Das foam canard stick build
 

Back in the late 70's all the rage was the das ugly stick desighn .A company came out with a das canard stick and a friend of mine built one with a 40 nitro motor ,it had a 60 inch wing span and flew great . It was very hard to stall and when it did the nose would just drop till it pick up speed again or it would just mush along and not drop at all. It also had a very fast roll rate and went where you pointed it. With the elev in the front it took getting use to flying it because its not like looking at a normal plane flying around. It took me about 7 years to find a print but then i had no way to make it a little smaller for a e- conversion so i hit the view button on my computer till i got it to a 30inch somthing size wing and i measured it right on my computer screen till i got a rough sketch and the airfoil also. Here is where iam at so far ,the wing measured out to be 38 inches and the elev was 14 inches . I shoud have made the rear of the fuse a little longer to clear my ail but it has worked out fairly well by making my ail wider but shorter in length so my prop don't eat them.lol Iam running reg props but going to reverse the way the motor swings one and turn the prop backwards. This is a test plane and i plan on building a bigger one if this one flys well. Here is what the 60 inch wing span one looks like and my foam one iam still working on. :D BTW i used dollar tree foam for most of it but did not trust it for the elev or the rudders so i used 3/16 balsa . Yes i could have used some carbon fiber in a foam elev but it needed a little extra weight up front so i could get my battery where i wanted it to end up for the cg and hatch . More comming soon. joe

Joe, Cool bird, and your off to a good start. I've always liked canards.

Watching and learning,

Steve

Thanks Steve ,i like my seaplanes but every once in a while i need to build somthing a little different. I was going to scratch build one for nitro but changed my mind and went this route. If i have some free time and this flys well i will draw up free plans to give out here . The 60 inch wingspan canard stick can be found here under the picture of one for a free download . joe http://www.eurekaaircraft.com/plan_k...nard_stick.htm

Howdy Road King 97, that stick looks great. Well I'll be starting on the rebuild of my stick soon.

Thanks hkeelljr ,i had kids in college when everyone else was buying kits and motors for their sticks so i never owned one but iam making up for lost kits and motors now . I took all measurements off of my computer screen and even taped tracing paper to the top of the screen so i could draw the back of the fuse and airfoil. I have since then been fixed up by friends with proper programs for sizing and now i can tile my plans also. It surprizes me that 4 years ago i could not even turn a computer off and on.lmao :DBTW i learned how to build my full wing airfoils by build the Ultron except i put in two pieces of foam for spars with one balsa main spar traped in between them. You can also use flat carbon fiber strips either just on the foam spar(to keep it real light) and leave the balsa one out or put the strips on the top and bottom of the balsa spar to make it very strong. Here is the Ultron build .http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...ghlight=ultron

Ok ,i got the elev hinged yesterday night and the ail . While i was hinging and roughting wire and stuff i kept on checking where my battery was sitting on the plane to get the cg correct. Iam only putting on hatch on this to get the battery in and out and will sheet over my nose wheel servo and the elev servo also. I went with as much throw on the elv and nose wheel i could get and will program less if i need it or use duel rates . The ail servos are mounted under the wing ,one for each ail so it will be easy to adjust later.I will post some pictures of how the radio looks in her tomorow and start to close it all in. One thing i did notice is the fuse can still swist with only the sides sheeted so i will have to brace the fuse before i add the top or bottom to keep my elev straight to the main wing . I checked the incidence on my elev and its at 2 1/2 % positive and the wing is 0 . It has no diheadral in the wing and the original did not either. :D

Road king that is coming along nicely seems strange to see you working with foam. Got used to your balsa builds I guess.

Never owned a canard yet maybe some day down the road that does look cool.

Between chellie and a couple others who talked me into working with foam i started building with it a year ago . Iam hooked on the stuff now and have built 4 or 5 planes. This is my first scratch build on my own but converting a tide and true plan and sizing it. I am starting another big balsa build soon but its so hard to get away from the foamys now that i have been having so much fun building them and flying them too. How are you floats comming along Gramps ? joe

Hi Joe
Fascinating model - love that foamy take on a 'normal' wing section. There's far too few canards around - good on you for upping the population, so to speak.

Really must follow your path and do something with that pile of foam in a corner of my shop...

$tree foam - do you strip the paper covering off the foam? Plus the big question I can never figure out - what glue(s) do you use for foaming up a model?

