NEW Airfoilz Bearcat build - Sweet!

[Nutty_gnome]

I’m dedicating this thread to my experience building the new Airfoilz full-fuse bearcat combat plane. Please feel free to chime in with constructive comments.

The plane is listed in the 3dxhobbies.com catalog at http://www.3dxhobbies.com/Airfoilz_Bearcat_32_Kit_Full_fuse_p/arflzbearcat.htm (http://www.3dxhobbies.com/Airfoilz_Bearcat_32_Kit_Full_fuse_p/arflzbearcat.htm)

The promotional text for the plane is as follows:

“Airfoilz took it to a whole other level of combat performance. Using the trade mark Airfoilz wing, with a full fuse hybrid construction, this combat plane will leave the others in the dust! Imagine full throttle banking turns, dives and out of sight vertical climbs. With a super stiff wing and fuse this will become your next go to plane, whether the wind is blowing or not you will have FUN!!”

Features-

Wingspan: 32"
Length: 26"
Weight: 11-13 oz
Wing Area: 210 sq in
Wing Loading: 7.5 - 8.9 oz/sq ft
Recommended Power: Scorpion 2212-22

In addition to just a traditional kit, 3dxhobbies.com offers an all-in-one package with electronics should you elect to go that route.

And here’s a picture from the catalog:

[Nutty_gnome]

Before I begin, I’ll provide a bit of history: I first saw the original Airfoilz combat planes at the WRAM show in New York in 2006 ( ??it seems so long ago!) down in the basement of the show center. At the time, the plane was strictly a profile version as seen in the posts here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=473230 and looked very sharp. I had a chance to hold the prototype zero and it was astonishingly light and very rigid. The original profile versions were appeared to have the same type of construction as the Airfoilz Yak which has become so popular recently. The small warbird was an interesting departure from the extrordinary 3D planes Airfoilz had put out and I thought it was a great idea.


Anyway, I saw it and I really liked the simplicity and elegance of the concept. While profile foamys were nothing new at the time, this one had an airfoil and it was the right weight and size for my own needs. I just had to have one. After the WRAM show, I contacted airfoilz repeatedly about their availability and my interest. In the end, it was all moot as the profile version was not commercialized.

Instead, Airfoilz took it one step further and developed a full-fuse version with the same wingspan. I was elated that they had renovated the combat foamy project and as soon as I heard about it I contacted Airfoilz about the availability for this model and to express my interest.

I asked to be a beta tester and was lucky enough to be selected. I received my kit a while ago and it is still in the construction phase due mostly to my own inability to make time for this little gem. My wife and I are expecting our second child at any time now and that has been eating into my time :).

Anyway, back to the plane.

It really is a neat design: The full fuse version is lightweight, has a strong internal wooden crutch that supports the foam skins and the internal electronics. I’ll state up front and the design team did an excellent job creating the laser cut parts; they fall into place and lock like a jigsaw puzzle. The supplied hardware is pretty good too; most veterans of electric flight will have the few parts needed to finish the plane (mostly velcro and connectors with quick links).

This plane is NOT meant for the novice flyer. One doesn't need to be an expert, but this is not a primary trainer.

But anyway, let me share with you some of the pictures of the build so far.
Photos and comments next.
N_G

[Nutty_gnome]

A few weeks ago, the mail guy came to the office looking worried. He had found a box for me stuffed in his truck. The box had some dents (due to the efforts of the USPS system I’m sure), but the parts inside appeared to be unscathed.

Anyway, the way that mail guy rushed in and then out again after a quick apology, I thought all was lost.

The kit itself is contained within a thick plastic sleeve heat sealed at both ends. I’m sure the Airfoilz team had quite a learning curve to climb when they starting to ship foam-based airframes. But they’ve managed to get it right. All the parts were safe and secure.

Here are some pictures of the majority of the kit. Some small parts items didn’t get photographed.

