Thanks for the tips on using tape, kpn krunch!

Sure, glad to help. I have been using the same method for several years. I have some models more than 10 years old that are still looking good.

Hi RC fanatics, this is my first post as I'm new to this forum and RC Plane flying!.
A couple of weeks ago I was biking with my son in the fields nearby our house and saw a men flying around with his glider. My son was really impressed and intriged... and so was I.
The gentlemen was so kind to give us a some explenations and hints about how a first training plane could look like.
A week later I bought my first RC Glider (XK A800) and a FX707S to start DIY'ing myself a bit as well...

Last Friday the XK A800 arrived and today was our Maiden Flight! It was amazing, first time ever flying a RC plane, it was a fantastic experience.
Here some footage (not the best quqlity), but pretty proud of it!

Maiden flight XK A800 (2 min 40 sec)

The future plan is to continue learning how to fly with the A800 and start gathering the necessary equipment to convert the FX707S into a RC plane.

One initial question though, to avoid spending 100's of Euros right now to start with the hobby:
> Would it make sense to buy an extra A800 Receiver module to put in the FX707s so I can use the same Transmitter that came in the box (XK X4)? Or would I bump into some restrictions?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Originally Posted by pesp

I live in Europe, and the new rules that will come into effect mid 2020 state that you can fly any RC plane/drone anywhere, as long as it is less than 250 grams. So here was my target: make the FX707s all up weight below 250 grams. My first thought was to make it a DLG, but when I got the box from China delivered at home, I started to doubt how many throws it would take before I would chop of the wing. As I don't have any slopes within an hour drive from where I live, I had to find a way to put a motor in there and stay below 250 grams. Not the easiest challenge as the weight out-of-the-box is 270 grams. That is without any rc or battery. Here is the result:

I must say I am proud of the good looking result. Glides great! Nice and slow at this weight. I get 5 minutes full throttle, so easy to get 10-15 minutes without catching any thermal winds.

AUW (all up weight): 240 grams. YESSSS!

If any-one is interested, I can share details on how I did the conversion, and where I got rid of most the weight.

taking some pictures - will upload soon.

Hi, I’m looking to do a similar lightweight build, could you tell me how you did the nose/motor housing please.
Many thanks
Barry

Some inspiration for you. Too windy but still good fun. Mid mounted flip up design.

238 grams of fun (5 min 5 sec)

I decided to upgrade my fx707s to night edition. As this is a very gentle and super slow flying plane, I expect this will be my super relaxing night flier. Compared to my umx ultrix with leds which is my agile night flyer and my hobbyking flybeam which is my night speedy plane at 100 km/hour.

I got the electronics to make it night radian style: with 100+ leds that can light up in different patterns. Just started the transformation. Will post picture of the upgrade and post a video of the flashing leds when completed. Let’s start some building fun.

I finished the project. The best news is that it balances without any extra dead weight. This was achieved by minimizing the extra weight towards the back. The plane now weighs just over the 250 grams mark, using a 2s370 lipo.

I got tons of led patterns to choose from. But some pull close to 3 amps which would drain my battery in about 5 minutes and would overheat my small 5 Volt regulator. I measured power consumption of the different patterns and found that the meteor type pattern of’one color (red or green or blue) is the lowest at 250 mAmps. This should not affect my flight time much as it would take over an hour to get my battery from fully charged to 30% charge. Below this pattern in action. Is this not cool?

light glider with ws2812 leds (0 min 4 sec)

After my Lidl chuck glider RC conversion I spotted the similar but smaller although more elegant Cheetah.

The 900 mm wing are did look a bit 'skinny' for a meaningful powered RC conversion but I ordered one anyway.
It has plug in wing halves which would not like carrying much extra weight so I decided on adding a centre section to take the span up to 1360 mm and as a 'one piece' wing. The new centre panel uses 2mm Depron skins over printed ribs and spar.

Its chord is set to match the outer wing panel chord that has Depron trailing edge extension to give a fine edge.

3.7 g aileron servo are inset into the foam out panels.

Ailerons are actually marked on the foam but not all is cut out as the trailing edge extensions make up the difference.
The nose is carefully rebuilt to enclose the motor and to give an air intake above the spinner.

There are small air exhaust ducts on either side.

The cockpit is excavated abit to give space for a miniature 4 ch rx and a printed battery holder for a600 mAh 2s.
The 10A ESC is mounted in a printed holder on the outer wall of the cockpit.

The elevator servo is mounted under the wing with nylon pull/pull lines direct to the elevator.

It uses a 6x3 folding prop and weighs 198g ready to go.
Always intended to be a powered glider it flies sedately under power but has a substantial power endurance of a good 20 minutes. Coupled with a decent glide and excellent thermal abilities flights can be really quite long.
A short video. It was kept low for the camera.

RC Cheetah (modified) (1 min 17 sec)

Originally Posted by Cptn. Krunch

Some inspiration for you. Too windy but still good fun. Mid mounted flip up design.
https://youtu.be/znPW612OgQc

Good afternoon. May I have a drawing of your engine setup? Approximate drawing and dimensions.

Originally Posted by Frolv

Good afternoon. May I have a drawing of your engine setup? Approximate drawing and dimensions.

I don't have any drawing or plan. I just used my imagination. It's quite simple. Carbon rod, 2000kv motor, that's about it.

propeller size? Motor angle?

Props are 3*3*4. The angle of the motor is perpendicular to the center line.

Thanks a lot!

Still have a lot of fun with this. My front door flying machine.

Redemption is sweet. sunset flying (5 min 4 sec)

WOW. Thats all I have to say.
As the OP on this thread, I am blown away by what you all have done. It went way further than I ever thought it would.
I mean. who could have imagined that you could build a decent flying machine using a cheap toy as the airframe.

Congratulations to everyone that has managed to get one of these foam beasts into the air - regardless of whether its assisted by motors or not. It shows that we don't have to spend the big $$ with the manufacturers. We are now the manufacturers. We buy our base materials from China and I am OK with that.

Technology is advancing day by day and that only works in our favour. We can cram in lighter servos and other basic flight hardware; and now we can put in FPV, GPS, gyros and other technology that would have been too bulky 5 years ago.

So go forth and fly these foamies.

See you on the slope.
(Mine is Mangere Mountain - google it)