RC Plane storage
With space becoming a premium in the garage, I've had to find new places and ways to store the planes. Unfortunately the trailer is moving outside and the car is going to be living in the garage from now on. So here's a couple of ways I've made better use of space available in the garage.
1) Vertical rails from Bunnings. Easy to do and flexible configuration. Once the vertical rails are screwed into the wall (making sure there's a stud behind 'em), the arms can be moved up and down to suit all different sizes. Shown here is a little 46 sized sport plane along with a 160 Edge 540.
2) Garage door rails and cable ties. Aah cable ties, is there anything they can't do? The last meter or so of the garage door rail isn't actually used and is crying out to hang something off. Just make sure you mark where on the rail the door actually stops before hanging them. I misjudged the first one by about 15cm so when I opened the garage door, the roller almost crushed one model. Luckily the model just got pushed along the rail.
Thunder Tiger eHawk 1500 – What’s in the box?
So what do you get for your $150?
- Two nicely covered wings. I didn't particularly want blue but it was all they had in stock and who wants to wait when you can have it now.
- One OBL 29/09-07A Outrunner Brushless Motor
- A 10 x 6 Folding prop set.
- Ply pack including servo tray, wing mounts etc.
- Nuts 'n bolts and bit's 'n pieces bag.
- Carbon Tube for the fuse.
- A canopy.
- 4 x metal pushrods.
- Two carbon tube wing joiners.
- The main body of the fuse. Light fibreglass?
- Instruction manual. Looks easy enough to follow.
- A "Safety Caution" manual. Full of useful tips - not.
- Motor manual including mount template.
- Decal sheet for prettying up the glider.
It didn't seem like much taking unpacking it from the box but then it is supposed to be a light glider.
eHawk 1500 build
What a good week last week. The birth of my second daughter the day before my own birthday on which I get to unwrap my present, a Thunder Tiger eHawk 1500 electric glider. Reading up on the forums suggests a few modifications might be worthwhile, like putting the aileron servos in the wing and maybe even some flaps. With the default setup (1 aileron in the wing) I reckon having to connect the aileron pushrods every time would become tedious and probably lead to weakening the connector. I've seen photos of PC connectors being used in the wing and fuse to mate the aileron servo leads upon mounting the wing each time.
time lapse build video – extra 300
What started out as an instructional video on building a foamy, turned into a time lapse video of the build. I used Vegas Pro to capture, resample and speed up the playback to condense a few night work into about 90 seconds video. I built it out of 5mm foam core artboard which overall I think comes out too heavy. During the build, I used a heatgun to remove the cardboard layer from the ailerons and rudder. This came to about 45 grams of weight removed from the plane. Imagine how much I could save if I skinned all the cardboard from the foam and used a few CF rods for stiffness instead.
My suspicions about the weight was confirmed with a maiden flight on Sunday past. It flew ok and would hover but needed about 90% throttle to do so. I think I'll try to lighten this version and build another one without the cardboard skin.
rcpowers.com extra 300 foamy – electronics
Started putting the electronics in today. The 10A ESC is probably too small and will be swapped for a 20A. The motor is a Turnigy 2730 Brushless Motor 1500kv. The receiver is a 4 channel, 2.2gram, 2.4Ghz rx from fly-rc.com.au. 2.2grams!
You can find the plans here;
http://www.rcpowers.com/forum/showthread.php?s=4d581749dd440cbd0dc1285713a8ecd2&t=625
kf Delta Foamy Version 2
kf Delta Foamy Version 2, originally uploaded by mattmc.
My handmade engine mount on the kf Delta Foamy version 1 wasn't so great. A 3mm square plate of ply hot glued onto a foam "firewall". After a lengthy flight on a 2S 1000mAH battery, the motor wouldn't turn. After taking it apart, I found excess hot glue on the mount had heated up during the flight, come in contact with the rear of the motor and after it cooled, it all gummed up.
So onto version 2. Rudder control, a thicker more consistent step and a Turnigy 2730 Brushless Motor 1500kv (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8618) on a proper engine mount.
S-l-o-w flying KF delta build – the prop maketh the plane
After the lackluster first few flights I got around to putting a 9047 GWS EP Propeller (228x119mm) and wow what a difference. Same 800maH 2S 7.4V battery and RCTimer1400kV 2204-14 motor mind you but with the larger, more efficient prop I was getting good vertical performance and could slow fly stable enough to do a couple of laps in and out of the soccer goals (obviously no net up at the time 🙂 ).
I've still got a couple of battery and motor combos to try out but for now I think I'll put some paint on it to help identify which way is up and have fun with the current setup.
S-l-o-w flying KF delta build – Maiden Flight
Time to see how this baby goes. I used hot glue all around, control horns, motor mount, bottom skin, step.... and everything has held together well. For the maiden flight I used an RCTimer1400kV 2204-14 motor, an EP 7035 propeller, a 2S 800mAH lipo battery. All up weight was 182 grams / 6.4 ounces. Performance was underwhelming. The first few launches were at full throttle hand launch and floated into the ground. A few more gentle shoves got it up in the air and flying. It wouldn't climb vertically but would gradually gain height after a few laps and gentle turns. Rolls were very fast but I'd lose height quick. Inverted flight required about half down elevator suggesting a CG too far forward. I was worried it was going to be too tail heavy according to the recommended CG and made the effort to move the servos forward. After moving the 2S 800mAH battery a bit further aft I think I found a better balance.
I think I might try a 3S 1000mAh battery and maybe an 8 x 4.8 SF prop. Or maybe build one half the size with the same motor and battery - that should get around ok. Ideally I'd like to comfortably get around on half throttle and have plenty in reserve to recover from tight spots.
I got some footage from the keychain cam and will post that soon.
S-l-o-w flying KF delta build – motor mount II
Some 3mm ply behind the motor, probably overkill and a bit heavy but it's what I had at hand, some hot glue and the engine is on. I had to widen the gap for the prop by about 7mm to fit it all in.
With the motor in place I could get a feel for how it would balance. With an 800mAh 2S lipo all the way up front it was still well tail heavy. Add the ESC and receiver up front and it starts to balance out. The challenge will be to get all that gear up forward as possible without deforming the profile of the wing. As per the examples photos in the rcgroups thread, I was going to but the battery on top with the ESC and RX on the bottom. I was hoping to keep the control rods as short as possible by keeping the servos back near the elevons but due to balance, the may have to go further forward.
On to a question, usually the motor is mounted the other way around (baseplate behind the motor relative to the forward direction of the plane) but on this one it's reversed (a pusher). I'm guessing it's not right to simply reverse the direction of the motor so that it starts pushing. The prop is designed to cut through the air most efficiently with it's leading edge so I guess the right thing to do is flip the prop (keep face of the prop pointing towards the front). Maybe that's the obvious answer? Dunno, never built a pusher before.
[nggallery id=4]
S-l-o-w flying KF delta build – engine mount
Add a layer of thin ply to the upright foam and I have a mount. The motor mounts are 31mm apart and the area is about 40mm x 40mm excluding the tabs. Add a couple of triangle support tabs behind the mount will add support.
In the background you can see the 19mm (0.75") wedge that gives shape the the wing. I'm not sure if this wedge is supposed to be shaped or a straight line from the middle of the wing to the leading edge. So for version one, it's a straight line from 19mm down to 0.
Before I start hot-gluing things together, the motor and servos need to be tacked in place to get the CoG right.
