This is going to be my first laminated EPP wing. I've had a few teksumos before and a swift, but never laminated anything.
Anyway, the Falcon EVO arrived today and I thought it best to make a start.
http://www.flyingwings.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=57_76&product_id=424 (http://www.flyingwings.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=57_76&product_id=424)
As the build progresses, I will update this first post with new pictures so eventually the entire build will be documented visually within this first post, but additional information will remain in future posts.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2003.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2004.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2005.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2006.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2007.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2008.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2009.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2010.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2011.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2012.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2013.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2014.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2015.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2016.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2017.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2018.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2019.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2020.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2021.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2022.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2023.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2024.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2025.jpg)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2026.jpg)
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMIU1f3CoOQ#)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2027.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2028.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2029.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2030.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2031.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2032.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2033.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2034.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2035.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2036.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2037.JPG)
(http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2038.JPG)
Looks great, I'm sure I'll have to get one on the next big crash of my original Falcon... although it's survivability is staggering.
Quote from: BlueFlyer on April 17, 2015, 06:37:24 PM
Quote from: CurryKitten on April 17, 2015, 06:35:04 PM
Looks great
Thanks, but early stages yet... lets reserve judgement for when I've finished it lol :)
Sorry - I meant just the kit... yes, will await to see if you balls it up :D
very possible ;)
After splitting my cap in half on a rugby post *again* yesterday I'm seriously tempted by one of these! It breaks so cleanly and is so easy to repair I can't get rid of it yet though.
Are you sure you were meant to glue the little curved slats that meet the wing edge on the side of the fuselage? I thought those were meant to be glued at the same time as the wing halves go on as they are a guide only.
I could be wrong though on the Falcon, I think that's the way on the Venturi.
nope, I'm following the manual by the letter...
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/manual.JPG)
The balsa really soaks in the paint, they were bone dry in no time. The main work on the centre section is done. I'm leaving the glue to dry overnight
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2007.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2008.jpg)
This is probably not necessary in the slightest, but I felt the need to bolster the corners with some hot glue.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2009.jpg)
Time to make a start on the wings. First job, installing the servos. Laid out the template supplied with the kit and used it for a rough guide as to where to cut for my servos
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2010.jpg)
As symmetrical as it can be, no massive issues if they're a few mm out.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2011.jpg)
My servos are a bit bigger than the shape on the template, but the important thing is that the holes will be in the right place, and I can simply trace around my servo to get the right shape.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2012.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2013.jpg)
I used a sharp blade to cut into the foam, making a "lattice" of cuts to easily pluck out the shape nice and neatly.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2014.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2015.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2016.jpg)
Time for some paint. This is the underside. The top will be left plain and vinyls applied on top of the laminate. You can also see by the marks left behind that I've spray painted the elevons too.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2017.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2018.jpg)
Now for the front end camera mounting solutions. I've opted to have my GoPro 3 on board which will go in the blanked area to the left of the picture. The camera already glued in is one of these www.surveilzone.com/DC5V-plastic-case-mini-sony-super-had-ccd-600tvl-super-camera-2.8mm-lens-for-fpv (http://www.surveilzone.com/DC5V-plastic-case-mini-sony-super-had-ccd-600tvl-super-camera-2.8mm-lens-for-fpv)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2019.jpg)
The FPV camera cable goes under the battery bay and through the foam into the main equipment bay.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2020.jpg)
I've hit a bit of a stall right now... I'm waiting for a few things to arrive before I can continue. I've just ordered the Cyclops Breeze Pro v1.1 OSD from goodluckbuy so that will take a few weeks to arrive no doubt.
I've got a covering iron, ESC and a bunch of LiPos on the way from Hobbyking UK warehouse, they should be here on Tuesday so I'll be laminating the elevons and wings then.
Being the impatient man that I am... I've changed my mind about using vinyl stickers over the laminate for the design. The paint came out so well on the underside that I decided to spray the top as well.
Here it is mocked up with the vtx and ezuhf rx in their bays.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2021.jpg)
I did a test laminate on the scrap that comes in the box, using our household iron. It worked well, but I found the size of the iron a pain to use, and that was just a 3" by 3" square of laminate on a flat bit of EPP. I'm amazed how well the laminate sticks to the EPP so I'm a bit less worried now about laminating the main wings when my hobby iron arrives this week. I'm planning on laminating the centre section too.
Yeah I use the house hold iron, it is a bit bulky!
Looks good Chris :)
Looks awesome! When my bodge job of doing the same thing with the original Falcon dies I'll definitely replace it with one of these!
Paint job is looking great!
Quote from: iwan_canobi on April 19, 2015, 08:42:04 PM
Looks awesome! When my bodge job of doing the same thing with the original Falcon dies I'll definitely replace it with one of these!
Paint job is looking great!
Thanks Iwan, impatience got the better of me yet again... the fuselage/centre section is now black ;)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2022.jpg)
The GoPro 3 fits in nice and snug... in fact I have difficulty getting it back out... so much so that I'm confident enough not to use anything else to keep it in when flying.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2023.jpg)
Looking good!
