Ritewing Mini Zephyr build (oh no.. not another one!)

[stevec]

Hi All,

I bought a Mini Zephyr kit from Simon @ Flybys on here.

as there isn't much info on here for Wing Newb's I thought I'd post a build thread... not sure on how quickly it will go along but I'll update as I go.

I want to use this for FPV so it will have a basic FPV setup on it. I may stretch it to use an OSD I'll see what the weight is looking like.

so first things first where is the stuff going to go?

I want the Vtx on one wing tip and the Rx on the other I didn't like the idea of slotting the wing then jamming it in with a screwdriver so I had a think.

I settled on using a carbon tube. I figured the tube will act as a spar. and with the wires inside it I should get minimal RF noise from it as the Carbon suppresses the radio signals so it could be a win win situation. plus the tube is only narrow so it shouldn't affect the external radio performance.

One tube goes the full length of the wing. the other feeding the Vtx stops about 4 inches from the tip to give room to lay the Vtx in its' bay.

to ream the hole through the wing core I attached a drill bit to the carbon tube it just fitted inside the tube.
I then twisted it into the wing trying to keep it as straight as possible lined into the thick part of the wing section.


I have cleared out the hole in the wing tip for the Reciever and hollowed out the relief for the Vtx more pictures to follow. looks like I'll be making long servo leads tonight!

Cheers
Steve

[Teamftp]

This is going to look GREAT!!

Going to keep a keen eye on how this build goes.

Thanks

Simon.

[stevec]

Cheers Simon, don't get too excited there are a lot of firsts in this for me.

First wing, First time trying to use Laminating film, first proper foam build (easystar is basically lego so it doesn't count!.

I have had plenty of balsa and helicopters so I like things to be neat.

anyhow on with the build pictures.

Watching a Chris Ritewing video he recommended installing the motor mount down low so I have done that.

I have now mocked up the plane and laid out all the gear and it is balancing in roughly the right place so I will stick it on the scales and see if I can stretch to an OSD. I think this thing is going to use a lot of sky quickly so an RTH arrow could be a good thing!

Cheers
Steve

[stevec]

Joined the wings tonight. And laid in the spars.
As this is probably going to be a bit of a porker I decided to do an A shape top and bottom in addition to the hollow wing spars.

I haven't got any 3m 90 so I used hot glue and Zacki.

I'll leave it overnight and see if I have ruined it tomorrow...

Pictures below.
 

All pretty straight forward so far. I'll check the wing alignment tomorrow as the slots for the new area of the spars didn't look parallel.

Eyeballing it, it looked ok but I was loathed to prod it too much with superglue all over it.
Have fun
Steve.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[stevec]

had to redecorate the Kitchen this weekend so I didn't get much done.

Here is where I am up to now...
I decided I didn't like the looks of white bays so I painted them black. I think it is looking quite good...

[Teamftp]

Damn that is looking sexy!!

[stevec]

Cheers Simon :)

I made up the pushrods at lunchtime today. is solder strong enough or should I be brazing them?

cheers
Steve

[stevec]

ok first schoolboy error!

I didn't assemble the prop or measure the gap.... doh.

looks like I may be recovering it...

I'll see if I can unstick the film and laminate and trim the aperture for the prop to clear the wings :laugh:

oh well that is why we do build threads... to stop others screwing it up, enabling them to invent new techniques...

cheers
Steve

[stevec]

How much nose weight did you guys need to add to get it to balance?

mine comes out about right if I put a 2nd 2200 mah pack on the nose... I think it is a bit tail heavy... and that is without any FPV gear, some of which is on and slightly rear of the CG datum line...

I may need to strip it back and move the nose. 6oz of lead in the nose is too much....

any ideas?

cheers
Steve

[pk-surfing]

Steve,

I've ended up with 75g of weight on the nose, it's a piece of 10mm steel rod about 90mm long fixed exactly across the leading edge of the blunt nose centre section.

PK

[stevec]

ok then I'll get some lead...

this thing will fly in a hurricane...

/Steve

[stevec]

I wasn't happy with the extra weight to balance the wing so I got creative.
I chopped the nose off taking the whole front end of the blunt back to the electronics bay.

I had some g10 left over from another project so I slotted out the front end and gorilla glued the g10 in as far down as I could get it.

This has given me a huge battery bay with enough room for an OSD and a 2200mah lipo.

I have re attached the leading edge of the blunt and shaped it to accept my 808 cam,  I use this for my flight camera too.

The flight pack I am going to use is an 1800 so there is loads of room and the lid now shuts.

Test flight soon I hope. :-)



I am well chuffed with how it has turned out.  The  vTx and rx and on different wingtips so the separation is as good as it can get.  I m using the motor off my old funjet so it should be quite fast.  I got the funjet second hand and the chap built it to go 100 plus mph.  I put it in really hard nose first so I had some spare gear after that...
Cheers Steve

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[hase2]

looks good.
I got one here that needs building as well. Watching with interest