[Nutty_gnome]

The kit is pretty simple. Basic construction is as follows:
Assemble the crutch (there is only one way to do it, so that’s a piece of cake).
Add doublers to the fuselage skins.
Glue the rudder to the crutch
Glue the crutch to the skins
Add the elevator servo mount
Add the top and bottom skins
Sand lightly to get a nice rounded shape
Add wing spar and join wings
Add wings to fuse
Add horizontal stab
Add flying surfaces and hinge.
Add electronics.

The first 7 of the 12 steps I’ve listed took about and hour. An hour and 15 mins if you account for the time needed to pop out and arrange the parts from the laser cut sheets. I think this could be completed in a one-day building session, or over the course of 2 to 3 nights depending upon ability. It is not a ‘winter-long project.’ Its easy and fun.

The manual is excellent and authoritative with computer-drawn exploded parts figures and color assembly pictures. Color pictures really help when trying to decide if the part needed is ply or foam. Black and white photos sometimes don’t show that kind of detail, so the color photos were helpful.

Here are some pictures of the crutch trial fitted to the fuselage skins. I hadn’t added the rudder yet.

[Nutty_gnome]

The rudder assembly fit the crutch with no modification and it looks to be nicely aligned. It really is neat to see mutliple parts cometogether into a single unit with no fiddling or futzing. I like that kind of simplicity!

[Nutty_gnome]

The manual is quite clear about the 2 stage process needed to glue the crutch to the fuse sides. Basically, the front half of the fuse is straight, and the rear half tapers to a point at the far end of the rudder. So, you don't want to just glue one sie all at once or that might cause alignement issues. You want to glue the flat front half, then mold the rear half to fir the tapered crutch. It was actually faster to do it in real time that it took to type this. Its not a chore, its just something that needs to be done. Again, its clearly described in the manual.

Once the fuse sides are glued to the crutch, bend the foam together to creat the top of the fuse. As the manual state, its helpful to use painters (low-tack) masking tape to secure the parts as you glue them together. I had do trouble removing the tape and keeping the depron looking smooth.

The top rear of the fue is now shaped and its a pretty one. A little sanding will go a long way to smooth it out and make it look seamless.

[Nutty_gnome]

I then installed the foam servo mount as indicated in the manual. That was simple. Then I installed the foam canopy. top-hatch, and nose covers. That was really easy. The airfoilz guys have got the laser-cut measurements down so well that you don't have to trim or releive any of the foam to get a nice tight fit.

Its starting to look like something now. I even mocked up the wings and set them in place to get an idea of how the final would look. Check it out!

[Nutty_gnome]

So I have some sanding to do as you can see from the photos. But sandpaper works depron like a hot knife through butter, so it won't take long.

While I'm doing that, you can hop over to rcgroups.com here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=730971 read another build thread on the new Airfoilz bearcat.

There is also one at rcuniverse.com here: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6293179/anchors_6293179/mpage_1/key_airfoilz%252Cbearcat/anchor/tm.htm#6293179

I'll post more as I get it all wrapped up. N_G

[BuzzardBait]

What does the manual say about painting this bird???

I'm probably.. no.. i'm going to get it.. and wondered what they say to use or if they suggest covering it.

Sorry if it sound like a stupid question.. but, i'm new to the foamy world, I bought a couple of "fun force" planes off ebay a while ago, and, I'm hooked. They came pre/covered (if you want to call it that) and pre painted.

The only other planes I've owned that had foam parts were stinkies with foam wings that i covered in econo.

[Nutty_gnome]

The manual suggests several light coats of Krylon H2O spray paint. That is what they used to paint the models shown in the catalog. You use low-tack painter's tape to mask off what you don't want painted and then spray. Seems simple enough. Some have kept the white color and just cut some racing-style decals. Either way, they look good. N_G

[Nutty_gnome]

Hey all, pending the arrival of hte newest child, things have slowed down in the workshop. Today is my wife's due date and for the last two weeks, all energy has been focused on her wellbeing and taking care of the 2 year old rug-rat.