Cheers Brucey.
I made a bit of a boo boo.... so I put some heavy duty velcro on the back of the hatch, works a charm will not need anything else to hold it in place.... therein lies the issue
the velcro I used is so strong (and the adhesive sticks really well to the EPP which is a strange one on me) that when trying to open the hatch back up, I ripped it.
looks like I will have to laminate the hatch after all, if only to make sure it doesn't rip any further.
Well the covering iron arrived today, I just happened to have a few hours off so thought I'd try my hand at laminating one of the wings... I think I've done rather well considering it's my first time :)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2024.jpg)
Will be doing the second wing and the elevons tonight after work. Then the wings will be glued on and left overnight.
Looks good from here. It still amazes me the strength that laminate adds!
immediately it feels so stiff and rigid, I can't wait to get the other one done later on
Quote from: BlueFlyer on April 22, 2015, 06:52:15 PM
immediately it feels so stiff and rigid, I can't wait to get the other one done later on
We are still talking about your wing, yeah? :P
Sorry couldn't resist!
Quote from: Brucey on April 22, 2015, 10:06:33 PM
Quote from: BlueFlyer on April 22, 2015, 06:52:15 PM
immediately it feels so stiff and rigid, I can't wait to get the other one done later on
We are still talking about your wing, yeah? :P
Sorry couldn't resist!
I could see that coming as I was typing it lol
both wings and elevons are laminated now, servos/horns are installed as well as linkages.
I'm just in the process of gluing the wings on now... waiting for the 10 minutes to let UHU POR do it's thing before I slide on the second wing.
The main airframe construction is complete. All that's left is the flight electronics and FPV gear. OSD is still on the slow boat from China I guess.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2025.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2026.jpg)
Looks smart, nicely done
Very Nice :)
Looking good! Looking forward to seeing some flight footage from it!
Looks great.
It seems to be a pretty simple and quick build. Either that you have put a lot of hours into it in a short period of time and made it look easy.
Any idea on rough build time?
Thanks a lot guys.
I've been able to give it a few hours each night this week. So I'd say around 8-10 hours in total. Thing is, I don't head out to the garage for a 2 hour block... I'll pop out there, quickly do something on it, come back inside, watch telly, eat tea, go back out do something else...and so on.
8-10 hrs isn't too bad!
I'm surprised there's only room in the bay for a 3s 2200 battery though. I think a lot of people would want to get 3-4000 in there. I run a 3300 on mh 37" cap.
When can we hope for some flight footage?
If I had everything I needed, and didn't paint anything, then I could build one of these in a weekend no problem.
The battery bay is plenty big enough for the 2200mah with room to spare. FlyingWings.co.uk say it can also hold a multistar 4000mah 3S.
The thing is billy, this isn't a big platform... it's designed to be light so loading it up with lots of mah will just make it heavier than it needs to be. the AUW of mine is 854g, that's including the 2200mah 3S LiPo in it's bay, the GoPro 3 up front and a 500mah 3S inside to compensate for the lack of OSD at the moment... I'm pretty sure a GPS puck and a basic OSD PCB won't weigh more than this 500mah 3S lipo.
Thing is, it's still a bit tail heavy so I may end up putting some dead weight on the nose, hidden within the foam.
OSD arrived today and was fitted in no time, love how much space there is inside the main bay and that I only needed to cut bays in the wings for the VTX and the EzUHF RX. The Falcon is now ready for it's maiden, shame the weather isn't :(
looks like I'll be able to get a 2nd 2200mah 3S inside the main bay, pushed right up against the front bulkhead (probably velcroed) so I'll have 4000mah 3S and my version of the ECO powertrain, hopefully I should be able to get decent flight times and stay in the air longer than I'm on the ground... after all, that's what it's all about.
Can't believe how long this thing has been finished but I've yet to fly it... well tomorrow is the day when all the planets have aligned just right lol... weather is good, plenty of daylight after work hours, Wife doesn't need the car and I've got the time to play out :)
Thought I'd make a little video showing you how I've set it up just in case the worst happens tomorrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMIU1f3CoOQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMIU1f3CoOQ)
Looks neat, good luck with the maiden!
thanks bud
Looks great. Time to get in the air definitely :)
IMO, I've never seen the point of permanently attaching the winglets, or indeed using anything other than tape. Reason being is that they are always the first thing to suffer hangar rash (I'm totally retarded and I bash things into the walls all the time), so I like them to be easily replaceable. In case there are no for sale signs nearby, flyingwings do sell spares for a fiver or so for a pair, and mine on the Venturi are just sellotaped on so they can be replaced in 30 seconds.
Cheers Sheldon...
I use the rawplug and screw method so I can remove/replace them easily. the bead of hotglue peels away easily when you apply a bit of warmth to the area. The winglets aren't glued onto the surface of the end of the wing, they're only attached with the screws and hotglue beads.
OK, that's a good method. Probably a bit more secure than sellotape too.
