The main fuselage is done!
It looks like a gigantic shoe too =)
Found a pilot lying around.. google bot.. and he looks like hes raring to go fly!
A look with the wings (which ill complete tonight):
Category Archives: Projects
Project SBSW (update 7) installation of fuselage
Did some work on the plane tonight and was able to finish installing the main fuselage section with the wing base on top and added some “strengthening” PVC at the back and front.
At another angle:
Update: a few hours later..more panels..
I have 4 more days to finish this for the maiden. I reckon I can finish the fuselage tomorrow.. the wing attachments on wed, the electronics and servos on thursday and friday.
Crossing my fingers!
Project SBSW (update 6) motor mount, wing mount and partial fuselage
Today I finished some important parts of the project. The motor is screwed to a couple of pieces of high density boards which sandwiches a PVC strip(from an electrical conduit). This is installed(ie glued), at an angle, to the base of the plane like so:
The angle (the motor slightly pointing down about 5°) is done to offset the forward and down effect of a higher mounted motor. Doing this angle offset will cause the back of the main wing to have a slight down push forcing the leading edge of the wing to pitch up.
Once the motor mounting is done.. the section where the main wing is attached to the fuselage needs to be made.
The image above is upside down and shows the CF rods that’s used as the scaffolding for the wing base as well as the CF rods where the rubber-bands will be attached. I sure hope its sturdy enough!
Finally, I began making the rest of the fuselage. The space inside is big!
A deeper look at the cave..
Its beginning to look like a real Skywalker:
So far i’ve added about 50g at this point.
Project SBSW (update 5) – wing skins complete
Finally finished wrapping the thin foam on the wings.. with all those glue I have to say they’re on the heavy side with each wing weighing approx 288g (including spars).. or a total of 576g.
This means I just exceeded my target weight for this par by at least 200g! Anyway theres nothing much we can do anymore.. just have to continue trudging on until completion.
Project SBSW (update 4) main wings almost done!
The main wing is getting there but.. as expected things are getting a bit dicey on the weight department. The total wing weight (without the final “skin”) so far is a hefty 461g!
Here’s the work so far:
The dihedral on the wingtips requires some care to secure:
But it seems to be sturdy enough.. I know all those glue will return to haunt me in grams =(
Project SBSW (update 3) — wing design disaster!
I began working on the main wing again today and decided to cut the two 1m CF tube spars in two and just stick a bamboo barbeque stick in between, like so:
Bad idea.. this means that the load and wing twisting stress will be focused on the contact points of the bamboo spar and the CF tube which can mean disaster.
At this point i couldnt really revert to using the whole CF spar as the halves are already well glued to the wing. The only option therefore is to just join the wings together permanently and charge this to experience.. $%@$!.
Still about 75% complete.. the main wings now weigh about 320g.. it will most probably weigh about 450g eventually which means I have less than 100g to complete the fuselage. Doesnt look too good, at this rate the plane will probably weigh 1kg empty =S
Project SBSW (update 2)
Didnt have much time to do much on this project tonight but the fuselage base has now been fully glued (used up 3 sets of the binary epoxy 5 minute glue!).
Total weight so far: 246g.
That means I only have 354g 554g for the wings and the rest of the fuselage! Ack!
Project Scratch-built Skywalker (update 1)
I began making a scratch-built Skywalker (SW) rc plane based on plans from rcgroups. “IF” it flies and wont weigh a ton from my usual over design tendencies ill be using it for long range. My target is it should have a base, empty weight (sans ALL electronics) of not more than 600g 800g*. Or a total flying weight of not more than 2.2Kg fully loaded with all the RC, Servos, 5000mah 4S LiPo, APM2.6 and FPV gear etc.
So far I’m done with the cutting of the main wings and tail assembly (rudder and elevator) which took a ridiculous amount of time: I couldn’t decide whether to put the elevator on top of the rudder (like the pre-CF tail 2013 SW) or below the tail (somewhat like the 2013 SW). Eventually decided to do the latter so i won’t have to strengthen the rudder too much. The downside is the elevator will now be more prone to landing (or crash!) damage.
Here’s the tail section:
A closer look at the the attachment points: the end of the tail spar on the right end is a ballpoint pen casing where a barbeque stick glued to the CF spar can be inserted. This is secured by PVC/plastic strips glued to the elevator and secured to the base of the rudder with a screw and nut.
..and attached to the base of the fuselage last night:
Target Empty Weight: 600g 800g.
Weight at this stage: 175g
Balance left: 625 g
* found out that the 2012 186cm SW is 700g empty.