RC India

Hello guys,

I just started to build a high wing slow trainer plane and this is my first attempt to build a full fuselage and airfoil wings ad I couldn't stop myself even though my boards are going on :giggle:

The plane would be made fully out of 6mm bio foam and I hope I win the Sweepstakes because after my boards I'm planning to get into Quadcopters which are quite expensive and im going ahead to get a license for rc flying and have plans to become an aeromodeller after my exams as a known relative is also into rc flying and they are willing to o give me training for this purpose.

PS - built the fuselage at night after studying so clicked the photos right in the morning.I hope that I win because it would give me a great opportunity to get in this field

Sorry for double posting,phone is giving some problems.

Best of luck
Nice

Accountancy board paper tomorrow but what can I say couldn't stop myself from my first attempt at making my first ever airfoil wing (:|~
Fully made out of 6mm  biofoam and just eyed the shape -

Length is 35 inches
Cord is 10 inches

My progress is going to be slow because of my exams but it soon will be done! Hope and pray for my win :D

Priyum,
Reconsider your Horizontal stab. it seems to be very small from the pics.

I'm not so  technical so if you please elaborate as I'm just an amateur sorry sir.

Priyam
Refer the below image for general Thumb rules for Scratch building planes.

Thankyou for this image sir,truly appreciated.

@Priyum I agree with  manojswizera sir. Horizontal stabiliser is really very small in your case. I don't think so you'll get sufficient control through your elevator because of small size. Calculate the size of your stabiliser and then elevator again.
Also, please from next time whenever you are making an airfoil, see that there is minimum drag from the material you are using. Also, take care when you are using tapes and films. Those small bubbles on tape would add up unnecessary drag. Take help from a friend of yours and put the tape very neatly.
 :hatsoff:

@utkarshg13 thankyou for your advice,would be done shortly and will surely take care of that from my next build onwards.

Hey guys,

Accountancy paper got over today so just sat at 5pm to make changes in the plane and got up at 9pm and realised that i completed it (:|~ :o
Thanks to all those who gave their suggestions and are helping me to make this build successful.

Firstly i changed my horizontal stab to a bigger one according to the basic building dimensions given in the picture by manoj sir and then glued it to the plane,secondly i weighed both the fuselage as well as the airfoil wing to get an idea of the AUW and it weighed at 218 grams(without electronics.)
Further build photos to follow,please leave your suggestions and hope for my win :hatsoff: :bow:
Thanks
Regards
Priyum

When making plane,apart from fly worthyness consideration for visual aesthetics of a model is also important

 :iagree: with iwincar.
@Priyum it seems your airframe is ready. Now, just need to install electronics. Finish it up and then have its maiden.Do post video. After completing everything try to give it some colour(if possible) using some coloured tapes or paint. Simple strips or some pattern design will do. It is necessary because it is clearly visible from far also and during flying you need that to know the position of the airplane.

Have bought red and black wide tapes so will cover it after finishing it all up,thankyou all and be updated as i will update with the build pictures soon.

Progress -

Motor mounted inside the fuselage and hinged the elevator and snug fit the elevator servo and connected using a steel wire,the servos are 15gram and the motor and prop combo i am going to use is an Emax 2822 1200kv motor along with a 20AMP ESC with an 1800mah 3 cell lipo.
Please advice if this setup would work,my AUW would be around 500-550 grams.

Update -

More photos of the overall look of the plane,looks like a plane now i think :giggle:
Rudder hinged along with servo which is snug fit inside the fuselage and tested the rudder,works perfectly.
Overview of the vertical and horizontal stab as well as a picture showing the inside of the plane as well as motor location and esc and battery.
Seniors please pitch in your thoughts and suggestions to make it work.

Thanks
Regards

Dear Priyum,
Saw your entire build and also elevator control link.  Well the suggestions given to you are correct till now... I am not sure how well your aerofoil will work as it appears like a high wedge aerofoil rather than a normal aerofoil.... You may google low speed high lift aerofoil shapes for finding out what should be the correct shape.  Go for the flat cambered one as it is easier to make and good for a newbie like you.  You may like to use the KF aerofoils as it would be ideal for you as you are using biofoam.  The details of KF aerofoil are given here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kline%E2%80%93Fogleman_airfoil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kline%E2%80%93Fogleman_airfoil)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4oa-yagPp0#ws (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4oa-yagPp0#ws)

Further for fixing your biofoam I suggest you use HOT GLUE or fevicol to fix it.  You can also use aerildite or equivalent epoxy for the same.  You may use tape at places where you want to hold the sheets together for shape.  Later the tape can be removed.

Next the "steel wire" used by you has a lot of bends and will end up loosing its transmission caracteristics very soon as it mught bend under pressure..... i.e. weight of the servo throw and the weight of the air on the control surface.  This can cause lesser control throws or a much delayed response.  I either use an absolutely straight 1 - 1.5mm steel wire or a 2mm cycle spoke.  The 2mm cycle spoke is what i use and it is the most neat setup.  Never forget to use control fastners or give a "Z" bend to the wire or else it will fall off the control horn.

Your model MUST look beautiful.... colour it or do whatever.... You can also brush in a paste of 50:50 fevicol and water on the surface and put thin coloured paper over the entire surface. Some people also use news paper or paper of equivalent thickness.  This not only gives great additional strength to the outer cover of the model but also a very neat and virtually drag free smooth surface (actually one can never have a dreag free surface).  I use fevicryl colours to paint my models....

Lastly.... you may check your motor specifications and if required asked the seller for the thrust produced by the motor.  In case it is 500gms be rest assured that it is good for a model weight of anywhere up to 800 gms.  The best performance you can get when the thrust to weight ratio for a beginer's model (trainer model) if around 1: 0.7 in a normal case to a high powered 1:1 ratio.

