Things to do on a Saturday afternoon [Update]

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 08/30/2017 at 11:04 • Filed to: None

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Both of the wings are finished and it’s ready to fly! Now I just have to wait for Harvey to clear out so I don’t have to fly it in the rain. The FAA posted flight restrictions on “Drones,” but the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and I can’t see if we are in the restricted area. In the mean time, enjoy a picture of the plane with a wing!

This is the polyhedral wing for tail control only. The two bends in the wing make the plane very stable. Simplified controls make it easy to fly, but much less responsive. I’ll use this one to teach my kids how to fly.

This wing has full ailerons and just a little dihedral. This makes the plane a lot more nimble and gives greater control, but it also makes it a lot less stable and harder to control. The kids will get to fly with this wing once they demonstrate proficiency with the other. Baby steps!

If you’re wondering, the battery gets mounted on the front tray with some velcro and the nose/cockpit slides over it (like in the top pic). Everything is balanced, the batteries are charged, and it’s all assembled. All I need is some clear weather!

I’m really hoping I don’t screw this up too badly. The controls between helicopters and quad-copters are very different from planes. The stick you push for forward flight on a quad will make a plane nose-dive into the ground. At least the throttle (cyclical) and rudder controls are the same. Dang, I’m getting nervous just thinking about it....

Original post below.
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I finally started working on a new plane. It’s been quite some time since I built a new one and the techniques for foam are quite different. I just have to build the wing and mount the electronics. If Harvey doesn’t make it to Louisiana, I may have it in the air tomorrow afternoon!

If you haven’t seen these before, take a look:

It’s going to be fun!

Sovande > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/26/2017 at 21:52

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That’s really cool. I have always wanted to fly an RC plane. Hope it works well!

this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/26/2017 at 22:04

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Oh good choice man, those flight test boys have really figured out how to do some amazing things with foam board.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Sovande 08/26/2017 at 22:07

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You should give it a shot! The best recipe for success is finding a guy who can teach you how. You’ll find someone at the local hobby shop or at the local r/c airfield. You can probably find a field through the AMA.

The gear is different, but the principles are the same. I just hope years of flying helicopters and quadcopters hasn’t ruined my ability to fly fixed-wing. It should be interesting.

TheRealBicycleBuck > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata 08/26/2017 at 22:10

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It’s a novel build technique, that’s for sure. I built up the templates for scratch-building a second plane, but I’m sticking with the kit for the first one. Their foam board is a lot stronger than the dollar tree brand.

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/26/2017 at 22:13

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Sweet!

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/26/2017 at 22:42

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The guy at my local rc shop is an old dude who wasn’t super excited about my foamy aspirations. :(

TheRealBicycleBuck > dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter 08/26/2017 at 23:22

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That sucks. The old crusty guys are the worst.

For Sweden > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/30/2017 at 11:25

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Neat plane, but please please please don’t fly it until the helicopter rescue missions end.

TheRealBicycleBuck > For Sweden 08/30/2017 at 11:36

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I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.

Besides, didn’t you see the part where I am checking with the FAA to see where flights are allowed?

For Sweden > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/30/2017 at 11:37

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I did, but where Harvey’s coming, expect helicopter rescues to follow.

thejustache > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/30/2017 at 12:15

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Looking great! I love those FT guys although I haven’t actually built any of their planes. I bought a UMX sport cub s 2 years ago and got to where I could fly 4 channel pretty good, but I think I need to build or buy a faster plane to keep myself interested

TheRealBicycleBuck > thejustache 08/30/2017 at 12:22

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The FT guys are great! It reminds me of some of our antics when I was much younger. We managed to get ourselves kicked off the “official” local field because the old stogies just wanted to fly the pattern. I think it happened after our first “combat” flights.

Faster is more interesting, but flying with friends is the best. I stopped flying planes because I moved away from my buddies. I picked up helicopters and “drones” because they are really easy to fly and I could do it at the house with my kids. Now that we have a plane again, we have to head to one of the local fields to put it in the air.

onrails > TheRealBicycleBuck 09/01/2017 at 08:51

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The guys at FT are a good bunch. I hope your kids enjoy it! We’ve done a lot of ‘experiments’ dropping things out of our FT Guinea Pig and after a lot of hard landings are now taking the electronics and building the Sea Duck to try water. Good luck and keep flying!

TheRealBicycleBuck > onrails 09/01/2017 at 09:06

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Did you use one of their kits with the waterproofed foam board? How did it hold up?

I made templates so we could scratch build parts for the Explorer, but there’s a significant difference in quality between what FT provided in their kit and what’s available at dollar tree.

onrails > TheRealBicycleBuck 09/01/2017 at 09:29

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This is my first attempt at something for the water. Using a LOT of glue on the joints and we’ll paint it too to help keep it sealed up. We’re also going to try some way to drop water balloons plus put in an internal pump in the fuselage to load from the lake to do a water attack from the air. Not sure quite how we’ll pull it off yet but the kids and I are working on ideas. I built the Arrow wing out of their water resistant foam too and it was pretty stout but it never really got wet other than some snowy landings.

Even with their ‘old’ foam for the Guinea Pig that thing held together way longer than it had any right to. Near the end of its life we were dreaming up abuse to send it out with some glory so we could use the electronics. I’ve heard similar things about the dollar store foamboard... if you want it to last, get the good stuff. If you’re looking for a quick and dirty something to abuse, destroy, and then re-use the power system, then cheap is probably the best bet.