For the new year I have come up with a new fun flyer, the HOOT, because it is a hoot to fly (pun intended). It is a varation on the mini- gee bee from Hobby lobby...
This is a quick and simple build from fanfold, using cheap servos and standard materials... I have made two versions not sure which I like better.. one with 3" wide winglets, the other with 2" winglets.. both have the same overall WS of 22".. posted are the plans for the 2" very stable flight will slowly roll and hovers nicely...

Larger pictures and plans:
http://www.fototime.com/inv/8BAD875489BEE39

Enjoy
Carl

Details:

Build Notes:

Glue Polyurethane (Elmer's Ultimate Glue), tack joints with hot glue to hold till glue drys. Remove skin from only top surfaces (main wing and winglets), temper with heat gun, improves glue adhesion to foam.
Remove skin from top and botom surfaces of Elevrons and bevel lead edges, temper with heat gun...

2/2/05 added bamboo skewers to TE to improve strength of rear wing and elevron attachment..


Hope this helps
Carl

Looks good, Carl. What's the RTF weight? Sorry if I missed it.

Are those cells any good? I thought I heard they were only good for a 2A or so. If you are running the J250 on 3S/5.33:1/1047...? 8A full throttle or so?

Not sure of the DF400 geared, but I have heard good things about them.

I'd think a GoBL kit would make a nice power package for this.

EDIT: I'm posting the plans for the 80% version here, so it's on the 1st page.

Jerbear has been flying it on 2s830's with a 15t/26g GBv CDR motor with an 8040HD prop. IT'S A HOOT!

Gene,

Just came in from the shop, made some measurements...

The Plane weight ready to fly with the 300DF motor and prop is 7.1 oz. the battery pack I am using is 3.3 oz making an AUW of 10.3 I seperated the battery because if I had a nice 1500mAh 2S pack it would be lighter overall.



Hope this helps
Carl

Have updated the drawings and added the drawing for the 3" winglets...
Now we only need to try to figure out which is better the 2 or 3" winglets.. hehehehe!

Hopefully will get a chance to fly today and check this out a bit more.

Carl

Coach... What a cool ,elegantly simple plane .... gotta' love it .... performance would increase with other battery/motor options... Cool Dude !!! Thanks !!!

This is exactly the kind of plane that I have been looking to build as my first home-built.

How does it handle wind?

Brad

Brad,
This would be a good first build, simple and easy to make... If you used only hot melt could be made in an hour or two... I use the Probond (polyurethane) glue and hot melt to "tack" things together while the glue sets.. let dry overnight... so it is a build tonight fly tomarrow am... Thought this plane would be fun to build if the nephews come over for the day.. they could build and fly their own plane...

As for the wind, I tend to only fly at 10mph or less, with a little wind this plane is fun.
upwind flys good but can get buffited by gusts. Is a complete ROCKET down wind... woooooo!!! The other day tried a roll downwind and got stuck inverted,, ( I am a crummy pilot) this was my first inverted flying...... On the upwind leg backed down on the throttle and actually had it hovering.... part of the goal we were after in the design is "Harrier" like landing capability for new pilots...
Hope this helps
Carl

hi,

do u guys think that this thing would fly well on an ips on 3 cell?
and do u have any full sized plans?
i'd love to be able to fly in our yard when my parants arn't around to bring me to the field.

also,
do u think that this could be built out of 3~4 mm depron?

yorbenator,

Yes you could use depron to build this, probably any foam would work on this simple design... You probably could reduce the size to make it a bit lighter
I would be willing to bet with the right motor you could make this out of corrigated cardboard and it would fly.......

I am sure there are a lot of other power plant options that would also work, it will all come down to what your final weight is for the plane and what is the thrust you motor gear, prop slection have,,,,

What is the thrust of the IPS you are planning on using? I think the IPS units are a bit light for this, you need to check the GWS tables,,, if you get motor thrust = to plane weight you can just about hover... Probably would fly at 75-80 percent thrust, but I am no expert, I only put things together and see if they work!!!

The best part of foam building is to EXPERIMENT with different things!!!!! hehehehe!

To me plane plans are like a recipe when I cook, it is only a starting place, you add your own spices, and hot sauce, and BAM!!! you kick it up a notch,,,, hehehehehe!!

Carl

carl,

i also dont know the exact thrust of the ips but i heard of 3d planes using it. (planes around 4 oz) so i gues it would give around 6~7 oz of thrust.

PS: how can i print the plans at the size i want?

what program do u guys use?
this plan looks like it is from turbocad, do u still have those files?

For the IPS to work you will have to lighten the plane a bit,,,, try something like a 75 percent size... Just a WAG (Wild A-- Guess) hehehehe!

If you go back to the first post I made is a link to a photo album with a larger JPG file you can download to your computer... Really you shouldn't need a full size drawing, since the layout on the foam is really quite simple...

Yes I use the old Turbo Cad Learning Edition.... PM me and I can send the TWC files if you really need them (the DXF conversions are really bad!)

Carl

Carl let me fly this baby. It was running a .50 cent motor at the time and it was a very cool plane to fly. He made a GeeBee once which had very much the same characteristics and was my favorite Carl Creation. The thing I like the most about this style plane is that it can run both at high speed or slow down and harrier. If you have any problems with a fast plane landing - this is the plane for you. You can zip along at either high speed or park flyer speed, and when you want to land you bring it in at a couple miles an hour. If any wind is blowing you can hover down to a landing. It rolls nicely, and can flip like an acrobatic plane. The improvement of this style plane over a GeeBee is stability. The rolled up edges made it very stable.

Carl knows I like a plane that turns on a dime. And even with his cut back controls it handled very well. I think he said he would publish two elevon sizes, so I'd recommend starting with the larger elevon and cut back if it's too lively.

Carl congrats on a real winner here. We need to put another together with a video. I know you can throw one together in an hour - so hopefully a 10 minute edited video would show enough to make it a quick build for everyone.

To help you guys get some serious power into your Hoot I'd like to make the following offer. If you post a picture of your HOOT here and email me at Vinnie@JustGoFly.com - I'll provide you a 300DF brushless motor and 25 amp MMM ESC for $35 each. PM or email me, since this thread is for HOOTing only.

Vinnie

Vinnie,

The wind was down this afternoon, go out to try both the 2" and 3" winglet versions..
still not sure which is better,,, the 3" turns on a dime and has good tip stall resistance, but the 2" hovers better and would make a better trainer..
I love the way they "herrier" and drop to the ground. hehehehehe!

Just did plans for the .75 version, should be a "bullet" more your speed,but may not herrier as nice, should be able to knock one out tomarrow morning..

Tried using my ol standard GWS 100C S1 (3.22:1) flew really SLOW but only with a 3s pack, would not fly with the 2s normal pack,,, think it is the cold (40deg), that makes it need the 3s. maybe indoors it would fly with only the 2s,,, can't wait till the next indoor event to try it out..

Carl

what brand is mmm?
i've never heard of it

BTW: sent pm (carl)