Free flight project

Oh and will be adding about 3" wing tips either end so should end up with about 30" of span am I barking up the wrong tree with a rich 049 ? I know it prob needs something smaller but don't have anything smaller that's where my rich running 049 thought came in !!

The timer arrived this morning looks like some gunk over it but works about 22 seconds total so with leaning and engine cut would say about 25 seconds ish smaller than I thought ( which is a good thing ) about 3.5 long by about 2.5 wide by 1.5 deep doesn't weigh much either ! " alt="" />

An .049 on a 30" span free-flight might be a little much.

Fuselage and tailplane cut out ready for mock up ! " alt="" />

Securing the wing might need a bit of thought I wanted it to be banded on but mock up as follows you get the idea now" alt="" />

andrew wrote:An .049 on a 30" span free-flight might be a little much.

I'm inclined to agree but it's all I have ... Lots of 049's !!!
Was thinking of putting a silencer on to dull the power a bit more as well as running rich .... Still to much ????

Dizzyman2011 wrote:

andrew wrote:An .049 on a 30" span free-flight might be a little much.

I'm inclined to agree but it's all I have ... Lots of 049's !!!
Was thinking of putting a silencer on to dull the power a bit more as well as running rich .... Still to much ????

I will say from personal experience that I too think it will be very overpowered.

I do agree I have another thread going on how to tame it down a bit hopefully a lot what would u say would be ideal an 010 or 020 and any idea what rpm these both swing a6x4 at so I have something to aim for !!!

Forget the 010 it's a lovely little engine but just too small
My Bacaruda is 16ins span weighs 5 oz and was so borderline
With the 010 That I stuck a peewee in it instead.
Too much power with a 25 second timer?
Can't see it meself how far can it go? But perhaps an idea to fit a locator alarm
Besides if you want to start spannering Phill, a few mins
With 3or4 head shims and a 7x3.5 or 8x4 prop will convert
Your sure start (or similar) into a 'Texaco' alike and will purrrrrrr
Along at 6000 rpm. Hardly powered never mind over powered
And prob just enough to pull the skin off some rice pudding...
As for 6 in props on the smaller Cox's no no no and no.

As I've said once or thrice before I can't abide
Marginally powered planes so please don't take
Any notice of the above.

TD .020?

Well an hour this morning provided enough time for work to progress a little ... Wing tips are on and drying ... " alt="" />

Next thing is the sheeting of the innermost ribs for strength around the rubber band locations ..." alt="" />

My question to you all is this should I sheet up to the spars the whole length of the wing or am I over engineering it after all when the engine cuts it's on it's own !!!! The thought is already making me nervous !!!!!! My thought was build it strong build it light repays me with consistent flight !

So got the razor plane out and shaved a nats winkle off some 1/4 strip to seat the wing on will be using this as a platform to put some sheet on top to keep the wing nice and secure and this will also be where I locate the dowels am thinking front and aft facing dowels or do I go with the tried and tested straight through the strip and fuse have noticed a lot of free flight models seem to have fore and aft is this so the band releases better on impact
Note : the word impact is quite unnerving !!!!" alt="" />

Aahaaaa Phill, you're where I was a week ago I only
Planked the centre 3 ribs cos that's what it said
On the plan. I think I took the wrong turn and wish
I had done all of it. It would have added perhaps
3/4 grams over all but more importantly the
Integrity of the wing section would have been
Maintained instead of the mid rib sagging I now
Have. Don't forget, whaddya want? LIFT how we gonna
Get it? Wing section!
What I did do that wasn't on plan but REALLY stiffened
It up was webbed the section between the upper and
Lower spars. Added almost nothing weight wise.

Hmm never understood the guys who say they've built to ensure it's more
Crash proof?
They're not supposed to be crashed so don't crash em.
Also it's home built not artf so will be a lot tougher anyway.
When you've had to bring in a club trainer where 5 of the 6
Rubber bands have gone PING in flight and it's flapping like
A maniac bird of prey on approach you kinda want to glue
The things on, not make em go PING more easily.

Yes I'm inclined to agree with you about planking up to the spars should add very little weight but loads of strength
Sounds like fun bringing in a trainer on only 1 band bit hairy that's true seat of the pants flying !!!!
While I agree with your statement on building to be crash proof with c/l or r/c I'm totally with you but as soon as I let this thing go its on it's own !! So want to up the chances of it returning in one piece for another flight
Still a way to go before I get to that stage but am anticipating good things ... Well we'll see this is my first dip into the proper free flight world (cox meaning proper) so any advice on trimming would also be appreciated especially as most sources I have read so far have been saying c of g almost 50% from le wow scary times

Put webbing between the spars in the center region and a bit further out, and you'll get a lot of strength. Planking the front section to get a D-profile adds even more strength but then you should preferably have prepared for that from the start. Make it lightweight and it will fly well, if you fold the wings then just make a second stronger one.

The CG at 50% is for when the stabilizer is designed for adding lift too, so if you don't have that you'll need a traditional CG position.

So have had the old razor plane out again wing support correct angle no twists or warping just have to sand the outside edges nice and straight decided to go cross grain for strength and give it a little "bend" not break! " alt="" />

And the wing Sheeted in first two ribs bit of work still on this sanding nice and flush with leading and trailing edge " alt="" />

So this is my free flight build so far reckon about 4.5 hrs so far wing almost there just webbing and or sheeting upto or including the spars still not quite sure which way to go yet might make a decision tonight after copious amounts of caffeine and head scratching have decided to name her "panic" as the thought of the maiden fills me with ... Yes you've guessed it " alt="" />

Dizzyman2011 wrote:So have had the old razor plane out again wing support correct angle no twists or warping just have to sand the outside edges nice and straight decided to go cross grain for strength and give it a little "bend" not break! " alt="" />

An 049 will never get that thing airborne...

John Goddard wrote:An 049 will never get that thing airborne...

Wait... weren't we talking about de-tuning an .049 because it was too much for this bird, or was than another plane

Dizzyman2011 wrote:So this is my free flight build so far reckon about 4.5 hrs so far wing almost there just webbing and or sheeting upto or including the spars still not quite sure which way to go

I would have used a little sturdier leading edge, but it looks fine, just put some Webbing between the spars near the center too.