I'll likley have more to say about the bearcat over the weekend. N_G

[Vintauri]

I'm hoping N-G does not mind me jumping in here too. I was going to start a thread here for my beta kit but life keeps getting in the way.

Anyway I recived my kit in great shape with no damage to the box at all. The parts were in perfect condition. I took a couple quick pics and got to work seperating the few parts from the foam. The fuse does go together fast and they provide some nice alignment tabs to make sure the doublers get glued in place to allow the proper spacing for the top and bottom. The manual is very straight forward and clear on all the steps.

I am using Thin CA for the plywood and Zap foam safe CA for any foam joints. A bit of CA kicker is needed to get it to set and don't go overboard or you'll heat it up too much. Just a fine misting on one part and a bead of glue on the other part will do just fine. UHU Por would also work well for the laminating of the foam sides but real CA is needed for the Ply inner structure.

Do make sure to check each part fit before getting too excited with the glue. A simple sanding down of a tab from the lasr cut can make a slopy joint into a firm joint. I found I only needed to sand a few spots down where the laser had left a tab though. The parts fit really well with minimal prep.

One tip I have on the fuse is with the nose. The manual has you scoring the small foam strips to round out the nose as it wraps up from the bottom and down from the top. This works just fine but I like to have the piece formed more to hold itself in place. So I took the piece of foam and fit it on the fuse to find the place that needed to curve down or up the nose. I marked this and the put it gently into a vise. The with my heat gun I warmed up the foam and rounded it down to the approximate curve of the fuse. Be careful to not over heat the foam or it will melt. You just want to soften the foam. Once it cools off in about 10-15 sec it was back to being stiff but had the curve in it. It fit very well and gluing was much easier.

The wing was very stright forward for anyone used to building an Airfoilz wing. The spar is built up from 4 pieces of 1/8 balsa. Just make sure to get the angles correct when gluing. This is all done with CA. I uses med CA to laminate the pieces then thin CA to geve them some rigidity. I set the spar aside and went about sanding the inner wing joint. You need to find something to prop up one wing panel at the tip by 1-1/8". I just happened to have a small box that was that height. Then you need to place the wing up against the edge of your workbench and sand the upper panel till they are flush with the edge of the workbench. This should allow you to get the proper dihedral in the wing and have both the upper and lower wing panels meet in the middle.

One work of caution. Take care to make sure you put this panel on the right side of the spar. If you glue it on the wrong side of the spar you'll end up with a gap on the bottom of the wing. So mark it accordingly so you remember. A piece of painters tape would work well for this.

Once your ready with the spar and wing half you can glue it in. You'll need to have marked the location on the wing for the spar per the instruction manual. Then get your favorite epoxy or PU glue ready and spread it on both top and bottom of the spar. I used Elmers Ultimate PU glue. I like it because it's cheaper then Gorilla glue but acts the same giving you some foaming action to fill in and foam up around the edges of the spar to give more holding power. Yet it is super lightweight. However you do need to let it sit for a few hours to really set up. So I glued one wing half before bed and the other in the morning before work. By time I got home I was ready to move on. I also used PU glue to glue the wing panels together in the middle as it also foams up on both sides to give a little extra holding power with little weight gain.

I'm now going to get the servo rails in the fuse so I can finish the bottom sheeting of the fuse and then will be able to move on to joining the wing to the fuse and installing the aileron servos.

Pics are attached to show some of my building steps.

Steve

[3dfoamworks]

Here is our clip wing version.

[Nutty_gnome]

So I've moved forward of the bearcat. Still no baby, so we are going out of our minds waiting. Anyway, I sanded the bearcat down to shape and mounted the wings and tailfeathers. I found that PU glue (gorilla glue) worked really well to assemble the wings. If you use PU to join the wing halves, be sure to cover the seam with tape while it dries so that it doesn't foam up too much. Its hard to sand the PU wonce its foamed. I used the PU and tape and had no trouble.

