edit - for those with a short attention span, or just without the time to wade through this massive post, here is a link to the first flight
Eurofighter FPV maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPlWho3KJHY#ws)
Weeeeell...
here's the start of a build log of my current big project! I'm quite excited about this one, hopefully you guys will like it! Apologies if it's too long a read... Hopefully if you're reading this anyway it'll all be of interest to you.
I think the French term "vol en immersion" best sums up my goals here. I want an aircraft with scale cockpit for not just an FPV experience, but a fully immersive experience. It won't offer the best unobstructed view, it won't be the easiest to fly, but it should be a great experience and an absolute blast... If I'm not buzzing after flying it I will have failed!
So first, I started with the design brief:
- Must be big enough to cope with a full array of FPV gear, pan tilt, OSD etc etc
- Must be a Foamy to mitigate damage to property or person should the worst happen! I must point out that I have no intention of flying near either, but you just never know.
- Must be able to belly land, and preferably also be able to take gear in case I find somewhere suitable to fly with a hard runway!
- Must be fun and challenging to fly both short range FPV and LOS as I intend to use it in both roles
- Must be fast and aerobatic to keep my inner speed freak happy!
- Must use high quality components for reliability
- Must be easy to store and transport
- Must have that special something that gets my heart going and offers me a challenge...
Not asking for much....
So after much thought and research I settled on the Freewing 90mm EDF Eurofighter. It fills almost every criteria except for being easy to store and transport... But I have plans for that! I went with the airframe only version (includes servos and retracts too) so I could install my choice of electronics. And boy it's a pretty big birdy! Around 1.4m long and 0.96m span...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7240/7003120899_43e40b9e36_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/7003124403_ed9dbb0e82_c.jpg)
So now as for the setup... Here's what I'm going with
- Wemotech 90mm midifan
- Arc 36-55-2 motor
- Kontronik 80+ HV ESC
- 2x Flightpower 4S 3300mah 30c nano in series for one 8S pack.
- HS-85 servo's for the primary flight controls (elevons and canards)
This is not the normal setup, which would be a 6S 4000ish mah based system. This higher voltage setup does however allow me to run around 3Kg of thrust (well in excess of 1:1) very efficiently with the arc motor, with a max amp pull in the mid 60's. All that with almost no change in weight when compared to stock). I am hoping the kontronik's efficiency at partial loads will also be an asset, but the proof will be in the pudding.... The reliability and load coping ability of its BEC was another big reason for the choice. One of the big drawbacks of EDFs is the short flight times, so I'm doing everything I can to extend that here. I am hoping for a good 5-6 mins of mixed flying which should be sufficient for my needs.
Now, one thing I've learned over the years is that you can't beat low weight when you are trying to get the most out of your airframe... To that end this will be an exercise in trying to maintain a relatively weight-neutral outcome! Since I will primarily be belling landing I will be removing the retracts, a total saving of some 250g I believe - that's a big help already. I can also save a little additional weight by removing the lighting system, and by switching to a single servo canard arrangement (apparently it flies better with canards only in pitch anyway).
So Far I've got the below removed:
Main gears (nose gear is yet to be extracted!) - 144g including screws
LED light controller - 4.g
Drop Tanks - 32g (for the pair)
Pilot - 15g
Seat - 16g
So already up at 211g... Assuming the nose gear is around the same weight as the mains that's another 70g or so bringing me up to 281g saved... then i have some wiring to remove, maybe servos for the gear door and steering although i may leave those in for times that I want the gear. Hoping to get to around 300g before I then start adding weight again!
I must say its a shame I'm not using the landing gear as it looks blooming awesome! Suspension all round and proper struts. Surprisingly light actually given they are fully contained electric retracts and have the full strut leg too.
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6213/7003119035_0414453128_c.jpg)
This is the FPV load out:
- Eagle Tree OSD Pro
- Eagle Tree eLogger v4
- Eagletree Guardian stabilisation unit
- Eagletree Alt v4, ASI v3, GPS v4
- Immersion RC 5.4ghz vTX with CP antenna on TX and RX
- Fat Shark RCV922 camera
- Fat Shark Predator goggles with integrated head tracking
Total weight for the FPV gear comes in at approximately 160g, which is quite incredible when you consider what's there!
Of course nothing is perfect out of the box when you have such a specific goals, so to that end there will be some modding here! The mods will cover 3 main areas:
1 - Durability (specifically for belly landing)
I intend to do some mods to protect the leading edges of the wings and canards, and the belly. The most vulnerable part will be the intake at the font, and this will require some thought. Minimal weight gain is key, and rules out glassing IMO... In addition, to protect the overall finish I will be coating it with a few layers of thinned minwax polycrylic.
2 - FPV gear bays and cockpit
All this "avionics" gear needs to go somewhere, and the cockpit area needs to be brought up to snuff... I will probably be making custom covers for the turtle deck so that most of the equipment can be placed there for good CG balance. I'm going to experiment with vacuum forming I think for this. I may also then make my own canopy replacement if I think it's feasible and within my abilities!
3 - Transportability.
It's a big plane and will be awkward to store or transport in one piece. I will be working on a method of using detachable wings that must be as strong or stronger than the epoxy joint that would normally be used. Inspiration partly comes from an old GWS J10 (also a canard + delta wing design) I used to have which had removable wings.... But I'll be trying to use a better implementation. The trick will be keeping everything aligned and adding minimal weight while I'm at it.
So, that's the plan... We'll see how it works out! It's quite a big undertaking and I won't be rushing along so it may take a while to get it all done. I also intended to have a camera capable of HD recording whilst also providing video out, but there's nothing that fits the size constraints or weight targets. I do have an inside track on an upcoming product that might provide just what I'm looking for, but it won't be available until early summer at best. When it becomes available I'll probably fit that instead of the RCV922.
Please feel free to chirp in with any suggestions along the way, I'm very much open to input and criticism (preferably constructive, but beggars can't be choosers!).
Well done for making it to the end of this post, and heres some pics of the euro in question to reward you for making it this far. Let's ding dang do it....
dude thats a lovely looking model...
wow... this is a big project. Looks awesome. can't wait to see some in flight footage :)
You and me both! Unfortunately it's not going to be flying for a good while yet.... Still need batteries, fan, motor and to put it all together! this removable wing project might take up some good time too.
Thanks Pasty - unfortunately I can't take credit for that, it was all freewing's doing!
A little update already:
Bit more modest progress this afternoon....
I took a knife to the turtle deck and carefully separated it from the fuselage.... gives so much more room to work on the wiring and will make installation of all my bits and bobs much easier. A little tip if you are cutting foam - wet the blade and keep it wet while you cut.... makes for a much cleaner slice.
Very tempted to add a working speed brake here as per the real thing, but I have to be mindful of adding weight. Might be worth it though!
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6230/7003404357_c399e4411a_c.jpg)
Next up I installed my pitot tube for the ASI.... I know its not a scale location but practicality won out here - it's just the best place for it to go. I coloured it black, so as to not make it too prominent, using a black permanent marker. I wouldn't recommend paint here unless you are very careful as you could block the static holes, or worse get paint inside the outer static tube.
To install I cut two small discs of balsa, and drilled a hole for the pitot to pass through. I then used a hot metal rod to melt a hole through the foam.... inserted the construction and used gorilla glue (really good foaming glue) to seal it all in there.
Notice that the pitot has a downwards angle - this is to make up for the angle of attack during normal flight and especially slow flight. At this angle I calculate it should be a good middle value between low and high speed AOA, so providing the best possible readings at both ends of the spectrum.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6857291200_2edf0dd99a_c.jpg)
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/6857293802_b610c60142_c.jpg)
And finally, I've been playing with camera positioning... It's a compromise at the moment between good field of view above the dash, good level of immersion in the plane, and height before the pan servo hits the battery underneath. I would like it just a smidgen lower but can't currently do that without a lower pan/tilt mount as I have no room to go lower with the servo. I quickly hooked it up to a transmitter and tested the view through the goggles - I think it'll probably do but I'll have to wait and see once I have it all done up. Should be easy enough to make some slightly lower A frames for the sides.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/7003412315_b8529e6a74_c.jpg)
So that's that for now...
Looks great.
Only thing is ... if you remove the undercarriage... how are you going to takeoff.. handlaunch? looks like it'll need some ...oomf!
Great project anyay. I'll watch with inetrest.
Sets me thinking.. maybe I could do an immersive fpv microlite or even a hang glider ... hmm not quite sure how tho :)
regards
Andy
Courtesy of 8S power and some pretty nice kit, it should be capable of a good 3Kg of thrust....
Projected all up weight without gear should come in at under 2.3kg and hopefully more like 2.2kg. That will be a thrust to weight of 1.3:1 - enough not only to hover but actually climb out vertically.
That, combined with low speed manoeuvring courtesy of thrust vectoring, plus perhaps launching in the stabilised mode of the guardian, should make launching very easy. I actually really want to try out the method in this video below
Seb Art Mig29 triple flip, harriers and hovers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NEGPX_poM#ws)
Theoretically mine should due capable of all that.... even with the FPV gear, as they both have the same thrust to weight and thrust vectoring.... theoretically. Of course I'm not suggesting flying like that is possible FPV style, but the launch should due simple enough.
Could be a cool project, just watched the youtube video. It's amazing what you can do when over powered, with thrust vectoring and gyro stabalised :o
Super looking build and very cool plane, why not use a catapult like I do on the" Crow" as using high alpha takeoff and flight leaves you with no visibility! <ask me how I know! :o> . Hope you get her flying, the cockpit veiw will be great.
Will you use gyros on the canards?
Good luck MIKE. :P :P
:thumbsup: Great plane, cant what to see this one going.
;) G
ooohhh.... Nice! ;D
mic - thanks, just looked up your stuff on that.
I must admit I've always been sceptical of bungee launching ever since I had a hook fail to release and it utterly obliterated one of my planes when I was a kid lol. It may be worth looking at but if I can get away without it I'd prefer to for simplicity. No problem with the takeoff being in high alpha as long as I point it in a sensible direction... shortly after takeoff I can transition to normal flight and see where i'm going again! The AHI and stabilisation of the eagle tree with guardian would be quite helpful on that front I think during the initial climb out....
The canards won't be hooked to the gyro, and I will actually be rigging them up so they only operate in pitch like the real one. The roll aspect to the canards adds unneeded complication and makes the rolls less axial. Plus it means I can run off a single servo.... only the elevons and thrust vectoring will be gyro controlled.
Cheers guys... just about to order the bits I need to embark upon the removable wing project - that's the scariest aspect of this build because it has the potential to totally screw up the airframe lol.
Quote from: Zeeflyboy on March 22, 2012, 01:02:31 PM
I must admit I've always been sceptical of bungee launching ever since I had a hook fail to release and it utterly obliterated one of my planes when I was a kid lol. It may be worth looking at but if I can get away without it I'd prefer to for simplicity. No problem with the takeoff being in high alpha as long as I point it in a sensible direction... shortly after takeoff I can transition to normal flight and see where i'm going again! The AHI and stabilisation of the eagle tree with guardian would be quite helpful on that front I think during the initial climb out....
Thats all very well but what about the dreaded "first launch"? Surely you not planning to fly off a propped up door for that ?
How about a takeoff dolly and a runway first time out? :)
regards
Andy
with that kinda thrust using the ground is a waste of energy. hold plane in one hand, point generally towards the sky, give it full beans and let go.... easy.
I hand launch a 2kg wing with alot less power to weight than that, a simple side arm launch and it its away everytime.
As pasty says I'm expecting it to be a very easy hand launcher... The guys that have launched this say it almost floats out your hands with a gentle nudge, so with the extra thrust it should be even easier. Hand launched quite a few models in the past and never had a problem.
Needless to say the first few flights won't be FPV anyway, but I'll probably get a friend to hand launch for the maiden just so I'm in a good position to correct any tendencies.
I think a dolly would be more trouble than it's worth, and I lack anywhere with a good runway anyway, hence the removal of the retracts. Thanks for the suggestion though - I appreciate all input!
So another update - today I made my first "avionics" bay... This one for the GPS unit. The problem with the euro always seems to be getting the CG far back enough, and to help counter the weight in the nose with the camera and what-not I've installed the GPS unit fairly far back.
I thought if I'm going to be adding panels, they may as well follow the existing panel lines on the body. Little bit more tricky shape wise but not too bad.... once painted I think it'll be nigh on invisible.
So I hogged out the bay using a dremel, then coated it in a very thin layer of epoxy just to help replace any strength that may have been lost due to the foam removal (although it's pretty chunky here, so I doubt it mattered... better safe than sorry).
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7184/7008750955_f1e25dfd5c_c.jpg)
I then made a hole through to the spine where the wires will all run up and down and popped the GPS in to test fit.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7072/7008753805_38f6ab0d59_c.jpg)
And then finally made a panel out of thin plasticard, glued in some small wood struts and installed the panel... here's how it looks all buttoned up.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7130/6862638666_0f381dfd47_c.jpg)
Quite chuffed with how it came out. Weight of the panel with screws is about 2g.... probably not much more than the weight of the foam that was hogged out. Total weight added including epoxy and wood is around 5g. I'm not sure if the GPS unit gets hot as I haven't fired it up yet, but if so I will mould a small air intake into the panel, there's a channel through down into the main duct (pre EDF) too so it will draw air out through there.
So, another day another little update...
This euro doesn't come with a functioning rudder, which is a shame. They rely on the fact that you have thrust vectoring for yaw I assume, but I like to had a rudder for co-ordinating turns and slight cross wind landings. Plus it's supposed to have a rudder... so lets make one!
The easy option would be to cut a space for a servo, cut out the rudder and hook it up.
I don't really love the look of the servo horns sticking out the rudder however, and I want aerodynamic!
As it happens, a chap on regroups discovered the servo for the yaw thrust vectoring is almost perfectly positioned to allow a rod straight down past it from the rudder above. This means you can run both the rudder and yaw vectoring off a single servo... lovely! I had to move the servo backwards ever so slightly and will post pics of that along with the linkages at a later date as I still need to buy some bits for that.
