I'm not the professor of EDF, but I really like the dual function idea of your ducting.

Possible on the 30mm that the oversize intake might bring top speed down slightly, or somewhat because of some increased drag. However because of ducting length I like to have a larger intake and find in practice that this prevents needing to cut any cheater holes.

My personal opinion is that the tail cone shape, length, diameters makes the most differance in performance.

The cool thing as you pre-thought was a kit appealing to both followers. 40mm and 30mm. This also helps distribution woes when you have to keep track of 'what duct is in this kit, or what one did they want?'

I personally still like 40mm better anyway because less hassle for the 'average' guy to purchase, setup, reliability, and cost over time. It's also a nice size to carry, see in the air, and face it, can handle a little extra weight better.

30mm is way cool, and it is more in the beginning stages of 'wow I did it', but the off the shelf gear still needs to go through much refinement.

Opinions, everyone has one, most of them stink! So you still have to decide for yourself. After all you just need to sell a few to make this worth your while, hopefully make some money for your time, and the wow, cool factor to have your design all over the world is icing on the cake.

Most buyer's may not be great builders, so the multi-design duct is perfect for them. A great builder may just want to get in there and do their own thing anyway, and I'm sure a multi-design duct would provide a good start anyway, especially at the intakes. The intake profile won't be changing anyway.

I'm out of breath, and I'm sure you are all tired of reading what I said anyway.

Looking way cool, and hope I can afford one, plus get on an order list before you wear out that mold!

Fred

Originally Posted by pdawg

Opinions?

I really like the canopy/hatch that you've done. You could easily make a longer two seat style version the way you've done it. Nice.

I have to keep reminding myself how small this thing is! It looks big in pics until you show it next to your tx

Steve C

Originally Posted by Steve C

I really like the canopy/hatch that you've done. You could easily make a longer two seat style version the way you've done it. Nice.

I think he meant opinions on the ducting, not the canopy

Looking great Bret! I'm setting some money aside for when you start taking orders

Its been another wonderful day but despite spending 10 hrs building but the progress doesn't seem very obvious. I tried my best to multi-task which isn't my specialty but it did keep me busy. I continued working on the hatch plug, began building the ducting and also opened the hatch area on the fuselage mold. I'm hoping to test fly the first electrolyte next saturday at the basin. Its my last day in LA so it would be a great way to conclude this trip . I'll need to get movin here but its an achievable goal.

Fred,
Thanks for your input. The 40mm fan unit fits very nicely so I'm sure this will be a 40mm edf airframe that will be tough to compete with with respect to performance. SInce I have some nice 30mm equipment I plan to test those first!

Steve C,
Glad to know your still lurking around here! Don't be a stranger. Feel free to throw me some input if you see fit. This first fuselage that I'm working with is not meant to fly and I'm really just using it for tooling other molds. Please don't judge my glass work by that fuse since its a bit rough.

MT,
Thanks for the kind words. I would like to get a few kits in the hands of some individuals with micro edf experience. My biggest obstacle however is time so I haven't even thought about the pricing of this kit.

I bet starting that dremmel up for the first cut into the mold was a a tense one....

Great tutorial Bret. It all makes sense and is easy to follow with the piccies.

Why does that motor in the 3rd picture only have 2 leads??

very cool bret! ill have to see if i can make it to the basin next sat.

I burnt up my dremel trimming my mold last week haha. I had to go buy an angle grinder and a cutoff wheel. Won't get in the tight areas though so i am goign to build dams around the openings of my fuse mold to make trimming easier.

I really like the way you did the framing for the intake plugs...good idea! I wish I could do it that way....mine have to curve over the airfoil of the wing. The added dimension makes it a pain in the butt.

Brian

Originally Posted by pdawg

Its been another wonderful day but despite spending 10 hrs building but the progress doesn't seem very obvious. I tried my best to multi-task which isn't my specialty but it did keep me busy. I continued working on the hatch plug, began building the ducting and also opened the hatch area on the fuselage mold. I'm hoping to test fly the first electrolyte next saturday at the basin. Its my last day in LA so it would be a great way to conclude this trip . I'll need to get movin here but its an achievable goal.

Fred,
Thanks for your input. The 40mm fan unit fits very nicely so I'm sure this will be a 40mm edf airframe that will be tough to compete with with respect to performance. SInce I have some nice 30mm equipment I plan to test those first!

