Mr. Saturday Night Special

[hillbillynamedpossum]

Ive got my Gooney Bird all ready to maiden, and wouldnt you know it, the wind is roaring! So what to do, what to do....I got it, I'll build another foamy!

This is about the 4th generation of this plane and it flies like a turpentined cat.

So here we go...A build thread for my "Mister Saturday Night Special"

[hillbillynamedpossum]

I figure to start at the start. The wings, and tailfeathers are FFF from the lumber yard. The rough dimensions are written on the foam for all to see. Theres nothing special about how I did any thing here...just hack and whittle with a scalpel. The hindge edges are sanded at a 45 degree chamfer and taped on both sides.

[hillbillynamedpossum]

I might get a double post....Wattflyer is goofing up on me....but here goes nothin...

The stick is from some spruce I found ans sawed out into some 3/8" sticks. The "important" dim is the 14" mark.

The last three shots are me cleaning the belt on my stationary belt sander. The belts are pretty pricey, but if kept clean they will last a long time.

I just "sand" off some of the boot and as soon as the rubber hits the belt the sanding dust thats trapped in the belt gets pulled right out...slick as a button!


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[hillbillynamedpossum]

The "cockpit" is just a piece of pink foam whittled down to size. I made the "dado plane" a while back after seeing one on TV and thought it was worth taking a pic of. The notches are to keep the sandpaper from "loading up". That is, the notches give the dust some place to go.


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[hillbillynamedpossum]

The thing thats really Different about my flat foamies is the way I give the wing stiffness. I suppose a man could put a piece of carbon fiber in the wing, but I dont have any, cant afford any, and dont want to.

What I do have is 24" aluminum roof flashing. You will notice that it has a "grain" too it. If you try to bend it with the grain, it will get brittle and crack. If you try to bend it with a regular brake it will crack. So I use a 24" hand turner from Malco. http://malcoproducts.com/product/hva...ngth-and-depth

There is a 3/8" side and a 1" side. Stick the aluminum into the 1" side and score with a knife. Put the scored side down and fold the aluminum strait back up. Work it back and forth a few times and it will break off very clean at the score line.

Now stick the 1" piece of aluminum into the 3/8" side of the hand turners and bend the first 90 degree bend. Flip the piece of aluminum around and bend the other 90. You really have to push down real hard to get a good bend, but it is do-able.

By now you have a nice looking U channel that with a little squeezing will slide right over the leading edge of the wing. Put a strip of packing tape on either side of the wing - long ways - to hold the L/E on......Zip Pow....you now have a strong foam wing that weighs beans and cost about a quarter.


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[hillbillynamedpossum]

The going togather is pretty fast, Just get out the hot glue gun and go for it!

You cant see it, but on my bench there is a line marked square to the end. It sure makes it fast to square up everything. I then eyeball the V-stab next to a Swanson speed square.

One thing to note....the "groove" where the hindge is goes up. I do this so there is a little tension on the control rod instead of a little bit of compression.

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[hillbillynamedpossum]

I just hate to waste money buying something that I can make in just a few seconds. In that spirit heres how I build control horns.

The material is a plastic lid from one of them storage boxes people buy when they have already bought too much crap. I think I grabbed this one off the side of the road. It probably flew out of the back of a truck when someone was moving to a bigger house....so they would have more room for their crap of course!

The way I do the horns is pretty simple. The only thing worth saying is to get the blanks for the aileron horns cut out and then start sanding them both at the same time, one on top of another. The friction from the belt sander gently welds the two pieces togather and presto...perfectly symetrical horns! I drill my 1/16" holes for the control rods first then split the two horns apart and clean off the "fuzz" with a knife.

The horns are attached with a generous aboutnt of hot glue. If you think that you have used too much, put more on! This plane is meant to be crashed a bunch, doggone-it.

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[hillbillynamedpossum]

OK...nothing new here. The battery is mounted per post 24 of http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58661 The servo pockets are cut with a dremmel tool and a roto zip bit. The servos are just plain jane 9 gram servos from Heads up.

The control rods are marker flag. I got a bundle of 50 at the feet store for about $8, but a man can get them from the "Dig-Rite" guy if you can track him down.

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[mclarkson]

:thumbsup:

[hillbillynamedpossum]

There you have it, Its all about done.

The center of gravity is about 1 3/4" from the leading edge. The stick is a little long, so put a pack in the cradle, and stick the motor, radio, and esc on the front and check the C/G. Cut off about 1/2" of the stick at a time till the stick is the right length to make the C/G work. No big deal...


This plane has incredible throws, and is a real blast to fly. The best part is, it doesnt cost a bundle to get up in the air.......Another good part, It took me longer to type out this build thread than it did to build the actual plane.

Heres the guts that I use on this plane
http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...lectric/Detail

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...-9-x-6E/Detail

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...unt-for/Detail

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...r-3.0mm/Detail

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...ushless/Detail

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...C-POWER/Detail

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...sh---9g/Detail

Please note that Jeff at heads up didnt give me any sponsorship....but I shure wish he would!

The all up weight is about 8.8 oz with a 2S1P 1000 mAh pack. A 3S1P pack really REALLY makes this sled get with it....but Im down to my last 3 cell pack, and its a lot of fun with a 2 cell....so thats what I use. If you do go with a 3 cell pack, you better double check your amp draw with the big ol prop that I use on this one!

If the wind lays down just a little, Ill post a maiden vid after while.


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[offtom]

Goodness!

Another plane??

Looks like a fun one.

[hillbillynamedpossum]

I wish some one would trade me a decent used video camera for a handful of these foamies...these cell phone vids are really bad! At least they are funny. I clipped my wife in the shins in the second one. Dont worry, both she and the plane are OK. My hind end is a little sore though! In my defense, the wind was blowing around 10 mph and gusting around 20. I aint got sense enough to not try to fly a 9 oz foamy in wind like that!

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Mr Sarurday Night Special

12042010_001.3gp