Here's the rudder mod though so far. Obviously will be needing a lick of grey paint too!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7257/7018667059_def3d2495e_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6872556208_2894fcc19f_c.jpg)
And a little more work on the cockpit... I've managed to move the camera a little further down, the view is now better to my taste... I Printed out some real eurofighter screens on photo paper, cut to size and then stuck them in place of the blank screens. No one wants to see a blank screen while they are flying! The little one for the standby AHI in the top right was a bit tricky to get right because it's so small! Still need to get some paint and just do some scale touches, but it's already looking much better to me.
I've also modded the control stick to move with aileron, but just waiting on some 3.7g servos which will be doing the moving. You can see in the second pic the control stick extending down through the floor. This will then be hooked up to the 3.7g servo which will be wired up with the aileron output on the rx. Next up I need to make some arms and legs, and find some hands the right size.
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6230/7018660109_4ce18a6422_c.jpg)
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6235/7018706153_fbff9e6b66_c.jpg)
So, baby steps but it keeps on moving! Now considering using a LRS as well though and switching to 2.4ghz video.... It would allow me to fly lower and closer to trees etc which is where the fun's to be had. Plus of course I can use it on any future long range fpv platforms... and it means I can fly without too much fear of going out of range. Despite the limited duration, due to the speed of this thing I could happily fly a 6+ mile round trip too if I so wanted, so perhaps it's not so crazy. Decisions decisions...
Seeing the work thats gone into this I really, really, really, really, really really hope it doesn't end up a crater.
Unfortunately the work has only just begun!
Yes, there will definitely be some tears at bed time if it all goes horribly wrong... but I'm willing to accept it's a possibility. Hopefully not until I've had many enjoyable hours of flying out of it but you never know!
I'm doing my best to make sure all the kit is reliable, the install will be thoroughly gone over and tested many times before going FPV, so hopefully that just leaves muggins here as the weak link.
Thanks guys...
Been a busy few days with too much work for my liking, but I have made a bit more progress!
So here are the Eagletree Altimeter and ASI installed. Anyone know why eagle tree stopped using the shared static source like they did on the v3 altimeter? I was planning on hooking it up to the same static source but I see now you can't on the v4. I hope there isn't enough airflow through the "cabin" to affect it when the fan is pulling hard, but time will tell. You can also see some cut outs in the foam that make space for the movement of throttle levers and control stick...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7093/6889903006_5a2da6ddf1_c.jpg)
I also installed the Guardian stabiliser here... It's installed so that the unit is level at about 4-5 degrees nose up, which should be a good starting point for cruise attitude on a delta wing. It's fairly close to the CG as well, as close as I can reasonably get it anyway!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/7035994179_8867f1f734_c.jpg)
And the most time consuming - making all the cables and figuring out where to put everything! the bulk of the equipment (OSD Pro, eLogger, vTX) has been installed very close to the CG point so as to have minimal impact on balancing. I also installed 2mm plywood braces to keep the structure strong where it's been cut, and installed my new EZUHF 8chlite RX.... The "spine" then just sits over the top of the central part and covers it all up. I still need to make a couple of covers for the eLogger USB access bay and the vTX bay. I'll be incorporating a cooling duct into the one with the vTX as I know that likes to get hot!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7073/6889896452_2b81c5bfd9_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6889894106_e5e3e1b666_c.jpg)
While I have gone with the EZUHF for control, I'm currently going to stick with my 5.8GHz vTX to save some dosh! I will later get an immersionrc 2.4ghz and I can then have it modularly replaceable - If I want to fly with friends on 2.4GHz I can plug in the 5.4GHZ unit, if I want to fly further I can plug in the 2.4GHz unit and setup a 2.4ghz ground station with a 5.4ghz repeater to my goggles... Should be a nice solution, and quick to swap over.
Following advice from Sander (much appreciated chap!) antenna for the EZUHF Lite receiver will be a "sander style" dipole, the top half will be installed inside the tail fin, the negative will just be a loose wire free to dangle.
i have to say Zee, I love your plane, looking forward to seeing it cut through the air
Like everyone else, I love this build!
One question what is that 5-lobed vtx antenna? some form of skew?
Cheers!
It's a fan antenna, I just popped it on there for testing because I couldn't find my windmill antenna and I had this one lying around spare. I'm using a turbine on the vrx.
Just been playing around with the OSD Pro, it's my first OSD and I must say so far it looks brilliant! I love the speed and alt ladders and artificial horizon from the guardian...
Its a shame you've had to cut into the top of the fuz, is that being covered by the turtle deck again? I wouldnt have been worried about putting the smaller bits of gear on the cofg, they wont have that impact on the cofg as their weight is almost negligible, getting them tucked away without spoiling the airframe with cables running nicely would have been my priority.
You'd be surprised... Every little bit makes a difference! For ease of access I really needed to do some cutting too.
Have a little faith though, I don't think the airframe will be spoiled in the end ;)
Quote from: Zeeflyboy on April 07, 2012, 10:34:12 AM
You'd be surprised...
I doubt it, been flying and building (scratch building my own designs mainly) for many years, theres not a lot that surprises me these days ;)
This build is looking really good, I really like it :)
Well i promise you it does make a difference in this build, the euro is already tending towards nose heavy as standard and removing the gear shifts that CG even further forward. There's limited space to move batteries back even with a split pack, and the cockpit with camera is well forward of the CG giving it quite a large moment arm.
The eLogger, OSD and VTX + antenna make up the bulk of the weight of the FPV system and clock in at close to 100g all said and done. The last thing I needed was all that in the cockpit area along with the camera pulling the CG yet further forward.
As I say though, have a little faith ;)
Not doubting ya buddy, just having a little chat :)
Theres many ways to skin a cat ;)
I would FPV the Habu, but 3 to 4 minutes flight doesn't seem worth it.
this build is looking good tho.
;) G
here's a sneak peek especially for you pasty ;)
I just need to make up two of the white plastic covers for the VTX and eLogger as well, then obviously all will be painted to match the body. the only thing that will stand out is the vTX antenna, but there's not much I can do about that really I guess!
Indeed there are many ways to skin the poor old cat, and I do appreciate the input so keep it coming!
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5196/7053098917_92070da636_c.jpg)
Coyote/G - cheers! Yeah the one thing I wanted was to make sure I had a little bit longer flight time than the typical EDF. Should be good for 5-6mins minimum and hopefully able to stretch it out another minute or so depending on flying style... short but sweet! Cruise speed should be around 60mph at a reasonable throttle setting, which in theory would mean you could cover around 5-6 miles in that short little time window.
In other news, looks like I might have just picked up a second hand Futaba 10C for my EZUHF... whoop!
Flying at speed low down for 5-6mins will feel like forever when you're the pilot, you'll be glad to land for a break :D
That's what I'm thinking...
If I want long duration long distance I can always fly one of my others!
It looks fantastic but I really would be papping myself flying this beast lol
its about confidence and ability steve, if you know you can fly well and you're confident papping yourself is replaced with a small amount of apprehension on the first launch, after that its like flying anything else.... unless you've set it up wrong or built a dog.... then hang onto your hat and ride the rough ride! :)
which in itself can be a fun challenge!
nice buy with the Futaba 10C, I have one and love it.
:D G
I'm a fairly confident sort, but I think the first launch will still get my hands trembling a little lol. It won't be FPV of course, but maiden is always a little nerve wracking!
Never had a Futaba before but the 10C looks good and the price was not too bad! Now that I have more than the 8 channels of my DX8 however I'm half thinking I should have gone with the TS LRS rather than the EZUHF though, since it offers 12 Channels. As it turns out 8 is actually a little on the skinny side! Oh well....
Amazing how quickly the channels add up when FPV-ing!
So just a small update tonight...
I made myself a sander style dipole antenna
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7133/7065952405_e8e62bb1d7_c.jpg)
Installed in place
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7220/7065954107_b473093beb_c.jpg)
and with tail fitted... Like this the only visible part is about 5cm or so of the bottom black cable dangling out the bottom of the fuselage. More or less unnoticeable... good for the LOS part of my build objective.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5344/6919875398_72571ded6b_c.jpg)
Those of you paying attention may have noticed I ended up going with a servo actuated rudder mod, this is due to deciding I wanted the tail removable as well, which was too much hassle with the route I initially went down. It will ultimately be covered and visual impact should be minimal.
I've been making some progress on the cockpit too... I built myself a curved 4 LED array using some plastic card and some 3mm leds, and modified the inside of the dash to then insert it... This will provide the backlighting for some backlit paper (essentially very thin, white, printable plastic) which will be printed with screens etc and then installed into the dash. This will then allow me to not only have my own screens as before, but also have them light up like real screens. For power I just spliced into one of the servo leads so that I don't have any additional connections to worry about. I've done some tests with the backlit paper and it's looking very promising.... more on this mod soon!
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5345/7065986075_be8acb4274_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/7065987721_e77ef80431_c.jpg)
So, that's all for now!
nice, you wont to get holed of some old googol screens and mount them, then rig a video of a real jet display, on to the tiny screens.
;) G
That's a bit beyond me... I did see some nice tiny OLED displays, but they flicker in the cam and I would also need to program custom displays. Maybe one day if I become a clever person!
In the mean time, this is what I've managed tonight - a bit more work on the cockpit... still needs a bit of tidying up and I may re-do a couple of bits but gives a good idea.
What do you think though? I think it came out quite nicely. Hard to get a photo of properly but I've done my best....
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7229/7069252419_c273d3cfe5_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7074/7069252745_f1761f72cb_c.jpg)
and the "camera eye view"
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6923172636_d34a7cd133_c.jpg)
That looks way cool ;D
that looks great!
Very nice work buddy, where did you get the "plastic" printed? Is it a specialist process or can anyone do it?
Cheers,
Cheers!
Just using my inkjet... All done at home. I used photoshop to size up and create images for the screens.
The stuff is called backlit paper. It's just a very thin sheet of plastic with an ink absorbing layer on one side... The sort of thing estate agents use when they print out adverts and put them on led light boxes. Generally ridiculously expensive and sold in large quantities, but I found a guy on eBay selling 10 sheets of A4 for about 8 quid. God bless eBay.
Sweet, lights up great.
:) G
Just one more pic of the cockpit, I was curious as to how it would look in broad daylight.
Does actually still show up quite nicely! Certainly a better effect than just having solid printed screens and much more interesting than the blank black screens that were there before. Should provide A nice effect when the dash is in shadow
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5034/6924174074_c71046c338_b.jpg)
Won't it affect the flight camera white balance though?
at night it would for sure, but I think during daytime it's just not powerful enough to cause any trouble.... seems okay looking through the goggles so far.
Okay, I managed to get a crappy pic by sticking my iPhone cam right up to the goggle lens. Needless to say it's not really great (iPhone pic of tiny LCD screen slightly out of focus... never going to be fantastic) but it does give a some idea of what it looks like when viewed from the cam... As I say I do have a recording device on my to buy list so I will manage better in future. Previously always flew using GoPro live out and recording onboard so never needed one.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7070434425_cc30559698_c.jpg)
You can just about make out the on screen display... artificial horizon just up by the HUD (just below the flight vector), altitude on the right, airspeed on the left (mostly blocked out by the overexposure of the iPhone there), GPS status bottom right, mah burnt in the middle bottom with direction indicator just above it, distance from operator on bottom left.
That's frikking awesome mate, cant wait for the FPV from this beaut
That really does look cool!
Whoa! Excellent work mate! Lookin' forward to seeing some FPV footage :D
im too jel this is sick im really exsited to see this fpv'ed
muhahahaaa I have something I'm quite proud of to show you guys.
Here's a little sneak peek of the cockpit with full moving controls! Still a little tweaking to do and the cockpit is far from finished but I was just too chuffed with myself to not show it to you all! I spent a good amount of time today at work designing the mechanism I would use to get both elevator and aileron on the control stick, and I'm glad to say my idea worked pretty well.
The idea now will be to run the EZUHF in PPM mode, hook up a PPM decoder in the front which will then feed the thrust lever servo, aileron+elevator control stick servos, pan/tilt servos and canard servo. that means I only have one wire running up to the front, and one wire running from the EZUHF to the OSD Pro.
Let me know what you think....
Sneak peak Eurofighter FPV cockpit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vP_5Sb274s#ws)
That video is pretty sick mate, I do have one observation though.... I couldn't see the rudder pedals moving :P
No words for how cool that is :)
Hah, I figured rudder pedals were a step too far!
cheers chaps!
The nice thing is that they are only 3.8g servos... so for all 3 there it's only about 12g and maybe at most 20g for the lot including linkages.
I think 20 grams is a price worth paying!
just in case anyone is interested in how I hooked up the controls here's a couple of pics of the underside of the canopy. Not pretty, but it does the job! Perhaps it may be of use if anyone is wondering how to do it - this is just one approach but I spent a while scratching my head as to the best way to achieve it.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/6932043172_c380f48ac5_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/7078117671_3205946897_c.jpg)
Simple description:
Control stick:
Joystick stuck onto 2mm carbon rod, and slightly over sized 2mm hole drilled in the section of the dash where it sits. Heat shrink stops the stick from falling through.... I then fitted another piece of heat shrink from underneath and voila, the stick is locked in place.
I then drilled out two heli linkage balls with a 2mm drill and placed them on the 2mm carbon rod.
Using a 90 degree bell crank and some heli linkage rods (connected together with 2mm carbon rod rather than the heavier standard threaded steel rod) I hooked it all up. Surprisingly simple!
Throttle was done by cutting two strips of plastic card, and putting a pivot point (again 2mm carbon rod) through them at about 2/3rds the way down. These were then sleeved in a plastic sleeve so they could be glued into the foam and still be free to rotate inside the sleeve.
I then made a little tab (again, more plastic card) to connect the linkage to.
Easy!
