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A little background before we proceed:
So in the interest of convince and low free time I stopped making the trek to my flying club 45 minutes away. I sold all my birds(or planned to) and all the larger gear associated. The plan was to go with 1.5M ships below 250g and fly more locally at a couple unused public areas. That plan is still in effect, but a couple birds didn't sell. Because of that I've decided to do something fun with them. The subject here is the Chrysalis. Ill gwt to the Windsurfer 100 in the winter.
I have had a lot of gliders and always try to make them unique. This one has a fun color scheme already, but the front of the fuselage needs some fun added. It was line launched before, but in the new confines will need a motor. This is a fast looking glider, so why not make it look faster
The pure glider form had standard servos, 4oz battery pack, and 3 more oz of lead to make it balance. I want to use a 1300mah 3 cell lipo for this so the nose needed some length. This got me thinking why not give it a jet nose. Something exciting to stare at for 30 minutes or more at a time is always welcomed. I drew out an outline for a F-18 front end in the first picture. This could work!
Next was put the gutted fuselage on it to see how things will work. With a few alterations this is doable. It'll be a lot of shaped foam to keep it light, but possible. I'm currently designing the new fuselage sides that need added to the airframe, and how hatches will work. Hopefully I can start cutting balsa in a couple days.
So in the interest of convince and low free time I stopped making the trek to my flying club 45 minutes away. I sold all my birds(or planned to) and all the larger gear associated. The plan was to go with 1.5M ships below 250g and fly more locally at a couple unused public areas. That plan is still in effect, but a couple birds didn't sell. Because of that I've decided to do something fun with them. The subject here is the Chrysalis. Ill gwt to the Windsurfer 100 in the winter.
I have had a lot of gliders and always try to make them unique. This one has a fun color scheme already, but the front of the fuselage needs some fun added. It was line launched before, but in the new confines will need a motor. This is a fast looking glider, so why not make it look faster
The pure glider form had standard servos, 4oz battery pack, and 3 more oz of lead to make it balance. I want to use a 1300mah 3 cell lipo for this so the nose needed some length. This got me thinking why not give it a jet nose. Something exciting to stare at for 30 minutes or more at a time is always welcomed. I drew out an outline for a F-18 front end in the first picture. This could work!
Next was put the gutted fuselage on it to see how things will work. With a few alterations this is doable. It'll be a lot of shaped foam to keep it light, but possible. I'm currently designing the new fuselage sides that need added to the airframe, and how hatches will work. Hopefully I can start cutting balsa in a couple days.
Disclaimer: This is an over the winer "build" so will be slow.
OK that said let's get into it. I picked this used yet complete RTF Cub for $3 at the local rehab store. I'll be totally honest I'm not a huge fan of foamies or Cubs, but couldn't say no for the price. So what to do with an antique foam 3 channel Cub? After a week of sitting on the situation, the idea of stripping it to nothing and making a crazy STOL plane came to mind. I do love taking airframes far out of their comfort zone. This is now a very interesting project to take up winter doldrums.
First step was today: strip it of everything. Everything was tossed out so to speak. I haven't handled a brushed 480 motor in a while and was shocked how heavy it is! With the gearbox it's a tank compared to what we are accustomed to now. This is a slightly good thing, as I have plans for up front that will weigh more than normal(more to come later). With one wingtip damaged the best solution was to clip the wings square. The plan is a more Kit Fox look anyway so this will be a good move in that direction. New tail feathers will also be part of that path.
The new wingspan is 40" The wing will be first focus as that's the important part after all. The mods will be:
Wingtip rakes, flaps, ailerons, carbon spar, and LE slats.
Let's end the post there and address changes as we go along.
OK that said let's get into it. I picked this used yet complete RTF Cub for $3 at the local rehab store. I'll be totally honest I'm not a huge fan of foamies or Cubs, but couldn't say no for the price. So what to do with an antique foam 3 channel Cub? After a week of sitting on the situation, the idea of stripping it to nothing and making a crazy STOL plane came to mind. I do love taking airframes far out of their comfort zone. This is now a very interesting project to take up winter doldrums.
