D25 Delta Update

So, we tested the BL-2212/6 brushless motor. It is a great motor and it may be great on other applications but, it's not what we're looking for.
So we have on the way a 3000 KV motor with 4S. This is a 700 watt setup. This is the ticket to the 100mph goal I set for this plane. Anything above a 100 with this setup is gravy. Stay tuned I will post video hopefully with a speed gun on view to clock speed. Also maybe some boat videos. I just had to build one. Oh! And maybe Control Line electric. You have to keep coming back so you don't miss all of this.

D25 Video Great flight

Success! We flew the D25 this last Sunday and it was a great flight. I am still dialing in cg but, it flew great. Controls were responsive, everything went smoothly. I still have to change the prop. The prop used in the video was from a glow engine and of smaller diameter than requered for the setup we have. So, when we dial in the cg and with the appropriate prop we should see even better flights. So, here's the video. There's a small blooper halfway trough the video as my cameraman let the camera fall to the floor no biggie, more funny than anything! WATCH THE VIDEO!

How To Apply Checkers

Hi there and thank you for coming back! Here I want to show you how to lay your graphics on to monokote film without getting a sticky mess. I say sticky mess because on this case I am using the sticky kind of monokote for the red checkers. If you have been building RC airplanes this might be old news to you but if you are a newbie, you might learn something. So here we go.

First start by selecting where you are going to place your graphics. This works for any kind of graphic you want to layout on the monokote by the way. Then spray the whole area with Windex or any other similar product. I used windex because I had it on hand but you don't have to use windex you can also use soapy water on a spray bottle. Just fill with water and mix in some dish washing soap till you get some soapy water. Don't be bashful, saturate the area with the Windex or soapy water.

Now start laying your graphics. Now you will have the chance to position them anyway you like without them sticking and having to peel them away you can just reposition them.

Keep laying your whole setup.

Start removing the excess windex with a paper towel. Make sure everything is where you want it to be.

 

Now with an old credit card or similar object start squeezing out all the excess Windex. Make sure you don't move you graphics. Continue to squeeze out all the Windex and remove excess with paper towels.

By now things are starting to stick to the monokote. If you have to trim any pieces do it after you make sure they are not going to move.

 Clean up everything, and admire your work!

This also works with iron on monokote. Just cut your graphics, position them as you like, squeege out the Windex, clean up and iron the edges. Hope this works for you! If anybody has any suggestions on how to do it easier. Cheers.

A preview of the 2200KV motor

 Here's a similar plane with the recommended Bl-2212/6 motor

2200KV Brushless Motor + ESC

It's here! I recently ordered a nice 2200KV motor for my ongoing D25 Delta wing project. This was recommended on RCGroups as a better substitute of the 16/15/7 brushless Mega that I used on the first flights. This is a motor to achieve speed. The prop I will be using on it will be an APC 6X5.5 at this setup this should be producing approximately 24oz if thrust with a 11.1v 30C 1350Mah battery. With the decreased weight of the motor and the battery I would be expecting the whole wing weighing at approximately 13 to 14 oz. With this motor we will have a nice thrust to weight ratio of almost 2:1. I bought these at Nico Hobbies. They shipped fast and I didn't have any issues so, two thumbs up! Also the whole thing came as a combo for $27.99 plus shipping which was like $3.00. I have read reviews about this motor and it sounds like it gets things moving. Wanna see it in action? Stay tuned.

Flying Wing Delta

So, I have already started rebuilding my scratch built delta and it's coming along good. As you can see in a previous post it didn't suffer much damage so it is an easy fix. I did uncover the whole thing and will be recovering it. It's should come out at 14-16 OZ this time since I'll be adding a 1350Mah battery this time. This is due to the fuselage being too narrow to fit my 1800Mah battery sideways. The 1350Mah battery is shorter and should fit sideways giving me a wide range of movement to balance the plane with the position of the battery. I also commented on a new motor for it I have an 2200KV motor on the way so with the troubleshooting done on the first try we should get some good results. Stay tuned.