Omg zee, this is totally wicked
I would never fly it, have you got a glass case somewhere to keep safe
its art
:respekt:
Ah it has to be flown... If it crashes then that's just an excuse to make an even better v2!
so here is a slightly simplified wiring diagram... I've included power line runs where its relevant but left out where it's not (e.g. servo connections)
I think I have everything there.... This is the plan with using the PPM function on the OSD Pro and EZUHF. As you can see using the PPM decoder up front will really simplify wiring runs for all those servos up there - thanks to the guys that have helped me out with that solution!
For the PPM wires I intend to use Cat6 S/FTP wiring for maximum interference rejection .
Anyone see any horrific mistakes there? I think I've done my best to avoid ground loops but I could do with a fresh set of eyes.
Couple of notes:
- the eLogger requires the Y connection to throttle to both log throttle position and also to provide backup power since I am running it on HV... that's why that's there.
- vTX is powering the Camera from it's own 5v supply, this passes through the OSD Pro on which the positive is isolated, but my voltmeter tells me ground is common.
- vTX is powered by 4S from one of the flight packs. Series connection gives 8S to the eLogger and ESC.
- OSD Pro with guardian mixes the aileron and elevator to give an eleven output, no elevon mix is applied in the TX side
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6933927498_617ce8107d_c.jpg)
for further info, is is my channel allocation
Ch1 - aileron
Ch2 - elevator
Ch3 - rudder
Ch4 - throttle
Ch5 - OSD aux 1
Ch6 - OSD aux 2 (guardian gain)
Ch7 - pan
Ch8 - tilt
Now of course if you need retractable gear, you have to either have more than 8 channels, or sacrifice a pan or tilt channel, or if you don't use guardian you can use one channel for the osd.
The other problem is that you can't have canard or thrust vectoring on a sperate channel mixed in, so mixing has to be done mechanically and will be fixed rate. If not using the guardian you can get away with a single switch for osd, and of course you don't necessarily need pan/tilt so you can free up to 3 channels for gear, thrust vector and canard mix purposes.
4s to power the vtx, isnt that a bit....much
and 8s to power the motor, kin el
plz note, i only know enough to be a danger to myself
perhaps surprisingly, no... the old immersion vTX tales 6-16v while the new one can take 6-25v (basically 2S up to 6S)... makes it pretty flexible.
The ESC takes up to 6S-12S... Power should be pretty immense on 8S though. Expecting 3kg of thrust at 65amps... Airframe will be around 2.2-2.3kg expected.
Just updated the diagram slightly
So another update, albeit not a very exciting one.
Just got finished hooking up my power system... I didn't like the skinny wires on the eLogger v4, plus I needed them a bit longer... So I replaced them with some nice more substantial 12 AWG.... unfortunately I don't have any clear heat shrink so blue it is lol. Using EC5 connectors (my favourite battery connector!) I made the series harness directly on the eLogger and also used the 5mm bullets to hook up to the ESC (without the EC5 cases to save space).
As per the diagram on the previous page, you can see the vTX hooked up to take power from only one pack so my vTX doesn't explode.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7090/7080917945_a895a16a9c_c.jpg)
So, it's a bit like Christmas at Zeelfyboy's today....
Santa's little helpers (DHL) brought me these!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/7084399957_a421340a13_c.jpg)
A Futaba T10CP to use with my EZUHF and finally after a long wait, my ARC motor and Wemotech midi fan.... wohooooo!!!
With minimal fuss I've managed to bind my EZUHF/Futaba combo, and have the OSD Pro and EZUHF rx talking to each other over PPM Sum... magic! The only slight catch is that I'm running alpha version software on the OSD Pro and beta version on the EZUHF so here's hoping I don't run into any serious software snags...
Since I'm using PPM now, I decided to relocate my EZUHF RX right into the rear. This gives it more separation from the ESC/Motor and also means I can ditch the 20cm extension and just plug it into the antenna directly.
I made a custom little pocket for it out of plywood which I then glued into place.. There's a black foam lining at the bottom, the ezuhf just slips inside snugly and then a piece of black foam locks it down from above with a firm friction fit. When the vertical stab is on top the top foam part is held down by that as well. To remove the EZUHF one simply pulls off the top piece of foam and out it comes for access to the USB port etc.
These two wires are all that gets plugged into the EZUHF now, The PPM sum stream on channel 1 and the rudder on channel 4. Please ignore the fact that there is normal servo wire for the PPM line - it's just for testing purposes and I will be using some cat6 s/ftp when I get my hands on some just to be sure that there's minimal interference possibility.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/7084535649_4142f15eeb_c.jpg)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5191/7084534149_2f2d56c812_c.jpg)
So, Dexter arrived the other day and I proceeded to strip him naked and cut his hands off. I felt a bit bad about it but there you go...
I filled his jumpsuit with some cotton and stuck his hands inside the sleeves. As it turns out he was a bit big so I had to modify his jumpsuit slightly to make it a better fit. I haven't done much else but here's a sneak peek for you guys of the flying cockpit (dexter still even has his blood covered hands for now!). I'm thinking of keeping the hands as white gloves, but maybe a green would look better for the jumpsuit if I can find some appropriate dye.
As always, let me know what you think (video may take a few minutes to process, so check back a little later if it's not working)
Eurofighter FPV cockpit sneak peek 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d_UmQFQb0M#ws)
:laugh: Great fun, well don.
;) G
My replies gone missing some how, it was there the other day ????
Anyway, looking really sweet, loving the Futaba 10 :) Sexy radio !!!!!!
Its a very very neat install, very impressed :)
The arms moving in the cockpit is unique, I have never seen that before, it looks brill
Thanks.
Alas it's not unique, I'm not creative enough to have been the first lol.
I fired up the EDF for the first time today, and holy crap the thing pulls. This thing is going to be a monster! I'm being a bit held back by the fact that the carbon I ordered for wing spars seems to have been lost in the post - no idea when it'll eventually turn up :(
Here's a vid of the cockpit again, but in daylight this time so you can see the whole cockpit a bit better... I also changed the angle a bit so it doesn't look like he's touching himself.
Eurofighter FPV cockpit daylight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5FyYwIrqe8#ws)
I've also updated my wiring diagram yet again with some more details and additions. I tidied it up a bit and added more detailed wiring, I also added a G-force sensor, strobes (looking at the flytron units) for the wings, included the lighting array for the cockpit, added a LC filter for the power feed to the vTX and a set of caps to the power lines to the ESC to help reduce ripple.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7101689157_c7c0359bc2_c.jpg)
(higher res http://www.flickr.com/photos/43499962@N08/7101689157/sizes/l/in/photostream/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/43499962@N08/7101689157/sizes/l/in/photostream/) )
man that dudes going to be cooooolllddd!
You offering to pull me a crystal clear custom canopy there pasty? ;)
sorry, wifes calling... must dash....
Thought so... Lol.
It's on my "to try and fail miserably at" list. I have some lean that I think would pull pretty clear, but I think it's maybe a bit thick.
It'll be very time consuming though, and I rate chances of a satisfactory outcome fairly low, as such it's not high on my priority list for now.
How would you do it so the view from inside is not distorted ?
No idea lol...
It can work though. Take a look at this chaps video (the guy that really inspired this build to be honest)...
F-16 FPV (http://vimeo.com/6352852)
It adds a nice extra layer of realism and also of course helps the aerodynamics. Trade off is reduced visibility in glare, and overall due to the fact that you just can't pull it perfectly clear and smooth.
Yeah it looks much better, no distortion
That vid'looked like one of "vr flyer" only his had the hands moving like yours. Nice though ! hope yours is that good , it looks super so far!!
Cheers MIKE. ;D
That's correct, it's the one and only VRflyer lol.
His F-16 never had moving hands, only one or two of his other builds like the cap. I assume the F-16 lacked space, or weight was a concern... It's a smaller 70mm based EDF already, and the F-16 is already more slender than the euro as well.
I love the altimeter, it's a zlog - I tired finding one for mine but they were discontinued long ago and there's no available substitute it seems.
Serious awesomeness!
Really looking forward to the inflight footage, and least even at maiden time you can have everything recording nicely :P
Top marks dude :D
rcexplorer had moving hands and stuff on one of the videos he did FPV for FliteTest, the canopy blew off while inverted though :laugh:
Yeah I saw that video lol... Impressive crash when the canopy came off!
So, not technically a build update... but thought I'd post it anyway - a bit of work on my new 10C, fitting the EZUHF.
I ordered a cheap futaba style module from hobby king and proceeded to gut it... I took the case and the connector, then set about figuring out which wires to connect to what. I then went a bit bodge it and came up with a simple way to secure the connector (yeah it ain't pretty but it's functional! note the epoxy over the top to secure the thin wires.)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/7116152913_15d3bc97dd_c.jpg)
module put back together and stuck to the EZUHF using double sided foam tape...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/6970076770_fe98db9694_c.jpg)
and module fitted to radio...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7211/7116160271_413dd1d11e_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/7116163741_ab990bff10_b.jpg)
This way it's a bit neater, I can't accidentally knock loose the trainer connector for the EZUHF, and I am free to continue using the trainer port which is quite useful. Fit seems nice and solid, and no interruptions in power/signal despite wiggling it as much as it can move. Jobsa!
So simple, yet so neat.. Liek the concept
Looks great mate, I won't to do something similar with my DL, do you now were I can get a blank module for my Futaba 10
i want one soooooo bad looks ace !!!
Search for Futaba module replacement case - probably easiest and cheapest option. You then just need a connector - apparently a 4S balance lead works, but not tried it myself.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-FUTABA-TRANSMITTER-MODULE-CASE-FF7-FF8-FF9-9ZAP-/261002249290?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3cc4f2444a#ht_500wt_1156 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-FUTABA-TRANSMITTER-MODULE-CASE-FF7-FF8-FF9-9ZAP-/261002249290?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3cc4f2444a#ht_500wt_1156)
Quote from: SouthPawPaul on April 26, 2012, 11:52:29 PM
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-FUTABA-TRANSMITTER-MODULE-CASE-FF7-FF8-FF9-9ZAP-/261002249290?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3cc4f2444a#ht_500wt_1156 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-FUTABA-TRANSMITTER-MODULE-CASE-FF7-FF8-FF9-9ZAP-/261002249290?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3cc4f2444a#ht_500wt_1156)
thanks mate jobs a Good-en.
:) G
Just some small updates...
I've now finally finalised my final schematics for the final time! The results are below... I've re-jigged the schematics to more closely resemble real life, included more detail, added the removable cockpit unit, and also included a very small 210mah 4.8v buffer pack for the kontronik. It's maybe overkill but it's a cheap and light insurance against a BEC failure... if I monitor Rx voltage I can set an alarm that will tell me if it drops below a certain point, the BEC when functioning obviously should never do so. If the alarm goes off I therefore know I'm draining the emergency pack and can immediately try to land. Equally if the entire ESC explodes or shuts down, I'll have reserve power to land. The camera and vTX will still be feeding from the flight packs directly. When the system is functioning as it should, the ESC keeps the nimh pack topped up at all times, so there's no separate charging required.
I'm also happy to report that the PPM seems to work fine supplying both the OSD Pro and the decoder up front.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6975274680_b346746d31_b.jpg)
I also have been playing around the removable wing design in my head. I sketched up a quick diagram of what I'm going for I think - I welcome any comments on this design and am open to suggestions. I won't be relying on the magnets for holding the wing on, I will also incorporate a locking mechanism but I'm as yet unsure of the details.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6975274658_a3d52d221a_b.jpg)
So, here's another little update...
I hooked up the PPM decoder in the cockpit and wired up all the servos (pan/tilt, control stick aileron/elevator, canard servo and thrust levers directly to that. By putting it in the top it means I can keep all the wiring self contained up there with only two inputs to deal with plugging in - the ppm stream and the camera feed.
I then made it hot pluggable, so when I slide the canopy into place it automatically hooks up the connections. I still need to do the canard servo link in the same way since the canard servo of course remains in the airframe. Once done there will be absolutely nothing to plug or unplug when removing the canopy, and it will be a completely self contained unit.
Here you can see the underside of the cockpit, still need to tidy it up a bit but it's all working now... the PPM decoder is on the left hand side, and you can see the plug I made for the inputs.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7054/7133178663_7ef68d4e44_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7179/7133177581_721a76021c_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/6987089602_78dd78908e_c.jpg)
And here you can see the opposite plug mounted in the fuselage (again some tidying to do here!), and then the cockpit fitted
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7078/7133171081_2ee7b00898_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/6987087640_100754d7e9_c.jpg)
In the mean time, I've also been getting on with the wings, but the carbon still hasn't arrived for the main spars so I won't bother posting pics yet. However I've installed the 5mm carbon rod at each far end, and decided they may as well be more structural, thus installed some aluminium tube into the fuselage for them to slide into. The wing is actually surprisingly solid just with these two rods installed.... should be perfect with the main spars too.
That's excellent.
Very nice, very very nice.
Looking forwards to the vids on this bad boy :)
thanks as ever guys!
Anyway - another not very exciting mini-update:
I made my "spinal cord" this evening.... the conduit that carries the PPM signal up the aircraft to the OSD pro and the decoder up front. Since it passes nearby the ESC and is quite a long cable I decided to go shielded as per my diagram. One small difference however - I used firewire cable as I couldn't get hold of any shielded cat 6 at the store.
Here is what the cable looks like broken up... you have an outer braid, a foil wrap, then inside two "heavy guage" power lines, and two pairs of thin gauge wire individually wrapped in foil and surrounded by yet more wire strands. I used the power for power obviously, and then used one shielded pair together for the signal.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/6987861028_9b1d24bd11_c.jpg)
Put it all together in a way that fits in the aircraft and I ended up with this... all exposed servo wire is braided to reduce possible interference, there is a 4th wire wrapped around the servo wires between the two sections to carry the shield ground across, and as you can see an extra wire at the end with a 2mm bullet to connect the shielding to battery ground.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7127/6987863018_9942e16eb1_c.jpg)
I also mounted my vertical stabiliser today as a removable piece. I also used the same idea with the connectors as the cockpit so it all plugs itself in for the rudder when you fit it. I can't take pics because my camera has run out of juice... tomorrow I'll upload it.
