DuPage Free Flyer - Home Built Indoor R/C

Gym Stick Foam Wing R/C Plane

Details: Category: Home Built Indoor R/C Home Built Indoor R/C; Published: 07 December 2020 07 December 2020

This Gym Stick is so called because its fuselage is a carbon fiber tube, and it is sized to fly in a Gym. I have flown it in a couple of indoor soccer venues. The wing span is 28 inches, and the wing is made of 3 mm Depron polystyrene foam, warmed and rolled over a pipe to form the airfoil. There is a 40% Kline-Fogelman strip ( http://theparkpilot.org/kline-fogleman-airfoil-design ) under the wing's leading edge. The Gym Stick weighs 7 ounces, and wing loading is 5.2 ounces per square foot. It is guided by a light weight radio control system, and the motor is a 16 gram out-runner type, turning a 6 inch propeller. The motor draws 36 watts With a 450 mAh 2S battery, and produces about 8 ounces of thrust. It would fly, but feebly, with a motor of one half the thrust, so I'm looking forward to trying to fly it again.

EZ-Fly Foam Trainer

Details: Category: Home Built Indoor R/C Home Built Indoor R/C; Published: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

I scaled this EZ- Fly down to a 30 inch wing span from the original 36 inch one published on RC/Groups. I built it of 8 mm thick EPP (expanded polypropylene) Foam sheet. A kit to build an original sized EZ-Fly is available from Fancy Foam Models. The 205 Square inch wing has a 40% Kline-Fogelman strip ( http://theparkpilot.org/kline-fogleman-airfoil-design ) on top of the leading edge. The 30 gram, CD-ROM style, motor draws 35 Watts turning a 7X3.5 propeller in a central slot. The battery is a 3S 450 mAh Li-Po type. The EZ-Fly weighs 9.8 ounces. The EZ-Fly is a very docile trainer, especially after CG was adjusted for stable flight, both fore and aft and laterally.

NutBall - 24 inch

Details: Category: Home Built Indoor R/C Home Built Indoor R/C; Published: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

The NutBall is another RC/Groups design that I built from 8 mm thick EPP Foam sheet. My NutBall is 24 inches in diameter, and has 18 degree dihedral in each wingtip. It is controlled by rudder and elevator using a Futaba 6106 FASST 2.4 GHz park flyer receiver. Total weight is 10.4 ounces with battery. It is powered by a G Force outrunner electric motor weighing 29 grams. It uses an 850 mAh 2S LiPo battery to turn an 8X4 Propeller. Like most flying wings, the NutBall needs a bit of reflex adjustment ( up elevator trim ) to maintain a positive angle of attack. I've flown it in a Soccer Barn, and it demands coordination between throttle and elevator. A bit too much of both together, and it will swap ends. If things are just right you can make a slow pass at high angle of attack. In this it resembles the post WWII experimental U.S. Navy plane , the Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake".