https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...rushless-motor

Motor I bought for my 1/4 scale Tiger Moth arrived today. Looks like it took a pretty good ding. It was shipped in a bubble-wrap envelope, not a box... I wonder if the delivery guy dropped it.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...man-conversion

Bought this "project" for $60 back in 2011. It languished in a closet for several years, but recently started working on it. Converted it to electric with a slide-out power module, oleo struts, and reshaped the turtle-deck for an enclosed rear cockpit. The goal is to transform it into a Pre-War Navy divebomber/pursuit/scout plane... reminiscent of the Boeing F4B or Curtiss Goshawk F11C, complete with a working bomb-drop.

From this:


To this:


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Next on my drawing board is a Waco YQC-6 "Sesquiplane" that I translated into foam from an old "Skymasters" free-flight plan. I made a few adjustments to wing incidences for powered flight vs rubberband, then I worked backwards from the outlines to create crutches and formers that tab together for quick assembly. The exterior is then skinned with 3/16-1/4" (6mm) FFF or Depron, etc. I'll finish it with masking paper/Tite-bond-II like my Grumman Goose... gives a great finish, easy to paint, prevents a lot of hangar rash, easy to patch, and adds a lot of tensile strength to the foam.

This is another in the series of foam planes that uses the same 5.125" "peanut jar" for a cowl. I've been hoarding these plastic jars for some years now, I use them in my garage to sort nuts and bolts, etc... but they work great as a cowl for radial engines. I even designed a paper-model radial Wasp Jr. engine that I can scale to fit.

64" DeHavilland Beaver
59" Grumman Goose

I currently have a 1/6 scale Sterling Stearman on my build table, so this will have to wait until my desk is cleared... but should be a quick build once I get started. This will make use of a removable "power module" battery tray for easy battery swaps, similar to how I modded the Sterling Stearman. Everything slides out the front of the firewall and is held in place with a spring-loaded pin, disguised as the air intake snorkel.

And I won the multi-engine "scratch-built" build-off. Yay!

Here's the build log:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1575675

**** Electronics Installed, April 16, 2012 ****

RC foamie Grumman Goose (1 min 42 sec)

**** Taxi test, June 23, 2012 ****

Grumman Goose taxi test (5 min 27 sec)

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My Goose has been slow-going with two young kids and lots of finishing touches to do on the house renovations, but I just about have the fuselage finished and ready for covering.

I'm going to use newspaper and Titebond II wood glue which should give me a water-proof covering that can also be painted. I'll patchwork the newspaper into place in small sections to prevent warping as the paper shrinks, plus it will look like panel lines from the full-scale.

Right now my weight without battery is 2lbs-11oz, but I still need to add the floats and empennage servos/linkages. I suspect the covering and paint will add quite a bit more weight, but should still come in well under 4lbs with battery.

So based on that, here are some guesstimates:

581.4squin wing area
58oz AUW (estimated)
Max CL 1.25
Wing Loading 14.37oz/sf
Cubic Loading 7.15oz/cuft
Stall Speed 16.8mph





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Just keeping track of my collection of scale pilots I've sculpted...

1/6 scale German WWI full-body pilot:


1/9-1/10 scale WWI British pilot:


1/9 scale US WWII trainer pilot #1:
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I took the S-39 out this evening for her maiden flight. ROW was tricky with gusty winds and choppy water... but she eventually got off the water and flew beautifully.

MVI_3131.AVI (2 min 52 sec)

Here's just one photo out the window of a Cessna 172. My first flight... take off, flew for about an hour, then the instructor landed the plane. Very fun! It was a bit windy that morning and bumpy over land, but once I got out over the lake the wind was pretty smooth... though I was crabbing a lot to keep her in a straight line.

Yippee! I'll be flying a full-scale Cessna 172 this weekend. My wife bought me the "Downtown Chicago" flight last year for my B-day and I'm just now cashing in on it.

For anyone in the Chicago area looking for an introductory flight, try signing up for the free lesson raffle:

http://www.palwaukeeflightschool.com...on-raffle.html

It's been a long while in the works, but I'm making another pilot for one of Hammerd's masterpieces. I had this dude nearly done and dropped him - smashed the torso and had to start again. Anyways, I have everything but the arms done and they are roughed out with some clay on armatures. This will be a 6-piece mold plus the goggles... arms, legs, torso, head.

Here are a few links I used for reference for the uniform:
http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/...ir-world-war-2
http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/...ir-world-war-3
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/pe...vil-image.html
http://www.flieger-album.de/geschich...aits/index.php
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drakego...detail/?page=4

The pilot is definitely of Austro-Hungarian descent with his trademark "Franz Ferdinand" moustache.

http://adamone.rchomepage.com/

Just saving this link for my own reference...

I started some drawings for a 48" Consolidated Fleet biplane, made mostly from 1/4" BluCor (FFF) with just a bit of 1/2" pink foam for extra strength from the firewall to the cockpit area, and for the empennage. There's not a whole lot of structure, so she should have a very light wingloading and will probably require cross-rigging on the wings to prevent bending and twisting. I'll use this plane as a testbed before I begin on the slightly larger P-6E Hawk I have planned. The constant chord wings should be a snap to make, and the fuselage is essentially a box-frame with a few creases to simulate the longerons.

