Despite not being done with my Spirit FPV plane, I decided to start a new build. This one is the Minion. This is an upscaled version of my Wraith FPV plane.

The Wraith has been a stellar performer as it flies for almost 20 minutes on a single 2250 3S Lipo and can sustain a 55 mph flight for 11 minutes at WOT with enough carrying capacity for another battery if needed. Add to that the fact that the plane is nearly indestructible as I wreck it almost every other flight and it still flies great.

So now I am upscaling it. The Wraith isn't exactly stable. It is quite maneuverable and therefore twitchy so low altitude flying is always hair raising. I want a more stable platform that I can load up with batteries for long duration flights and still skim the ground and tree tops. However I also want to keep the durability and maybe add a bit more speed to it and possibly landing gear as well.

While I don't expect it to be as durable as it's predecessor, I expect that simple bumps and tree hits will leave it unharmed.

The Wraith V2 VS cement pole:

FPV slalom Wreck (2 min 37 sec)

The wing is again made of EPP foam. This will be laminated with 7 mil laminating sheets for stiffness. I used a USA 22 airfoil for a good balance of lift to drag. The wing is swept forward to help shorten the tail booms and control tip stalls.

I used two fiberglass spars to stiffen the wing. The tail booms will lay across them which will hopefully help resist the wing's tendency to flex under the torsional load. They will be embedded in the top instead of the bottom. I will also be shortening them once I figure out what length I want them.

The wingspan is 62" with a central chord of 10.25" and a tip chord of 8". This gives me a wing area of 3.9 square feet. That means that this plane will do well if the final weight is between 3 and 5 lbs. That should be easy enough to do.

-Alex

Nice foil! *Chants praise be all be crazy*. All joking aside, looks promising. Might be one to keep around you busy body.

dang you never stop building do you! good job

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Thread title said "IBCrazy's Minion"- So I clicked on it thinking you were going to start mass-producing antennas...

Looks awesome! I'm definitely going to be watching.

Tonight I finished installing the spars and installed the booms. I used fiberglass arrow shafts for these parts. Thanks to Trappy's RiteWing thread, I found that using a modified soldering gun is an excellent way to cut a channel in the foam. It sure beats melting it down with a soldering iron. The tip is made from music wire. The current running through the wire heats it up and it melts out a nice channel for the spar.

Now to do the covering.

Originally Posted by Kmart

Thread title said "IBCrazy's Minion"- So I clicked on it thinking you were going to start mass-producing antennas...

Looks awesome! I'm definitely going to be watching.

I could use some of these little guys to help me with the antenna building...

Alex,
Where do you get the fiberglass tubes/shafts, and what is the diameter?
Great job by the way.

Lol awesome video, did you jump when you hit the pole from being startled? I sure would have.

Nice looking bird.

Originally Posted by Wise_Man

Alex,
Where do you get the fiberglass tubes/shafts, and what is the diameter?
Great job by the way.

Not to speak out of turn... but I seem to remember him saying he bought a bunch of fiberglass arrows from Walmart a while back that he's been using. Seemed like a really good idea at the time which is why I remember.

Despicable ME....

Originally Posted by airbagit13

Lol awesome video, did you jump when you hit the pole from being startled? I sure would have.

Nice looking bird.

Admittedly I winced and jerked my head to the side. I was pretty immersed under the hood. That pole snuck up on me.
Oddly, that plane has been wrecked at least 6 more times since then and still flies great.

Originally Posted by rawlmark

Not to speak out of turn... but I seem to remember him saying he bought a bunch of fiberglass arrows from Walmart a while back that he's been using. Seemed like a really good idea at the time which is why I remember.

Carbon fiber and fiberglass arrow shafts can be found all over the place at the end of hunting season for a fraction of the cost of carbon spars at the hobby shop. WalMart had them on sale for $2.50 each

Where do you get the epp? I'm tired of using home depot insulation.