The elevator is easy to eyeball into position because it is keyed to fit the fuse.

I'll post more pics once the radio goes in. Some of that will happen this evening.

N_G

[BobbyDog]

I really wish you guys at 3DX Hobbies would quit pretending your a consumer with these build threads. Its an insult to everyones intelligence. Why dont you just use your real name and not some made up one? I can understand that your trying to sell planes, and you figure that your going to gain some sort of credibility by pretending that your some happy customer. But the fact is that if your plane is truly great then the buzz will start itself...

That being said, its a great looking plane and if it wasnt $85 Cdn then I would probably buy one. Instead I'll download some plans and build my own for about 20 bucks.

Bob

[Vintauri]

Whoa where is basis for that? NG and myself were chosen as Beta builders after a call was put out on the Airfoilz forums calling for interested people that wanted to build one and give our input.

There are differences between the Airfoliz style planes and other flat plate planes. I had a buddy try to make his own and it was good but still not the same.

Anyway I just flew mine today and after some CG adjustment and control throw adjustments it flew great. My buddy was unable to meet me for the flight due to his kids but I will get video asap. It is very manuverable and the rolls are very axial. This plane would be great for combat as it was intended or even pylon racing. I have a decent motor but not a real performer. I can see if you had a hotter wind that you could really rip up a pylon course.

I'll post some more pics after I get some lunch.

Steve

[BobbyDog]

Sorry Steve I just get tired of forums being abused by advertisers. They are supposed to be a place where people can share their experiences and learn from each other. There was nothing in Nutty's posts that were balanced. It was just an ad, period. Mr. Nutty has no other posts or threads other than this one, which tells me and everyone else that he is just here to try and push this product. If 3D Foamworks would just say from the start that this was an advertisement then I could live with that. This is not the first time they have done this either.

I have two Airfoilz planes, the Yak and the Edge. They are awesome planes and I love flying them. The nice thing about them is they are a little heavier so they can handle a little wind. I also fly planes I built myself from scratch using free plans from 3D Foamy etc and they are JUST as much fun, and like I said, only 20 bucks. That being said, how many Airfoilz planes have placed in the top 10 in ETOC?

Dont get me wrong, by all means buy a foamy from Airfoilz, they are good performing airplanes. But I'd like to see 3D Foamworks keep the advertising in the magazines. Maybe its just me. :)

Bob

[Vintauri]

Well if they were only in the magazines I'd never know about them. I first heared about Airfoilz on the forums from another build thread similar to this one. I guess I'd rather see a build thread then just blatent posts by a manufacturer just pushing a product. There are many that will start a thread or jump in on other threads to hype a product that is not even in developemnt yet. That is what really pisses me off. Build threads are a pretty common way for most smaller manufacturers to get word out about thier product. They send out a few samples to people and ask them to post a build thread and flight report. The only thing we get out of the deal is a free plane and we still had to provide all the other gear such as motors servos and whatnot. I enjoy it but at the same time there is the pressure to get it done and out there in a timly manner.

As far as being one sided I have not completed all my thoughts on the plane both build and flying and once I have a chance to run any concerns past other beta builders and Paul at Airfoilz I'll write them up here. But so far it's nothing major and my initial feelings on the plane are that it flies really well just like my other Airfoilz planes.

I understand your feelings about this being advertising but it's not something new and it's something that others also do. Does that make it right? Well I guess that depends on how it's handled. I prefer this way where the average joe like me gets a chance to look at it and build it rather then a few hand selected reviewers like you see on RCgroups. I like seeing manufacturers be active on these boards. You can get real feedback from them and often give input on new products. Besides many of these smaller companies like Airfoilz are formed from hobbiests like you and me and as long as they keep the tone in good balance to help us and them I say more power to it. I'd rather see them have money to develop more products and keep prices down then spend half thier revenue on a small ad in all the magazines they can afford.