For the quick connect canopy doof, what did you use for the connection part?
Super sleek wiring :)
Quote from: FD on May 02, 2012, 01:19:06 PM
For the quick connect canopy doof, what did you use for the connection part?
I used these http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/quantum_plug_q-he-0001-p-16778.html (http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/quantum_plug_q-he-0001-p-16778.html)
Quite good because they have a small chamfer and countersink which helps to guide the pin in if it's slightly out of line... very small too.
I then just sandwiched them between two pieces of plywood to create a plug.... the glue one into one part, cut a slightly oversized hole in the opposite part. Connect the plug together and then apply some glue (carefully - you don't want parts not plugs getting glued together!) to the oversized hole. Put the pieces together and allow to dry - et voila, alignment is taken care of. Now just finish off by adding some glue if necessary to fully hold the other plug in position.
I'm using the same method on all the detachable bits - the rudder, the wings and the canopy.
Coyote - cheers! still a bit messy at the moment though. I just hacked apart my canopy too because I wanted to redo the lighting :o
so, I almost horrified myself with the mere thought, but I just hacked apart my cockpit because I wanted to re-do the lighting.
Same number of LEDs but each screen area now has it's own led a bit closer providing better lighting, and the 4th led has been relocated into the upper pod to provide better illumination up there and also much stronger output towards the HUD. it may require a second led to get the level of illumination I require though.
I also made a new HUD out of lexan, as the old one wasn't very clear, had a bit of white from super glue on it, and not very shiny. I want it as reflective as possible to return any light.
you can also see I re-did the led board and moved it closer in (allowed by the fact that I cut apart the cockpit) and covered it in foil for a reflective surface which should hopefully result in more uniform lighting. you can also see the small mount I made for the upper unit LED. I'm about to remake this with a dual LED up there to hopefully make the HUD glow more visible in daylight.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8167/7135426287_f87ea75574_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7275/7135425157_14c9077eac_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7216/7135425307_4fd5f53d74_c.jpg)
I love the effort that you're putting into the small details on this build. It looks stunning and the workmanship is just great.
When this flies, I reckon it'll be a build/flight that people will be referring to for years :)
Have to agree there, everything that I see on this just screams awesome.
Far too kind! Nothing I've done here is particularly difficult, if I can manage it then for sure anyone else here can... they probably just have better things to do with their time lol.
Here's an additional photo of the now boxed up cockpit. I made three more "mirror panels" as per the main one at the back using plastic card and aluminium foil, cut to size and then boxed it all in. Now just needs the glue to dry and a spot of filler/paint to make it all perfect.... I also added the second led for HUD so I now have a pair projecting light up there. Certainly shows up a bit better but still more or less invisible in direct sunlight. Shows up nicely as you hit the shade though and in early evening.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/6989728888_115b321cab_c.jpg)
And here's the removable tail plane mod I've been working on.... I apologise if it's all looking a bit rough and ready but I just wanted functional for now, then I can tidy up later!
I would have used carbon, but the EZUHF antenna is located right in amongst it and aligned in the same plane so I had to come up with another plan. Of course, nature has an answer for most problems, so I used wood! It's an Ecofighter...
As you can see from the pics, there are two main struts set into the tail which do the job of holding it straight.... There are then three neodymium magnets which hold it down with some surprising force. I then repeated the same idea with the hot plug style connection so that the rudder servo automatically hooks itself up when the tail plane is fitted. The combination results in a quick pull off/snap on tail that is very rigid and as you can see I think the alignment is pretty much spot on. Let me know what you think!
The two parts next to each other:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/7135884725_8fde47f95e_c.jpg)
The pins on the plug aligning before snapping in - I had to put a foam block to wedge the tail open here because the magnets are pulling quite hard at this distance:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/7135884723_9d5008319b_c.jpg)
The tail fitted:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6989806688_434c737036_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7103/6989806016_bfc4040e51_c.jpg)
Sorry for the update flood today (what is that, 4 updates now in one day?) but I'm just getting caught up on some bits and bobs I've been working on when I have a spare moment here and there.
In that vein, here's another....
Work has begun on the wings! The main spars are still MIA, but that doesn't mean I can't get on with stuff... bare in mind this is all a bit DIY style and I'm just inventing my methods as I go along!
Here you can see the wing with two 5mm "mini-spars" inserted and glued in alongside their neodymium magnets... they extend a fair depth into the wing and are very solidly mounted using gorilla glue. The servo has been treated to the same hot plug style connector system as the tail and the cockpit. You can also see the markings for the main spars when my materials eventually arrive (or I give up and order more). I also used some plastic card and epoxy to build the leading edge tip by the wing root into a sharp edge. The whole front slats area will be glassed with light weight 25gm tissue and PU.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/7136414483_3f94eefe6f_c.jpg)
And here we start building their counterparts in the fuselage... some aluminium tube cut to length and inserted into an oversize hole. The wing is offered up and held in alignment, while gorilla glue foams up and sets the tube into position, all nicely aligned.... we then end up with this:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/7136426265_0943eebb59_c.jpg)
Next I poured in some epoxy resin to the square cut out around the tube to act as a bulkhead giving much more strength to the tube set into the foam.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7268/6990339104_cd48517185_c.jpg)
Then used a countersink to bevel the edges to make inserting the wing much easier and smoother. It also helps when removing the wing as the edges don't catch if you pull the wing at a slight angle.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/6990337800_f41a9041d6_c.jpg)
rinse and repeat at the rear, and then take a picture
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6990327714_1e4a6628c4_c.jpg)
And here is the wing being inserted into place:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7216/6990334304_c2f9e4d38e_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7136418435_1db8cfb0b7_c.jpg)
So, that's that for now. I need to do the same with the other wing of course, and then I need to wait for my big carbon weave spars to arrive.
so, yet another mini update lol
I didn't like how dexter's legs were stuffed right up against the dash - didn't look quite right to me. I took advantage of the dashboard being out to make amens and give him some less weird looking legs... I also adjusted my pan tilt mechanism which moves the camera another cm or so backwards to give an even greater field of view.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/7136610643_87d61125c1_c.jpg)
and here you can see his legs look much better now and less like a toy that's been stuffed in there. I also used a lighter tone grey on the screen area to give the two tone dash of the real thing... still got some small paint details to tidy up, the side panels to do, and some more general tidying work to do but there aren't enough hours in the day....
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/6990524788_70d608dd2c_c.jpg)
Now I'm really done for the updates for a little while. Maybe.
Update as much as you like mate, this is class :)
Hah, don't want you all getting bored too quickly! Got to keep the suspense up... lol
I know I said I was done for the updates but I just tested the rudder and thought I'd post a quick vid with the thrust vectoring as well... the led tail light is actually white not blue... that's an iPhone camera for you...
Freewing eurofighter rudder & thrust vector (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc9M7K1IO7M#ws)
Mebbe some flight suit details :P
(http://www.flightgear.dk/pic/eurofight_pilots.jpg)
Looking really good fella, and thanks for the link to those connectors, much obliged.
Im quickly running out of superlatives
love this build, keep it coming
Well, I managed to scare myself a bit today. I had time to do the second wing and so for the first time was able to put everything together... I had forgotten how big this damn thing is! looking at it as individual parts I had got used to it but seeing it all together really is a bit different.
It's got some real heft to it too... It should be around stock weight at the moment, although I currently lack scales accurate enough to verify it. I'm not worrying about flying it, I'm worrying about the first launch. Maidens are much less stressful when you can just take off from a nice tarmac strip! Tomorrow I might just try running it up and seeing how that greater than 1:1 ratio is coming along.
Anyway, some pics (and a beer bottle for some sense of scale!)... yes I need to mow the lawn. I can't build eurofighters and mow the lawn ya know.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8016/6993532272_a89bbaa51b_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8017/6993531994_28e0526eab_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7082/6993526664_be93892bfc_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7080/6993526956_32729201f3_c.jpg)
In the inimitable of words of Austin Powers
Yeah baby. Yeah!
Yeah, baby, yeah! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2HBdRCroks#)
In the words of Jeremy Clarkson, I think I'm having a crisis. :o
Beautiful.
lol, I love that quote.
So, note to self. Do not run up an EDF of this magnitude to full throttle in an enclosed space... my ears are still ringing.
However, with packs at empty (resting voltage of 3.7v, show at 20% on my charger) it had a little more than 1:1 initially, then slowly dropped over the course of about 10-15 seconds to just about being able to support itself.
That bodes well, at launch with fresh packs it should be groovy - will try it out tomorrow in the garden so my ears don't get assaulted again.
looks great mate, I love Heineken.
;) G
That was my last one... I can't afford any more cos I spent all my money on FPV kit :'(
lol.
Turns out I have quite a hot neighbour now in the flat above me who moved in a month or two ago... she heard the euro firing up and peeked over the balcony to have a look... she actually thought it was quite interesting. Something wrong there. When I showed the plane to my girlfriend she just said "it's too big" (not the only time she's said that ;) lol).
Anyway, took a video of the controls now that it's all capable of being put together. Set up the guardian too so that stabilisation can be switched on with the flick of a switch on the controller, the second half of the video shows the guardian at work. Gains are quite low so that I don't get a nasty surprise the first time I put it on in flight.
Eurofighter controls test.mov (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1HyYMBFkc#ws)
Also set up the OSD to activate RTH on signal loss, or manually by moving throttle trim right back with throttle at zero... obviously I need to wait till it's airborne to finally test and tweak it before activating it as default.
OMG
This is looking dangerously close to maiden time
DONT DO IT
Quote from: Zeeflyboy on May 04, 2012, 04:13:50 PM
hot neighbour now in the flat above
It's not true without evidence ;)
Looking rather good there matey!
Lol... No evidence I'm afraid.
I would love to say its close to maiden, but I still have quite a lot to do before I can even fly it, let alone finish it.
The big thing left are the main wing spars... The vendor is being a bit crap, but the stuff I want isn't very common place. I don't know when it'll be sorted and it's 50 quids worth of materials so I'm not especially keen to just re-order.
However, In good news I got a reply to a message I sent to Greg at fatshark... His new airFLO HD FPV camera should be formally announced and presented next week. I'm thinking it would be a great match for this project. Not much bigger than a regular CCD cam, records in HD while outputting 4:3 live out for the vTX.
eeflyboy up to now i have refrained from saying anything regarding your build, but as an avid scale modeller of many years experience I feel the need to comment :D
I am so impressed with your dedication to this project its been a real pleasure to see you progress through the build and your approach as been brilliently planned and brought together in a lovely model.
This sort of detail build i have experienced many times in models that stay firmly on the ground be it ships cars or even none flying models but to lavish this sort of detail in a fpv full flying model is something i really admire.
In my eyes you deserve every success with this project and i really do wish you all the luck in the world for your maiden and i,m so pleased to see your taking as many precautions as you can with her.
I look forward to your maiden vids and love the idea of flying with you when you show us all, once again good luck with her :D
dizzy
Very kind dizzy, but there's much to do yet!
My EZUHF just locked out on me earlier too and it's totally unresponsive. After chatting to sander briefly we determined it needs to go back...
Also been struggling with getting the ESC to initialise from the OSD Pro throttle out. It works fine direct from the rx, or from the ppm decoder up front, but from the osd pro it just refuses to initialise. I suspect it's something to do with endpoints, but my ezuhf crapped out before I could get to the bottom of it.
But never mind, life goes on and in the mean time I still have things to be doing!
Did a bit more work on my "avionics" bays...
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8142/6999634608_26287af12a_c.jpg)
And I also re-did my cockpit screens. They are now all genuine euro screens and I improved the print quality a bit. The one on the right I had to draw myself in photoshop as I could only find blurry low res pics of it.... Please excuse the rough and ready appearance, the pic is really just to show the screens!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7078/7146680287_7b5c492c34_c.jpg)
Tis a work of art, the attention to detail is incredible for an FPV airframe, love it :)
Quote from: Zeeflyboy on May 06, 2012, 02:41:12 AM
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7078/7146680287_7b5c492c34_c.jpg)
Now, it is sad to hear that it's going to be a while longer before the leccy stuff is all up and running... BUT ar eyou going to get the AHI working? :P
Looking very good, looking forward to more
The second thing that i thought of when looking at that instrument panel was that i once bought a keyring photo viewer that would fit in there perfectly. Granted the images were low quality but having a changing "screen" image would be really cool. You could also cycle the image at certain intervals which you could use to create animation type movement....
The first thing i thought was Wow, that is really cool, appreciate the amount of effort and attention put in there.
Very nice FD!
Tox
I actually recently looked at some of those keychain photo viewers - you can pick them up cheap from china.
The problem is even the smallest ones are a bit too big here...
And my bird is already starting to get porky - weighing in at around 2530g at the moment, still some things to do.
Err....ummm....guess who's not paying attention :) Oops.
Zeeflyboy! Great job...he he
Tox
Hah cheers
So, here's my tow hook to give me bungee capability
first I found a spot that is approximately 60% from nose to CG which is the recommended point for attaching the hook, and then proceeded to attack with a dremel.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8165/7002947732_d7ea834d0d_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7149038221_cd2d0b7180_c.jpg)
I then cut out a piece of plywood to size, and sacrificed a coat hangar to the gods of RC using some clippers. I epoxied this in place and then added two additional side rails, also epoxied in, and you can see a small L bend at the back to stop the pin being yanked out. I also drilled a few small holes to give the glue some extra grip.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8149/7002941810_24696bac67_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7137/7002941724_6eb1fe1802_c.jpg)
I then installed using gorilla glue and taped it in place while the glue foamed up.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7002936012_048d2eda3e_c.jpg)
Et voila, tow hook!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/7002935880_7bf54cf87c_c.jpg)
This area will be glassed over as part of the belly landing reinforcement work, so it'll get a huge strength boost from that. Hopefully with the addition of the glassing it'll prove to be strong enough! I will need around 10kg of force minimum to launch, although of course the hook won't ever see that kind of load since the eurofighter is free to move when the bungee is released so it should only ever have to overcome the inertia of the jet.
