Radio Control Airplane

[red91sit]

My father decided he no longer wanted one of his radio control airplane due to diminishing flying performance.

Always the recycler I jumped on this carcass and quickly removed all unneccesary weight I could find, then I decided since it is a flying vehicle, aerodynamics definetly affect the performance. Looking at it, I could tell it was fairly well optimized, except for the massive front cowl, and landing gear.


(not my plane)

I decided a 2 Liter Diet Coke bottle had to be more aerodyanmice, what with its' smooth hemispherical shape and all. So I cut one of these up and made a new MUCH smoother front end for the plane. An added benefit is that this one not only makes the airplane cleaner, but the propellor more efficient since the whole prop is exposed to passing air, not just the outer edges as original.



Anybody else here fly these? I'm not sure how many I've gone through, but they're really fun. Half of them were 10 dollar foam gliders from walmart with electronic bits from my first plane.

[kitcar]

That bottle is a pretty unique idea. Have you test flown it yet? My thought would be the lighter soda bottle might make it tail heavy which would make it pretty tricky to fly although "amusing" if if goes into a tail stall trying to get it out of it. I fly in MS Combat simulator and have a little plug in that allows me to change the dynamics of the plane. I added two cylinders to the Corsair and .5 pounds of compression.

I had an el cheapo for a while that I got at Harbor Freight. Steering was by varying the prop speed on the two motors. I actually got the thing to fly pretty well by making the V tail twice as big. But I was flying in a two acre park with trees. Hey, I figured, I fly simulators all the time. Should have seen that thing hit a tree the first time. Blamo!

I even extended the wings in an attempt to get it to glide and just blip the throttles for steering but the lift was just too high and it stalled all the time. When I used the throttles to steer it, it induced a stall every time. Nose up, followed by a dive.

My real interest is in rotary wing R/C. Once I can afford a decent one. My goal is to put a color wireless camera in one. I figure if I wait another year the next gen to come out I'll make that plunge. If gas prices don't go to five bucks a gallon.

[red91sit]

Originally Posted by kitcar

That bottle is a pretty unique idea. Have you test flown it yet? My thought would be the lighter soda bottle might make it tail heavy which would make it pretty tricky to fly although "amusing" if if goes into a tail stall trying to get it out of it. I fly in MS Combat simulator and have a little plug in that allows me to change the dynamics of the plane. I added two cylinders to the Corsair and .5 pounds of compression.

I had an el cheapo for a while that I got at Harbor Freight. Steering was by varying the prop speed on the two motors. I actually got the thing to fly pretty well by making the V tail twice as big. But I was flying in a two acre park with trees. Hey, I figured, I fly simulators all the time. Should have seen that thing hit a tree the first time. Blamo!

I even extended the wings in an attempt to get it to glide and just blip the throttles for steering but the lift was just too high and it stalled all the time. When I used the throttles to steer it, it induced a stall every time. Nose up, followed by a dive.

My real interest is in rotary wing R/C. Once I can afford a decent one. My goal is to put a color wireless camera in one. I figure if I wait another year the next gen to come out I'll make that plunge. If gas prices don't go to five bucks a gallon.

Very interesting! I haven't flown it yet, but the CG is in the correct spot, so I'm good as far as that is concerned. The camera on the helicopter would be VERY interesting to see. I've stuck a few digital cameras on my airplanes, and got a few interesting pictures. I dunno what happened to them though.

I also own a rotary wing craft.

It's great for those days that are too windy to fly my planes. Because the basement is always calm haha. They're not too expensive either. Just use the money your saving by using less gas to purchase one Mine was around 200 with EVERYTHING i needed

I've got a couple more pictures of past planes if anyones interested.

Best flying aeroplane I've ever flown I could do rolling circles, loops, inverted, VERY aerobatic plane, and FAST too, lot of fun. Looked great doing it too.



Amazing what a little bit of TLC and paint can do. This was also my fathers, but he thought he totalled it and gave me the scraps.

I wish I would have taken a photo of every plane I've owned, but oh well. Here is one last picture, It's two very totalled planes glued together with toothpicks for extra support. It amazingly flew fairly well. Landings got tricky when the right landing gear felll off. Really fun plane though. Wing was held on with tape, and had MAJOR cracking, you could hear it creaking while flying.

[lovemysan]

When we were kids we had a some of those big $4 foam planes. When they would break we would silicone them back together using the same methods. Toothpicks, inkpens, etc.

We also had some cox control line planes for a while. They were tons of fun. We crashed and rebuilt those several times also. Once we mended to the wing back together with flat strap steel. We ended up installing the engine onto a foam glider. We couldn't get it to fly during the winter because the temps outside wouldn't permit the glow plug engine to run. Sad.

Have you ever made a flying plane out of a cheapy foam glider?

[red91sit]

Originally Posted by lovemysan

When we were kids we had a some of those big $4 foam planes. When they would break we would silicone them back together using the same methods. Toothpicks, inkpens, etc.

We also had some cox control line planes for a while. They were tons of fun. We crashed and rebuilt those several times also. Once we mended to the wing back together with flat strap steel. We ended up installing the engine onto a foam glider. We couldn't get it to fly during the winter because the temps outside wouldn't permit the glow plug engine to run. Sad.

Have you ever made a flying plane out of a cheapy foam glider?

I've actually done that about 3 times now! Most of them flew fairly well.