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Author Topic: Flying Brian  (Read 2357 times)

Andy M

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Flying Brian
« on: August 11, 2020, 12:23:40 pm »

This model is called lupin volador, intended as a free flight balsa model, I built it out of depron to take my micro rc. The body is 6mm and I added 3mm sides to his face to cover the battery compartment. Wings are 2mm depron. This model had to be painted, regardless of weight gain. I have decided to call him flying Brian, as I have a plan for a different model called flying Brian, which I liked but never built. Still to work out radio and motor placement but he may just hang from my shed roof for a while first.
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SailorGreg

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2020, 12:29:17 pm »

 {-) {-)   Love it!

Greg

Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2020, 12:44:12 pm »

I have another plan called birdman, based on leo valentin, who was one of the first to use an early version of a wing suit, using small wings. It is by Ray Malmstrom and was originally designed for jetex power. I will be using my favourite micro gear and a 7mm motor.
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2020, 02:50:22 pm »

Flying Brian plan
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2020, 03:10:30 pm »

Flying Brian bigger size
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2020, 12:13:40 am »

Heres where the rc board will go, a small near square opening in the wing will let the tops of servos poke through, with the side profile of the board, as shown in photo, will be cut out of body so board can be slid in with wing. A couple of hotglue blobs may be required but I think I can manage a good enough fit to not need glue.
Weight isnt bad considering its almost completely painted
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2020, 08:49:26 am »

Battery compartment access, space for square flat battery or e-cig cell along bottom of compartment. Loom band keeps the cover pulled into place. The radio board and wiring will be mostly hidden under his arms/wings with only the tops of the servos poking up through his arms.
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2020, 09:08:33 am »

I was looking at where I had decided  the board was going and realised the pushrods are going to be passing through the prop disc. I could move the motor to the nose, it would fit, and the wires could feed through the battery cavity, but I dont want it up front, too visible and in the damageable zone. The other option is to move the board. I wanted to keep the radio board tucked up under the wing, mostly out of sight during low flight. The new position puts the board upside down but it will let the control rods miss the prop. I need to invest in 1mm carbon fibre for pushrods soon.
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2020, 01:05:57 am »

Flying Brian gets a motor fitted (taped on) and has radio position cut out and pushrods half made. Just paperclip ends to be added. I ended up using the board in the T38 Talon. Hope to get more boards through the post soon and see what Brian can do.
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2021, 09:50:11 pm »

Well, Flying Brian wasnt a great success, his arms (wings) seem to be just a bit small, he has weird toe control surfaces too, which didnt seem to turn him, just killed off the airspeed even more. I was using a good 7mm motor.
 Brian was originally designed as a free flight balsa glider, so I dont feel too bad that he doesnt fly well with nearly 20g of radio gear and he is fully painted as well. All adds up. He looks good and will be on display in my shed from now on. I have a 'few' better flying planes in my collection, I knew he was going to be marginal if he did fly. I enjoyed making him, maybe I will do a 'Big Brian' at some point, enlarged so the radio isnt such a high percentage of the weight.
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SteamboatPhil

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2021, 10:17:38 am »

What a pity it would have looked really cool flying around, I am very tempted to have a go at the free flight version myself  O0
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2021, 06:06:25 pm »

He is hanging in my shed as inspiration to do a bigger version more capable of carrying the radio gear, battery and motor. I really had hoped to see him flying about as well, so I am very tempted to try a bigger version.
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mrzippy

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #12 on: January 09, 2021, 09:45:39 am »

Reminds of the models of one of our great aeromodeler's from the 50's/60's 'Ray Malmstrom',
if you like oddball, almost cartoon like model aircraft, hovercraft, cars etc here's a link to a pdf of his many creations -
http://www.nswffs.com.au/malmstromcatalogue.pdf
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #13 on: January 09, 2021, 12:07:14 pm »

Hi, I have shown Ray's plan for leo valentin above. I have seen his plans collection, some of which I intend to try, or at least take some inspiration from. He was a prolific designer and builder, made a bit easier by the fact he only built free flight models, he never liked radio control, deeming it 'unnatural'
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mrzippy

