerons to the wings later if necessary, but if the elevons proved to give enough control then great! (spoiler alert: they worked!)

Here is a progress shot from the first weekend working out the design:
View attachment 110815

Here are a few shots of putting the first one together:
View attachment 110826 View attachment 110825 View attachment 110824 View attachment 110823 View attachment 110822 View attachment 110821 View attachment 110820 View attachment 110819 View attachment 110818 View attachment 110817

And here's the first prototype assembled:
View attachment 110828 View attachment 110827

You can see the elevon servo wires snaking on the outside. I completed the build before knowing exactly where I wanted to put the servos.

About a week later the first prototype took to the sky:

If you can believe it, I didn't need a single click of trim; it flew awesome!

After a few test flights I determined it was a bit nose heavy, and I couldn't shove the battery any further back, so I went to the drawing and moved the EDF about two inches aft. That gave me enough headroom in the airframe weight to put the battery in a comfortable place and get the CG that I wanted.

THEN Flite Fest Ohio 2018 was looming ahead, so I decided that would be the perfect place to unveil it to everyone:

Something about this design just, "clicked". The A-4 Skyhawk is my favorite little jet - it's the first jet I can remember seeing when I was a kid, and my dad showed me the Blue Angels "Dreams" music video from the 80's - but this F-16 is stealing the show right now. It's more aerodynamic, has a better CG balance, simpler servo setup, and just performs better all around. Yes, it's a bit more involved to put together and it takes one more sheet of foam (5 vs. 4), but it's SO rewarding! And it's SO fun to fly!

Which brings us to now: "WHERE ARE THE PLANS??!!??"

SP0NZ will be reworking the plans, making them readable for everyone, and I'll have a few select builders checking them too, before releasing them in the wild. I have a bad habit of sending out plans and IMMEDIATELY finding something I need to change. I may release a set of beta-plans, after I get some more eyeballs on them, but please be patient in the meantime regardless. No one wants you all to start playing with this jet sooner more than ME!

Finally, here are the specs:

Wingspan: 30"
Length: 48"
Power: 70mm EDF (12-blade 4S recommended)
Suggested EDF units:
- https://www.motionrc.com/collection...mm-12-blade-edf-4s-power-system-w-2849-2850kv
- https://www.banggood.com/FMS-70mm-1...5-KV2750-Motor-For-RC-Airplane-p-1023640.html
- https://www.banggood.com/QX-Motor-Q...27-2849-2600KV-Brushless-Motor-p-1094622.html

Battery: 2500-5000mAh 4S
ESC: 80A (recommended)
Control: Two servos, Elevon tails

Build video time-lapse:

And that's that! Hope you like it!

Can some one make tiled a plans pretty pretty please

 

[OliverW]

Can some one make tiled a plans pretty pretty please

Download Adobe acrobat and open the plans in there. Go to print, and select poster, make sure its at 100% scale, and print

 

[tesseract]

/QUOTE]
I clicked the last link!

 

[OliverW]

?

 

[mrjdstewart]

I’m interested in your canopy. Can upload the STL?

here is the canopy i designed for Ben, it's pretty basic but when printed in clear it looks just fine.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2956779

good luck,

me

 

[Matthewdupreez]

has any one crashed that f-16 does the nose get broken?

@Mid7night I can't thank you enough for taking on this challenge. Yes, the A-4 Blue Angles were fun and I really enjoyed flying them with everyone. However, as soon as I took the sticks on the F-16, I almost didn't want to fly the A-4 anymore. Guys, the Viper is a game changer! I can hardly believe that it is flying on the same power setup as the A-4. The aerodynamics of the F-16 vs. the A-4 make a huge difference in flight performance. From take-off to landing, the Viper is so easy to fly.

Ben actually built two Vipers at Flite Fest for me to take home after the event. I gave Keegan the brown one for all the work he put into helping me build the A-4 Blue Angels. While I knew about the F-16's development prior to Flite Fest, I had no idea Ben talked @Rasterize into creating the USAF Thunderbird graphics for me while he was also working on the Blue Angels graphics. It goes without saying that it was a huge surprise and an amazing gift.

A very heart felt thank you @Mid7night and @Rasterize for doing this for me. I love it.

View attachment 110842

 

[Aviator08]

has any one crashed that f-16 does the nose get broken?

Yes, it gets crunched... but it's real easy to replace with a new nose.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

cool, would build but I have a slight shortage of funds

 

[Matthewdupreez]

and those Edf's are rather pricey

 

[SP0NZ]

and those Edf's are rather pricey

The Freewing 70mm 4S EDF unit is only about $40 US
https://www.motionrc.com/products/f...l3EGmDisyx4LZSexoCkc0QAvD_BwE#description-tab

 

[OliverW]

The powerfun edf is only $30 from valuehobby. They put out more thrust than the average edf of the size

 

[Pieliker96]

The Freewing 70mm 4S EDF unit is only about $40 US
https://www.motionrc.com/products/f...l3EGmDisyx4LZSexoCkc0QAvD_BwE#description-tab

These are the same ones I used in the XB-70. The specced static thrust numbers and amp draw figures (~60A, ~1600g thrust) are accurate from my independent measurements. Of course, installed thrust will be lower installed with inlet and exhaust ducting and such.

I did have one of the four motors burn out its front bearing during an extended-duration static run to simulate the flight loads on the electronics system. However this was a more than worst-case scenario as there was no inlet velocity to reduce load on the fan, and I haven't had any problems in flight.

You can get 80A Emax ESCs (either the SimonK or BLHeli variant) for under $25 if you can find them in stock. Haven't had issues with them so far - remember to give them good cooling by active airflow and/or cutting a rectangle of heatshrink out above the heatsink to facilitate better thermal transfer.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

thanks guys but my pice range is >$10. little ik but all I can spend

 

[Matthewdupreez]

and I haven't even flown any of my planes yet so I'll get some experience first