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Category: Home built R/C Foamies Home built R/C Foamies
Published: 07 December 2020 07 December 2020

This model of the British Vulcan atomic bomber was built of expanded polystyrene foam poster board following plans published by Larry Kruse in Model Aviation magazine in 2015, which are still available for free on the Model Aviation web site.  Wingspan is 30 inches.  It is powered by an electric motor, and guided by Elevons (surfaces which do double duty as elevators and Ailerons) controlled by a 2.4 GHz Futaba receiver.  Insignia was not exactly scale, and I added a crest for my 1971 RVN Helicopter maintenance battalion as a squadron flash.  My foam board Vulcan flies like a Vulcan!  I hand launched using the tail cone as a hand hold and got a nice 45 degree climb out.  Saw the full scale one at a Cleveland Airshow do a similar climb.

The motor is a 400 class outrunner drawing 120 Watts and delivering 21 ounces of static thrust at 12000 RPM with a 7X4 Propeller.  A 3S 1000 mAh battery was used.  Thrust was measured with a postal scale and a lever arm test stand. It matches that found in tables for similar motors. The Vulcan weighs 17 ounces, for a power loading of 109 Watts per pound.