Edit - just weighed her and she is indeed getting a bit porky. Weighing in at just over 2,540g currently with everything! I've been toying with a very lightweight glassing all over using lightweight cloth and PU. Apparently it can be done for a penalty of around 100g on a model this size and it would greatly improve both the toughness and the appearance.... Not sure whether to do it or not!
I'm going to go and find out what kind of weight the guys are flying this model with... I suspect the quoted all up flying weight is with a very small battery.
So, the problem with delays is that I get ideas...
My carbon for the wings is finally in my possession, but I've not yet got to work on the main spars.
Today I tried out some light weight glassing using WBPU and lightweight 25gm cloth. I must say I'm impressed by how easy it is, how much it toughens up the foam, and how light too.
I started off with a canard to see how well it worked and how much weight it would add:
First I filled the gaps in the surface with lightweight filler and sanded it back taking off all the paint from the foam. I also took the opportunity to shape the canard a bit better with a nice sharper trailing edge... Then I covered it with a layer of the lightweight cloth and WBPU (almost invisible!)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/7185054254_0a27c27826_c.jpg)
Then using grey base paint I put on a few layers while sanding it back to get it smooth. Here it is in between coats and sanding so you can compare to the other canard (ignore colour, it's just a primer coat).
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7082/7185050012_03a65455bf_c.jpg)
And here's the final article, smooth and primed ready for a light final coat of whatever colour I choose in the end.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7216/7185044840_0761fc417c_c.jpg)
So how much weight did it add? 2.8g in total! 0.6g of that was the light weight filler, so the glassing itself was only 2.2g for the canard.
It's now completely resistant to the light knocks that dented the foam before, and while it's not as tough as a proper glassing, it is seriously light weight and a big improvement over bare foam.
Inspired by that I moved on to my dashboard.... filled and sanded to tidy it up:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5113/7185062190_0fbf71e397_c.jpg)
In the process of glassing:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7185058140_9ab7256df0_c.jpg)
And glassed, now awaiting some base coat/sanding etc.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7075/7185040332_8a18146206_c.jpg)
So, slow work this stuff now...
I have done a little more glassing, now have both canards, nose cone, dash and am close to getting the tail done.... obviously need to paint the dash and finish off the tail, so don't judge too harshly lol.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5459/7209398338_26cb69edc3_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8149/7209393816_026f208887_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7098/7209389444_5c45d12aa2_c.jpg)
I also started work on mounting my wing spars... here you can see one cut out with plywood cross braces inserted for a test fit.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/7209407450_9e327ca3b7_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7077/7209402906_8f0407d57f_c.jpg)
I then glued it all in place using gorilla glue, then topped it off with lightweight filler and sanded back to smooth. The spar is very solidly mounted indeed, I hope the tube mount in the plane comes out equally as strong! I will still be doing two per wing just to be safe. The problem is with two, the alignment is the most important bit - if these two spars aren't perfectly aligned with each other then wing insertion/removal will be incredibly difficult... I may have to come up with a simple jig to make sure they do end up aligned.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7225/7209444284_4e9fcfc84f_c.jpg)
And because I need to have something else to distract me since this clearly isn't a big enough project, here's what I've been putting together as well! I bought a turnigy talon v2 and have made some custom mounting plates for extra FPV gear.... plate for an EZUHF 8ch Diversity RX at the back, eLogger will go beneath the plate. On the right OSD Pro on the bottom of the plate and IMRC 5.8Ghz on top, on the left will go GPS. it makes a nice solid little quad actually - I was quite impressed with the build quality... anyway I know it's not really related but there we go...
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5239/7209412522_50b3b5c1cb_c.jpg)
Excellent work as usual, I am in awe.
However - I fear I must warn you that your quad probably won't fly very well at all without a propeller on each motor. The purpose of a propeller is to provide thrust, and in the case of a quad copter this also translates into lift from all four corners. Without lift you may struggle to get some aerial shots or indeed any fun out of your new project so my professional advice would be to install some forthwith. I hope this helps ;D
Thank goodness you were here...
I just spent hours wondering why it wasn't working. I had assumed it was because I haven't installed the EZUHF RX yet, but then I suspected it was due to the motors not being connected to the ESCs.... But now I know it's a much more simple problem, I forgot the propellers! What a dummy!!!
You have saved me many more hours of head scratching!
I love Gorilla Glue, it is undoubtedly now my favourite glue for general building stuff.
What type of filler are you using? How does it sand?
Looking very smart there dude :)
using the filler from jepe... seems just like other lightweight spackle type fillers I've used but it slightly more dense and harder when it dries (heavier though).
It sands very well indeed though, very easy and to a smooth surface.
So this afternoon I glassed the cockpit area... quite a slow job since it's quite a complex shape for sanding etc.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7239/7216748038_42ca05d918_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/7216742408_069e17fece_c.jpg)
I also did a bit more work on the dash... pretty much done now - just need to make a small screen for the bottom right and put in the HUD etc.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5072/7216760036_6ca273a057_c.jpg)
I may try to come up with a small locking mechanism for the canopy - after seeing rcexplorer's disappear after being held on by just magnets it'd be a shame for mine to do the same....
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8149/7233211246_cf967b7511_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7230/7233215220_838bcc0464_c.jpg)
That's the cockpit now completed IMO, although I did order a sony HAD II camera because I was so impressed with the video quality... that's the only thing that will change!
Words fail me with this build. I feel honoured to be watching it grow
So much attention to detail went into this I`d be scared stiff to try and fly it :)
thanks!
I will be a little apprehensive come the first launch for sure lol.
so my FPV blackbox arrived today... great little bit of kit!
I shot this quick little video to give an idea of the view.... The crappy image at the top is just a symptom of my crappy rx in the fatshark predators, I'm not overly bothered as I will be moving to an external rx soon anyway, and I've been flying with it like that for a long time on my other stuff so I've learned to ignore it lol.
This is still with the RCV922 camera - the HAD II on the way should have better light handling (will be using same lens, so FOV will be the same)
Eurofighter FPV cockpit view preview.m4v (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ5WAYVt38E#)
Please tell me you're using a head tracker for that ;D
Looks amazing!
in that video I'm not, but yes I will be for actual flight.
try twiddling the pan and tilt knobs while flying aerobatics - it's not easy lol. I think it works fine to use knobs/levers for slow/high alt planes where the flying isn't very intensive, but for this kind of thing you really need head tracking to make it functional.
That is WICKED!!! The attention to detail on the build so far is really shining through.
Just a thought, will you be recording video with the OSD on screen, just like that? Would be really nice to have that stripped out for an inflight view :)
Yeah, the only way around it would be to record onboard pre OSD.
I can however set up numerous OSD pages, including ones which are blank. That way I can flick to a blank page when I want to and it'll be a clear view.
I think the most intrusive thing though is just the "waiting for GPS fix" - once it gets a fix that goes away.
just another video, this time from outside...
Also shows the view without OSD for FD ;) (I made a blank page that I can cycle to for when I want to fly with unobstructed view).
got some interference lines that aren't there when inside - must be a neighbour on 5.8ghz network I guess and I can pick it up in the garden. Something like that anyway!
As you can see, the RCV922 doesn't really cope with the bright sky at all well, I look forward to my new camera arriving!
FPV cockpit 2 (outside).m4v (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wApHZxnbv9U#)
oooh, and check this out. Think I need to build myself one of these
Eurofighter catapult launch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlmGPxDD96c#ws)
So, sorry for the lack of updates, life has been in the way!
Alas not much progress has been made, but I am slowly nearing maiden-ready status...
So, what's new
I have been designing a catapult after seeing a chap on regroups who had come up with a great one. My initial sketches are below... the aim of this is to basically get a very powerful hand style launch, 100% repeatable and without me needing to try throwing a 1.5m long plane with goggles etc while holding a controller. It should also look firkin cool from the FPV perspective lol.
here are my rough sketches for my own design... it'll break down into 3 roughly 1m long pieces for transport and features a foot pedal release system.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7075/7294811546_a8b9274e0b_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7080/7294811850_9e8034bc6a_b.jpg)
other than that, I cooked up a strobe and nav light solution... very bright, visible even in the stonking sunlight today. I mainly wanted them for orientation at dusk if I had to take over visually, but they are actually bright enough to be seen in daylight too so that's a bonus! the camera doesn't quite capture the strobe, but does capture it's effects... take my word for it, the strobe is mega bright!
Eurofighter FPV project strobes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg-p24eQYfE#ws)
and finally, I fitted my sony HAD II camera... what a beauty. The sync issues I was having are completely gone, the image in my goggles is approximately 1 billion times better just as a result of that let alone anything else, the camera can now display the sky as well as the cockpit/ground, you can even see into the shadows and it avoids the extremely blurry edges and vignetting of the old camera despite using the same size 2.8mm lens... it got rid of some horizontal noise lines, and it even saved me some weight over the old cased camera...
I just can't recommend this camera enough... for just over $50 it's fantastic. It is slightly larger though so I had to come up with a special pan tilt arrangement. nothing difficult though.
Sony HAD II Testing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBZ6ReK9hBQ#)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7089/7294843832_8f183de732_c.jpg)
this is the exact camera if anyone is interested http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/600TVL-Sony-CCD-Wide-Dynamic-Range-Color-Board-Camera-OSD-Menu.html (http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/600TVL-Sony-CCD-Wide-Dynamic-Range-Color-Board-Camera-OSD-Menu.html)
right, that's it guys... I've crossed over the border.
I'm now officially totally insane.
I just took delivery of the first bits I need to build my launcher, and the thing is huge.... here it is laid out for an idea (sorry for crappy pic)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8014/7314072520_914ac79864_c.jpg)
You can just about make out the pulleys at the top where the bungees will loop over and back down to the other end. It's powder coated 25mm aluminium square tube in 1m long sections. It will be joined using steel core, plastic outer joiners which will also allow it to be broken down into three easy to transport sections.
Would anybody be interested in a separate proper build thread for this thing? I can document the build if it'll be of interest to anyone thinking they might want to do something similar.
I would! You're outdoing yourself with this thread, epic stuff :)
I`d be very happy with that camera too, fantastic picture from a $50 cam :)
Ok, a couple of people in various different corners of the web seem interested, so I'll try to document my launcher build a bit.
I'm afraid I think to make it worth my time I'd have to charge more than any sane person would be willing to pay lol. It's a labour of love, but it's taken it's sweet arse time.
Please do, I`m building a bungee launcher for the X8 so any tips for launching this way or 4kg + planes on them, I`m all ears :)
So been a messy chap this afternoon
Started work on the launcher...
Here I make the launch sled that rides up the rails... for this my first go I'm using MDF as it's fairly easy to work with. We'll see how it holds up, but I may replace it with 10mm ply if I need something tougher. It's a little heavy due to the choice of wood and I'll be using a hole saw to cut some big holes in it to lighten it up. I suspect a light (but tough!) sled is key to a durable launcher... faster acceleration for a better launch, less power needed on the bungees to overcome the mass, less impact from arresting the extra momentum at the end.
After working out a few measurements I cut my pieces:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7232/7338263694_dd52a0e6ce_c.jpg)
And then started putting it together with some neat little rollers I found in the big local DIY place...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7226/7338256512_301b4b4979_c.jpg)
Box put together:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8025/7338249484_5c0ae846a7_c.jpg)
with the face section (to better withstand impact at the end) and with a section of rail inserted to test the fit - it's good thankfully!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/7338231036_cafff89cb7_c.jpg)
Other than that, the intakes have been fibreglassed with proper resin rather than the lightweight WBPU as I need the extra strength here
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7242/7338216440_aab84735b5_c.jpg)
and I have started work on mounting the wing spars into the main body. I had to cut an access hatch into the belly so that I could install my aluminium wing tube and the plywood baffles that give them a string grip to the foam. These baffles are then epoxied in place, along with one on the outer side of the fuselage, and then once finished the cut out foam section is glued back in place (later to be smoothed out and glassed over).
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8014/7338237636_5bd85f7aba_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7094/7338243198_36d93dce9d_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7105/7338209598_b1cd959d50_b.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8165/7338224882_9c8353d7ac_c.jpg)
Now I have a small conundrum - I need dual spars in each wing to get the required strength (it may fly fine on one, but I want to feel safe pulling high G)... while the spars alone are immensely strong, they are in reality only as strong as the weakest link - the foam. I therefore need to spread the load out as much as possible. So what's the conundrum? If these two spars aren't perfectly aligned relative with each other, inserting the wing will be impossible. I have come up with a solution - using a pillar drill to drill two perfectly parallel holes in a block of wood at the right spacing, and then since one wing spar is already fixed in place I just lock it over the existing spar, and then glue the second spar in place... in theory this then gives me two spars that are perfectly aligned to each other.
So the problem - no pillar drill lol. Ebay has the answer however, and I always wanted one anyway so I went shopping! Hopefully that'll arrive by the end of the week or early next week.
And RCExplorer tried to do justice to his P51...
http://youtu.be/yqjepaX_j_4 (http://youtu.be/yqjepaX_j_4)
his top tip, make sure the cockpit is WELL secured
Yeah I've seen his video before, awesome crash lol.
I've already come up with a small screw at the front to lock in the canopy. Don't want to repeat his mistake!
I'm most excited about an offer I've had to go visit the real RAF Typhoons, even take some photos with mine and the slightly larger real ones next to each other... now i REALLY hope it doesn't go horribly wrong lol.
Anyway, the postman just arrived and very kindly handed me a small parcel. They say good things come in small packages, and they were right!
Sircana from circular wireless is truly an artist.... I've never seen such perfect antennas before. The only downside is that they now show up my eurofighter like the shoddy backyard shed DIY type work that it is lol. I still need to test them of course (may give them a quick run on my quad when I get the chance), but I can't possibly imagine how they could be anything other than brilliant.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7162637665_2016540e19_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8155/7347849396_b591a28cd0_c.jpg)
boy has skills!
Wow, those are some very pretty antennas. Prettiest I've seen.