Again I understand your point of view on this as I have seen some manufacuters step way over the line on using threads as free advertising with no real meat. I hope this build thread and others like it can be more of a balance of good info with a side benefit for the company in some word of mouth advertising. (even if it was somewhat funded by them) :)

Steve

[BobbyDog]

Well said. I just sat here and tried to figure out exactly what it was about this thread that motivated me to rip into Nutty. I think its because I get a sense of someone trying to pull the wool over our eyes that bugs me. Pretending to be an honest buying customer etc.. I've always been the type to stick up for the underdogs, its gotten me into alot of fights in my life and I dont think I'm going to change anytime soon. I do see your point and can certainly understand why they do it. Lets leave it at that, and I'll try to be more diplomatic about it next time. :) Peace.

Bob

[Vintauri]

I understand. It did not help that I was supposed to start the thread but life got in the way so Nutty joined up and started it. I just jumped in as I got caught up.

I'm attaching a few pics of the Bearcat with my Yak to show the size. It is smaller then the Yak and Edge but still flies well. The wind was up today so no flying and video. I'll watch the weather and my time this week and hopefully the stars align and I can get some video of it in action.

Steve

[3dfoamworks]

Looks great guys! We are trying out a new High KVA motor should make the bearcat fly 60+ mph. Will see.

[Vintauri]

Wow 60+ Mph on this small plane! I'll have to dial in more expo! :Q

Weather is not looking great this week except on Wed when I'm busy with youth at church. We'll see. I do want to get some video of it in action.

I do think I can go from my 8x6 to an 8x8 on my current motor and still be fine.

Steve

[Nutty_gnome]

Hey all. Life is getting back to normal. The best part is that we now have our baby home safe from the hospital and things are looking good! I'll post a pic from my other computer in a moment, but baby Juliette is doing well and so is mom. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball.

Vintauri, thanks for the kind words. As vintauri said, and as I cleary stated in the first few posts, I'm not affiliated with Airfoilz. I happened to meet them at wram and was impressed by their older profile bearcat. So I kept tabs on them and waited for a chance to get involved. Anyone interested could have done it as well. I have nothing to apologize for, and if some people don't like my enthusiastic writing style, then they can click the 'next' button and move on with their lives.

As far as being balanced... well I don't normally post on wattflyer for the simple reason that I got involved with RCgroups.com instead. I was asked to post pics and comments in a forum and wattflyer didn't have a thread yet, so I put one here. You can look up my name nutty_gnome on either rcgroups.com or rcuniverse and see that I use the same name througout and frankly thats the way I like it. You can also see that I'm not a company shill and have a wide range of modeling interests.

As for being an honest buying customer, my money is as good at airfoilz as it is everywhere else.

Now, During several sleepless nights after the delivery, I had a chance to finish up and get the bearcat ready to go.

I painted it with Krylon H20 carribean blue, the closest thing to navy blue they have in the H20 line. I cut and added all of the decals, most of which have to be hand crafted from scratch. But there is a sense of satisfaction in doing that.

I used a DIY komodo single stator motor (what is now their medium sized motor) and 3cell 1000 to 1350 sized battery packs good to 12 to 13 amps. I used a Phoenix 10 ESC and 3 HS-55s and a corona 8 channel micro receiver. All up with paint, decals, etc., the bird weighed in at 12.5 to 13 ounces and balanced on the spar with the addition of a quarter under the nose.

Technically, this system is underpowered with regard to the equipment called for in the manua; (and the reason I needed the quarter to balance). I think they are looking for 150 watts to the prop with the specified equipment. My equipment is lucky to get 110 to the prop. So I'm definetley on the slow side. However, I wound the komodo to spin a 7x5 apc at around 10-11 amps static and that should keep all the components happy with adequate thrust and speed. The motor I am using is only a 100watt motor, and the esc is limited to 10 amps. However, I've flown this set up on other small, speed ships and it works pretty well. The bonus was that I had all this on hand and didn't need to buy it.

