Anyone else into RC aircraft?

Been wanting to get the RC stuff out again. Anyone else on the forum fly RC aircraft?

I fly (crash) heli's and mainly foamies. I enjoy the Electric foamies the best.

Here's a couple that I've made over the last couple years.

Flying wing...aka "Sledgehammer". 115 MPH in level flight. Made from a EPP foam core, with a custom "glass" shell. Very durable. Used a HET 4 turn motor, 45amp ESC, ect ect.






Here's my build Sledge Build vid with its maiden flight at the end.




We've also built a couple out of Foam Tossers that you buy at the local grocery store. I bought these kits at Winco for $4.49 each so I named it the "Winco Flyer". They are real easy to convert to RC use and fly amazingly well. On this one I used cheap chinese equipment off ebay (Still going strong!).





















After having success with our first grocery store "Winco Flyer" my father and I started a Twin Engine version. We took three of the $4.49 kits and started cutting and gluing. Everything in this version is internal, we used a router to sink the carbon reinforcements flush into the body and wings, All wiring is routed into the foam, Ply motor mounts, Pop bottle tops for the engine cowls. It has two Park 450 motors on it...it will climb strait vertical! Flies great!









Out for the first test flight...not painted yet and the canopy hasn't been made yet.




All painted up and ready to go. The canopy is carved foam held on by two rare earth magnets, just pop it off for quick battery access.





Short crappy vid from the test flight day of the twin.




Hodakagauy

Very cool hobbies! Love the twin prop aircraft My son and I occasionally stop by the local club to watch the R/C club when the jets are in town. They have their own little miniature airport setup.

Pretty amazing the level of technology and detail you guys put into your projects.

Have a good one,

griz

I have a nitro trainer I haven't flown in a couple of years and a Helli still in the box. Thought I'd get a flight simulator before I tried it.

ol guy wrote:

I have a nitro trainer I haven't flown in a couple of years and a Helli still in the box. Thought I'd get a flight simulator before I tried it.

Good idea A simulator is essential for learning to fly a heli. I've got quite a bit of Heli time and without a simulator I would have given up a long time ago. Setup is also critical on a heli, before the first flight have someone go over it that is familiar with heli setup, makes a huge difference in the way they fly.

Hodakaguy

I've got a bunch of planes which I've flown on and off over the last 15 years. I flew .15- 60 sized nitro planes in the 90's, Plus some rubber power and indoor, but in the 2000's went electric with lipoly batts. That's the way to go. No cleanup, no mess! I have a bunch of sport planes with 20-40 inch wingspans plus a couple of foamies.

Hodakaguy, Your foam glider conversion is lots fancier than mine. I was figuring out a super easy quick conversion as a trainer using an engine pod and rudder/ elevator only. Had some success but nothing like yours. I've also converted some old Comet models to tiny electric rc power. I have said to heck with white knuckle fast flying and these are pretty relaxing. As for helicopters, forget it though I have a yet to be flown autogyro.

It seems to me that the big RC airplane sale and show is this weekend at Monroe--better get your wallet and head over there! (Come to think of it better get two wallets.) -Hemmi

Had this Wild Wing kit ($19.99) in the garage for the past two years.....got to looking around and I have enough spare parts to put this thing together so I figured I would get going on it. I changed a few things on the kit to hopefully make it fly better. I removed about 3" worth of EPP foam from the rear of the wing to move the motor forward and help CG balance out correctly. I also routed a groove and added another carbon fiber spar to increase the stiffness of the wing. I covered it in iron-on Ultra Coat. For the motor mount I used a piece of hard wood and two carbon rod pieces, routed out the openings for the wood and the rods and epoxied them into place (thrust angle even with the bottom of the wing). Not to far from finishing things up now, the battery I wanted to use won't fit (3S 2100MAH Lipo) so I may router out a little more clearance and try a 1300MAH batt. I think I may still have to add lead in the nose to get the CG right if I can't use the 2100 Batt. I'm going to try a BP21 Brushless motor ($9.99) and a 7x6E prop, should get me around 50-60mph.

Here's a few pics so far.

The start of the build. Using Epoxy to attach the trailing edge carbon rods.




Here you can see the area of foam I removed to move the motor closer towards the nose of the wing. You can also see the extra carbon spar I added to the wing.






This is the setup that I use for routing out foam. Works great for installing spars, opening up battery bays, etc. Roto-Zip with a small router bit. Just set the depth on the guide and trim away, leaves a nice clean edge.




HS55 Servos installed using low temp Hot Glue.




I decided to use a made in China BP21 Brushless Motor on this build, they are cheap ($9.99) and they hold up great! The plastic motor mount that comes with the kit is junk, plus it won't work with the BP21. I decided to fabricate a mount from scratch. A piece of hard wood and a couple carbon rod pieces later and instant motor mount.




Here's the mounting area all routed out with the Roto-Zip.




And the mount resting in place before using epoxy to lock it in place.




You don't have to add covering to the wind but it does make the wing stiffer and stronger. I lightly sanded the wing and used Ultracoat for the covering. I decided not to "glass" this wing like I did the SledgeHammer to save weight.




Underside in Silver. I'll add some orange to the underside as well before I'm finished.




Engine mount stick. Still a little long in this pic, I cut it down some before bolting up the motor.




Getting close to being finished. Still have a little wiring up to do then head down to the park for the maiden flight. Hope it goes well, should be a fun little wing!




I'll update with a video after I get it into the air.

Hodakaguy

Last RC I bought, I lost my A$$.

YamWOW! wrote:

Last RC I bought, I lost my A$$.

You should have stuck with it...you never even crashed it

Hodakaguy