Maiden went very well, took me a whole 2200mah 3S to get it trimmed and expo'd up..... weights are all at 50, expo is 45% and it's still a bit twitchy lol
here are some pictures from today, courtesy of Rappy Freak. Just reviewing video now...
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2027.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2028.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2029.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2030.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2031.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2032.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2033.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2034.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2035.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2036.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2037.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Falcon%20EVO%20FPV/FE%2038.JPG)
Cool, glad it went well, always a bit daunting the first flight!
WOW! just been watching back the footage from Wednesday, and I can't believe how efficient this wing is.... I did a 21 minute flight on a single 2200mah 3S..... however I think I killed that LiPo as the OSD was telling me the voltage was 10.9v one second, then the next it said it was 6.3v oops
I'm yet to check the LiPo... I think I'll go do that now.
Just checked all the LiPos from the other day, and the lowest one was 10.1v, all the rest were over 11.5v so I'm assuming the 10.1v one is the one that I squeezed all the life out of and it's had time off load to recover some voltage... happy days.
now, off to buy some more LiPos for it
Great, finally got it flying! :)
That is indeed very efficient. Only thing with such a light wing though (and which is why I bought the Venturi) is how well it handles wind? The old Falcon didn't seem very good in wind but hopefully the centre section and increased weight/span helps with this. Also that big aerofoil shaped centre section must be providing a good deal of lifts and keeps everything clean, which is probably why it's so efficient.
20 mins on a 2200 is seriously impressive though, I might have to get a Falcon too at some point and build it so it breaks down for transport. If Rob is looking at this, that wouldn't be a bad thing to look at doing IMO. The way Flyingwings do the spars already lends itself to making the wings removable. I noticed when building the Venturi that it would be a very easy job to have removable wings.
I know my tbs cap in stock form was pretty terrible in any kind of wind.
A few big repairs and additional components upped the weight and it handled the wind a lot better.
I'm pretty tempted by this too tbh as a bashing plane. I have a tw40 to build and fly first though.
If you get one of these Billy, you won't regret it.
I was quite literally stunned by the flight time. I just watched back the full gopro file in real time... 21 minutes and 50 seconds
from a single 2200mah 3S.... and a cheap £7 zippy one from hobbyking at that...
I've just ordered 2 multistar 4000mah 3S Lipos as they're rumoured to fit in the battery bay too, lets see if I can break 30 minutes.
another update...
Because I enjoyed the falcon so much, I've gone and taken the vector osd out of my skyhunter and installed into this Falcon. I'm hoping to use this as a cloud surfer.... get up there quick and cruise around for 15 mins or so. The vector will give me that extra bit of a safety net of the RTH should I lose video due to clouds or what have you, and the stability should give me some nice footage whilst cruising.
Wow what fun.
Whilst my cap became too heavy and weak with all the extra components and cut outs, I did enjoy having the reassurance of an autopilot.
Beware though that adding an autopilot and other nice bits it will quickly go from becoming an expendable fast bashing plane to an expensive cruising plane like the rest.
Everyone needs a small general purpose wing appropriate for 90% of tasks imo, but everyone needs a fully expendable bashing wing to risk in the name of honing fpv skills.
lol, i hear what you're saying Billy... but even before I put the Vector in it... it most certainly was not an expendable fast bashing plane.... it's had a GoPro 3 Black in the nose from the start, and with all the time and effort I've put in to building it (the most involved build I've ever done) I really want to look after it.
swapping the non-autopilot OSD with the Vector does add an extra £100 of value to the wing, but it was already in the region of £500 in the air on the maiden.... hence my desire to not lose it :)
I'm sure you could build a cheap Falcon Evo.... mobius as recorder and flight cam, simple OSD etc.... but I didn't build a cheap one :)
Ah fair enough mate. With gopro ability and the confidence an autopilot gives you, you will probably use it for 90% of your flying :)
I have just bought one of these, you're a damn good salesman Blueflyer!
God knows when im going to get a chance to build it. I will have two 40" wings on the go when it arrives!
I went for the Eco setup as I want to run a decent hd cam on the front and record some relaxing medium range flights on 3s. My other 40" is on 4s and will be a mental thing. Hopefully they will be different enough so I can fly them both.
Has there been a maiden vid of yours yet?
Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on June 22, 2015, 02:08:05 AM
I have just bought one of these, you're a damn good salesman Blueflyer!
God knows when im going to get a chance to build it. I will have two 40" wings on the go when it arrives!
I went for the Eco setup as I want to run a decent hd cam on the front and record some relaxing medium range flights on 3s. My other 40" is on 4s and will be a mental thing. Hopefully they will be different enough so I can fly them both.
Has there been a maiden vid of yours yet?
I've got an unlisted 21 minute long video of the maiden :) just so I can prove it flies for 21 minutes on a single 2200mah 3S
I haven't edited the later videos into anything worth watching yet though.
Ah great
I went for the efficient setup from flying wings, interesting to see what it can manage.