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[Andy M]

At the moment I am also working on another project using V262 quadcopter motors, this time a plane, with twin motors and constructed from depron. Each motor puts out at least 100g of thrust. This should be enough, span is 47 inches and it should be fairly light. Using 2 motors should give me about 15 mins of flying time, longer than most of the glow engined planes I have had in the past, apart from a 6 ft span motorglider that had an os 15fp engine, lovely quiet little engine, hard to hear it a few hundred feet up. It flew for ages on a 4 oz tank of fuel.
Pics show my new wing and power pods.
Also shown is a little plane I built using a syma X7 quadcopter motor and kyosho minium radio gear. The original motor was ok in its christen eagle biplane which weighed around 30g, my plane weighs in at 64g with a 2 cell 3.7v 600mah battery made from e-cigarette cells, giving about 30 minutes of really quiet flying time, amazing little plane, based on an american free flight plan called Jr,s pride (juniors pride)scaled up and with stretched wing and nose. I will be happy if my twin engined plane flies half as well as the jrs pride. The free flight version is also shown. Lovely looking little glider and my bigger version looks lovely cruising past on a third to half throttle. It also has a very predictable stall that is easy to recover from.

[Andy M]

I am hoping I get enough power from the two motors, but if it does turn out  underpowered, I can always add two more motors, taking total thrust up over 400g. That should be more than plenty, but it would look pretty crowded on the wing, as the second photo shows. I am still undecided about what type of fuselage to make for my wing, I had thought about a cargo plane, but if my performance is marginal, a chunky fuselage might produce enough drag to prevent it flying, I will probably do a slender(ish) sports type fuselage to give it a decent chance of flying, if all is well with that, I can try a cargo type later. Maybe even a flying boat? Theres bound to be loads of rain soon, with large field puddles.
 Anyway, its a bit windy the now for flying any of my planes, apart from my F15, but as it is just polystyrene, and therefore quite fragile, its staying indoors. Just need to make do with flying my mini wasp in the shed instead.

[Andy M]

Soldering in servo extension leads, and control horns from base of an ice cream tub.

[Plastic - RIP]

Cool - Looks like a Multiplex Twinstar   

Have you seen this bunch?
https://www.youtube.com/user/flitetest/featured

 

[Andy M]

I imagine I will have a lot less power that a twinstar, I have never seen one in the flesh so dont know what their performance is like.
 Mine is progressing steadily, most of my rear fuselage section is done. Due to the lengths of depron I have, I split the fuselage just in front of the wing, this allows me to try different nose sections, I hope to get a decent fpv setup at some point, hopefully this will carry it. A custom nose will be made to take this. I have made a 'sports' nose to start with. It is designed to take my cheapo go pro type camera. Pushrods are from a bamboo blind and paperclips bound with thread and superglued. The weight is piling on but its pretty strong. I can always try and lighten it if I have to. If it doesnt have enough power, I have a nice pair of brushless motors that should drag it about, just need to see how it copes with the quad motors first. Nearly finished, last of radio to fit and tape the fuselage parts together.

[Andy M]

I decided my syma x7/kyosho minium plane needed some colour.
Video of it flying in fairly windy conditions here. https://youtu.be/gNqhQ2q5Zlg

[Andy M]

Ready to fly once wind drops a bit

[Andy M]

Well I got a chance to try the plane today, it flies, but a bit marginal on power, it is 47 inch span and the fuselage is  nearly 6 inches by 3 inches, similar sizes to a .40 glow engined plane, so I expected it to be pushing the limits on power. It did fly nice considering. It was still fairly windy. Sorry no video yet, I was concentrating on keeping it in the air. I will take a camera person next time.

[Andy M]

Decided to remove my quadpods and cut off the nose of my plane, some 6mm depron reinforcement added then a 1/16 ply plate glued on and a brushless motor screwed on the front. Test flight showed better flying characteristics but I have another prop to try, think that will be it performing the way I want, I am not wanting it to be fast, just able to climb out at a decent angle without struggling. I am using cells from a bosch bike pack I was given, they seem to be pretty good. Also tried a pack made from a 'dead'? Bosch drill battery, wouldnt last 2 minutes in the drill, but once split from the pack, they charged fine and seem to be perfect.
 Programmed to stop working after a certain time?
 I am beginning to suspect that. Most of my recycled cells havent taken a charge when connected to their own battery management board, bit miraculously come back to life once you remove them. Hmmmm.....anyone else found this?

