Many many moons ago (1984 to be exact) my father bought an RC plane to build later on whilst traipsing through Europe. He moved on to full scale aircraft and the RC plane never got built. It was one of those things that as a child I was always dreaming about, expecially how much potential fun there was and it was constantly fuelled by seeing this box with sleek graphics all over it sitting on the top of the book case. Roll on 28 years and I've finally managed to find the time and spare cash to get into the hobby.

I've been hugely influenced by all you guys and the builds and designs you all come up with using Foam Board as a medium and have had a go with pretty good success but they've all been 'bull in a china shop' builds all done by following concepts than chucking them together. My desire to see this wondrous thing sitting on the book case was so deeply ingrained that I reminded my dad about it and low and behold he said - "Yeah still got that, it's in storage downstairs!".

You can imagine my haste in barrelling downstairs to see if I could find it. I did find it but with an added bonus! He had two planes tucked away!

Here they are!
How cool are the transmitters!


Check it out - it still has a really old school inrunner and the battery pack




She's a fairly substantial trainer - 38 inches long and 49 inches wingspan


So I figured before ploughing into these beauties with my utter lack of experience I should take the time to learn the techniques involved in Balsa wood and film construction and do them justice. But they have given me a base with which to try building a similar aircraft from the plans out of foam. So with the little experience I have I've gotten started. My father and I are going to build the wing from hotwired blue foam and I've decided to not bother with the cockpit on the plans. We've changed the airfoil to a semi-symmetrical profile and so as not to run the risk of damaging the kits landing gear we're just going to make a skid and belly land it. Either that or I'll make some gear and make it a tail dragger.



We hope to get the wings hot wired out this weekend and there is a pretty hefty order on the way from HK with the rest of the bits that should get this up and going. I'm anticipating it looking a bit like a full fuse Slo Stick.

EDIT: Sorry not a Slo Stick, I meant a Big Stick

This weekend was pretty productive. As I wanted to do I managed to get the wing cores hot wired out but in a fit of productivity I ended up going a bit further.

First the wing cores taken care of. We're gunning for a 1400mm span wing but being conservative we cut across the foam which is 600mm wide. We've cut 3 sections so that I can cut the third and form some wing tip extensions from it.

This is my father by the way - turns out hot wiring is much easier with two people!








Having got that done and now having to wait for a bunch of stuff from HK, I got a little carried away and got to thinking. I wanted to make a revisit on the motor glider theme after a moderate success with my Ugly Franken Motor Glider.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...hlight=franken

I tend to spend a bit of time looking at aircraft and picking and choosing what design aspects appeal to me and after a bit of a browse and sketch session I came up with this.

I got to hunting for a good airfoil to use and settled on the Clarke Y, printed out some end plates and set to cutting them out!

Here they are next to the Trainer and original Franken Glider wing


The next trick was the fuselage. I decided to go with a carved foam core - first time I've tried this so bear with me.

Rough Cut


Profile sketch ready for band sawing. The fus is in 2 parts hot glued together.


Started forming


Sanding the sucker down - very carefully


Almost finished - still figuring out the nose - I'm thinking that a blended spinner with side vents for cooling would suit the design


With the wing


Mocked up with the tail from the trainer


Now it's a waiting game for the stuff that I've ordered to arrive. Next weekend will hopefully be the first approach to glassing the wings. I'm hoping to be able to utilise the Vacuum Bagging technique.

Very nice! I've been bit by the build bug, just looking around, this looks like it's going to be a nice bird.

Thanks

I'm going for a bit of a scale look rather than the classic RC glider style. I'm taking my design queues from these two planes:

Phoenix Motor Glider


Nemesis NXT Reno Racer


In fairness it's a bit more the Phoenix than the Nemesis but I want to get that really nice sleek profile especially on the nose as I think the Phoenix one is a little soft. Still - we'll see where it goes

Do you have any thoughts on where you are going to go build wise?

Non what so ever... more a lazy flyer , with some balls when you want it. Building a 4 axis wire cutter and a simple cnc machine, see where it goes from there.

Love the glider look, the Nemesis looks tres cool too.

I've always like the sleek looking plane, the Cirrus Sr22 Turbo mixed with the Pheonix motor glider, a bipe version... or dual pod nacels looking like the phoenix, and the mid portion like the Nemesis... Hmmmm...

With foam you can try anything, especially if you model them first, and see hwo the render looks,and go from there...

I haven't built anything.. for... eons... ack... 16 was the last time I built from scratch. I'm, 30 yrs older now...

Cirrus is a very pretty plane. Reminds me a bit of another favourite of mine, the Lancair.



The foam is a wonderful medium - I was loving working with it. It's the fine finessing that I'm going to have to be really careful with.

I've got a couple of renders tucked away that I drafted up in 3ds Max. This one is of a Glastar in early days.


I have a few others but they are 'secret squirrel' Going to build them later when I've got my skills up to speed!

I like the idea of a dual pod version of the Phoenix - could lend itself to being a nice pusher with the space for mounting a camera in the nose... I'm 34, so it's never too late to get started In fact it's all important to keep having fun! I've discovered of the more recent years that I've had the opportunity to be much more creative than my earlier years. All this stuff costs money and time and I've been very lucking in having both of late. I'm assuming that by dual pod you mean like a dual boom type layout kinda Cessna 336/7 layout?



I too have thought of a nice bipe motor glider - I reckon done with a stagger wing layout and you could be onto a seriously pretty plane.

Grabbed a spinner - Might have to broaden the nose a little to accommodate it - it's a 1 and 3/4" Du-Bro spinner made to go on collet type prop adaptors. I think the prop that is on it is a bit of overkill - it's an 8x7, I'm really wanting to put a 9x5x3 but I couldn't find any three bladed spinners in the local RC shops. Might have to place another order with HK.

Do any of you guys know if widening the spinner holes to take one of the wider EP straight edge bladed props would cause too much of a headache balance wise to the spinner?

Originally Posted by steveobhave

Do any of you guys know if widening the spinner holes to take one of the wider EP straight edge bladed props would cause too much of a headache balance wise to the spinner?

I have altered spinners for years. Some were real hack jobs, now I at least get both sides even by using a small template. Never balance spinners this small BTW. Your shop is awdome BTW, and impressive stuff going on.

Fred

Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to get back into working on these models - it's weekend only stuff and then only when I can get out to the hangers. I decided to work up a render of what I hope to get the plane looking like. Most of my bits arrived from HK but now I need to get the bits and pieces for glassing and vacuum bagging as well as building an oven for curing.

Nice looking airplane. Hope you find some time to get some work in on it soon. I know how that feels when life gets in the way!

Fred

I like it, I can't wait to see the finished product. Should be a real sweetie in the air.

Thanks guys - I hope so. I'm certainly pushing the limits of my build capability but it's all a learning experience and it helps having a father who is an aircraft engineer.

nice build u have and i would like to have a shop floor as clean as urs, too. is that the motor u going to use. just take ur time and ask questions here. we are waiting to see it in air

Thanks BT - I have a 1000kv Turnigy D2830 that I think might be a bit more appropriate but I've used the EMAX on my last project which is about the same size if not a bit heavier. Prop that I'll use is a 9x7.5.