D25 Crash

Well, I had some radio failure and here is the result. I don't really mind at all since there's pretty much no damage. And, since I have made this from scratch, there's nothing I can't fix on it! In a way I'm happy it crashed. That let me know how strong this frame is. I have to say that it is strong and sound. This crash was from altitude at full power, nose first. I wish I hadn't untangled the motor wires as proof that there were several twists on the wires since the plane hit the ground under power. Wing tips took damage because they were balsa. Right now the wing is completely unassembled and uncovered and the minor damages will be fixed. Also since I now fortunately removed all the quirks from the equation of aft CG, radio glitches, I have on the way a nice 2200KV motor to move it along. The Mega motor 16/15/8 proved to be a nice sport plane package for this plane but, this is not what we built it for. The 2200 should provide more speed and oomph. With the right settings this thing will fly perfect on the next try. Keep coming back, next time I hope to have a video to be proud of.

Maiden flight of D25 delta

Here's the video of the maiden flight of the D25. The flight will look erratic due to an aft cg and excessive control surface travel. Will keep working on it to achieve the goal of making a fast delta wing. This is actually the first model airplane I design. It has been a learning experience and I don't doubt more will be learned from this process.

D25

Ok, So I am almost done with the plane. Here I put the fins on still need to set elevons and fix engine to the plane. Almost done!

D25 Build Progress

Ok, so here go! Picture time...

 

This are the only four parts that have to be cut  to shape other than the motor mount. Four ribs.

Here we line up everything according to the plan. Spars have been cut to size as per plan. These spar are 6mm carbon tubes. Here I used rods but they should have been tubes. I got these from Radicalrc.com

Here we make sure everything lines up and that is not twisted.

 

Here we cut and glue the trailing edge. This trailing edge should be made out of hardwood or a nice stiff balsa spar. I used some soft balsa and I believe this could be improved on a next build.

 

Here are the leading edges cut and positioned and glued to the front of the ribs. These are 5mm carbon tubes. 

 

Here wing tips have been glued. I also made a mistake here and used balsa. On a next build I will use hardwood. I chose balsa at first for the trailing edge and tips because of weight concerns. I think the extra weight should be minimal with hardwood. 

 Motor mount cut and glued to main ribs or fuse sides whatever you wanna call them.

Here the bottom part of the fuse has been sheeted with 1/16" balsa. The sheeting goes all the way from the trailing edge to the leading edge.

Here the wing has been sheeted on the top from the trailing edge to the back spar. And from the front of the motor mount to the back of the motor mount. I could've just left the motor mount without sheeting but I wanted it to be as streamlined as possible.

Here's a shot of the whole thing on it's way

Here I wanted to see how everything fit inside the plane. Plenty of space I would say.

The electronics you see are a Mega brushless motor 16/15/7, 1800 Mah Lipo, Jeti ESC and a castle creations stamp receiver ( recently got into 2.4 GHZ and I hate the long antennas now)  This motor is not a high RPM motor it offers like 1250 KV if I'm not mistaken so not a lot of speed but it should be plenty of power to move it around. The prop is a 8X4 Apc prop.

Here I made a hatch to cover it all up. On a later picture this hatch has to be modified to acomodate servos. I moved the servos way to the front so Cg wouldn't be a problem with this setup. On a future build I will move the servos to another location and make a neater job at the hatch. I don't like the actual hatch contraption that I had to improvise. My bad, poor planing on that part. But hey we still need to find out if this thing will fly!

 A little more detail on the hatch. Like I said before I had to modify it (butcher? ) to accommodate servos.

 

I think it's looking nice. Hope it flies as nice as it looks.

 Some covering on it. On this type of airplane a high contrast scheme works best. I had this covering lying around for years and decided to use it. But high visibility colors in contrast work best for top and bottom. I'm not to worried about it because with the current setup it shouldn't be the screaming demon I hope it to be on the future.

Weighed the whole thing stuffed. Came out at 16.06  OZ Not bad for 287 Sq Inches I guess.

