FlyingWings Venturi FPV Evo

[Brucey]

Hey! I hope that's not my kit you've got! ;D
Rob emailed me two days before going away to say it was ready, but I'm away till Xmas now so that sucks.
Thanks for all the kind comments about goal posts and reinforcements etc, I'm touched!

Well I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on one, not having to cut chunks of foam out to fit the batteries and adjustable motor mount well make a great wing even better.

[iPeel]

Well, day one done and I'm some way in on the build. First I got to work on the paintwork. I sprayed the central section black, masking off any points inside I wanted to stick things to well:



Next up, I sprayed the elevons and masked off all but the section on the wings I wanted spraying Ford "Asbo" Orange:



That's the top done:



Same thing with the bottom, this time in black:



Next I had a test fit of the motor mount, I want to mount the ESC outboard for better cooling, it'll be tight and will need some tight wiring but it's possible:



The motor I'm opting for is an E-Flite Power 25 1250Kv with an 80A JP Energ Pro ESC.

The elevons are looking nice after laminating them with 75 micron film:





Next I got to work on mounting the pitot tube for the MFD. I neatly cut away a section of foam:



Then mounted the pitot tube and the sensor inside the cavity and replaced the foam to fit snugly:



Next up was to cut out the sections for the receiving electronics on the left wing. First I marked the outline of the GPS and DTF-UHF OpenLRS RX. Each box is marked out with its separate depth:



Then, for each component I measure the depth with the router attachment on my Dremel and start carving out each section:





That then leaves a nice flat cavity for each component and is much better than carving out crosses with a scalpel and trying to pick them out with pliers:



Here's the antenna I knocked up, it's a dipole with a flexible groundplane. The flex comes from some surgical tubing attached to a 3D printed part that encases the SMA connector:





Time for a break I think!

[CurryKitten]

That looks great - I like the idea of using a dremel to make a cut for equipment to go in.  The scalpel blade cutting little blocks works ok for me, but it's never that neat and even.

[BlueFlyer]

loving these pictures.

I held off from getting into wings like the Zephyr for a long time, I even hovered over the buy now button on the Venturi FPV page for a while... but seeing this is making me get interested in wings again.

[BlueFlyer]

In fact, I've got a power plant in the garage which would be ideal for one of these.

Its my 1250KV 3542 SK3 Aerodrive motor and 60A ESC I had in my Go Discover.

[iPeel]

Next up, plan out the location of the control horns:



I've gone for 110mm in from the inside edge of the elevon and 5mm from the leading edge.



Next, assemble the horn and mount it:



The control linkage needs assembling from a threaded rod and a joint which needs soldering onto it. I find the easiest way is first to file the end of the rod for a good mate with the solder then get everything really hot using a gas ring on the hob with a little solder in the joint, then push the rod into the joint and leave to cool.



Then I can plan out the location of the servo:



The servo bays marked out on each wing halve:



I then cut out the bays using the Dremel in the same way as before.

Next I cut a hidden channel from the inside of the wing half through to the servo bay and fed some servo cable through taped to a carbon rod:





The servos are then soldered to the extension:



That's the servos glued in place, probably time to call it a day for today:



Providing I can ignore the wife for another day I should be able to get all the build done tomorrow!

[iPeel]

Hey! I hope that's not my kit you've got! ;D
Rob emailed me two days before going away to say it was ready, but I'm away till Xmas now so that sucks.
Thanks for all the kind comments about goal posts and reinforcements etc, I'm touched!

Well I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on one, not having to cut chunks of foam out to fit the batteries and adjustable motor mount well make a great wing even better.

I'm just ironing out the creases for you Brucey! Making sure everything good before the big man gets his hands on it. I need you with a fast wing again, it's boring flying on my own!

Hopefully by EOP tomorrow I'll have it in a state where we know how it balances up.

[iwan_canobi]

That looks amazing, such a neat and tidy build! Looking forward to seeing the finished article! How did you do the hidden servo cable channel?

[iPeel]

That looks amazing, such a neat and tidy build! Looking forward to seeing the finished article! How did you do the hidden servo cable channel?

Cheers.

I cut the hole using a length of carbon rod which I sharpened the end of, it just needs a good eye to line it up then patience gently pushing the rod through the foam with a little twist. Once the rod is though into the servo bay I pull the rod back and use it to push the servo cable through.


Neil.

[krikey]

Great build log so far,Neil

[Brucey]

Looking good mate.  Looking forward to flying one again

[karlak]

Looking very nice.

Very much like the router attachment for the dremel.

When is the maiden :)

[Gundummy]

I'm liking the look of this.. especially the large center bay...

[wgt40w]

Brucey

What is the Dremel bit you use to rout out the pockets technically named ? I want to buy one - can it be bought on its' own or is it part of an accessory kit ???

Thanks

[Gundummy]

It looks like the grout removal tool.......