[Andy M]

Brushless fitted and pods removed

[Andy M]

Tested the plane with the orange prop shown, which was a definite improvement on the quad pods, then I tried a higher pitch prop and it has transformed it, plenty power now, it can actually climb out nicely. Even managed a few rolls, loops and stall turns. I feel a lot better now its flying nice, I was a bit disheartened after trying it with the quad motor setup.

[Andy M]

Oops, crumple zone absorbed most of the shock of the impact, wingtip took a big ding and some interior 3mm depron bulkheads got punched through by the battery pack but it survived hitting a chain link fence after the elevator servo failed. It wont look as nice as it did but it should repair ok. Strips of tape on the backs of the fuselage sides have helped to stop it just shattering apart. I dont have enough 3mm depron to make another one, and even pizza packing is cardboard now!

[Andy M]

After crashing the plane into a chainlink fence due to servo failure, I was a bit disheartened with the nose damage, having no bits of depron big enough to build a new one. After a few days of it sitting broken, I decided to have a go at fixing it, it was pretty mashed but 10 minutes of straightening, glueing and taping had it looking much better. I still have a few bits to make and glue in place but it is well on the way to flying again. I need to replace the dead servo and have a good check over the rest of the airframe, my rudder and fin took a good bending when it dropped to the ground after hitting the fence but this may only need stiffening up with some tape. I dont think a balsa model would have survived the impact as well as the depron plane did.

[Andy M]

All fixed, and the repaired/glued formers inside also had a layer of tape either side. I need to put in a bit of sponge to stop the battery crashing through on an impact.[/size]Glueing and taping the formers inside the cramped fuselage was 'interesting', the tape being most frustrating. Anyway, I used 2 more of my mums knitting needles for the main landing gear, and old glow engined plane wheels that weigh about the same as the wing! Should lift off ok? Wheels are a fair bit of extra drag, but it was fairly fast and had a long glide with no throttle so it should manage, three bits of sellotape can come off and the legs slide out of their tubes. The tubes have to be the strangest thing I have used on..... well anything really, they are the outer part of a cat thyroid medicine syringe. Lol. Perfect for the job. Dunno what to make from the plunger bit of it. I already used one outer tube for extended antenna tube on v262 transmitter. Lugs were cut off square and it slotted straight into the transmitter mounting. Looks bit strange tho, but extra range.Also used bamboo from a blind, I unravelled a bundle of 60 odd so I have a chance of quickly finding a straight bit. Or straighten-able. Theres still loads left. It is like poor mans carbon fibre, it does add some strength and dingability on the tailplane and fin leading edges and its pretty light. I have carbon fin post and elevator spar? and kebab stick as tailplane joiner. A good one is about 3mm and pretty tough, all bits glued and taped. Nearly ready to go.I hope the wheels work out ok, I want to get action man H.A.L.O happening again from this very aircraft, although I never thought of that till after I built it. Lol. So I am going to try him just slung underneath as on the quad, with new release system. If he turns out to be too draggy, I might need to start a choppin. But he should really be on the centre of gravity, and thats where the landing gear is anchored, the battery and receiver and bundle of wires all live too. And a bit of sponge is going to be squeezing in as well to keep the battery under control. Outside for now, as long as his chute doesnt pop prematurely! I am sure that could lead to a fast descent. I need to test how tight a rubber band my new release system can handle, make sure him and his chute are tightly held. This is H.A.L.O mk3 I am onto now. I have proper power now, I even have a standard size metal gear servo if its needed!!! My quad system hung up far too often, the 3v supply didnt agree with  4.8v servo motor.A yoghurt pot nose cowling helps break up the boxiness a bit.

[Andy M]

Progress so far

[Andy M]

Another photo