Rubber Powered Foam Kits for Conversion?

[Steve Wrona]

Does anyone have any leads/links to rubber powered foam kits which would be suitable for conversion to micro rc? Preferably in the 12" to 15" span range. Ive seen one recently - http://www.rcmicroflight.com/ubb/wink.gif Mr. Nowell !- and would like to build my own.
Any help MUCH appreciated!

[Cadet]

I found a Vmar kit that worked. Unfortunately I live in canada http://www.rcmicroflight.com/ubb/frown.gif. They were available in 20" and 26" wingspan. They really need to have the wings reinforced.
Hope this helps.
Grant

[helguy79]

Jason has a cool build up of the little foam Acro Bipe. I've been following it for a while now. I think it has a 15" or 18" span. I was hoping that Jason would post all of his information in one spot and give us the final specs on it. How about it Jason...please!
Steve

[Jason Nowell]

Multiple Steve's:

OK, you talked me into it. I should have more pics later, but for now, here is the text only version.

Specs:
Wingspan: 15"
Motor: GWS DX-A direct drive
Prop: supplied with kit (cut down to 4")
Battery: 6 cell 50 mAh
Reciever: GWS or Hitec Feather
Servos: Hitec HS-50
Weight: About 4 ounces

Fuselage:

The first step is to cut a hatch in the cowl. I use a sharp blade and slice through the foam about 1/2" back from the front. Cut a 1 1/2" long hatch across the fuse from blue stripe to blue stripe on the fuse sides. I used a balsa stick glued to the back of the hatch as a hold down, and then glued a small peice of Lexan to the front that could be "bent down abd inserted" to hold the cowl in place.

Now remove the steel bearing that is glued into the bottom of the hatch area. This is used for nose weight, and our goal is to eliminate as much weight as possible.

Next remove the plastic prop hub from the nose. If you do this REALLY carefully, you will end up with a hole just slightly larger than the can of the GWS motor.

Finally, cut away the foam from the bottom wing saddle leaving about 1/4" on all sides. This will open access to the radio compartment.

MOTOR:
Remove the GWS motor from the gear drive by removing the two screws in the front of the motor. Now it is time to remove the pinion gear...this is not easy. I recommend going to a local Slot Car track and buying a gear puller (Parma makes a nice one). If you don't have a local track, I have had success using a flat-head screwdriver jammed under the gear and then rotated back to pry the gear off. You WILL destroy the gear, so don't even try to be gentle. Several people, including myself have destroyed the motor also, this is why I recommend the gear puller.

Now is a good time to cut the prop down to about 4".

Once the pinion is removed, push the supplied prop onto the shaft and mount the motor in the fuse with about 5 degrees of right thrust, and about 3 degrees of down thrust. I have done everything from epoxying the motor directly to the foam to building intricate balsa and play mounting blocks. I have learned that if you crash, it's coming out no matter what, so I have reverted to epoxy or foam freindly CA.

TAIL:
Leave the rudder alone, I know it's about 3 degrees to the right, but for some reason, it works best that way.

The elevator should be cut from the horizontal stabilizer and hinged with GOOD tape. I bent a small peice of piano wire into a U shape and used it to join the elevator halves like any standard RC plane.

Mount the vertical stabilizer to the platic peice using epoxy or foam friendly CA.

RADIO:
The ESC goes in the cowl hatch area on the left side of the fuselage, I mounted mine with double sided foam tape. The battery pack goes as far forward as you can get it on the right side of the fuse. With the proper right thrust and ESC on the left, it should wedge between the motor and the fuse side on the right.

The reciever fits in the very top of the fuselage between the front of the cockpit molding and behind the upper wing struts. Again double sided sticky tape was used.

The elevator servo was mounted upside down above the lower wing. I made two hardwood servo rails and glued the across the fuse. I reccomend Pull Pull pushrods made from fishing line (spyder wire) or other light, non-stretch string. This plane has a real tendancy towards tail heavy, so a music wire pushrod is a BAD idea.

The aileron servo is mounted in the lower wing. There is a small peice of foam supplied in the kit that goes under the lower wing to maintain the profile of the fuselage. Glue this peice to the lower wing and the cut a hole out for your servo. Mount it upside down with the servo arm sticking out the bottom.

FINAL ASSEMBLY:

Make two ailerons that are 1/2" wide and run the length of the lower wing. I used depron foam, but an egg carton could be substituted here. Hinge with tape, add horns (I used leftovers from a Stick kit cut to the length I wanted). I bent very small pushrods from piano wire and ran the straight from the servo to the control horn. When you hook these up, make sure you get about 2 degrees of down in each one so they act like flaps. If you plan to fly outdoors only, this is not nessecary, but for indoors, trust me!

Now plug everything into the reciever and glue the bottom wing on. Glue the top wing on and EPOXY the cabane and outer wing struts into position.

The balance point should be about 1/2 way back on the top wing but this plane can tolerate a little either way. You'll know if you have it too tail heavy by the fact that you can't control it. 8-)

Hope this helps. I'm sure I left something out, so ask questions if you have them. I'm going to go rest my hands.....

Jason

[Steve Wrona]

Steve's in STEREO demanding J.N's Bipe Plans!
I cant seem to find the Acro Bipe in the UK at all. I managed to score some foamboard/Depron from a local clothing store yesterday. A 4.5 feet by 8 feet sheet of Valentines Day sale signage! Im going to try my hand at constructing my own fuse and wings around the same size as the Acro Bipe as I've now got plenty of foam to mess around with.
Im planning to use my GWS-A motor, HS-55's, Feather RX. Not too sure which batts to use(advice, please). http://www.rcmicroflight.com/ubb/smile.gif

[helguy79]

Thanks Jason. You Da Man! (the bipe man) Looks like this summer is going to be a Bipe summer. I'm already gathering up extra equipment for the build.

Jason, I think you ought to do a full blown write up for RCMicroflight or Ezone on the Acro-Bipe. Your build up seems like a natural conversion. You should get credit for all your hard work and testing. Go for it!

Thanks again,
Steve

[Steve Wrona]

I second that!
I really appreciate the info. Ill be back in Florida for a lil' vacation and plan to do my darndest to buy several of Funcrafts' finest. Thanks again Jason!
The Other Steve

[Jason Nowell]

Thanks Guys, hope you have more fun flying it than I do. It's still a bit much for me to handle indoors http://www.rcmicroflight.com/ubb/smile.gif

I'll try to write something up, but right now, I'm working on another one (biplane of course)

I've taken one Stick kit, and turned it into a 17" biplane. It needs a little more fine tuning, and then I'll post on NIRAC's Stick Mod Contest ( www.nirac.org (http://www.nirac.org) )

It is going to fly much more docile than the Acro-Bipe....which is good for a dumb thumbed guy like myself.

Thanks for the support though, makes it worth the wear and tear on my fingers typing all this to know someone is getting something from it.

Jason