FlyingWings Hornet Racing Wing

iPeel · December 11, 2015, 08:15:22 PM

I've got a footy field in front of my house and it's a shame I can't exploit it but I never really got into 250 racers, probably because I ~~lack any flying skills~~ have an acquired taste.

So today I got hold of a Hornet from Rob. For those that attended the last Mad Dogs on the Saturday this is the wing Rob was bezzing around and has been on sale now for a few months I think.

The kit came in a nice box:

It only uses a 250 motor and mini esc, and runs of a teeny little 0.8ah 3s battery. Should be quite fun.

Mocked up it seems to be about 550mm wide and has a monkey-blunt style bay for the battery, receiver and FPV gear.

When I flew the development version I was quite impressed with how it handled, so I'm looking forward to getting this built and smashed into a few goalposts!

Brucey · December 11, 2015, 08:26:56 PM

Ooo Ooo Ooo... can I have a go! Looked like it flew really well at MD, didn't currykitten have a go?

iPeel · December 11, 2015, 08:32:48 PM

Quote from: Brucey on December 11, 2015, 08:26:56 PM
Ooo Ooo Ooo... can I have a go! Looked like it flew really well at MD, didn't currykitten have a go?

CK and Luke I think.

Yeah, hoping to get it all done by next weekend so you can have a bash then. Need to get some more batteries but already thinking about 4s!

Brucey · December 11, 2015, 09:16:26 PM

Don't let Rob hear! Batteries are the least of your worry, we need some good bloody weather!

Dillwhacker · December 11, 2015, 09:52:58 PM

I had a similar idea last week - got a HK Bonsai, under 40 quid all in.
Waiting for weather now...

Sheldon Holy · December 12, 2015, 01:36:57 PM

This looks quite cool, and yes no doubt similar to the Bonsai. The Bonsai is a fantastic model but this Hornet is hardly more expensive. That mega combo thing is really good value.

That's my review a few years ago on the Bonsai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OMrK5ZZ8mk

They slope soar well too!

Brod · December 12, 2015, 02:26:42 PM

a mate got one few weeks ago ,great size for some close stuff.
same molding as my old miniraven I think? which I use for night flying LOS..bullnose on fpv version
here it is with me trying to follow with miniquad...

https://youtu.be/mDxKDR-D56U

Dillwhacker · December 12, 2015, 05:59:53 PM

Thanks for the vid Sheldon - good to hear yours was 175g - the book says 100 to 140, but I don't see how it could be as low as that.
Looking forward to this with a tiny cam and VTX ;)

iPeel · December 18, 2015, 06:45:48 PM

So a bit more done on the Hornet. For once I bought a plane from Rob that actually existed, so have the luxury of instructions to ignore!

The first step is to cut a bay for the Battery and electronics:

I cut my bay 5mm wider than the instructions to accommodate the 1000mah 4S batteries that arrived this week.

Then after that I glued the wing halves together with some Por:

It may look a bit delicate at the point where the wings join for the moment, but the skid block will fit over it and strengthen everything up. Three spars too makes it quite a stiff wing.

There are a couple of ply rails that glue up against the skid block and form an area just behind the nose to fit a board camera, I sprayed these black and glued them up to the skid block, once that was dry I fitted the cheapo' camera I bought ages ago from BangGood and prepared to glue the skid block to the wing:

While that was all going off, I set about fiddling with the electronics. Now, obviously a bird like this needs a long range system! Well, I actually have a plan for this plane that needs a little more than 2.4 and anyway, the only non-UHF stuff I have doesn't support elevon mixing. My plan is to have the antenna for the UHF ran in the foam itself, which will shift the resonant length of the antenna somewhat, so I tuned a monopole down so it would resonate in foam, using a dead wing halve from my ceiling of despair:

That'll do, it ended up being 14mm shorter than the optimum length for a similar monopole in air.

The instructions come with a nice template for servo / control horn positioning:

Also, off camera I fixed the elevons, which is just a matter of running a bead of Por along each edge and joining them together after a few minutes. Once it goes off you end up with a nice strong, flexible joint. I also glued the motor mount to the wing and fixed up all the electronics:

There's not masses of room, but just enough to house a 12a ESC width-ways if a little relief is cut on each side of the wing for it to fit into, just in front of the motor mount. The VTX and RX still had to go in the wing, just recessed in.

The control rods are made by gluing a thin carbon spar to a rod of steel supplied, the manual says to just CA them then use heat shrink to keep them together, but to stop them slipping apart and ease the jointing of glue to the rods I decided to wrap the two rods tightly with cotton which would give more area for the CA to purchase against:

And with the rods in place and the winglets glued on she's ready to go!:

All up weight is 260g with a 4S 1000, it sounds like a nutter too, hopefully I'll be able to get a flight in sometime over the weekend and report back.

Brucey · December 18, 2015, 07:05:58 PM

Looks good. Nice thinking with the aerial tuning, suppose you had plenty spare foam knocking about...

iPeel · December 18, 2015, 09:28:01 PM

Quote from: Brucey on December 18, 2015, 07:05:58 PM
Looks good. Nice thinking with the aerial tuning, suppose you had plenty spare foam knocking about...

It's fair to say the ceiling in the Technical Centre of Excellence is well insulated!

iPeel · December 18, 2015, 09:31:20 PM

So after reading the FAA Drone Registration thread, I calculated that the 0.55 lbs minimum registration weight is just a touch under 250g.

With a 4S 1000mah battery this weights just over that, but with a 800mah 3s it's well under the limit:

So I reckon with a 3S 1000 it will be within the limit and still a hell of a lot of fun.

Billy_boy_2010 · December 18, 2015, 11:35:20 PM

Looks great

Could you get a 800mah 4s battery maybe?

Isn't the drone regulation only for the U.S? Why are you worrying about it? :)

iPeel · December 18, 2015, 11:39:21 PM

Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on December 18, 2015, 11:35:20 PM
Isn't the drone regulation only for the U.S? Why are you worrying about it? :)

I'm not worrying about it, it was just an observation; other people read The Internet too.

Dillwhacker · December 18, 2015, 11:42:50 PM

Quote from: Dillwhacker on December 11, 2015, 09:52:58 PM
I had a similar idea last week - got a HK Bonsai, under 40 quid all in.
Waiting for weather now...

I maidened my leetle 'park fly' Bonsai last week in the rain...
180g AUW.
Spektrum SPMVA1100 just for fun.
Flies lovely, and looks like 8 or 9 min flights on a 2S 500 LiPo, which is fine for me for a park flyer.
SPMVA1100 powered by a separate 1S 500 LiPo Velcro'd underneath to make a little 26 gram 'go anywhere' FPV thingy.
Will have some short range fun with this.
;D