A-7 Corsair II 1/20 scale

[lphan]

Here's my new project.

Scale: 1/20
Wing Area: 135 sq in
Length: 27.7 in
Wing Span: 23.5
Motor: Speed 400
Flying Weight: 16 oz

Stay Tuned !

[AirX]

Hi Le,

I have a drawing started for the A-7 too, my direction is to build it for a fan in depron, just a little bigger than the Flying Styro model. Only in the wireframe stage. Yours looks great. How is the A-12 going?

Cheers,

Eric B.

[Citrorob]

Hi Le,

Looking good, This should make a good flying machine.
Please keep the pic. comming.

Rob.

[lphan]

Eric,

The A-12 drawings have been printed. I decided to put that on hold. Finishing the second F-104, and we have a fub fly at our club in 3 weeks. I'm in charge of the carrier landing contest. I decided to make a different Navy plane to land on the carrier. I opted for the A-7. I'll try it out of foam. It'll be a pusher prop.

Rob,

I think this will be a good machine to do carrier landings with. It has more wing area than the F-16, and has a simpler fuselage. This will help me build faster.
Rob, looking forward to your F-16 in the air :)

I decided to try selling plans for this project.

Cheers,

Le

[St. Martin]

Le, I would be interested in building this, if you make it available. Is it pusher/tractor?

Steve

[lphan]

Steve,

It will be a pusher.

Le

[St. Martin]

Thanx Le. I was hoping as such.

Steve

[AirX]

Hi Le,

The SLUF was always one of my favorites. That second pic looks great, the A-7 has lots of interior area for a fan just not much intake room as evidence from the Hot Boddies version. The pusher should shine Le good luck.

Gonna watch your build, always learning a lot from guys like you and St. Martin... :D

Eric B.

Ps: On your plans count me in... :)

[Citrorob]

Steve,

It will be a pusher.

Le

Why not both :) . It would be good for vertical manoeuvres :cool:

[St. Martin]

Cheers, Eric!

Steve (w/bighead..)

[lphan]

Gang,

Thanks for all the encouragement. This may be my fastest build. I need to get this done before May 15th for the carrier landing contest for my club's fun fly.

This will be my first taileron. I hope I can pull it off. The formers are placed so that I can add landing gears later if I need to.

Cheers,

Le

[AirX]

Hi Steve,

Le's A-7 is pretty cool... :)

How's the 29 coming?

The flying weather getting pretty nice now I hope... :)

Cheers, Eric!

Steve (w/bighead..)


Eric B.

[St. Martin]

Haven't done a thing to it, Eric. It's on the to-do list.

Maybe I should do as Le is doing with the F-8? Take out the EDF..

Steve

[AirX]

Steve,

You could but it is sucha sweet flying plane on a fan and so easy to set up. I have thought of doing it for a smaller fan and going to depron on most of it to keep the weight off. Anyway either way you will have a great beater... :)

Cheers,

Eric B.

[gbruce]

LE

Your CAD work is truly motivational!!

Count me in for a plan when they are available!

Mine will be a USAF "D" model ;)

Bruce:)

[monkamarm2000]

Looks awesome Le.

Barry

[Ron Laden]

Hi Le, my A7 flat plate pusher went great at 19.5 ozs on a 6 volt 400, so yours at 16 ozs should go even better.

Cheers
ron

[lphan]

Ron,

Yes, keeping the A-7 at 16 oz will be a challenge. I generally come up with a plane that's always 1 ounce heavier !

Here are some more pics.

Cheers,

Le

[The Other Dave]

Love it.

I worked on A-7D/K's in the USAF still have
a soft spot in my heart for that plane.

[AirX]

Ooooohhhh, Aaaaahhhhh... Very nice Le. :)

Eric B.

[franciscan]

Hi Iphan
Love your cad work. A free plan of the A-7 Corsair was issued with the November 2002 Quiet & Electric Flight International magazine. This is an easy quick build pusher in balsa for a 6volt DD 400 motor/1300nimh/173sq inch area/26" span/20oz weight. It uses a flat plate wing which works well at this size. Yours looks a lot more scale using conventional built up wing.

[bipeflyer]

franciscian, the free plan you referred to, is Ron Laden's design (above) :)
Le; beautiful CAD work, darn I wish I had a clue how to do that...

Should fly real nice!

Matt

[i12flyrc]

The cad work is great but you may want to check out Traplet publications on the internet. They have a plans section. I bought a set for an A7 just like the one you've drawn. It's balsa and is set up for a speed 400 pusher. mine comes in at 16.5 ounces and flies great both at slow and fast speeds. I would highly recomend it. You can always scale this version up if you want something larger. It would also save you from having to determine where the CG is. I did mine up in the standard Navy scheme.