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #14 on: January 10, 2021, 11:09:55 am »

Oops apologies Andy - should have gone to spec savers etc, yes he was an eccentric kind of guy, a nice old boy,
many years ago I had the good fortune to meet him at his favourite Impington village model flying club,
and watch a modern day copy of the bizarre 'Mandy' control liner with its 4 doll crew flying,
how it managed to get off the ground defies all logic ! 
34MA 'Miss Flighty' from the pdf, was also on display and very nice - had a neat hinged bonnet to access the motor !
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #15 on: January 10, 2021, 06:38:37 pm »

I like the shape of 38ma, jetstream (as well as a good few others) I said above he only did freeflight, forgetting he actually did lots of control line designs too.
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2021, 11:05:43 am »

I found that Ray Malmstrom's book, 60 years of IVCMAC, is available to download, in sections, from here-
 https://ivcmac.bmfa.uk/about-us
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2021, 01:21:17 pm »

Brian is flying!
 After building and painting Brian, cunningly hiding the battery in his head, fitting radio gear and motor, the pushrods and his 'toelerons', I was disappointed that he didn't fly well at all. Since I stripped all the bits off, he has been hanging from my shed roof, gently rotating in the warm air currents from the stove, about 8 feet away from it so he didnt melt! Smiling  all the time.
 He makes me smile too, I just wished I could see him fly. Well, I thought about changing things on him, maybe bigger arms(wings?) with ailerons(armerons?) bigger feet with the ends as one 'toelevator', bigger motor? Changing his proportions would ruin him I think, enlarging him would probably work, but I am onto a new project, so a bigger Brian is a future possibility.
 I came up with a way of getting him flying, pretty obvious really as I have built and flown several different models using the same method. I do regard it as a bit of a cheat, but it does get the models in the air and flying about, and very cheaply at that, my 3 foot long Jetranger cost me about £25 maximum for the entire model, radio, battery and charger included!
 Sea Knight and Giant Wasp were also around the same price, give or take a sheet of balsa or 2.
Yip, Brian got a black box fitted, a white depron one painted matt black to be precise, with a Syma X7 quadcopter under it. I had actually made the box ages ago, but never used it, so this was an extremely quick fix, 2 blobs of hotglue to hold Brian on top of the box, before the matt black paint went on, 10 minutes for paint to dry and Brian is flyin'.......
Yeehah, not quite as I expected but he flies now. With the all black quadcopter under him, it is actually harder to spot the quadcopter than any of my other quad-bodies that have the rotors up high, this is aided by the fact Brian is brightly painted. I spent a while hovering him round the shed, with a big smile on my face, he looks good, but will look even better with some forward speed.
 To make him look as if he is actually flying rather than just hovering around will be the challenge, but I have had a bit of practice with quadcopters now. Lol.
 Cheating? Maybe.....but fun, yes. Doing this has turned the slight disappointment of him not flying well into a big smile when I fly him, I liked building him, so wasnt too big of a deal, just glad he didnt sustain any damage or a big muddy nose from his 'true' flying attempts.
 Before I decided on quad mounting him, I had though of releasing him from a plane. I think I am going do a lighter version instead for this purpose with 3mm body instead of 6mm,  the 3mm side cheeks on his face for battery covering wouldnt be required, this would also save a good bit of weight too.
 Maybe a Red Devil colour scheme this time?  Even just for hanging up, its worth the small amount of effort involved.
Video here-
https://youtu.be/ooxUjpAzBj0
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SteamboatPhil

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #18 on: January 13, 2021, 08:30:52 pm »

 {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) We love Flying Brian, it looked great, and seems a bit lively.......congratulations you got him airborne.. :-)) :-)) :-))
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Andy M

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Re: Flying Brian
« Reply #19 on: January 13, 2021, 09:16:34 pm »

Thanks. Not exactly as I had envisioned him flying, but good enough for now, he may spur me on to try a bigger, 'proper flying' one, might get my (very) old laptop fired up and scale him up. I have nearly finished my current project anyway.

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