You have two SPW antennas there. Isn't it normal to have a SPW (Rx) and a CL (Tx) as you get with the Blubeam set from IBCrazy (Alex)?
Paul - no flies on you!
Yes, that would be the traditional recommendation... You need to consider the reasons however. The clover leaf is easier to get a good SWR on, which means a more efficient antenna and less stress on your vTX. It is also slightly higher gain than the SPW, so slightly better range can be expected.
However, it doesn't have as uniform a radiation pattern as an SPW, hence the recommendation sometimes to have one lobe pointing forwards for strong video on the way back. A SPW has a much more uniform pattern which is really not dependant on orientation, and has a smaller null... Albeit at a the cost of slightly lower gain. You can just run a higher gain antenna on the ground however of course.
Given the above, for a relatively short/mid range aerobatic aircraft a SPW on the aircraft would seem to make sense. Just that SWR issue left to consider - thankfully sircana is a frikking antenna god and manages to build SPW with such low SWR ratios that it's a complete non issue.
Hope that explains the logic.
Skyscraper - I can see one possible flaw in your design (unless I missed anything)... Your sled will hit the cross bar pieces that hold the frame together.
My design was actually made with different planes in mind. The sled is merely the base unit if you like. It is made small (I'm actually going to cut it down substantially from the pics I posted) so you can keep the weight down thus reducing the power requirement.
You can then mount an "adaptor" plate to the sled itself to suit different aircraft. For example for my euro it will be a 50cmx25cmx0.5cm plywood plate with a tow hook ring at the front, which is then just screwed onto the sled.
For a wing, it could be a smaller plate with raised bars on which the wing can sit and still get prop clearance.
You get the idea. The sled is merely a small piece that rides the rails, the adaptor piece attaches to it and is made to suit the aircraft being launched.
Thanks for explaining your antenna choice.
I have to admit I find the whole SPW, CL thing quite baffling at the moment and your choice gave what little knowledge I had gleaned a slap in the face. Hence why I asked :) I never even knew about having a lobe point forward to make sure that video is stronger on your return journey.
The information about them is out there, there's just so much of it!
Anyhow, that's a enough thread derailment for now.
Beautiful, seriously :)
What are the dimensions of the helical (roughly)?
Tiny!
The base plate is 52mm diameter, the whole antenna from back of base plate to tip of helical is 92mm long and the helical section is 22mm diameter.
Quote from: Zeeflyboy on June 08, 2012, 12:06:20 AM
Skyscraper - I can see one possible flaw in your design (unless I missed anything)... Your sled will hit the cross bar pieces that hold the frame together.
My design was actually made with different planes in mind. The sled is merely the base unit if you like. It is made small (I'm actually going to cut it down substantially from the pics I posted) so you can keep the weight down thus reducing the power requirement.
You can then mount an "adaptor" plate to the sled itself to suit different aircraft. For example for my euro it will be a 50cmx25cmx0.5cm plywood plate with a tow hook ring at the front, which is then just screwed onto the sled.
For a wing, it could be a smaller plate with raised bars on which the wing can sit and still get prop clearance.
You get the idea. The sled is merely a small piece that rides the rails, the adaptor piece attaches to it and is made to suit the aircraft being launched.
Oh Yes Silly Me :-[
Deleted..
regards
Andy
Sweet, cheers :-)
no problem... I want to wait until I've flown with them before fully recommending them, but testing seems promising and they are so well made I can't imagine them disappointing.
well a couple of quick pics - sorry for the lower quality but they are iPhone snaps
So my new toy arrived:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7215/7357166660_d671386b41_c.jpg)
which then allowed me to drill my spar alignment jig (the fancy name I give my wudden stik wiv 2 'oles in it). I drilled it out with a 7mm drill bit, then used an 8mm reamer to get a perfect 8mm hole for a tight fit with the spar.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7095/7171950941_38615cebac_c.jpg)
Puuuuurfect! Lines up beautifully with my measured lines for a gross error check, cue smug face and girlfriend telling me I love myself too much.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/7357166176_1f7a08caf3_c.jpg)
And in case you're wondering, I didn't buy the drill press just for this one job... I've been wanting one for a while and it'll also find use in the catapult build, and many future builds!
Jealous of the pillar drill. I'd love one of those. I'd also like a workshop for it to go in too :)
Pillar drill is one of my favourite tools in my *ahem* "workshop".
I'd love the space for a CNC mill/cutter though.
One day when I'm aaaall grown up I'd like a workshop down the garden... CNC mill included.
Just got done setting the second wing tube into the fuselage for the right wing, and I am happy to say the "jig" worked perfectly!
The wing is easily inserted and removed, so everything must have lined up just right.
Very solid wing when mounted, If this doesn't hold up then nothing I could do would work I think!
Quote from: Zeeflyboy on June 10, 2012, 11:03:49 PM
Just got done setting the second wing tube into the fuselage for the right wing, and I am happy to say the "jig" worked perfectly!
The wing is easily inserted and removed, so everything must have lined up just right.
Very solid wing when mounted, If this doesn't hold up then nothing I could do would work I think!
Sweet man, what's left to do once you've got the other wing done?
Well...
- finish the other wing
- glass at least the belly and underside of wings (the rest, plus painting, can wait)
- few small bits and pieces (elevon control links, some connectors, wing retaining mechanism)
- build the catapult
- get ezuhf lite rx back from sander.
I've actually pretty much finished the catapult frames, all that's left is mounting the pulleys, bungee attachment points and the release mechanism.
Got a busy week or so ahead of me, so time will be limited, but hope to be able to finally say its maiden worthy withing the next 2 weeks or so. No idea when I will get the ezuhf rx back, but I do have a diversity rx I could possibly shoe horn in just for a test flight.
Get off the forum and get to work, slacker! We want to see it fly! ;D
:yeahthat:
I do apologise...
so I got a little build time today while the GF was watching corrie lol.... I will do a separate thread eventually with some more details but not until I've tested it and it's all working. Don't want to make a build thread for a useless massive paperweight!
So here's the business end - you can see the foam impact stops that the sled crashes into, the pulleys that the bungees loop round, and the leg mounts.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7212/7365576884_44f57093e6_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7242/7365579532_8324cd8a6c_c.jpg)
Cant wait for first flight:]
Managed to get some work on "Zeecatapult" done, and it's now almost in a beta state! As I say, I'll give many more details and pictures when I'm finished because I want to do some good testing and work out all the kinks first... but here's a little video I put together. Still need to just put in the launch pin, and come up with a foot pedal or similar for releasing it. I'll also have the front legs adjustable for more or less height as the situation requires.
You can see in the video how the catapult separates and fits together for easy transportation, then you just assemble! Takes about 3-5 mins to put together so far.
I'm pretty chuffed with how well it seems to be working so far - now you just need to picture the eurofighter on there... the big plate of ply you see at the beginning will mount to the top of the sled, and it has a small ring on a nylon strap that hooks under the eurofighter's tow hook. Then when the sled hits the buffers and stops, the ring goes forwards and falls off the hook and the euro carries on... upwards in theory lol.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7096/7385419674_065a157940_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7236/7385417776_617734a1d5_c.jpg)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5450/7385418764_b6ff5eeb4d_c.jpg)
and a video of it in action:
Catapult testing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MragbOnOTt8#ws)
Let me know your thoughts!
and just a few more pics
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7245/7386078102_bb1f839417_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7386082214_b0c1429af5_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7095/7386083352_4e70b761cc_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7222/7386080970_67409645b5_c.jpg)
I was at this point praying my retaining strap and pin would hold while I took the pics lol.
I think I'm having a crisis! :o
Damn that looks good.
haha, cheers.
So who wants to start a sweepstake on whether the launcher works? lol...
Only one way to find out :)
Stick a cat on it...
Have you got another plane of a similar weight to test it before the Eurofighter?
nah, I've been more into heli's the last couple of years.
The only planes I have left are a 50" Sebart Katana (similar weight, but I don't think it'll be particularly suited to launching unless I build a new adaptor plate, and that's just more delay!), and a UMX micro beast lol.
I think it'll have to be Steve's cat.
Double wing spars now all set in place, wings are feeling good. Now all that's left pre-maiden is a quick and dirty glassing of the belly and wings, sorting out the wing servo/light connectors and retaining mechanism, elevon servo linkages and then a quick check of CG and electronics.
Getting there chaps!
Here are a couple of pics where you can see how the wings fit... happy with how it's come out as it all lines up nicely. Hope it's all up to the job!
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/7388406182_4b9d1d4b1c_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7100/7388405068_5dfa6feffa_c.jpg)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5459/7388403964_be5cd73c07_c.jpg)
Looking pretty swish there. The catapult video did make me cackle, that moment where you'd pulled the catapult back and seemingly contemplating "is this going to go all very Peter Tong when I let go?"
Excellent machine there dude :)
lol, how did you know what I was thinking?
I was also wondering how far the sled would end up going if it didn't stop...
this eve I glassed and roughly painted a wing... still needs a sand/coat/sand/coat...
This stuff is really nice to work with - as you can see I even managed to keep panel lines where I wanted to... I think I'm slowly getting a bit better at glassing too, it's far from perfect but I think it's coming out reasonably!
You can also make out my Flytron strobes (crazy bright) and my little nav light led that I piggybacked onto the board.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5234/7410005372_ac8497a700_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/7410009890_5abea2fd68_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8019/7410007486_d777cfa2ef_c.jpg)
Only a little more to go.... sigh.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8162/7410003136_838dfe0ef6_c.jpg)
I've also found out something nice about this technique... while it's a lot tougher than just the foam on it's own, it's still easy to dent a little if you drop something heavy on it (like I did by accident lol). A little boiling water poured over the dent magically lifts it back out as though it were never there. I always used to use this technique on my foam models, but of course it never worked quite so well as the foam would always look a bit damaged. Here the layer of glass protects the foam and it just gets crushed... with boiling water it pops straight out and looks perfect.
very kind thanks.
I managed to give it's durability a real test yesterday... I stepped on the front on my tail because I had it off next to the plane and didn't see it as I picked the plane up and walked off. Unbelievable!
The front part below the APU intake was completely squished. Some boiling water poured over it for 20-30 seconds and it was almost back like new. A quick go over with some sand paper and a thin coat of paint, and you'd probably never know it happened. I'd say it passes the ruggedness test!
So, other than destroying my work, I've glassed the other wing and changed the servo connector over to my quick plug type. Both wings now flight ready (lacking a control rod in pics, hence the elevon position!)... just the belly left.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7125/7448071584_71f2262622_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7448072694_ab36d8554e_c.jpg)
And, I've been wondering how best to make a small foot pedal release for the catapult that can be removed for storage, and doesn't mind what angle the ramp is at (since the angle is adjustable). I was walking around the hardware store the other day and I suddenly stopped and laughed... there was a MASSIVE oversized novelty clothes peg on the shelf and I had been hit with a moment of inspiration!
As it happens, it's perfect with a few little mods (please excuse the rough and ready appearance, it's just proof of concept thus far lol). The sprung nature also means it's very difficult for it to be depressed accidentally. Works great! Who would have thought... a clothes peg.... Crazy...
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8149/7448176336_e9646e4872_c.jpg)
quick video (this end could do with being pegged down I think).
Foot release pedal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmxsINmd4g8#ws)
So what's left before maiden? Postman needs to deliver my EZUHF rx and my new higher powered bungees, I then need to run through some electronics setup again and make sure it's all working correctly. I also need to fit some wing retaining screws, Glass the belly, then go fly!
That's the biggest friggin clothes peg I've ever seen!
Nice work
Wouldn't like to meet the lady who's pants require a clothes peg that big ... :o
Nice work Zee, I really can't wait to see this bird fly.
I've run a few tests today with my new bungees and it all looks pretty good! The release mechanism, while simple, works just perfectly every time... the power looks pretty good too, It's certainly going to launch it with more speed than you could ever hope to accomplish with the most powerful hand launch.
So we're getting there gentlemen! I'm hoping to get the rest of the minimum necessary glassing done over the next few days, the replacement EZUHF rx should hopefully arrive in short order, and then we're getting very close to maiden time with just a few odds and sods to sort out before hand... I'm getting excited!
Still no EZUHF... fingers crossed for next week. It was posted about 10 days ago so it really should be here, last time I got something from holland though it took a good 2 weeks to come :(
Anyway, it's been raining all day and rather than do something productive I decided to do some work on the euro....
she's all glassssssed up baby! Here she is waiting for some tidying up... still lots of sanding and filling and sanding and painting to do!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7265/7480836712_260796a836_c.jpg)
Looking v. good and in a way I am pleased to report it looks like there's going to be a lot of rain showers next week, so I look forward to seeing further build progress quite soon !!
Haha, yeah it's not looking good out here in Geneva either.
And just a little bit more work done on the fuse... looks much tidier than it did before when it was a mess of plywood and foam!
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7482599764_a5b1dc8d8a_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7482598276_01be9436d8_c.jpg)
I probably won't bother getting the finish any better than this before I do the first flight, just in case it goes home in a bin bag....
Geneva ! Oh then don't plan for your maiden to be anywhere near the Lake !
Seriously - your plane is so special - Have you thought of fitting a servo operated parachute for use in a total component failure ?
Do you know I actually did!
Attach a parachute recovery system to the CG, but dismissed it due to extra weight and complexity. I was thinking about using a small co2 canister to deploy it...
Instead I've just gone with the most reliable components I can reasonably afford. I also have some redundancy - eg if my super fancy and expensive kontronik ESC blows, or something else happens to interrupt power, I have a tiny 210mah nimh buffer pack that will provide power to land. It remains constantly charged up by the ESC during normal operation.
I also changed out all the no name servos for better spec and hopefully more reliable ones, even changing out the thrust vector servos...
I think if she goes down (apart from due to a launch failure) it will be operator error that will be the most likely cause! Once it's all up and running it'll have RTH enabled too. It's not that I'm expecting to fly out of range (definitely not with my EZUHF I should hope!) but that will be my safety net for a video system failure.