[bipeflyer]

Yep, the Traplet design there is Ron's one , good place to check CG indeed!

[Ron Laden]

Hi Guys,

Actually the C of G on my A7 plan is about 8mm too far forward of the ideal position, it was my error when I finalised the plan for QEFI but at least it was the safe way. I did start a thread in jets and make people aware of it.

Cheers
ron

[lphan]

Thanks everyone for the info and encouragement.

It's almost done. I juse need to cut the stringer slots on the formers then I can start printing and cutting balsa. I've also started a foam version, where the formers are 3/16 the foam and the skin is 1mm foam. That will be what I build and fly for the Carrier landing contest on May 15 at our club's fun fly.

Cheers,

Le

[lphan]

Stringers

[lphan]

Finished !

[lphan]

Ready to build.

[Synwpn]

very nice work! possibility for a edf conversion here! possibility of offering a short kit?

[AirX]

Hi Le,

Any updates on your build on the A-7?

Eric B.

[lphan]

Eric,

I cut 10/12 formers last night. Had to get some more balsa. My goal is to get it flying this Saturday for our club's fun fly. It's simple fuse to build.

I'll take pics and post them tomorrow.

Cheers,

Le

[Dusty78]

Nice CAD work, which program did you use?

J.

[lphan]

J.

I used I-DEAS.

Gang,

I found out that half an easter egg is the perfect size for the nose !

Le

[AirX]

Cool, thanks Le and good luck on getting the build done by weekend. It is a very nice plane and I want one when it is ready to go... :)

Eric B.

[eatond]

Hi Le,
I just saw this thread, WOW! Another one to add to my build list.

Dan Eaton

[lphan]

Build,

Note an easter egg nose ! Saves time.

Le

[lphan]

Build

[AirX]

Hi Le,

Very fast build, impressive... :)

Eric B.

[Ron Laden]

Le,

Very impressive build, just shows how cad speeds up the build process.

Well Done

Ron

[lphan]

Thanks guys :)

Ron,

I've not seen your plans yet. This A-7 is going to be a handlaunched. What controls did you use ? I'm starting to get worried about using tailerons. The torque I've encountered on my hand launched F-16 (1/20 scale, same for the A-7) has damaged my wings in tha past. That's with an all pivoting right wing.

I'm thinking about using standard ailerons and elevator.

Le

[bipeflyer]

It looks great Le.I would go with conventional controls, tailerons on this model will be extremly mushy.
Nice build! :)

Matt

[Ron Laden]

Hi Le,

My A7 is conventional strip ailerons/elevators which as you would expect work very well. If you want to eliminate any doubt from having effective control surfaces then this is the way to go.

I used two Hitec HS55 micro servo,s, one driving the ailerons with two pushrods and the other operating the two elevators via a small piano wire Y drive running in small nylon outers.

Cheers
Ron.

[eatond]

Hi Le,
so it's past the weekend. Did you get this bird done in time and flying? :)

Can we see some more pictures of the progress please?

Dan Eaton

[lphan]

Ron,

Thanks for the info. I've already cut the ailerons. I also use HS55s. Can you post a pic of your A-7?

Thanks,

Le

Dan,

Nope. I couldn't get the plane done in time. Switching to ailerons slowed thins down a bit. I have to put the A-7 off for a couple weeks. I need to cover my second F-104 and get flight pics for the magazine article.

I see that you're building a pusher Tomcat :)
Hows the F-16 flying?

Le

[eatond]

I see that you're building a pusher Tomcat
Hows the F-16 flying?

Hi Le,
I retired the first F-16 and have a second one mostly built. I got seduced into the F-14 project so the F-16 is sitting on the bench waiting patiently for me to get back to it. Seeing the pictures of yours flying really has got me more than ready to get back to the F-16. Got to finish that F-14 first but I'm out of town now and will not get back home for another week and a bit.

Did you see my PM about this? (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221282)

Dan Eaton

[lphan]

Just put on all the flay surfaces on the fuse and wing.

[lphan]

Pic

[Kevin Cox]

Very nice Iphan.

[The Other Dave]

Oh my gosh that is wonderfull.

I can still visualize where the avionics bays were....
including that darn doppler radar in the belly.

Pull that panel without looking and get a face full of hydraulic fluid....yuck.

[AirX]

Cool Le,

Looks great.

Eric B.

[lphan]

Build continues

[Ron Laden]

Nice build Iphan, call me old fashioned but I do like working with balsa as you obviously do.

Are you balsa sheeting the whole wing or having a leading edge D box as it looks at the moment in the pics.

Ron.

[lphan]

Ron,

Thanks ! I admire all you British guys, you're the best balsa scratch builder's I've ever seen.

