Guys, this is a great looking plane and looks like a great flyer.

Paul, that one should be easy to see! Important for old guys!

Kim, love the EPP. Just can't beat that stuff!

the fins are listed as being 5" tall and 3" wide,
is this for top fins only, or the total for top and bottom fins

thanks for the info, wing is in process of drying now

bert-nc

Originally Posted by bert-nc

the fins are listed as being 5" tall and 3" wide,
is this for top fins only, or the total for top and bottom fins thanks for the info, wing is in process of drying now bert-nc

Mine stick out 3.25" at the top. Also, mine are not rounded at the top like those above. Mine are more....ummm...egg shaped I guess you could say.

yarsmythejr, I flew 5 pack on ther F&L and man is it a great flyer!! I don't know about the original, but with the K-F wing, there's no way to stall it. In the wind tonite, I moved the battery forward a bit, and no sweat! When it died down to calm, I put on a little 800 3cell and was able to round the bases of a diamond 5' off the ground almost as slow as my pico tiger Moth.


My other planes are going to get depressed cause I'm going to be flying this a lot!

Thanks again for sharing your design. Hope to get some vid of it soon.


Paul

A good friend/videographer stopped by the house the other day. He just happend to have his camera in the car so I asked if he'd be willing to run to the school with me and tape a little bit of the F&L. He's never videotaped airplanes before and did very well for the first time (IMHO).

Here's a quick edit I made from his work. Just enough to entertain you...and not so long that you fast forward to the landing! Winds were 10-15mph!

- Funder 'n Lightning #2, Yippee! - June 28th, 2007 - High res WMV, 27 MB

- Funder 'n Lightning #2, Yippee! - June 28th, 2007 - Low res WMV, 7 MB

Enjoy!

-Lee

PS - Sorry about the dust spots.

What a bummer..... I used goop to glue the spars on the two funder 'n lightings and it ate the foam? I missed this day in class? I use goop on epp with no problem. I will cut two more

Originally Posted by pawnking

What a bummer..... I used goop to glue the spars on the two funder 'n lightings and it ate the foam? I missed this day in class? I use goop on epp with no problem. I will cut two more

Try Gorilla Glue. It takes a bit longer to dry but it is very strong. I use it on EPP, FFF, and CellFoam 88. No problems.

Wow, very nice video and nice plane, Yarsmythejr. What a nice little flier...looks like I just took on a new project!

Thanks for the nice design.

Smooth

Skip the gorilla glue, buy yourself one of the $.99 glueguns at walmart, in the craft section. Not sure of the cost, but the sticks come in a big bag, and don't cost much. It is low heat, so it doesn't melt the foam. And you can't pull the foam apart once it has cooled (which takes about 10 seconds, or two seconds sooner than you need, which ever comes first.)

Lee, here's some vid from this AM. man I love this thing!!! KF wing works out super, there's just no stalling it, glides like a champ no power.

I switched to a 8060dd GWS prop for this vid, it flies just as well as the 9050, less torq on the frame I think, and less amps, It might be a tad faster.

Kim did you get yours flying yet!!! look forward to hearing how yours goes with the K-F wing
http://media.putfile.com/Funder-and-lughtning



I know, I spelled lightning wrong!!!

Paul

Yes! I maidened it yesterday... in windy conditions (couldn't wait). It flew ok, but not as good as the ones in the vids in this thread. Maybe it was the wind (10-15 kts)?. At full throttle it was really nice, with good and predictible control. It was the slowflight-characteristics that I couldn't quite figure out... My thoughts now is that it was a; the wind b; the tourqe (will try 7x4/7x6, my ws is only 75cm) or c; the need for ailerondifferential. Or a lovely combination of em all!!?

But it looks very good in the air, remarkably good from my point of view. I am now imagineing a bigger one...150cm..

Unfortunately I cannot yet give good inputs on the KF-wing, since the flightconditions were far less than optimal. What I feel I can say is that it felt softer in pitch, but that may be a result of the LE..

More when I have tried it in nicer conditions.

Kim

Originally Posted by praymond

Lee, here's some vid from this AM. man I love this thing!!!
Paul

Paul,

Sweet video. Thanks for sharing. Glad you are enjoying this little kit. Sounds like the other pilots with you were eager to get their hands on one too!

I haven't tried the KF step on the top....yet. I guess I just like the asthetics of the smooth wing from above. I wonder if our models fly any different...??

Did you get a chance to see my new video?

-Lee

Yes I saw your vid, you're a much better pilot than I am!! Hard to say but they do fly a lot alike. i know that there is almost no way to stall my wing, it just mushes up and keeps going straight. are you still using an esskay? The 8060 prop works better on mine I think. When you look at it, you do have a KF foil of sorts, on a step under wing KF, the guys who are doing a lot of testing are using 40% of cord step on a below wing KF. flying inverted is about as easy as it comes. It's staill a mystery to me, but it works great.

Will yours slow down in no wind conditions and float around a baseb all diamond? That's what amazed me, it will fly that slow and be controlable. When it's breezy, it's hard to do that confidently.


Well it sure is a fun plane.


Kim, I don't know about Lee, but I put in some mechanical differential by cocking the servo arm one notch towards the aileron (servos on wing top). I get about 50% differential.

Paul

Lee---------- You'd be the perfect one to try the KF on top, since it's your design and you've flown it loads!! Then we'd get a real nice comparasin.

Paul,

Couple of questions on your kit:

1) Yours is built with FFF, right?

2) Where do you have your CG?

3) What are you using for a spar in your wing. With the tapered KF step (as you call it), I don't see where you have any support. Are you using carbon fiber?

4) Is that a 400XT on yours also?

***

If I get the time (which is not likely for a few weeks), I'll build another F&L with the second layer on top. If I taper it, I'm not sure where I'll put the carbon arrow shaft (that I use on my F&Ls). I'll probably just cut it straight across.

-Lee

Lee,

Yes, blucore FF. skin both sides

CG is 2.5" but not sensitive. in the wind, I move it ahead a bit, in caalm, with my litest battery, i moved it back.

I used the fold for the LE, my wing came out 9.5"root cord and 5" tip cord. I cut those dimensions on the doubled FF, and cut the step from one side at 4.5" center and 2.5 tips. Then on the lower half I routed a groove to accept the .157 cf tube flush, back from the LE tip to tip 2". Then I peeled the foam inside where they overlap inside the fold and put a strip of clear packing tape rearward of the step lined up with the step to keep the gorilla glue from seeping onto the rear half of the wing. just peeled the seepage off the tape. When it looked ready to glue up, I smeared G glue on one half after wetting the other half, put a bord on the step w/ gal paint cans on the board to weight it and went to bed!

that's why you don't see the spar. The distance between leading edges is the same as your plan as are spar lengths and tail dimensions. I did lenthgen thenose some hoping to keep the battery away from the nose.

Body is 3 ply FF, w/ 1/32 plywood each side, about 1/2 way back from the nose

I'll take some close ups of how I mounted the gear so others can see.


Ya I'm using the 400xt.

Was tempted to add some LG, but it flies so good now I don't want to jinx it!

Paul