I bought LED Light tubes for the Tron ship.

Here is fine until the final stuff is done. I did not do that extra stuff yet. I will try to get it done tomorrow.

LED Light tube Tron ship = Kewl!

Here is the progress thus far on the printed tissue coverings for SGTalons Enterprise A. Not to much more to go really. I have looked and pondered for a while as to how to dress her up. I figure if you’re going to bother putting on the tissue coverings, go for as much detail as you can! She will looks great in the air (for 10 min increments) but why not look great on the ground as well when you buddies come over for a look. I have borrowed ideas and colors from across the web and formed them to fit SGTalons plans. Enjoy the preview!

UPDATE: Designing (the fun part) is done! That is if I can resist tweaking which can take longer that the design itself! Now I have to set up the files to print on as few 13X30 sheets of tissue as possible. Not the fun part. Pressing onward! This is going to be so cool!

Originally Posted by SGTalon

She flies! It was a little scary on the first couple flights.

I had to do some tweaking on the CG before it would fly properly. I think the Elevator is still a little small. It is definitely never going to be an aerobat. There is just too much weight under the wing. I tried... not very hard to roll it when i got up high but it wouldn't. I am still worried about pulling of a dive!!

Anyhow, here is the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQs5VQsggYs

Dennis
why did you put the aft carbon rod at the very back of the nacelles and not at the nacelle pylons where most of the stress seems to be?

Dave

I have a carbon rod going from the saucer to each nacelle, a carbon tube in each nacelle pylon, and a carbon rod holding the back of the nacelles in the right place.

This is one of the problems i found with the Enterprise-D. The engine nacelles start flopping around and it really can send the plane out of control!

I can't wait for these skins!

Got a few more flights in this week on the A. It flies like a trainer.

I am way more nervous flying it around right now. I am not comfortable with the elevator authority yet. It seems like i need to put in a little too much elevator to maintain level flight and it responds slowly to elevator input.

I think for the kit version i am going to increase the size of the lower horizontal more than i already did. And i think i am going to add some trim tabs to the nacelles.

The other thing i did with this plane is put 2 aileron servos in so i can dial in some flaps. Next time i fly it, i will see what effect it has on the flight characteristics.

This will never be an aerobatic plane for sure. It is just too tall!! But i think I can get it to be a nice fun flyer.

Interesting ideas. Wish my little gliders didn't need so much nose weight to glide properly. Kind of tells me a floater is going to be hard to come by without changing the saucer section into something longer for more lift. Will also have to reduce whatever is behind it to get the nose weight down. Thanks for sharing.

Tsavah the Voyager is probably the best for weight distribution. That one did not need any extra weight like the -A does. The really long saucer really helps with this. And honestly. I think it might be the best flyer out of all of them.

One thing i have considered is hollowing out the vertical and horizontal in the back and just skinning it like they do with the ultra lightweight indoor planes. Every little bit of weight savings helps in the tail of these birds.

hi, SG, new to this forum posting thing but been enjoying following your threads. Just a thought...the Enterprise A has a good vee tail (warp pylons) could try rudder/elevator controls on them to improve elevator response. Servos could even be mounted on the under side of the saucer to keep CG forward.
Any how all these spaceships flying well makes me want to try a Minbari Whitestar from babylon 5... keep up the cool designs.

Hi Twisted!

I thought about doing the V-Tail thing, I have seen several people try it too.

I just need to increase the size a little. I just haven't had any time this summer to work on planes. I have only flown a couple times!!! Very disappointing.

There is a guy on Youtube that has done the Whitestar. From what i remember it flew pretty good too.

I am working on some new stuff, all designed, plans printed off, and just sitting on my build table, same as it has since about April!

You should build a Whitestar, i would love to see more people doing space stuff. The SA-43 Hammerhead that someone did is a great example of awesome design.

K will wait when you finalize . Btw where are the surface controls located.? . Aileron on the saucer and elevator on the pylons or the nacelle ?
Anyway keep us posted.

Would like to see the NSEA Protector though. That ship seems to have a good layout even for the CG

I have that elevator on the back of the lower hull. Basically the shuttle bay deck. It is a little small as it is now. I need to extend it a little and maybe put a small elevator on each engine nacelle. Trying to keep the nacelles pure though.

I am not sure why I haven't thought of doing the Protector. I just looked at it and came up with a cool idea to make it work.... You may get your wish

Originally Posted by SGTalon

...
I am not sure why I haven't thought of doing the Protector. I just looked at it and came up with a cool idea to make it work.... You may get your wish

"Never give up ... Never surrender" LOL Great flick!

Ken

basically
if the USS Enterprise is a Nutball with a tail
the
NSEA Protector is a Geobat w/o One
should not be a too much of a problem , you could even do semi scale instead of flat and it looks aerodynamic .
most of all the location of the engines can be the same location if it were an EDF without affecting the CG much

How long before Enterprise A plans/kit ?? I'm onboard.

Woody