Workshop

Step 1

Begin by unfolding your foam sheet and using the templates to cut out the parts. This takes a little time, but a sharp knife and a cup of coffee and you will soon have the 6 parts cut out.

Step 2

The wing gets a carbon fiber tube to add stiffness. I cut a V in the material and then hot glue the tube in place. You can see the V in the photo above. Take care to cut a V that is only in 1/2 the thickness of the sheet. If you cut it in half ------ see step one.

The photo below shows the plane more assembled, do it your way but I think this order would work best. I added color to the plane after it was partially assembled and if you want to do anything about the appearance of this plane, you should do it now.

Step 3

The surfaces will be hinged with clear tape and they need a bevel. Since the foam is thin, you should cut the front edge of the surfaces at 45 degrees. Leave the trailing edges of the wing, stab and rudder square. There is an aileron cut line on the plan.

Step 4

Tape the flat surfaces of the wing / aileron joints with tape along the length of the joint. Do this to the elevator and rudder as well. This is the flat side only

Step 5

Reverse each surface and fold it back on itself and tape this side with strips going perpendicular to the hinge line. The hinges are all done now and assembly can now begin

Step 6

Line up the wing and the fuse horizontal section so that all the slots are in alignment. Measure from the tip of the stab to the wing tip and they should be the same on each side. Mark the horizontal fuse with a pen and then hot glue the surfaces together being sure of the alignment.

Step 7

Fit the fuse upper 1/2 in the slots be sure it fits tight to the horizontal fuse. When satisfied with the fit and squareness hot glue it in place too. The upper 1/2 slides into the aft opening and this takes some work to get in straight and with the other notches lined up.

Take a minute and run a thin bead of hot glue in the joint to strengthen the fuse.

Step 8

Now take the lower 1/2 and check it for alignment of the notches and then hot glue it in place too. Just as before, run a bead in the joint wherever the joint is not cut away. Don't go crazy here as it adds weight.

Step 9

Now hinge on the rudder just as you did the ailerons and elevator. You sill see why I waited as you look it over.

Step 10

There is a flat c/f rod that is glued to the leading edge and secured with some strips of tape. Again, do not get your finger in the hot glue ----

 

You have completed the assembly of the plane. The next part is about the equipment. You should consider what kind of flyer you are and what you want to do with the plane.

For 3D stuff, you will want to make it pretty tail heavy and putting the servos pretty far back is not a bad idea. This will require some servo wire extensions and be sure you get the ones for foamies as they are light. The battery is also placed near the trailing edge of the wing. The motor and batteries are pretty beefy as it will be hovering and doing stuff that takes a 2 to thrust to weight ratio.

For learning pattern things up to the rolling circle you will not need to have the cg real far back and you can use a little smaller motor and lighter batteries. See the list at the bottom of the file for recommendations on these things.

For beginners, don't use this plane -- it is an advanced plane and you need to learn to land and takeoff. You will notice this plane has no landing gear so the exercise is pointless.

Next you can set up the electronics. I start with the battery, speed control and motor. These need to be set up and plugs soldered on the wires. The setup is simple---

2 wires from the battery to the speed control and the female plug goes on the battery to prevent shorting it out. I used dean plugs as I plan more than one battery and you will need a charging line as well. You can see the deans plug below, the battery is not in the photo.

3 wires from the speed control to the motor. Just plug them in in any order and it the motor runs in the wrong direction, reverse any 2 wires.

With those connections made, the soldering is done and you can now set up the plane.

As seen above, the motor is mounted on the firewall and then glued in place in the front of the plane. Assembling the motor is no bi deal, the trick is that the long shaft mounts to the rear of the plane and the prop assembly bolts to the case of the motor.

The speed control was secured to the fuse with Velcro and you are ready to mount servos.

The aileron servos were first and I cut a hole in the wing so that the servo was a snug fit and the wire is on the bottom of the wing. In the photo above you can see the servo was placed so that the wire would plug into the receiver.

The rudder and elevator servos have holes cut from the pattern. They slip into the holes and just a spot of hot glue will hold all 4 in place.

This is not supposed to be pretty, the airframe is worth about $2.00 and you are going to fly this one like you just don't care. The servos then get the arms on them and some brass keepers that will hold the wire in place. Each of the servos was hooked up to the receiver and the push rods set up to the surface.

The control horns are made from extra servo arms. They are hot glued in place as shown below.

Hot glue it and wait a few minutes before you move it. This is different than 50cc planes and it takes some time to get used to just hot gluing things in place. this will work, it just seems strange when you do it.

All the servos were hooked up and tested with the receiver and seem to work.

After all the surfaces work you can do the setup. Set the direction of the surfaces and then set up dual rates. I use one rate to fly and then a 3d rate which is all the throw I can get.

Set the expo where you like it and warm up the engine to be sure it is going the right way and the low throttle is not the high. Take great care with this step as that little motor can rearrange your body if you let it.

Once you have it checked out, just get the motor going at about 3/4 speed and launch it at 45 degrees up and fly away.

 

LIST OF MATERIALS YOU NEED

The templates are available from me, just email me and I will send them along. the charge is the shipping $3.00 plus a fee for the guy that designed them and supplied them to me. $2.00 for a total of $5.00. There are also other patterns that you could use and these steps are pretty close to what you will need to do.

Foam from one of the home stores. It is 1/4" and it is folded because it is for insulation under siding and over the sheathing on a house. It is dirt cheap and you should get enough for several planes as this will be a hit at your club.

Carbon fiber -- you will need one rod and one flat for the wings. Your LHS will have what you need for the plane

Velcro patches

Deans plugs 2 or 3 sets

Dubro rod keepers

Thin wire for push rods

Tools and supplies you will need

Straight edge -- sharp xacto knife -- hot glue gun with sticks -- 15 min Epoxy

Electronics

Motor - we used a turngy 2213-22

Battery - 1300 ma 11.1 volt seems fine

4 servos - tg9

speed control for the motor you are using

receiver