It's my birthday today. My wife doesn't know it, but I bought myself the E-Flite PT-19 to celebrate. They are on sale for only $69.99... she'll look really nice next to the Stearman.

Glad to report that my basement remodel is nearly complete... I've been so RC-deprived these last few months. All that's left is to add closet doors and tile the bathrooms. I see light at the end of the tunnel.

Curtiss Goshawk F11-C maiden flight and crash (1 min 53 sec)

Just wanted to add a link to the video of my Goshawk crash... need to get this thing flying again before the snow starts.

I still have not determined the exact cause of the crash. I temporarily lost all control of the plane - about 3-4 seconds.

I was flying the plane with an AR6100, which are now known to have brown-out issues -- it could have gone into a reboot. I was also using a HobbyKing 40A SuperSimple ESC, which they had a bunch of bad ones that could barely pull 18amps... so I may have over-amped it and it went into overload protection, or it simply caused the brown out which triggered the RX to fail.

Lastly, the 12x6 prop was way more torque and thrust than what I needed... she really wanted to roll left, so I compensated with right aileron trim and perhaps too much right-thrust on the motor angle... which made her a want to tip-stall at lower speeds. I'll be switching to an 11x7 for a bit more speed and hopefully less torque-roll.

I have since replaced the ESC with a known good ESC, plus I installed a 3A SBEC for the 4 9gram servos... just in case.

I have the plane mostly back together -- minus cosmetics -- and I'm getting ready to take her up again soon.

I had nearly forgotten about this design... A Great Blue Heron made from FFF... might actually ROW as well. KFM wing with spoilerons for roll control.

Thanks IBIPS for reminding me.

As if I don't have enough planes to build, I decided recently that I really need another biplane. At 54", this is not the largest wingspan plane I've built, but the scale is larger than any of my other planes. I've measured my car, and this plane should JUST fit in the back of my Toyota Matrix with all the seats down.

I've already built a very similar Curtiss Goshawk at 1/9 scale, and I really like the looks: "between-the-wars" nostalgia, tapered wings, fixed gear, large teardrop wheel pants, colorful livery, and it should be quite aerobatic with a short tail moment and all that wing area. The big difference between this and the Goshawk is the giant V-12 "Conqueror" liquid-cooled engine. Of course, this will be electric, but the V-12 model will have a longer nose making it easier to balance and less wind resistance than the giant radial.

I hope to keep the AUW under 4.5lbs, so hopefully I can still fly her on a bunch of paralleled 3S lipos. A 13" 3-blade prop is "scale"... should be no problem for a cheap Turnigy 42-size 600-watt motor.

I started a couple of drawings based off Royal plans, so I have profiles and formers to work from. I think the plane will have an internal box/former structure, with a few strategically placed sticks to really stiffen the airframe and wings.

Anyway - here's what I have so far:

I've been really busy working on my 3-flat lately --- digging the basement down a foot, new concrete floor, plumbing, electrical, HVAC --- we're duplexing the first floor into the basement to double our livable square footage. The bad news: no time for airplanes right now.

Just making some handy links to my most recent acquisitions:


E-flite Stearman -- flies great, looks beautiful, built like a tank. A bit heavy compared to most electrics but she flies very scale. Even though she flies great, I have to get my nerves up before I fly her... just so expensive compared to my scratch-built foamies.


Big Pink Beaver -- 64" DeHavilland Beaver DHC-2 scratch-built from 1/2" pink and 1/4" blue (fan-fold) rigid insulation foam. This thing flies AWESOME... looks very scale and cruises slow - like a Beaver should. AUW about 40oz with plenty of wing to add payload. Floats are next.


Grumman Goose -- 60" 1:10 scale, again it will be scratch-built from 1/2" pink and 1/4" blue (fan-fold) rigid insulation. Still finalizing the plans, but I have enough of it figured out to get started. She'll be powered by twin DT750's spinning GWS 10x6x3-blade props... same motor as the Beaver. Alas, Spring is here... so I'm too busy flying to build anything right now.
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Here I go again...

I've been flying a lot of electric foamie biplanes lately... they're just perfect for flying at the local park: aerobatic, light wing-loading, and can take-off land on a little-league baseball diamond. Wanting something a little bigger -- but not that would take ages to build or was too expensive to add electronics -- I've come up with something that loosely resembles a Sig Smith Mini-plane or Sig Hog Bipe or EAA Biplane.... a loose mix combining whatever qualities I thought would be easiest to replicate for a sorta-scale parkflyer. The fuselage is simple slab-sides... made from 1/2" pink rigid insulation foam. The wings are built-up from 1/4" FFF ... or they could be hot-wire cut from 1" thick blocks or you could build the "Armin airfoil". It's a simple enough design that I should be able to build an entire airframe in a day, but the full fuse will give it a bit of scale looks and a strong box frame.

I'll continue to refine the plans - perhaps tab & notch interlocking pieces, though not really necessary.

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