Nut,

35" would be an easy build. Although, I've gotten hooked, like Gramps, on larger planes. I have the same problem with my vision (Old Age).

I think, that if I didn't do any glass reinforcing, etc. I could build a 42" that would be around 12 to 16 ozs. The A-4, with all of the add-ons, is at 16 oz. without battery.

Den

Originally Posted by corsair nut

thats great news! 35"ws would be perfect.....for 50mm edf or small pusher....

Ive tried a few methods of forming depron most of which is for skin over 3mm and 2mm foam. But then there always is that filling in pin holes and etc.
I've even tried making a fuselage using 3mm foam vacuum pulled over a plug.
The plug was one side of a fuselage. I used vacuum bagging material and the base of a vacuum former with a seal between them. I first heated the foam in a oven to about 150 degrees. Then placed the foam over the fuselage with bleeder cloth over it, sealed and slowly pulled a vacuum while using a hair dryer to continually heat the foam. Vacuum did not exceed 20" or it will crush the foam.
It did work except for some creases where the foam could not conform to sharp contours. There is also a percentage of how much the foam conforms to the fuselage plug also.
I could see that this method would work if it was set up like the Christoph Stahl's cutouts. Each section could be made up to the areas of sharp contours and each section glued together the way you do on this build. But how to design shapes like Christoph Stahl is a mystery. Could use Defus?
Anyway keep up the good work.

I love working with Depron material.

I once built an F-4 out of vacuum formed, thin High Impact Styrene with Depron wings. I made a mold off of a 1/32" scale plastic injection molded
F-4. I used Bondo and applied it over the plastic (not recommended if you want the plastic part afterwards). Once the mold was cured I heated the Bondo mold and compressed the Depron. The heat helped form the wing. It even had panel lines formed into the Depron along with the airfoil. It was a rubber band launched glider and flew like a jet should.

Once you build a couple of these, especially smaller paper airplanes, you can see how they are designed. I started out doing partial designs over an existing paper airplane model. I then went on to design the entire plane using my experience and what I learned about paper airplanes. It is really not that difficult if you want to spend some time on it. My Oscar, in the Scratch built Foamies, was designed completely from scratch. It took about 2 months to do the layout and test everything before the build.

One way to start would be to download one of Christoph's planes (Through his kindness, there free). You can scale these up to any size you want. If you have knowledge of a graphics program you can clean up the lines (Vector Graphics) when you scale the plane. If you have a printer like Kinko's you can take the file to them and have them scale it up. Without a graphics program, if you get too large the pixels (lines, etc.) become fuzzy.

There are several free paper airplane models available on line. Try one of these and build a paper model to see how it goes. Let me know if you have a problem.

Peace,
Den

Originally Posted by p901P901

Ive tried a few methods of forming depron most of which is for skin over 3mm and 2mm foam. But then there always is that filling in pin holes and etc.
I've even tried making a fuselage using 3mm foam vacuum pulled over a plug.
The plug was one side of a fuselage. I used vacuum bagging material and the base of a vacuum former with a seal between them. I first heated the foam in a oven to about 150 degrees. Then placed the foam over the fuselage with bleeder cloth over it, sealed and slowly pulled a vacuum while using a hair dryer to continually heat the foam. Vacuum did not exceed 20" or it will crush the foam.
It did work except for some creases where the foam could not conform to sharp contours. There is also a percentage of how much the foam conforms to the fuselage plug also.
I could see that this method would work if it was set up like the Christoph Stahl's cutouts. Each section could be made up to the areas of sharp contours and each section glued together the way you do on this build. But how to design shapes like Christoph Stahl is a mystery. Could use Defus?
Anyway keep up the good work.

hey, bigger is better!!! shoot, 42" sounds even better! call it 60mm then lol. theres a great super cheap 60mm setup i could use in one that size

With all of the parts except the electronics and motor she weighs 10oz. Pretty good for a bird of this size.

Here are some more pics.

Peace,
Den

man thats awesome!!!!!

Thanks, Nut.

I hope to have her at Vegas. Feel like flying???????

Peace,
Den

haha, what kind of question is that!!!!

I knew you would get a "kick" out that. It's like asking if the "pope is Catholic".....

Looking forward to seeing you and John in Vegas.

Den

Originally Posted by corsair nut

haha, what kind of question is that!!!!

Very nice work, keep it up!

Thanks, Ace.

I haven't heard from you in sometime. I've been off of the radar for 5 years (Working). Can you believe that?

Peace,
Den

Originally Posted by AceMigKiller

Very nice work, keep it up!

She's getting close. I need to finish the canopy. I won't have the cockpit interior done before Vegas. I need to install the elevator and rudder servos and run the motor wire to the speed control.

Here are a few pics.

Looking good. What is the weight right now and what will the AUW be?

Thanks, p901P901.

The AUW as is without battery and electronics is 15.5 oz. I'm hoping I can get her in around 18 ozs.

Den

Originally Posted by p901P901

Looking good. What is the weight right now and what will the AUW be?

any more progress reports dennis?