D

I leave the paper on to mark and cut out parts (it's easier to mark on the paper) then pick at a corner and just pull the paper off. Easy :)

I pull both sides of my paper off first but i guess you could do it either way. Gorilla glue in small amounts so it does not foam alot . For the wing when i folded it over i used elmers rubber cement ,coated both sides and let dry then folded it over .Warning ! once it sticks its done and you cant pull it apart any longer. joe

Joe I got the new set off floats in Sat. perfect condition. I bought the carbon rod I need for the spreaders that's about it. I am fixing the plane that these are going on. A little dumb action on my part is making the repair work possible.:rolleyes: Soon as the wing and fuselage is ready I will get going on setting the electric stick up on the floats.

I dabbled myself with a foam plane a few times. I should do some more planes with this stuff it is a cheap , and quick way to build.

Sounds great gramps he has some good instructions on his site and some advise on how to set them up on any plane. With these light floats you will not even know it has them on. I bought e-flight fiberglass floats long ago for the e-flight cub i own and the mounting rods were 1/8 inch steel with crome and the floats were heavy . It flew but not very well so its the last time i buy floats from anyone except seaplane supply. joe

Yes I can't believe how light these are. I was out at the LHS this weekend and looked at some float kits he had. Picked up a set that is in kit form he said would fit the stick wgt about 2 lbs with out assembling the floats. Must wgt. close to 2 1/2 lbs maybe more when they are done.
Yes the owner of that site is great shipping me out a new set that USPS chewed up he didn't even charge me a shipping fee for the new set, which I would of paid him if he had asked. Thanks for recomending them.

I would not worry about it he does not have to much money into those floats once he gets all his patterns set up. But he is a good company to deal with and he does make the lightest floats i have ever seen. If i had a company that sold to us rc builders i would have shiped the extra set also, good way to keep customers for life. :D

All right back to work on my canard my boss bought a diamond back swamp buggy with a 500 hp V8 motor and 4 bladed carbon fiber prop but it needed a diamond plated deck on the top plus a cooler for beer sunk into the deck and storage spaces with lids so i have been putting it in for all week with not time to build my stuff.:censor: Once i get his new big toy done he will leave me alone till he breaks something i hope. lol joe

Ok i have sheeted the top of the fuse after hot gluing some wires still by tacking them in place and i cut a round hole for a pilot.If its going to crash on its test flight i want someone to go down in flames with it. I have the bottom to sheet and put some kind of color on it so i can see it better. I ran up the 1800 kv motor and 8x4 prop to see how much power it has and it feels like it will have enough for unlimited vertical . The hole in front of my pilot is the battery hatch and i will put in a small windshield in front and head rest behind him but no roll bar is needed .lol MORE TO COME ! joe

Hey Joe looks like you got the perfect fearless looking test pilot. He doesn't look like he's got nothing else to lose except maybe his head.:Q

I found about 40 of those at a garage sale and i bought them all for my foamy pilots. lol Iam not much for small fuzzy teddy bears. :D joe

Well its finished up enough to fly ,this one is a test bed for a bigger one soon after so i did get the pilot and his head rest plus a wind screen but i did not want to get carried away before i new it flys. lol Iam going tomorow but will get pictures BEFORE i test fly it. dont ask why i do that.:eek: I have to do some taxi runs tomorow to trim my nose wheel out but then its full throttle to see how she goes. I will post pictures of it before and after witch ever way it goes. joe

Good thing, you wouldn't want him to loose an eye:concern:......oh wait....nevermind.:oops:

Ha Ha his eyes was the least of his problems today . I got the nose wheel running straight and finaly said what the heck and gave it full throttle and it rolled out for 30 ft and lifted off nice. I flew it but it was still windy and it felt a little tail heavy so i come back in. I used a little heavyer battery in her and again it flew fine but the two other rc flyers there noticed smoke comming from the rear of my plane so i landed it again and the motor was all black inside and hot . I will need a bigger motor or a smaller prop so i have a 2200 kv motor from my old polaris iam going to throw in it and try that . I might try getting some air to the motor with tubes or sme scoops by the rear but i will post my choice soon.Here it was just before a test flight ,i put some fast collor on it so i could see it flying. joe

Joe
that is one cute and cool little foamie! Shame about the smoke trail - you should really leave that sort of thing up to the slimers ;)

Have to get down to your end of the world to get me some hi-res shots of this puppy.

Good luck with the new motor.

Dereck

I got the motor fixed (to small )and put a bigger one in with some scoops for air and holes to get air to my motor .The roll rate was a little slow but i still have 3 more holes in the control horn to lspeed it up some. Today it flew like it was on rails and slowed for landings very well. Now for a 42 inch wingspan one and blueprints i will draw to give out free here. The last two pictures was me comming in over a curb but because iam not use to a canard plane iam comming in fast because i was worried about the canard stalling. After goofing around i found out it will slow down realy well and i just need to let it settle in on its own slower. I would flare but the darn thing would pitch up flying more .lol joe

Congratulations!