Like a lot of other people, I genuinely await the next installment of this project's progress.
Cheers
Well, still no sign of my EZUHF, the postman must hate me :( I've been getting on with a few little bits and bobs and the number of things on my to-do list is dwindling fast! Most of what remains I need to wait for the EZUHF to arrive before I can get on with it.
Anyway while waiting for some paint to dry I decide to finish off my new "super simple" ground station...
I figure it's time I move up from simply using the built in rx on the goggles - I find my head always drifts down when wearing them and it exposes the null of the antenna to the aircraft a lot...
So, here it is! I'm hesitant to even call it a ground station, but I don't know what else you'd call it.... It simply consists of a 5800 uno with one of sircanas lovely antennas on it, a bit of plywood to make a case, a voltage indicator for the Lipo and a BEC to provide 5v to the FPV blackbox recorder. That's then all attached to a lighting stand which can be adjusted from pretty low to 2.8m high. All running from a 2S 4000mah hard case Lipo, although I've left it very easy to change batteries, size is almost irrelevant.
Video cables have been cut and turned into 4 pole 3.5mm jacks to match the immersion and fatshark in/outs with less clutter... I need to make some long video cables next for the full height extension!
Let me know what you think!
All folded up, convenient tripod type size (albeit a bit taller) to fit in a camera bag rucksack.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7493852498_b0847dd0cf_c.jpg)
Deployed at normal height
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8422/7493851244_bf47be339f_c.jpg)
Close up... on the rear you can see that I've set connectors for the battery and the uno into the back of the case for convenience. Lipo monitor can be set for both 2S and 3S Lipos.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7257/7493850722_d600863683_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8434/7493850136_93f352288c_c.jpg)
And fully extended
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7493853154_d6d9e95615_c.jpg)
I may add a 3.5mm 4 pole plug to 3.5mm 4 pole plug in the unit, and perhaps see if I can squeeze a video splitter in there so I can have two outputs for another set of goggles... always something...
....And I've just finished setting in my wing retaining screws and corresponding captive nut in the fuse... I can hang the euro from the wing and shake and it stays put lol, hopefully that'll do!
I've also set the wing servo connectors into the wing, so they now automatically get hooked up when plugging/unplugging the wing.
So other than tidying up which doesn't need to hold back a maiden, I'm now all set on the construction front. Just waiting on the EZUHF to get the electronics set up, then check CG and make a little mount for the rearward battery once CG is established.
...exciting times!
So, the launcher v1 is pretty much complete! Check out the AWESOME POOOOWWWWEEEERRRR lol.... if this can't launch my euro then I'm sod out of luck. I just need to add a cross brace between the front legs, and some pegs to drive into the ground at the back.
According to my elongation chart (still haven't found a baggage scale in the shops) I have about 16kg of tension on the lines at full stretch, and 8kg at the top. That makes for an average of 12kg throughout the launch... according to my sums to launch at 25mph with no thrust at all I only need 8kg throughout the launch. Should be fun!
Eurofighter FPV Project - catapult.mov (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukNMjaR6N_U#ws)
Monkey tests the Catapult.... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6zYGeuCkiM#)
This thing is going to blow me away if it works. Can't wait.
IF lol...
I love your confidence, unfortunately I share some of the same doubts :o
The test monkey reports back that it was like the hands of god himself were pushing him back in his seat, such was the power of his acceleration and now requests a day off ;D
Launch catapult ?? Looked more like a Howitzer artillery piece being fired
:D :D
No no, I think it will work ... it's just always scary maidening something as you don't know how it's going to handle once it's up there.. the fact that you have so much time, money and workmanship in this makes it even more daunting.
Having said that, if it ends up as splinters of wood and tears I guarantee you'll get a million hits on YouTube, so get some ads running :D
lol, my friend suggested I should rig it with some small explosives for the maiden...
Then if it goes, it goes with a bang fitting of the work and time put into it lol. Something spectacular!
I pointed out I'd rather save all the very expensive electronics for another go...
Still no sign of the EZUHf which makes me a sad boy. Ive been using my diversity rx today to do some setup and if i get impatient i may have to modify the plane to make the diversity fit - im going on holiday at the end of next week, so if it doesnt fly before then it wont fly until towards the end of july!
So anyway, while running through setup ive been getting pissed off at my eagletree kit. The throttle initialisation problem is still there (although perhaps this isn't eagletree directly but more how my kontronik deals with it... It'll initialise directly from the ezuhf but not from the osd pro... Not a problem really I guess, just means I need to run a wire to the ezuhf directly for throttle and forgo any RTH or throttle based ability of the OSD.
But then while running through setup, I have the g force meter jumping up and down from 0.9 to 1.5 just sat on the ground and the AHI jumps up and down too. This wasnt happening before, and nothing has changed in the setup so im a bit stumped. Nothing has got rid of it so far, including stripping it all back to basics... My airspeed also jumps from zero to 5mph sitting inside in the still air, but it was doing that before. Perhaps this is standard.
So anyway, I'm saying **** it - i'm getting the rvosd 5. Sander is going to laugh his arse off....
Since I don't need the guardian ahi or g-force (or indeed anything except the elevon mixing and ppm decoding of the osd pro) for basic 3rd person flight I can still maiden LOS as is, so won't need to delay for the rvosd.
EDIT - just done some testing... Fully glassed she now weighs a porky 2.9kg including the slightly heavier gens ace packs. I just gave them a full throttle run though (i've run just the signal wire back to the EZUHF) and they perform much better than the more expensive and almost double C rated flightpower packs... it maintains a good 1:1 thrust ratio even at 2.9kg and it doesn't drop off quickly like the flightpowers (which struggled to maintain 1:1 after a few seconds - even before glassing and adding the wing spars). Thrust vectoring at full throttle has a huge amount of control authority, which is nice! After a good run at full pelt the packs are just barely warm too, the flightpowers were hot despite being rated at 45C vs 25C of the gens ace. That'll teach me... Stick with what you know! Perhaps the flightpowers can find a less demanding home in my quad now that I'm changing that over to 4S...
Double edit - batteries nice and firmly installed, CG seems spot on the recommended point, all controls working as expected... and I installed the diversity rx.
Could it be time for a maiden? I need a drink...
I just flew it, and I'm buzzzzzzzzing!
There's good news and there's bad news, but overall I would say I'm a happy choppy - I'll expand later when I'm back!
Congratulations.
Looking forward to the video if you took one :)
I want to laugh and I want to cry...
Right, just got back from the field....
So, what happened? The launcher worked perfectly! As it happens I actually pulled up to much expecting to need a bit of up elevator but it didn't need it.... and as such it didn't look very tidy. Next launch I will not pull up much at all methinks (yes, that's right, there will be a next launch!). Anyway, despite my error it got up on step easily and didn't need so much as a spot of trim.
It flies wonderfully, even at 2.9kg. So stable it's ridiculous, fantastic slow speed stability and some great manoeuvrability from as much as I pushed it during the maiden...
So what went wrong?
Two things....
First, I only have a 34mb corrupt file on my video recorder. This makes me want to cry.... can anyone help me recover it? It seems my recorder took a dump for some reason during the flight (don't know why, worked fine with my quad and it records through static so should have been fine....). At 34mb it seems fairly early on but maybe there's some footage on there if it can be rescued. I do have some iPhone video of the flight and I'll edit that down into a quick video for you guys, but no cockpit view I'm afraid :(
Second bit of bad news, I had an enormous field to land in, and in this field there was a very thin electric fence that I hadn't seen in the setting sun. Of course, as according the law of the sod, upon landing my euro hit a fence post with the wing. It's like drowning in a puddle in the desert... :censored: .
So, my wing is a bit :censored: up. It held up very well in general, no damage to the spars and it's only a section of the leading edge that needs to be fixed. I think I'll be able to strip back the glass just around the area, repair the foam and then glass over the top again. If not, I'll buy a new wing and cut out the affected section for a cut and shut job (easier than re-doing spars, wing servos, lights etc).
I'm confident that I'll get it looking as good as new (almost at least!), but in the mean time I'm going to make a temporary repair so I can get up in the air again asap and try to get a flight recording again.
Give me a bit of time to cut down the video and I'll post it here later.
Awesome stuff - seriously though, hope you get it fixed, it's always stupid things that spoil an otherwise successful outing.
Well done for having the balls to fire her skywards :)
the vlc player is pretty good at playing video files that won't play in others.
http://www.videolan.org/index.html (http://www.videolan.org/index.html)
you're right, vlc does play it but it cuts out before launch.... TITS!!!!
excess g-force?
no, it happens before I even pick it up to put it on the ramp - the recorder just cuts.
Anyway, here's the maiden - I suggest 720p and full screen!
Commentary from my mate Seb! lol... It flew beautifully, bags of power and stable at both high and low speed. Shame about the wing!
Eurofighter Maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DknO54_Z8Lk#ws)
Man that thing looks sweeeeeeet.
Looks like you're gonna have to be flat out though for FPV, otherwise you'll be looking skyward due to the high alpha....
Yeah it's a disadvantage of the delta wings.. they do fly at a fairly high alpha.
That said, the majority of those passes were at about 60% throttle and it's fairly flat, it's only when you slow right down that the nose picks up a lot. That is one reason why I have pan/tilt though! When I slow down I'll just tilt down the camera. It would have been nice to see the viewpoint
Wow. That looks cool! Very impressive. Looks pretty quick too.
Nice One.
Looking forward to the fpv view now!
regards
Andy
Oh yes ! Finally some air time :) It looks fantastic, really nice :)
It seemed to catch the top of the launcher for just that split second, my heart would have fluttered about then lol
yeah it's funny lol...
if you watch it in super slow motion the launcher flexes downwards during the pull which makes the euro nose up to quite a high attitude. Then just as the sled hits the launcher flexes upwards and taps the bum up correcting the attitude to a more reasonable level.
Then my ill advised back elevator kicks in and nearly stalls the thing lol. Thank goodness for ridiculous amounts of thrust.
EDIT - just checked over my plane and realised I never fitted the wing retainer screws... The wings were being held on by the spars and magnets alone. Holy crap that was lucky!
lol.... after all that preparation :o
You need a checklist!
Hi there I've watched this post for 2 weeks now (I know you been doing your project since march) but its been a novel of trial, tribulation and love. Today is the first time I've seen you use a swear word and I take my hat off to you Sir. I've enjoyed every minute of your build but shiX happens. Unfortunately to you. Every respect m8 on so many different levels.
Cant wait for the next one. If it works Ill swear for you. As will we all.
I think I'm having another crisis.
Man that thing is sexy in the air.
Congratulations on the LOS maiden.
Thanks guys, very kind as ever!
Hope to get you a cockpit view video soon. I doubt I'll be ready to actually fly FPV with it until I get back from holiday though, I want to test everything thoroughly first, and as I alluded to I may switch to RVOSD 5.
The switch would also free up a channel either for gear or rssi/link quality which would be nice.
very cool plane
@Zeeflyboy
At various points in the build you expressed concern that the plane might finish up being overweight.
From what I can see on your maiden the top speed looks perfectly scale-like acceptable.
To continue to keep us all entertained - can we now expect further build posts re: fitting retracts ???
Yes, I believe it will be tricky, and i dont intend to land FPV for some time... With gear it'd be a little easier as you could carry more speed. Although the same applies to the real plane so if they can do it......
The cockpit does actually have a good few degrees of "tilt" built in - its level while the wings have about 5ish degrees, so that helps.
Wg - The build continues... Once ive fixed the wing I have some tidying up to do, I want to make a custom fibreglass turtle deck cover and covers for the vTX etc... Then i shall be printing my own decals to do it up in an RAF scheme.
Since I do have a very nice set of electric retracts it would be a shame not to have the ability to use them - I have infact already ordered some more connectors à la canopy and wing to make some self-connecting gear units. No point carrying the weight around generally, but if they can be fitted within a couple of minutes, why not have the option!
Great - so I will eagerly await further developments.
Good to hear!
The wing repair is coming along quite nicely, The damage went a bit further back than it first appeared and so I'm having to re-do panel lines etc too.
I used a combination of boiling water to re-expand and help bend the foam back into shape, some gorilla glue to stick it back in place and fill some small gaps, then finally a mix of blended (yes, blended in a blender lol) polystyrene and gorilla glue to create a lightweight foaming filler to fill the remaing large gaps.
All that was then cut and sanded roughly into shape, I recut panel lines using a sharp knife, and then covered it in lightweight filler. I sanded that back and am now on my second coat waiting for it to dry... hopefully once this coat is done it'll be nice and smooth and ready for some glassing over the top.
I'm fairly confident it'll be a seamless repair once done!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7109/7525863024_d000176145_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8421/7525863540_f21b3ed9a1_c.jpg)
I hope I don't have to do this after every blooming outing!
Right, repair from my maiden is going well...
All smoothed down, panel lines restored and ready for re-glassing. I'm fairly confident this will be more or less un-noticeable once done. Phew!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7526792554_3aa72c6913_c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7247/7526793262_0c165b891d_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8283/7526794062_6830f95345_c.jpg)
So, final repair complete... It's not 100% perfect but I'm fairly happy! I think you would't know the trauma the wing had endured by looking at it, and only by looking very closely would you know anything had happened at all. The panel lines give it away really, they aren't quite perfect. Importantly though the leading edge is nice and straight, the curve is the right shape etc so it should work nicely.
Hopefully I don't need to do another repair for a while!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7253/7527997958_e127d06a14_c.jpg)
Great to see it fling at last, great build well don.
;) G
The next time I crash mine, I'll know who to send it to for 'straightening' !!
I had a fling once but thats onother topic ha.
Welcome to the forum Bowerz
Well done mate its a fantastic achievment to build something like that and have it all work first go.
Thanks guys!
I've been testing my video recorder, and I think it cut off due to me not having the battery fitted - it was only being supplied by the external power connection. I've tried recording with the battery fitted and it seems to behave.
Perhaps it needs the battery regardless of external power.
