Vertical stabilizer removed.

1_NoRudder.AVI (3 min 29 sec)

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First hover landing attempts.

VTOL - aHoverTakeOffHoverLanding.AVI (0 min 57 sec)

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Hover to Forward Flight video- First video of Hover takeoff to forward flight.

HoverToForwardFlight.AVI (2 min 34 sec)

///////Original Post///////////
More like a quad tilt motor or propeller project.

It's a little early to show but knowing how these projects don't always make it to completion, here is my current VTOL attempt.
It's just a quad copter at the moment but this was a short motor tilt test to see if the quad was still stable.
Now to put some wings on it.

The motors are directly bolted onto the servos, yes I know this is a bad idea
So far I'm surprised with how well the servos are holding up. How well they perform during flight is another story.

Next version will have the motors supported by a shaft before the servo like VTOLman and maxvtol have done to name a couple, both of whom have amazing projects!

Parts list...
2- W-150 Power servos on the back.
2- Hextronik MG-14 14g/2.2kg/0.11sec servos on the front. (I didn't have any more Waypoint servos)
1- Firmtronics (Retract180 180-Degree Servo Driver). This thing works great!http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...8&postcount=69

Nice!

I too have wondered about this setup, can you post pics of your rig?

Also check this photo out if you haven't seen it already. It was the only photo I could find. It doesn't have wings, but I wonder if it was intended to be a tilt rotor?

Can you post pics/info about what you have so far?

Originally Posted by ben1101

Nice!
I too have wondered about this setup, can you post pics of your rig?...

Hi and thanks.

It's kind of a mess right now as I fit the airplane body onto the quad frame but here are a couple images where you can at least admire my fine craftsmanship. I'm not sure which I'm more proud of, the large dings in the wings or the uneven height of the rudder

It's basically an AeroQuad quadcopter from the Quaduino-Part2 thread with a 7$ glider attached with a few modifications such as the tilt servos and airplane moving surfaces for RC control.

On this initial version, all the airplane servos will be functional all the time like a normal airplane. The quad copter code will be modified so that there is only collective throttle control once the motors are tilted forward 90 degrees.

That quad image is very interesting. I havent' seen that one before. Looks like a hover test bed as you said. Looks like the motors are either belt driven or just the motors are not in the gearboxes maybe? Would like to see more info on that one as well
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Found more info on that quad you posted.
http://www.qc-copter.de/wiki/index.php?title=Usercopter

I Love it!

That is very cool, I would assume that it would work, given roll and pitch control is only with the plane in forward flight.

Have you thought about a tandem wing aircraft, with each wing mounted in line or just behind the motors? It would probably need holes cut out in the wing under the motors for airflow in hover...

Are you going to strap wheels on it and test forward flight?

Originally Posted by ben1101

...That is very cool, I would assume that it would work, given roll and pitch control is only with the plane in forward flight.

Thanks. I'm glad you like it

I hope you're right. At least I have you quoted now so I have someone to point the finger at if it doesnt work out

Originally Posted by ben1101

...Have you thought about a tandem wing aircraft,...

The real QTR design is what I was initially trying to do, and still am, so I tried this tandem version but it wasn't really flight worthy. Bolting the motors to pastic geared servos, which they easily tore out of when throttle was applied, was just one of several problems I discovered. I learned a lot from it though and would like to revisit it again if these simpler versions work out.

Originally Posted by ben1101

...Are you going to strap wheels on it and test forward flight?

It definately needs some wheels. I would rather put them under the motors to help protect the props but that may not look good. I'm going to try for two under the wings and one under the nose and tail.

Forward flight/crashing is planned. I'm keeping my expectations realistic but hopefully more forward flight then crashing will occur. I'll probably remove the tilt servos and bolt some inexpensive 7$ motors I have in pace for forward flight testing.

I'm planning to have the motors tilted 45 degrees for STOL but noticed that the front motors will speed up the air under the wing more than above it. Will that suck the wing down and make it more difficult to take off or is it negligible?

Hi RCvertt,

Hows the project coming along? Have you had the chance to test it yet?

Ben

Originally Posted by ben1101

Hi RCvertt,

Hows the project coming along? Have you had the chance to test it yet?

Ben

Hi Ben,
I tested hovering recently. It lifted up just fine, nice and stable enough, but I had no yaw control

The frame twists too much which causes the thrust from the motors to cancel out the motor torque.

Looks like we are back in business using motor tilting for yaw control.

VTOL_AeroQuad (QTD) HoveringUsingMotorTiltNoYawGyro.AVI (0 min 36 sec)

Looking at it now, I doubt my landing gear arrangement will let me get off the ground if I try a normal airplane takeoff.
D'oh, but easily fixed.


The yaw control should become better once I feed in some gyro control. Right now yaw is straight from the receiver.
So far the little cheap servos I have up front are holding together. Even the one that makes a nice grinding noise after I steped on it and spent a day putting it back together Tick, tick...

VTOL_AeroQuad (QTD) MotorYawTilt.AVI (0 min 7 sec)

SICK.

So you will have a switch to make roll-yaw and yaw-roll when flying transition? (for the motors, not the ailerons/tail)

You could also mount the yaw gyro on the rear motors if they aren't controlled for vtol yaw. that way the gyro would automatically compensate roll in transition!?!

Originally Posted by ben1101

SICK.
So you will have a switch to make roll-yaw and yaw-roll when flying transition? (for the motors, not the ailerons/tail)

Thanks.
The pilot will only have to flick a two position switch to rotate the motors forward or up.
This version will just have the motors pointing straight ahead during forward flight and let the airplane surfaces handle all the control.

I like your idea of mounting the gyro on the motor tilting mechanism but we'll be doing any channel switching or reversing in code so that the transmitter inputs remain the same for the pilot during forward flight and hovering.

Great - gotta say it looks pretty badass!

I agree, getting the controller to handle the transition is a much better idea than mechanical mixes.

Originally Posted by ben1101

...I agree, getting the controller to handle the transition is a much better idea than mechanical mixes.

Cool. Now how do I do it

Originally Posted by ben1101

with a radio mix if you have to. if you have capabilities set up programmable channels on a switch, run your controls of them. set parameters you want for each side of the switch.

Hmmm. I'll see if I can cook something up. Lucky for us we have some programmers on the project that can help us go beyond what I can do.

Originally Posted by RCvertt

Cool. Now how do I do it

with a radio mix if you have to. if you have capabilities set up programmable channels on a switch, run your controls of them. set parameters you want for each side of the switch.

Originally Posted by ben1101

...set parameters you want for each side of the switch.

Ok, help me out here people.

Which of these two methods sounds good?

1) Left motors on one servo, right motors on another servo. Use vtail control for motor 90 degree tilting and yaw control when hovering. Forward flight roll control done with motor tilting, no ailerons. Forward flight yaw from differential motor thrust. Forward flight pitch from a third servo for standard elevator surface. This method has no ailerons or rudder and uses only three servos but puts a lot of stress on the two tilt servos.

2) All motors on one servo for 90 degree tilting. Hovering done by standard quadcopter controls. Forward flight roll from normal ailerons, pitch from normal elevator and yaw from differential thrust. A fourth micro servo will be used to lock the tilt servo in place at the 90 degree positions. This method uses four servos but locks the motors in place for most of the flight. This should reduce the strain on the tilt servos and potentially let me cut power to them if this would give a significant savings in battery juice.