I dunno, this is embarrassing. This could've come out better. But for now this is it.

That's all for now. I hope to finish it this week. So if you like it, stay tuned. Hopefully I will maiden it this next weekend and post video and a report on how it came out. Like always, keep flying!

D25

Here's a pic of some of the materials for the D25. I will update faster since I have all the materials on hand and will start building tonight. Stay tuned.

I'm Back!

Oh man! I was sick for a few days and hadn't updated. This week I want to start on my delta wing. Like I said before, stay tuned for a build log. Keep flying!

D25 Update

Ha! Carbon rods and tubes for the D25 just arrived from Radical RC. Construction should start by the end of this week. I am sick as a dog right now and it sucks to be building like this. These tubes and rods will make for the spars and leading edge. I wanted to use tubes for the spars but went with solid because that was what available at the time of purchase so, there will be a slight weight penalty but it should be negligible. Stay tuned for the progress.

Real Glider Aerobatics

I envy this guy, Watch it!

Up Close And Personal Hovering

This is how you hover an RC airplane!

D25 Delta Wing

Just wanted to update on the build of the D25. I am still waiting for parts like Carbon rods, props and prop adapters. I have a Mega 16/15/8 brush-less motor. I have been using this motor on a thermal glider for a few years and it has awesome power with a 3S LiPo. I was having doubt's on using this motor in particular since it's doesn't provide high RPM's but after verifying the motors specs it's seems it will be a good base test. After seeing the performance with that motor I'll reevaluate and maybe put on a another motor. For now the only goal of this plane is to break 100 MPH, after that we'll see how fast we can get it going. Keep coming back for updates on the build. I'll be putting on pics and a video of the maiden flight. This should be a very short build even though it's built up because of the simplicity of the design. It's meant to be extremely light but tough at the same time. Let's see how it goes.

E-Flite Scimitar Review

Hey guys, here's a review by Flite Test on youtube of the Scimitar designed by Quique Somenzini. Watch the video!

Fast RC Delta

This is something I am currently working on. It is a Delta wing, this is to go FAST! I'll be using a brush-less Mega motor on it with Jeti ESC. I have several prop setups in mind that I want to try. It's currently on the works so stay tuned for updates on building pictures and videos of the maiden flight. Can't wait!

The Gambler DLG

This is one of the first versions of the Gambler. The Gambler is a DLG (discuss launched glider) made by Wright Brothers RC. They have since upgraded it with Drela airfoils and a higher degree of poly dihedral and I believe added a few inches of wingspan. They made a great machine they only got it better. If you are looking to get into DLG this is a great option. Here's a video of it being launched. This is an on board camera.

Here's me circa 2003 with my Lanier Pro Twister. This was an awsome 3D plane. Actually this was my first 3D plane. On it I learned to hover, harrier, rolling circles, high alfa knifedges. This plane could do it all. It's also one of the ugliest rc planes I have ever had!

Pepino RC Model Club

Here's a screenshot taken from video taken from the Poly Sergio over our club

RC Trainer

I started flying RC airplanes back in 2002. I had always wanted to fly RC since I was a kid. In 2002 I got to do it! I started with a Golberg Kadet LT40. It was a great trainer. I always have to thank my friend John which I met trough flying RC for teaching me to fly RC planes. He was a great mentor and instructor. He taught me a nice trick that really helped me gain confidence to fly my first time. No sim no trainer cord, just here Dan take the radio! He was always available to teach people how to fly. Never charged a dime to anybody for teaching.

At that time I flew a little bit of everything. Speed, 3D, sport, sailplanes, these were great times and it's a part of my life I will always cherish. Met many new friends that until today are my friends. Fast forward 2012 has been a few years since I last flew any airplanes I had some stowed away in a closet. To my surprise there had been a 600 feet runway paved for RC nearby where I live, I needed to get back! So here I am back again with a trainer getting back to RC. It's great to be back. Making new friends and having some fun. I will update regularly with pics and videos. I also want to pay it forward by teaching other to fly RC the same way my friend taught me. See you up there!