The second, D box. I'm trying to save weight.

Cheers,

Le

[lphan]

6-5-04

[lphan]

6-5-04_b

[AirX]

Looks great Le... :)

Eric B.

[gbruce]

Gotta luv the SLUFF!!

I'll make mine an Airforce ANG "D"

what is the Wingspan on this one Le?

Bruce

[lphan]

Thanks Eric.

So far, I've covered the bottom half in white monokote. I'll be doing the gray next. Mine will be the tradional Navy's version.

Bruce,

The stats:

Scale: 1/20
Wing Area: 135 sq in
Length: 27.7 in
Wing Span: 23.5

[lphan]

Covering

[The Other Dave]

You know with just a little work you
could turn that into a Air Force Grey Ghost
paint scheme. Hint Hint.

Dave MSgt USAF Rtd.

[AirX]

She is definitely looking good Le.

My wife and I visited the USS Lexington museum in Corpus Christi a week ago and saw one up close, it is a large aircraft. Keep up the great work Le.

Eric B.

[lphan]

Dave MSgt USAF Rtd.,

I was tempted to make it all gray, being lazy, but decided to use up the white monokote I had left.

Le

Eric,

Thanks. I also saw an A-7 upclose lately too. Over Memorial Day weekend, I took the family out to Yankee Air Museum here in Michigan for pancake and sausage breakfast (best pancakes and sausage I've EVER had !)

I got to see an camoulflaged A-7D. It is a "Short Little Ugly Fella" SLUF. I hope to glide test it tonight, and powed maiden flight on Saturday. Then I'll get working on finalizing the plans ! I'm shooting for finishing the plans before Father's day.

Here's what it looks like so far. Need to get the rest of insignia on it, NAVY, numbers, etc...

Cheers,

Le

[The Other Dave]

Looks very nice.

Uh...I hate to tell you this but SLUF really stands for

Slow Little Ugly *#&$%*#

Short little ugly fellow is the PC'ism that they tell the public.

[lphan]

A little delay. Will glide test after rain if over in Ann Arbor.

[AirX]

Beautiful, and good luck Le... :)

Eric B.

[The Other Dave]

Looks fabulous.

Looking that good it must fly well.

[Ron Laden]

Very nice Le, good luck with it I am sure it will be fine. I do have a soft spot for the SLUF, I have built it twice now, one very large and one very small.

Cheers
Ron

[lphan]

Glide test completed.

The CG is about 1/8 aft of what's drawn. It's a real floater. It looks like the AUW will be 18 oz ! (19.2 oz/sq ft). I hope to fly it tomorow.


Cheers,

Le

[lphan]

Oops,

Good mistake. I forgot to subtract the 1.8 oz receiver battery used for the glide test. The AUW looks like 16-16.5 oz :)

Le

[Kevin Cox]

Good luck....it sure looks good.

[gbruce]

Hi LE

VERY NICE !

When do you think the plans will be available? How much will they cost?

Bruce

[lphan]

Gang,

Thanks for all the compliments.
The plans will be availiable before Father's Day. Sorry, only plans, no .dxf files. I'll be charging $15 per plan (without shipping).

The maiden flight should be this week !!

Cheers,

Le

[AirX]

Sounds great and good luck... :)
Give us an address to send the funds to.

Eric B.

[St. Martin]

What Eric says. I'll go for a set.

Steve

[lphan]

A-7 Flies !!!!!

I have too much aileron throw. Other than that, it's balanced and flies well. The wind was a little choppy. It glides well !!

Video (.mpg) to come later today.

Happy :)

Le

Now to update the plans to sell !

Oh, final stat are:


Scale: 1/20
Wing Area: 135 sq in
Length: 27.7 in
Wing Span: 23.5
Motor: Speed 400
Prop: Graupner 5x5 CAM
Speed Controller: Great PLanes C20
Receiver: Hitec 555

Flying Weight: 17.6 oz
Wing Loading: 18.8 oz/sq ft

[ericm]

Congrats, looks great!

ericm

[Synwpn]

that does look great! congratulations!

i know this is a pusher, but would it be possible to modify it for a ducted fan? i know the inlet is probably going to be a problem...i'm interested!

[lphan]

Thanks gang !

Synwpn,

I'm sure it's possible. There's an A-7 Flying Styro model that has a ducted fan in it. I just like to make pusher props. It cuts down on complexity and cost.

Cheers,

Le

[Synwpn]

great! count me in for a set of plans. :)

[gbruce]

I'm in for a set too ,LE..Nice work!!

What's next from our friendly neighborhood CADMAN ;)

Bruce

[St. Martin]

Like I said before: I want a set!

