Yar. It'd be easy enough to drop the duck motif and gives an idea of wing spacing, rudder size, etc. Good luck.

Inspired a quick sketch. Looks easy enough...

Originally Posted by Trishit

Thank you so much for your replies Goldguy and Redbird1! I am going ahead with the 36" nutball. This being my first plane, what points should I keep in mind other than the CG(at 25%) and the motor angles?

Since you are a beginning flyer, the larger size Nutball should work well as a trainer. For the first flight, check the controls to make sure you have connected everything correctly. Set the rudder trim control to make a very slight turn so the plane will slowly circle your position (perhaps a 100' to 150' circle) without you having to touch the control. This way the plane will not get too far away from you while you are trying to gain altitude and familiarize yourself with turning maneuvers. Use only enough speed to keep the plane climbing slowly until you are at the altitude you want. Do not let the plane climb too steeply or it may stall out and crash. A slow, steady climb will get you up as high as you want to go. Be patient and fly slowly at first until you have gained more confidence with the maneuvers. Retrim the rudder control to straight ahead when you are tired of flying in circles. Have fun!

Thank you redbird1! I will get started on this tomorrow. Will post my results here! Just another noob question. My previous scratch-built had a pusher setup. But whenever I launched it with medium to full throttle, it always rolled to the right and crashed inspite of it having a perfectly balanced cg. Would this have been counteracted with proper (left) motor thrust angle? And when we say "right thrust for tractors" it means that when looking towards the nose of the craft from the tail the motor should point towards the right, right?

You're welcome, Trishit. We will be watching for your results. The answer to your "right thrust for tractors" question is yes. This should be about 3°, close is good enough. Downthrust should be 5°. Hard to answer why your pusher setup rolled to the right without seeing it, the proper motor thrust angle should help, but I haven't worked with pushers. Maybe someone else here at the forum could chime in and give you the right thrust angles for a pusher setup.

Originally Posted by ruddym

Inspired a quick sketch. Looks easy enough...

Looks good! Do you think the elevators should be connected mechanically together so they operate simultaneously? And, what about thrustline? I thought about using smaller discs on each side instead of CF, or whatever, for the wing strut. Maintain that round look.

Originally Posted by swimmer

Looks good! Do you think the elevators should be connected mechanically together so they operate simultaneously?

The elevons appear to be joined on the duck planes, so likewise I would join the elevators (or elevons if you prefer to split them) here.

And, what about thrustline?

My guess would be neutral up/down thrust because the motor is centred between the wings. Frank, any idea?

I thought about using smaller discs on each side instead of CF, or whatever, for the wing strut. Maintain that round look.

Sure, whatever you like. I envisioned fishing line. It would be easy to tie onto the front and rear CF reinforcing rods embedded in the wings to make the X pattern shown. Would be nice and light, too.

"None that I know of because just two discs will not work."

Eating your words, yummy, where's the ketchup?

Thinking it over, I would definitely split the elevators (like elevons) and use left & right side servos. You could run the 2 servos together on a Y cable to make the surfaces work together as an elevator. Or you could run the 2 servos separately in elevon configuration. See which you like better. Nice to have that flexibility in an experimental design.

Also, my X braces would need to be |X| braces. Note the uprights; those are necessary to keep the wings parallel. Alternatively, you could use foam as you suggested. What concerns me, though, is the added weight behind the center of gravity. I expect this plane would be tricky to balance and the less weight back there, the better. You can see the duck planes look tail-heavy.

Yup, agreed, zero thrust on the motor setup.

There is a saying this side of the pond...luv a duck... lol....just goes to show we are not the only Nutballs around....

Its actually "Lord love a duck" and the origins are not clear, but with cockney rhyming slang you can likely make a good guess


The double circle has given me an idea, for another weird model, perhaps eventually it will turn up in the KF thread as there will be no dihedral...

"eventually" ... So Dave, by your standards, that means tomorrow, right?

No ...I am into building quad copters at the moment... and Ive a couple of big fish tanks to clean out.. so perhaps next week.. However Ive also got two other plane builds I want to do and a mod to another...
no rest for the wicked.. and no time to be wicked....just as well I dont work any more, I cant fit everything in...lol

I guess you work for all of us on rcgroups now. Pity we can't pay you! Ah well, 'tis a noble calling

Multi-copters... I haven't taken the leap yet, but I must say the temptation is powerful.

Originally Posted by davereap

Its actually "Lord love a duck" and the origins are not clear, but with cockney rhyming slang you can likely make a good guess

A little Googling yielded:
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question96871.html