Hi everyone!

After seeing pictures of the Sbach 342, I knew I had to have one, even if it was just a foamie. After looking around, I couldn’t find any .pdf plans for one, so I decided to make my own. I drew up plans at 100% scale in Photoshop and tiled them using PosteRazor 1.9.5. The plans are drawn for construction using 6 mm Depron foam, however, other thickness and/or types of foam may be used by adjusting the width of the assembly slots to conform to the foam thickness. The prototype was constructed using 4.5 mm Readiboard® foam from the Dollar Tree with the paper backing removed. This is my first attempt at drawing up plans, so I hope it all works ok!

Here are the specifications:
Wingspan: 34 in
Length: 35 in
Weight: To be determined

I don’t know the flying weight yet, since the prototype is not finished. However, I weighed the foam pieces and they came out to around 2 oz. Below I have listed the weight of the airborne equipment so we can estimate the total weight.

The prototype will use radio equipment that I had from other foamies, specifically:

Motor: E-Flite Park 400 920 Kv Outrunner (56 g, 2.0 oz)
ESC: E-Flite 20 A Brushless V. 1
Receiver: Hitec Electron 6 (17 g, 0.6 oz)
Servos: Hitec Hs-56HB x 3 (10 g, 0.37 oz or 30 g, 1.11 oz)
Battery: Li-po, 3 cell 1500 mAh (will probably use lighter, newer batteries)

I just finished decorating the prototype using colored tissue paper (super light weight) before beginning assembly. I will continue posting updates as I finish the assembly, fly it, fine tune the CG, etc. It might be slow going starting Monday, when my college classes start back up. Stay tuned!

-Vincent

Here are the tiled and untiled plans in compressed folders.

Update:

Glued the fuselage/wing pieces together, and cut out a motor mount, which is glued and drying.

Here's how she looks so far, with the control surfaces taped on.

Next, radio installation and text graphics

Good job!!! splitfire22. You make the project look so easy. Thanks for sharing your plans with us. Cant wait to see her fly.

Reaper

Hi Reaper, glad you like it! Still, I guess I'm the only one who really thought this was a cool looking plane, and a nice change from all the Extras and Yaks. I guess I should get a moderator to move this thread to the 3D Foamies forum? Though I can't find any moderators.

Last night I finished up the radio installation. All that's left is balancing, and printing out some graphics. I ended up using 2 aileron servos instead of one, but I'm sure it could be set-up either way. I will be using old (5 year old Li-po's) for the maiden, but I have a new Turnigy charger and batteries on order from Hobby King. Trying to upgrade my electric equipment....

It's raining today, so expect a maiden in the coming days when the weather improves. I will try and get one of my roommates to come and video tape it.

This one does have nice lines

I like the looks of the finish! You say you used tissue? Watered-down glue, or what to adhere it to the foam? Seems like I saw a thread somewhere...

Hi Gene,

I wanted something that could nicely decorate the plane with minimal weight addition. I didn't want the hassle of paint (of using foam safe paints or clear coating the foam to protect from melting with regular spray paint, and colored paper was too heavy. I found that Walmart had a nice selection of tissue paper for gift-bags for $1.00! (10 sheets of 20" x 26")

I actually used 3 different methods of applying the tissue:
1. Regular glue stick
2. 3M spray adhesive
3. Elmer's white glue and water 50/50

They all worked equally well, and all had their advantages for certain applications. I used the glue stick for large, simple areas. I tried the 3M spray on the lightning bolts on the wings and tail. And finally, I used the thinned Elmer's on the fuselage since I did each entire side of the fuselage at once, and it was helpful to be able to position the pieces while the tissue paper was wet.

Considering how cheap the tissue paper is, how lightweight, and how simple and relatively clean it is to apply, I think I'm going to decorate all my foamies this way!

Did you have any concerns about the tissue sticking well?
I have tried gluing on plain copy paper that I had printed markings on and that never stuck with a crap. Always peeled off after a couple weeks.
Of course the tissue would work entirely differently. Will certainly have to try this.
Thanks!

Patric

I've never tried tissue, but may soon. It actually looks good. BTW this is a nice plane design, I like how it looks.

Hi Patric and Rusty,
So far, the tissue is holding up fine, expect for the expected random corners lifting up slightly. Those I hit with the glue stick and they stay down. I will say that I think the glue stick and 3M spray are definitely stronger than the thinned Elmers glue.

I should admit that there are some wrinkles in the covering, but I'm sure that could be eliminated if one were more careful than I was. However, the wrinkles are all but invisible when viewing the plane from more than 2 feet away. Still, I highly recommend trying this out!

Flight Report,

I decided to try out a maiden flight this evening after the winds had died down and the clouds had cleared up.

Good news: She flew great! CG was right on, and with that relatively large wing, is a real floater! I'd be willing to bet this model could be flown indoors with relative ease. Handles beautifully; overall I am very satisfied.

Bad news: Wings flex a bit, so not sure how the airframe will handle high G's. Due to the unexpected muddy/swampy ground, I attempted to air-catch it. Right before catching, I slipped in the mud, knocked the throttle to idle, missed the wing, and it stalled from 3-4 feet up. The stall and prop strike caused the motor/mount to rip out. Minor damage, and already repaired.

I'm really excited about this plane and I can't wait to try it out again. And this time, I hope to have a roommate be around to record it!

I will also try to get her weighed ASAP.

Accidents do happen. Its good you didn't get hurt. I look forward to any vids. BTW this doesn't necessarily belong in the 3-d forums, although it can be re-posted there, too. It is a scratch built plane, so it belongs here. I like the way it looks, its a bit better looking then the Yaks, Extras, etc, we see every day.

Finally got some nice enough weather for a 2nd flight, and was able to get some video. Please excuse my poor attempts at hovering, but I haven't really flown since July!

I'm fairly sure that in the hands of a more capable pilot, it would perform even better.

I also added some basic decals that I drew up in PS and printed out on self-adhesive decal paper. Still don't have a weight yet, trying to get my hands on a good enough scale.

Hope you like it!

Video:

Sbach 342 Foamie 2nd Flight (3 min 9 sec)

My Sbach will be in towards the end of this month. Local pickup at the dealer as well
Wahoo

Cryhavoc, I'm jealous! The reason I made the foamie is because, though I'd love to have a bigger one, I don't have the ability (nor the funds) to fly them while at college. There's a nice park less 1/4 of a mile away though, perfect for foamies.

Hope you enjoy it, it's such a nice looking plane. Personally, I think this should be the next plane that manufacturers pick up on....I'm so sick of Yaks and Edges, etc...WAY too many of them!