First step was today: strip it of everything. Everything was tossed out so to speak. I haven't handled a brushed 480 motor in a while and was shocked how heavy it is! With the gearbox it's a tank compared to what we are accustomed to now. This is a slightly good thing, as I have plans for up front that will weigh more than normal(more to come later). With one wingtip damaged the best solution was to clip the wings square. The plan is a more Kit Fox look anyway so this will be a good move in that direction. New tail feathers will also be part of that path.
The new wingspan is 40"
The wing will be first focus as that's the important part after all. The mods will be:Wingtip rakes, flaps, ailerons, carbon spar, and LE slats.
Let's end the post there and address changes as we go along.
I know a lot out there either started or at least have flown a GL in their rc journey. I'm one of those that learned to fly on one and thus it holds a soft spot. By the time it was retired there was more patches in the covering than original covering
I used a Cox 049 to get it to thermalling height. Years later I built one of the updated laser cut versions and what a breeze that was! That one benefitted from an outrunner up front and a 1300 lipo. It ended up up being given to a friend that was learning to fly at the time.
Skip to the current day. I picked up a GL fuselage not long ago with a 049 bolted to the nose. It has no wing and the previous owner changed it to a cross dowel setup for the rubber bands. I plan to change it back the single center band setup and probably recover the fuselage. I still have the plans from the last one I built so I can use that to build a wing. The actual build will begin in a week or 2. Stay tuned....
I used a Cox 049 to get it to thermalling height. Years later I built one of the updated laser cut versions and what a breeze that was! That one benefitted from an outrunner up front and a 1300 lipo. It ended up up being given to a friend that was learning to fly at the time. Skip to the current day. I picked up a GL fuselage not long ago with a 049 bolted to the nose. It has no wing and the previous owner changed it to a cross dowel setup for the rubber bands. I plan to change it back the single center band setup and probably recover the fuselage. I still have the plans from the last one I built so I can use that to build a wing. The actual build will begin in a week or 2. Stay tuned....
So a little pretext:
I've been sloooowly working on my current project since last July and will probably finish in a month or so. I've had long builds before, but nowhere near this long. Funny think is its only 51" WS. Life has just not given much building time in lately. I'm generally a power through a build kind of person, so it's been a struggle when the mind screams Finish It!
The build is a mash up of a handful of golden age air racers. Key aspects from 6 different racers were blended together during the design phase, and during the build also. The wing base came from a Sig 4 Star 20 kit along with the fuselage sides.
Today I sanded the fuselage and put the already covered wings on, what a wonderful feeling seeing the aircraft in my head coming to shape
I've been sloooowly working on my current project since last July and will probably finish in a month or so. I've had long builds before, but nowhere near this long. Funny think is its only 51" WS. Life has just not given much building time in lately. I'm generally a power through a build kind of person, so it's been a struggle when the mind screams Finish It!
The build is a mash up of a handful of golden age air racers. Key aspects from 6 different racers were blended together during the design phase, and during the build also. The wing base came from a Sig 4 Star 20 kit along with the fuselage sides.
Today I sanded the fuselage and put the already covered wings on, what a wonderful feeling seeing the aircraft in my head coming to shape
I've been working on this mainly on the designing end for a month. I got some great advice on the "Where's the huge spirit thread" over on sailplane talk. Now I'm cutting wood for the fuselage.
The sides are mated up and drying right now with the front doubler in place. I will get a few pics of the fuse sides tomorrow. The upper and lower fuse parts are also cut. All that is left to fab up is the bulkheads then I can do some assembling
The sides are mated up and drying right now with the front doubler in place. I will get a few pics of the fuse sides tomorrow. The upper and lower fuse parts are also cut. All that is left to fab up is the bulkheads then I can do some assembling
