New Wing Thing

[pease1]

OK, here is Wing Thing #2. Prettier than #1 since I now know the design is a winner. Test flights as soon as I get a calm day.

All up weight 179g/4.3oz with 7 cell 280mAh NiMh battery pack.

http://www.rcmicroflight.com/upload/NewWingThing.jpg

As always, more info and photos on my Wing Thing Page (http://pease1.sr.unh.edu/aew/rc/WingThing/)

[ 08-22-2001: Message edited by: Allan Wright ]

[flyingbuddy]

Whoa! Did you use a black magic marker on those bones? Way cool, dude!
BTW, how much does the battery pack weigh?

[Qs-man]

Uhhh... now that looks superb!
Gotta say that you have "the" eye for adding a nice touch!
Must look awsome when airborne!

[pease1]

John,

Empty weight is 4.3oz/120g and all up weight with 7-cell 280mAh NiMh battery pack is 6.3oz/179g - so my battery must weigh 2.0z/59g.

I sprayed the bones lightly with regular spray paint. It cost me .1 oz to do that which I thought wasn't bad. The trick is to use a light touch. If you look closely you'll find spots that are a little light but that's fine. Witht he covering on and the plane going 15mph by you they can't be seen.

Joel,

Thanks for the kind words.

Al

[ 08-21-2001: Message edited by: Allan Wright ]

[jimwalker]

Very nice, I can't wait to build one!

[Jim]

As always, it looks great Allan!

I downloaded the plans for this a few months ago without thinking. I soon realized that I was going to need a mixing radio (duh!) which I don't have and scratched the project.

Between your photos here and the in-flight videos at your site, you've convinced me that I gotta have one of these. I printed out a set of plans today and am currently scrambling to come up with a simple mechanical mixer. BTW, how many hours did it take you to build the second one? Did you have any problems with the covering adhesive attacking the black paint on the structure? What adhesive did you use?

Keep up the good work.
Jim

[pease1]

Well I flew #2 today. Flies well, but not quite as great as #1. I get a little tip stall. I'm attaching wingletts like the Zagi to see if that will solve the problem. Either that or I have too much exponential in one of the elevons. Even with that little problem it's still an AWESOME plane.

Build it light - that's the key. Next one I build I won't paing the frame. It looks great but not worth the 1/10th of an ounce.

Answers to your questions: I use glue stick to attach the Renold's wrap to the frame. No trouble with the glue and the paint reacting.
As for a mechanical or even electronic add-on mixer. I wouldn't. Think of it this way: by the time you buy a receiver, 2 servos and an electronic external mixer, you could buy a focus-3 FM, which comes with the receiver and 2 servos and mixing built in!

[pease1]

Well I figured out what was wrong with #2 and now it flies as good as #1 did. I had one of the elevons with more throw than the other so at extreme up or down elevator they were unequal. Of course in a stall I was at full up so it looked like a tip stall. Anyways - all better now.

[MacYankee]

Very cool covering scheme! What components did you use?

[pease1]

2xGWS Pico servos, Castle Creations Pixie 7P ESC, 7x280 mAh Nimh pack, GWS-A with 9x7 prop, GWS 4P receiver. Basicly a GWS pico pack with different ESC. The Pico pack would work great though. Let me tell you, this is the fastest plane I've seen run on the GWS-A. I'm eventually going to build one with an S1 motor in it which quite possibly could approach Zagi speeds.

[OCModels]

Allen, Mine has the S1 motor in it and can you say FAST??? I am using an APC 9x6 prop on it and eight 50mAh cells. I can hold the nose of the plane, give it full throttle, let go and it will take off vertical. The all up weight of this thing is a fraction over 4 ounces. I am absolutely amazed at how fast this thing is. I have to throttle back a bit cause it start to stress the wing too much. I really don't want to fold the wing in half. Try the S1 and APC combo if you want all out speed.

Jeffrey Park
Orange County Aeronauts

[pease1]

Next one I build will have the S1 and 9x6 prop for sure then - thanks!

I'll add some carbon fiber to the LE and spars, that should stiffen up the wing enough to handle the extra stress.

After that maybe and astro 010 direct drive? Who knows!

Al

[MacYankee]

Where did you get the plan? I want it! My e-mail is MacYankee@mac.com :)

[pease1]

Just follow the link above to my WingThing page - there's a link on it to AZ Chuck's site where I downloaded the plans (for free!)

Al

[tripxrcer]

Hey!

Well i had a quick question about it,.,

How strong is it? I meen flight limits.

Also did you just paint the balsa in your pics? What paint?

Thanks!

ALex