I flew the bearcat last Saturday at the clubs annual electric fly-in. Someone there even noticed that the plane was one of the beta builds of the bearcat. So I guess I'm famous somewhere. Anyway, the plane flew beautifully. It is rock solid, would not snap out of loops at full throttle with the suggested throws and grooved very very well. Landings could be slowed down in a gentle breeze to a walking pace with decent control all the way to the ground. The full fuse look made it easy to orient in the air and frankly, its a sharp looking plane when compared to the foam spits and mustangs people were flying.

My speed was not superb, but the bearcat definately can move out. I will be finding a way to cram more watts into the plane soon altough I don't know how to use what I've got laying around without adding extra weight. I'm sure that the specified equipment would make this thing a rocket.

Rolls were very quick... very very quick.

It was rainy and overcast that moring, so I didn't get video, but I will tomorrow.

Next, a pic of my new baby and then I'll go get some of the bearcat.

[Nutty_gnome]

New baby first....

She is a treasure!

[Nutty_gnome]

The paint really was easy to do. I got a few little fizzy spots, but overall, I'm happy with the way the krylon worked. For the price, you can't beat it.

Here are some shots of my completed Bearcat. I'll also show detail of the control set up next.

[Nutty_gnome]

For the airlerons, I used the wire and method suggested by Airfoilz and it works very well.

For the elevator, I had to rig my own set-up. The early kit I received didn't have the required control horn. So I used a regular 1/2-A style horn with two screws and a retaining plate. It isn't going anywhere. I also used a composit of carbon fiber rod and the suggested wire held together with shrink wrap and thin CA as is done on some other small foamies. The result is rigid and works very well.

[Nutty_gnome]

Pics of the underside... the white cut-outs in the photos are where I have my AMA mandated information label. you guys don't need that info.:)

[Nutty_gnome]

I'm really pleased with the way it flies. Its a solid airplane that has excellent control authority and it looks great on a low fly-by. I'm sure that combat oriented folks will find this entertaining. Its nimble, quick, and easily repaired with foam safe CA and tape. i'll be back with video next time. N_G

[JFV]

Nice job. We're playing with some motor and battery options and will be testing with a A20-20L soon. Flew mine in 20+ MPH winds today with a Hacker A 20-26M and a 1700 battey pack. It loved the extra weight in the wind.

[JFV]

Flew the original Bearcat prototype today with a Scorpion 2215-18 and a 8x7.5 prop (9x7.5 SF cut down) Pulled 230 watts static. Flew like a champ.

[Nutty_gnome]

What weight did you fly 200+ watt combo at?

I had a blast flying the bearcat today. I got some video of the flight but its not very good. The camera kept losing focus on the blue plane against the sky which was nearly the same shade of blue. My videotaper had to keep my head in the shot to keep some sort of focus. I'll convert it at wrk and post it when I can. The video guy kept saying slower, lower and closer which was frustrating to me.

[JFV]

Weight was about 14.5 oz. Based on my experience with the plane, I'm thinking 15.5 oz would not be a problem. My next experiment is going to be with the helicopter motor as soon as I can figure out how to mount it.

[Vintauri]

Okay so we got out flying but only after driving all around town to find an open spot. I wish the sun stayed up longer and I could have made it to the flying field. But we did just fine. Just the space I was flying in was a soccer field with tall trees on the end where my buddy was with the camera. So no speedy fly bys.

The Bearcat flew great again and my sweet spot for balance is 2 3/4 inch back from the leading edge at the root of the wing. My AUW with the Vislero 1300 is 14 3/4 oz.

I did have a problem this time though. As I was flying my hatch popped up a bit so I was going to land and resecure it. When I landed one of the servos had pulled out of the foam from catching on a thick clump of grass. Easy fix but I had not glue with me.

I was bummed as it ended the bearcat flying for the day and I only got a couple min of flying in on video. But we'll get it out again soon once the weather permits.

Here is the link to my video.

http://www.vintauri.com/planes/videos/Bearcat.wmv

Steve