billystiltner
Feb 18, 2003, 01:28 AM
This is a very nice flying disassemblable tiny airplane.
It's the best flying small plane I have built.
Here are my notes.
Well
I finished the housefly and cut some 3/32" TanII into 2 peices 1 small one and one big one.
I tried the small one untill it broke. Then the big one. The big one works pretty good. With the small one there were other problems(not enough downthrust and too long of a strand of rubber for initial trimming) so the small one may have worked also. I'm still trimming on it but it seems to be the best flying small model I have built.Well the only other small rubber powered models other than ministicks were a scaled down to 7" WS hobbyshopper EZB and the mosquito(also available on Alejandro's page). Could be the Tan2 causing it to fly better. I used fairly heavy wood for the wing LE and TE and the motorstick and tailboom. I cut out 2 motorsticks 1 was stiff the other was springy. I weighed them - the springy stick weighed 50mg and the stiff stick weighed 80 mg .
not much difference but considering the model weighs .6g it may be quite a bit. I went with the stiff stick as a percaution( didnt know if I could slice the Tan2). I had to use aluminum tubing for the thrust bearing( dont have any syringes) this is what caused not enough downthrust beecause there was play between the bearing and propshaft(stickpin). I put the rear motorhook on a little different than on plans so the rubber pulled the propshaft down giving up thrust. I redone the rear motorhook and messed with the bearing until I got the correct angle. I used aluminum can washers
instead of teflon( where do you get teflon washers othe than model supply?).Oh one more thing I made three sets of blades for this model. #1wet balsa on cylinder at 10deg, #2 Alejandro's method, and #3 cut from styrofoam coffee cup at 10deg. I ended up using the wet balsa cylinder formed prop.With Alejandro's method I lay the blades front side up and when dry the curvature was wrong. The anglw was ok but I had a negative airfoil. Next time I'll try frontside down. The styro props were to heavy but may be of some use for testing on an electric. I like the prop shape.
When I mounted the blades to the spar(toothpick sanded to appropriate dia.) I cut a slot in the blade. Usually I just mount the spar on the back of the blade. On one of the blades the glue dried too fast and didnt bond but to my amazement it held up during several flights with just a friction fit, I would have never thought such a thing could happen. Whew!
PS
Since I wrote the above Alejandro has told me this about the blades:
> As for the blades, yes using the method I told you may lead to
> negative airfoil; usually I give some camber to the blades afterwards.
Alejandro's method:
Use two peices of cardboard 1 at 30 deg. and the other at 20deg.
Lay the wet blade on the cardboard to get the pitch.
He also told me where to get teflon washers - just cut the end off a CA bottle or use a slice of WD 40 tubing.
Also the covering material is veggiie bag HPDE plastic.
I used 1/32" wood for the wing LE and TE and 1/64" for the tail structures.
I had a peice of balsa the same shape as on the plans to hold the front of the stab on but it broke(had the grain running the wrong way) and wanted to fly so just put an angled peice on.
Next plane I will take more time to build.
I went through 3 toothpics to get the blade spars the way I wanted them.
You can get the plans here on Alejando Garcia's website.
http://www.afgvt.0catch.com/VL/PocketE.htm
I welcome all comments or questions.
http://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly1.jpghttp://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly2.jpg
http://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly3.jpghttp://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly4.jpg
http://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly5.jpghttp://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly6.jpg
It's the best flying small plane I have built.
Here are my notes.
Well
I finished the housefly and cut some 3/32" TanII into 2 peices 1 small one and one big one.
I tried the small one untill it broke. Then the big one. The big one works pretty good. With the small one there were other problems(not enough downthrust and too long of a strand of rubber for initial trimming) so the small one may have worked also. I'm still trimming on it but it seems to be the best flying small model I have built.Well the only other small rubber powered models other than ministicks were a scaled down to 7" WS hobbyshopper EZB and the mosquito(also available on Alejandro's page). Could be the Tan2 causing it to fly better. I used fairly heavy wood for the wing LE and TE and the motorstick and tailboom. I cut out 2 motorsticks 1 was stiff the other was springy. I weighed them - the springy stick weighed 50mg and the stiff stick weighed 80 mg .
not much difference but considering the model weighs .6g it may be quite a bit. I went with the stiff stick as a percaution( didnt know if I could slice the Tan2). I had to use aluminum tubing for the thrust bearing( dont have any syringes) this is what caused not enough downthrust beecause there was play between the bearing and propshaft(stickpin). I put the rear motorhook on a little different than on plans so the rubber pulled the propshaft down giving up thrust. I redone the rear motorhook and messed with the bearing until I got the correct angle. I used aluminum can washers
instead of teflon( where do you get teflon washers othe than model supply?).Oh one more thing I made three sets of blades for this model. #1wet balsa on cylinder at 10deg, #2 Alejandro's method, and #3 cut from styrofoam coffee cup at 10deg. I ended up using the wet balsa cylinder formed prop.With Alejandro's method I lay the blades front side up and when dry the curvature was wrong. The anglw was ok but I had a negative airfoil. Next time I'll try frontside down. The styro props were to heavy but may be of some use for testing on an electric. I like the prop shape.
When I mounted the blades to the spar(toothpick sanded to appropriate dia.) I cut a slot in the blade. Usually I just mount the spar on the back of the blade. On one of the blades the glue dried too fast and didnt bond but to my amazement it held up during several flights with just a friction fit, I would have never thought such a thing could happen. Whew!
PS
Since I wrote the above Alejandro has told me this about the blades:
> As for the blades, yes using the method I told you may lead to
> negative airfoil; usually I give some camber to the blades afterwards.
Alejandro's method:
Use two peices of cardboard 1 at 30 deg. and the other at 20deg.
Lay the wet blade on the cardboard to get the pitch.
He also told me where to get teflon washers - just cut the end off a CA bottle or use a slice of WD 40 tubing.
Also the covering material is veggiie bag HPDE plastic.
I used 1/32" wood for the wing LE and TE and 1/64" for the tail structures.
I had a peice of balsa the same shape as on the plans to hold the front of the stab on but it broke(had the grain running the wrong way) and wanted to fly so just put an angled peice on.
Next plane I will take more time to build.
I went through 3 toothpics to get the blade spars the way I wanted them.
You can get the plans here on Alejando Garcia's website.
http://www.afgvt.0catch.com/VL/PocketE.htm
I welcome all comments or questions.
http://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly1.jpghttp://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly2.jpg
http://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly3.jpghttp://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly4.jpg
http://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly5.jpghttp://www.hurtback.org/billy/housefly6.jpg