I moved and updated my OSD, then spent hours figuring out why I wasn't getting video. Turns out a solder join on the video line had broken! Always check the simple things first...
So, wing repaired... Recorder working.... She's ready for, shall we say the "second" maiden lol. The first one was only a partial success so we'll try a take 2!
Now I just need to find time to go fly.
EDIT - So, just recorded a whole pack through the recorder and it worked fine. I'm getting some ESC interference (horizontal lines in the recording) despite being filtered, so I'll have to check into that. It's not a deal breaker though so I'll be hoping to get some footage this evening.
Double edit - Ive managed to remove the bulk of the ESC noise by running the camera ground through the IMRC tx rather than the OSD. So now I only have video passing through the OSD, but it's not a problem because it's all on common ground anyway. Happy days. The only problem I have left is that my microphone is uber quiet.... bizarre.
Here's a quick vid you can just hear the motor if you listen carefully... it's an adjustable volume amplified microphone, and i've tried it at both high and low level... bizarre.
Eurofighter FPV project voltage warning test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh5aB7pFE-o#)
I already got a reply from readymade who have suggested a fix, I'll try it out later. Apparently there are some settings I can play with in the OSD.
I've got something a bit special to show you guys... it'll take a while to process and then upload though.
Here's a taster
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7537051346_9d3e0fde39_z.jpg)
That looks very much like the earth. Please tell me it pulled out.
:o :respekt:
How much longer?
14 minutes remaining :-X
Eurofighter FPV maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPlWho3KJHY#ws)
Took some damage unfortunately, but nothing that won't buff out lol.
edit - just finished charging the lipos and put back in almost exactly 2900mah - the current gauge is pretty much bang on. That's good to know!
Having. A. Crisis.
Mate that thing looks incredible *clap clap*
Love everything about it.
Thanks Steve, came out alright didn't it!
I'm pretty happy, just need to work on my landings lol. That's two outings and two crashes...
So I sent the link to my dad and he asked of its okay for him to send it to someone he knows who would like it...
No problemo... Except the guy is the CEO of QinetiQ... yikes!
I can't decide if it's a good idea or not lol. What do you guys think?
talking never hurts.
True, and it's all conducted within the rules so to speak... So why not I suppose!
Apart from a 30ft level bust at one point lol. It's very easy to go through 400ft when pointing straight up!
Wow! Brilliant :P
Goes like **** dont it !
regards
Andy
Yes, it has a fairly speedy disposition!
Here's what a pitot looks like after it snags at 50mph... think I'll be needing a new one!
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7542104094_7c160bbcc8_c.jpg)
and I forgot to share this, here's all my kit bundled up and ready to go to the field. Not bad for a 3m catapult, 2.8m ground station and antenna mast, and a 1.5m jet!
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8146/7542103342_ce1eb456f7_c.jpg)
Quote from: Zeeflyboy on July 10, 2012, 12:36:00 PM
and I forgot to share this, here's all my kit bundled up and ready to go to the field. Not bad for a 3m catapult, 2.8m ground station and antenna mast, and a 1.5m jet!
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8146/7542103342_ce1eb456f7_c.jpg)
Looks nice and compact.
FWIW I plan to put some golf cart wheels on my launch ramp and make it double as a trolley for getting the gear and the planes to the launch site :)
regards
Andy
Absolutely brilliant plane and it flew very well. :)
Well done!
Zeeflyboy even QinetiQ boys are allowed to have fun ya know :o
Absolutely such a great flight, am soo soo jealous. That think fly's like it has the mass of a big bird too.
Stunning.
Dan
wow!!! :o :o
really impressed... been watching the build and waiting....
that really was a great fpv maiden!!! and an awesome view from the cockpit!
looks like its a bit 'fast and furious' though ;D
bet it covers 500m quick, and TURN!
really well done mate!
do we have a new contender for the front page airframe????
simon.
Thanks! Yeah it's like greased weasel s@&t! Going to take some practice to get it flying nice and smooth...
So, if I remember correctly someone said my euro needed some details, and they were right of course - plain grey sucks. So, I will be adding decals later for an RAF/Zeeflyboy style scheme but for now I decided to try out a bit of weathering. Never done it before but there's always a first time for everything! A military aircraft shouldn't look all clean and perfect after all...
here's my first bit of work on it (only done the right half so far), I think it looks pretty cool! What do you guys think? I need to find a gunmetal silver paint for the exhaust stack...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7279/7554820122_d37c5e6273_c.jpg)
The keen eyed among you may notice the lack of a nose... that's where the pitot got ripped out on landing and I have cut it back in order to surgically graft on a new schnozzola
I've finished the weathering... now I just need to fab some covers for the bays, get some nice gunmetal paint for the rear of the plane and the exhaust nozzles, and print out some decals.
Should I go with scale style decals or something more interesting? Some fancy tail art or a simple squadron badge? let me know your thoughts!
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/7556907202_5a2a7c25e7_c.jpg)
So back from holiday and work begins on refitting the euro!
my RVOSD 5 arrived, really nice looking bit of kit I must say... You can see here as well where I have soldered on the wires for the Airspeed unit and then re-covered it again with heat shrink. I'm using the MPXV7002DP kit from diy drones.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7649470530_4d15726c65_c.jpg)
As mentioned, the RVOSD is limited to 30v, so my 8S system is too much for it. Here is my wiring harness with current sensor between the two batteries to provide half the voltage to the sensor and RVOSD yet still give correct current readings. I also added the 4S pick up lead for the IMRC vTX, with the positive downstream of the current sensor shunt so as to include it in the mah readings.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7649471748_4a52366623_c.jpg)
And here is the RVOSD installed with double sided foam tape on a grey foam insert that has been shaped to fit a cutout in the fuselage. as you can see this then fits nicely inside the middle of the fuse and sits almost directly over the CG give or take a couple of inches. Hopefully the foam mount will cut vibrations to the unit too...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7253/7649472432_c1e666f572_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8161/7649472888_b712ff3ae3_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7649473390_53fc50c190_c.jpg)
After my damage to the nose I have also started repairing it, which involved cutting the whole tip off and rebuilding it along with a new pitot... I then stuck the nose back on and am in the process of putting it all back to sexy.... you might also note the presence of a nose wheel!
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7118/7649473812_2ba46b865d_c.jpg)
Here's a quick look at the retracts.... need to do a little tweaking on the nose gear door and then glue/paint etc.
I'm hoping to have enough space to cut out the wheel wheel to fit straight struts for the rear, but it may infringe on the ducting. Gear doors would be nice to add for the mains too.
First look - retracts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwl7ERLTlQs#ws)
Very very nice - suspension?
yup, quite good suspension in fact... probably a good thing!
Anyone here rocking the RVOSD? I'm having some issues....
So, one problem solved regarding the current sensor... anyone got any ideas about these other things?
Why am I a good thousand feet below the sea amongst the giant squid and funny looking jelly things? Why can't I get my AHI to sit level? The unit itself is installed level in the plane!
RVOSD problem setting AHI neutral (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwW17XfUVF8#)
So, Range video are replacing my RVOSD for me :)
anyway
Thought you guys might like to see my in progress retract modifications
As mentioned, I didn't like the dog leg struts - I thought they looked a bit pants, and the real one has straight struts. So.... I ordered some suspension straight leg struts from hobbyking for a little over $10 (bargain!!)...
So the only real issue was that they take a 5mm pin and the landing gear has a 4mm pin... I chucked the pin into my pillar drill and used a file to step it down to 4mm... I then inserted the 4mm length into the retract and job done!
This mod has a couple of advantages besides cosmetics - this eurofighter can be tricky to rotate on take off, it likes to stay sucked to the ground. These struts are about 0.5cm shorter than the stock ones, and thus give the euro a little more angle of attack during the takeoff roll. They also move the pivot point of the wheels slightly closer to the CG, meaning less force is needed to pitch up the nose during the rotate.... They also have the happy advantage of being able to be pulled straight out of the fuselage while retracted - a big plus for my removable wings!
Here you can see how the straight leg compares to the dog leg - as you can see it does move the wheel a bit further forward which should really help with those rotations! I just cut a little foam here to allow the retract to fully close. Note the thickness of the strut compared to the stock ones - it matches the nose wheel strut much better and looks far more coherent as a result.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8153/7692278212_548c633b91_c.jpg)
And here I am starting work on the gear door mechanism. You can see my 3g servo hiding just inside the hollow space in the fuselage, which then will connect to the door hinge.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8013/7692274494_632f85ccce_c.jpg)
And here's a video of the door in operation
Gear door WIP (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpqMg8alJ8M#ws)
A great build. You are a master crafter! :nicethread:
thanks :o
So unfortunately work has been hectic and I have had almost zero time to get anything else done...
Small things however!
I have installed my replacement RVOSD and both the current sensor and AHI seem to be behaving themselves this time... that is good news! Still have to program it all up and do a few wires runs etc. I did however add a shielded cable for RVOSD to vTX as well as cam to RVOSD (the black and grey wires you see above the RVOSD).
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7106/7759121278_42827f1fb9_c.jpg)
I also fitted an Emcotec magnetic switch. Now I Love this thing - basically it means I can hook up my batteries, install the canopy and then when I'm ready to go I just pop out the little flag and the whole system comes live. No sparks, no fuss and peak 120A handling from the switch. Very handy given the need for the RVOSD to be kept still for 30 seconds after powering up and to prevent any issues from connecting the camera or ppm decoder after power up.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7759119814_a102068ae1_c.jpg)
And finally I made myself a fibreglass cover for the vTX bay. I have now completely sealed in the vTX so that the bay is isolated from the rest of the interior.. I then cut a hole into the main duct system just at the back and beneath the vTX itself which is suspended so neither the top nor bottom are touching any surface... I then cut two slits in my fibreglass cover.
When the engine spools up, air is drawn through these two slits, over and under the vTX and then out through the exhaust into the duct.... hopefully keeping it all cool.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7759120514_8fc7def455_c.jpg)
Other than that, I've done a little more work on the retracts and gear doors... still some work to do on that, mostly wiring. Hopefully not long before it's at least operational again!
Any updates on this?
Was really interested in this!
Liam
I assume you saw the maiden FPV video?
Not much to report at the moment, life has been too busy. I wasted a lot of time trying to get RVOSD to work properly with my HV setup, but in the end I gave up... I've now re-installed eagletree, although I took the opportunity to improve the install.
I'm also very happy to say that Bill at eagletree managed to sort out my problem with the ESC arming from the OSD pro. He managed to track down a bug where in sppm mode the OSD would start outputting 33ms frame rate... He sent me an updated software version et voila! It now works flawlessly. The main reason for ditching the eagle tree was that I couldn't get that working... I also had a chat with him about some features I'd like to see and he seemed to like my ideas. Firstly, custom sppm alerts... since the OSD sees all channels in the SPPM stream, you can set up a monitor system that will produce a text alert when any given channel reaches a certain value. Eg gear down when the gear channel is flicked, flap 1, flap 2 etc etc. Secondly I asked for a more advanced AHI and he seemed to think it would be fairly trivial to add.
Really impressed with eagletree currently, great customer service and interaction.
Anyway, I'm almost done with the re-installation... Just replacing a burnt out retract now and then I need to finish the nose gear door, steering linkage, and the starboard main gear door. Should be back up and flying soon enough now.
I also bought a new cockpit which I will be using to make a mold for attempting to pull some canopies.
However, I've also started ordering the parts for my new project... Unfortunately I think it's going to make this one seem cheap by comparison. I'm really excited about the next one, as it'll be really something quite special I think, assuming I can pull it off!
good question!
The plane is pretty much ready to go again, although due to a lack of linkages the gear doors aren't finished lol. Now it's just finding the time to go somewhere I can use it. For the first go with the gear I really want a BIG runway for takeoff since I don't know how long a run it'll need and an even bigger one so I can't miss on landing lol.
There's a supermarket about 15 mins away that has a huge car park that backs on to massive empty fields that fits the bill, but it's only closed on sundays. Unfortunately I'm working most sundays this month.
My next project will be addressing this issue lol.
;D
Caveat: what if some arse decides to park on your landing spot while you're in the air ... :o
I had that when I was flying off an unlisted road in the middle of nowhere, some guy comes along in his car and decides to stop and watch right where I'm coming in to land. Had to divert into the hedges and snapped the nose off, I was pissed!
And that was only a cheapy WildHawk, not a ££££ beauty of a plane :)
Any cricket fields nearby? Or, *cough* a bowling green? ;D
hence why I'll only go there on a sunday when it's closed lol... even if a load of people suddenly did decide to park there for some reason it shouldn't be an issue since I could use the perimeter road for take off (one north/south and one east/west - perfect!) see the attached pic for reference.
There is also a very, very big car park just by the bottom of a ski lift, it's unused at this time of year and has some mighty fine views, also attached.
oh, and just while I'm posting anyway....
I wasn't happy with how the batteries were being held, so after making sure the CG was looking sensible I decided to mount them a bit better. On my two "arrivals" the batteries were slammed forwards causing some minor damage to the battery stop.
I wrapped them in cling film and then made a mix out of broken up packaging polystyrene balls and gorilla glue with a dash of water. This is super duper mega ultra uber light weight, but pretty strong.
Pasted the mix into place and then pressed the batteries home into their position and allowed it all to foam up and fill in the gaps while keeping an eye on it to make sure it didn't go places it shouldn't or completely envelop the bay lol.
Then just removed the batteies, cut it back to shape at the top et voila! Custom molded battery bays! I was going to use a spot of velcro along the outer edeg to hold them in, but it seems with the foam wedge even holding it upside down and shaking it won't get them to budge... should be fine.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8030/7943060922_06f4118921_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/7943066280_9a61dce984_c.jpg)
oh, and here you can see the covers in place, my improved odd/elogger installation and the ASI/Alt up front. I move the ASI up her so that i could keep the static and pitot pressure lines as short as possible to try and correct the slightly low readings i was getting.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8170/7943215560_4ea0806b6e_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7943211966_782a63d23a_c.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8036/7943207444_ace8ef6116_c.jpg)