Steve C,
Glad to know your still lurking around here! Don't be a stranger. Feel free to throw me some input if you see fit. This first fuselage that I'm working with is not meant to fly and I'm really just using it for tooling other molds. Please don't judge my glass work by that fuse since its a bit rough.

MT,
Thanks for the kind words. I would like to get a few kits in the hands of some individuals with micro edf experience. My biggest obstacle however is time so I haven't even thought about the pricing of this kit.

Bret,

Did you leave a little gap between the fuse and the intake plug? About 1/8" should do it on a plane your size. You will want to add balsa or glass to the outside of the actual intake part to fill the gap and then once its glued in place that will allow you to sand the inside edge of the intake to a rounded shape and suck in more air.

Pic of what I mean...
http://www.floridajetflyers.com/Mavc...ng%20resin.jpg

http://www.floridajetflyers.com/Mavc...%20resized.jpg

Brian

Originally Posted by corsair nut

very cool bret! ill have to see if i can make it to the basin next sat.

That would be awesome Brent...hopefully The Electrolyte will be done in time. I've recruited a friend to help build a balsa wing and a set of tail feathers over the next week while I complete the hatch and ducting molds.

Tumbler,
Yeah my poor Dremel was not happy yesterday but I really needed that opening. This is my first ducting plug but I've seen it done enough times on rcgroups. The airfoil on your Blaze does add another obstacle but I think this same idea is still possible once you have a hollow molded fuselage.I'm sure CN could build a more refined ducting (hopefully he will) but for now this will get me flying.

Originally Posted by Tumbler

Bret,

Did you leave a little gap between the fuse and the intake plug? About 1/8" should do it on a plane your size.

Brian

Brian,

I believe this is the pic that refers to the gap you are talking about. Here you can see the template held in position from the outside with some blue masking tape. The bright blue area is the margin around the perimeter. An 1/8" is gigantic on this model of this size so my gap is about a 1/16" which still provides enough wiggle room. The rounded L.E. will look proportional to the larger models but whats aerodynamically ideal for an EDF model of this small size is another discussion in itself.

You basically just need enough material to be able to sand the inside to match the rounded edge of the outside. Hard for me to visualize how small your plane actually is i guess haha.

Brian

Originally Posted by pdawg

Brian,

I believe this is the pic that refers to the gap you are talking about. Here you can see the template held in position from the outside with some blue masking tape. The bright blue area is the margin around the perimeter. An 1/8" is gigantic on this model of this size so my gap is about a 1/16" which still provides enough wiggle room. The rounded L.E. will look proportional to the larger models but whats aerodynamically ideal for an EDF model of this small size is another discussion in itself.

This took a little longer but in the long run will save some time. Masking off canopies is definitely a time consuming step. Getting them perfectly symmetrical is a challenge so instead of having to do this everytime its time to paint an Electrolyte I decided to put the work into the plug. Now the plug has a panel line for the canopy outline . Its now time to get to work on the spliter box!

I'm also thinking ahead to the first flying prototype and how I can cut a few corners to get it flying. I'm considering trying out elevons as CN mentioned with the servos sitting flush in the horizontal stab. I took a quick concept pic. Ultimately the plan is to have all the linkage internal but for this prototype I could save some time by using short external linkage. Any thoughts or opinions?

The canopy plug is just awsome and sure a lot of work!

The servos in the tail? Looks like a lot of area disturbed by the servo cutouts. I don't think I would do that but since the model is small I also don't have a model to see if through the fuse side would be an alternate, or simple in the wing with linkage, etc.

I've done the Wattage Sabre/Shock Flyer Jets type of linkage where the aileron horns are attached to the taileron horns, both flex the same direction when actuated, Tailerons more movement than aileron, by use of a horn hole further out (wish I had a better picture). If you get the drift, it works very well and I plan on using it more often.

You have the fuse in hand so you may have to (will have to) be the final decision maker, but I have full confidence.

Fred

I thought your idea for the ducting was just fine, but my bet is that you won't need the 30mm adapter once you fly it with the bigger fan.

I've never been fond of tailerons, though I have done it on a small plane. I had the servo flush and the arm stuck out. You need a little skid/protector so you don't break or strip on landings. I'd cover them both with a glider type servo arm cover or something. Mine couldn't hit the ground because I had a skid between them, but I still could snag them on grass and ended up stripping a servo anyway.

Steve C