Happy building your model and flying it...

Thankyou so so much shobhit sir for your suggestions,it feels great to hear that you are following my build and i know my plane isn't perfect as this is literally my first time building a box fuselage as well as an airfoil wing and that too from biofoam which breaks so easily,please bare with me as im just an amateur and will surely take care of all these things in my later builds as these are the small things which would make me better and hats off to you all who help us newbies to progress in this field.
Thankyou so much once again
Regards
Priyum

@Priyum, I saw all pics. One more suggestion, using sandpaper try sanding the edges of the stabilisers as well as control surfaces for giving it a round finish. It will reduce drag. Also, the push rod has lots of bents. Instead of it, go for the cycle wheel spokes. They are very good for this purpose. It is seen from your pics(correct me if I'm wrong) you've used only brown tape for connecting your control surfaces(elevator and rudder, ailerons) to the stabilizers. Please ensure that has required strength, because in air it could come off leading to bad results. Go through Shobhit sir's suggestions once again thoroughly.
Please mention about the prop you are using with this power setup.
 :hatsoff:

It seems the servo for rudder is mounted on top. Ensure that it does not comes off.
 :hatsoff:

And i suggest that you should give dihedral in wing

Emax 2822 is good for this model,
im using a Emax 2812(a lesser thrust model) and my model is 550gms total. however my Lipo is just 3s1000mah so measure the weight accurately.
gives enough thrust on a 20A esc with 9x6 SFprop( i know it recommended only for 5-7" props but thats all ive got) and heats up a little on full throttle and lasts for at least 5mins. makes sure to use a good allen key to tighten the motor with mount as it might come off in flight and cut the windings. best cut the winding a little flush to the motor and solder a 22guage wire and use it instead of stock setup. use a prop saver instead of adapter and put some CA on the prop saver joint or it will come off sooner or later on a Tractor. cut the shaft a little and keep only half an inch of shaft or it will bend on nose crash. Thats all ive got.
best of luck man.

Ashok.P

@v2eagle  :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Updates -

Finished the basic plane up with a detachable wing for easy transport and it also gives access to the battery and receiver and esc so will be adding a landing gear and some colours will be added soon,
Thankyou all for those who pitched in their valuable suggestions,advice changes if any.
Regards
Priyum

Have you changed the Horizontal stab ?, still it seems to be small.

Changed it according to the plans,has to be 20-22 % of wing span so 22% of 35 inches is 7.7inches which is exactly the length of my horizontal stab.

from my experience the Tail horizontal stab is still too small... just goodle pictures of aeromodels and it will throw up a thousand of them.  Sit back and compare your tail area with the pictures shown there.... I guess for a 35 in wingspan... you coyld easily have about a 15 in or more of tail horizontal stab span.  mine is about 16in for my 37 in trainer model.  

Whatever you make... today we have a tremendous advantage of checking everything with Google Baba or thr universal trainer called the Youtube.  just google in free plans for trainer aeromodel and you will find many which you can actually use.  I did the same for my models recently it flies really well..

Your fuselage and vertical stab still appear a bit shaky to me.... i.e. low on rigidity.  try this link.....

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=pictures+of+aeromodel+plans&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=jF89U46bDYiQrgfS_YHoBw&ved=0CCYQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=769 (https://www.google.co.in/search?q=pictures+of+aeromodel+plans&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=jF89U46bDYiQrgfS_YHoBw&ved=0CCYQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=769)

OR

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=trainer+aero+model+plans&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=M2A9U8mIAcePrQfRyID4AQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=769 (https://www.google.co.in/search?q=trainer+aero+model+plans&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=M2A9U8mIAcePrQfRyID4AQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=769)

AND

http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_plans/data/thumbnails/78/pilot_ace_20-h.jpg (http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_plans/data/thumbnails/78/pilot_ace_20-h.jpg)


happy building

Will do the necessary changes by tonight ie will change the horizontal as well as the vertical stab.
Thankyou for the advice,
Regards
Priyum

P.S - Could you post a picture of your trainer please?

please see my posts it is there...... the pictures are available there.....  ok here is the link....  This model is a 48 in wing span and has a tail horizontal stab of over 18 in...

http://www.rcindia.org/electric-planes/my-third-electric-model-a-established-trainer-model/msg176307/#msg176307 (http://www.rcindia.org/electric-planes/my-third-electric-model-a-established-trainer-model/msg176307/#msg176307)

Thanks a ton sir and moreover I live in New Delhi so could you tell me from which shop in kirti nagar did you buy the HD thermacol from and what were its charges,length,local name of the foam etc please because bio foam Is getting expensive for me!

Shobit is right, for 35" WS the Horizontal slab should be around 15"x5" or any combination of the net area.
HD thermacole is available with false ceiling makers(the ones in theaters) for 60 rs a 2" sheet and it bends like EPO,
a quick search around the market will throw you with lot of options.

Ashok.P

Did change my horizontal stab to 15 inches and vertical stab too ,will post the pictures soon.

OK>.. the HD thermocol was purchased from the given address:-
Mr Umesh
Verma Tools and Traders
BE-390, Hari Nagar
New delhi.
 He holds thermocol from 3-5 kg per mtr cube to over 30 kg per mtr cube.  Guess anything above 25 kg per mtr cube will be fine.  I am using 36kg per mtr cube and it cost me some rs 4000/- + for the mtr cube.  Mind you even 1/4 th of a mtr cube is a hell lot of thermocol for manking models.... guess over 12 can be made in that of about 4 ft in span... smaller ones... many more

Best wishes to all....