Steve

[lphan]

Great guys,

The plans should be done by this Friday !
Here's the video. Sorry, no sound on this one.

Cheers,

Le

[url]http://www.chaokhoekhongcom.com

[PLANE FREAK]

Very cool LE.

You never fail to impress us. :D

[lphan]

Gang,

Plans are Done !

http://www.chaokhoekhongcom.com/

Cheers,

Le

[lphan]

Gang,

Bythe way, I'll be out of town for a week after Father's Day. Will send plans when I get back June 26th.

Cheers,

Le

[gbruce]

Hi Le

I sent my payment via Paypal, will you ship at all before fathers day? If not, that's cool,

enjoy your day!

Bruce

[The Other Dave]

Gang,

Plans are Done !

http://www.geocities.com/chaokhoekong/

Cheers,

Le

I would like to order some plans but your web link is broken for me.

Thanks,

Dave

[Tram]

What stage of the build is this thing at now? :)

[lphan]

Dave,

The link works fine for others. There's two types of payments: Paypal or send a check.

Plans: $15:00 + $ 6.00 Shipping & Handling = $21.00

If your prefer to send a check (payable to: Le Phan), please send to:


Le Phan
42004 Carriage Cove Circle
Canton, MI 48187

or contact me at:

Email: chaokhoekhong@yahoo.com

Bruce and David Berry,

I'll send the plans today for you !

Thanks !

Le

[The Other Dave]

Wierd it works now. Of course I am at work.

Probably wouldn't work due to Comcast being the best networking company that could be made out of a cable network NOT.

[lphan]

Gang,

Just completed the 5th flight on the A-7 ! It's a blast to fly. Not as adrenaline pumping as the F-16, so less nerve racking :) I was able to do two loop-to-loops, and three aileron rolls on my last flight. It actually "glides" well ! Again, I'm using a standard speed 400 and 8 cell 600 AE Nicad pack.

Some notes: Hand launch is with full power. Throw hard, straight with a little up angle. Let it pick up speed, it will sink, but don't worry, once it's about 3 feet off the ground, apply elevator and it will climb steadily. Keep it straigth forward of you. Once at altitude, make your turn. Then it cruises well. No bad habits. I notice it will "wobble" a little, maybe because of the wind. The A-7 has not flown in steady winds yet. I hope to get a no wind day some day. Landings are made with motor off. Keep the glide path straight, and let it settle. Flare right at the end.

Make sure you don't stall on the landing.

Note for final elevator trim setting. Make sure, that the elevator setting is 3/16 down from the neutral position on the elevator LE. Other than that all throws on plans are correct. CG is correct too.

By the way, Bruce, David, and Dan, I sent the plans on Saturday. Have a great week !


Cheers,

Le

[eatond]

I received my plans from Le yesterday. Le did a very nice job on them and also included a 5 page construction guide to answer a few questions that aren't apparent from the plans. Well worth the money.

The plans really have me pumped to fire the CNC machine up and get the parts cut but I'm trying real hard to keep my nose to the grindstone and get Matt's F-14 done first. I make it a point to at least finish one project a year before adding any others to the pile. :)

Dan Eaton

[newcomer]

got my plans set and instructions yesterday as well . very well turned out package.
thanks for making them available.
david berry

[gbruce]

Hi Le

I received the A-7 plan..nice work!

I'll be pulling canopies and nose cones for this one next week , if any one wants a set then just PM me.

Thanks Again Le!!

Bruce :)

[gbruce]

IF I don't do an Vietnam Camo scheme ,then it will probably be this "D" from the Ohio ANG.

[lphan]

Thanks for the compliments.

That OH sheme looks great ! I lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for 26 years!

Cheers,

Le

[The Other Dave]

gbruce,

I went back to my records last night. I worked on 69-222 at one point. I thought that number sounded familure.

It wasn't with the Ohio Guard at that point. It was with the Colorado Guard. It must have been transfered at some point (happened alot in the guard).

Nice scheme.

Dave

[lphan]

Dave,

What does the 69 and 222 represent?

Le

[The Other Dave]

All (or at least all that I know about) Air Force planes
are numbered in this way.

69 is the year it was accepted in the USAF inventory.
222 means that it was the 222nd plane entered into
the inventory in 1969.

This means that two totally different planes say an f-15 and an f-16 could have adjacent numbers. Like 85-001 and 85-002. This is usually not the case. Most aircraft are purchased in blocks so there is probably 69-200 through 69-300 which are all A-7D's.

The K models (2 seat) were all much later. 73,74,75 IIRC.

I used to just laugh when I worked on planes that were almost as old as I was. When I was with the Colo Air Guard we had a whole bunch of 69 and 70 series planes.
Of course we had a bunch of pilots that were in there 50's as well.

Dave