F22 First EPP Foamie

[19000rpm]

These new CF mods are creating a quite a bit more stiffness to the airframe in the front half of the wing and the wing just in front of the elevon area.


Added CF tubing from leading edge along skid to the 5mm spar across the wing.


Added a 2mm CF tube on the wing between skids at rear of wing ahead of elevons.

[akent]

That looks great, 19k!

Luckily, carbon is light! It probably won't matter at all with your horsepower!

I sure hope all of our winds calm down soon!

[19000rpm]

Mar 28, 2010 11:39:21 GMT -6 akent said:

That looks great, 19k!

Luckily, carbon is light! It probably won't matter at all with your horsepower!

I sure hope all of our winds calm down soon!

Thanks, Kent. Hopefully, I've arrived at the right blend of EPP and CF. I feel pretty comfortable with it now.

Darn wind is just too crazy. Not really high, just gusting up to about 22 and vectoring between NNW and NNE. Definitely not a maiden kind of day. Too bad because it's sunny and warm.

[Solitaire]

That thing is braced up pretty solid, 19k. What's your AUW on it now?

Where did you get the control rod guides...are they Dubro?
HC, nor Grayson show those or anything similar.

[19000rpm]

Mar 28, 2010 12:52:32 GMT -6 Solitaire said:

That thing is braced up pretty solid, 19k. What's your AUW on it now?

Where did you get the control rod guides...are they Dubro?
HC, nor Grayson show those or anything similar.

I'll weigh it tomorrow sol.

I haven't been too concerned with the AUW as much as the EPP's and CF's ability to provide a sound high speed airframe. It still flexes across the prop slot and towards the back some. If I build another one I think I'll lay out the reinforcing CF differently. The original design is great for the intended power, but with the Grayson pkg. it's not enough in all the right places.

The guides are Dubro. I picked them up at Hobby Zone.
secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/HZ/search/DUB923.html

[19000rpm]

The F22 has an AUW of 13.44 oz's with the 1000mAh battery. With 22 + oz's of thrust I'm in good shape.

The winds remain to high for a maiden, 13-25, and are predicted to continue for another day and then the rain comes later in the week. Maybe I'll get a break in there somewhere.

[akent]

Bummer deal, 19k!
I took today off and flew ALL DAY!!! The first time in a while the weather was PERFECT!!! No wind this morning gave way to 10-15mph winds this afternoon. No problem for most of the toys. The Yak, Delta, and 450 heli don't like this kind of wind. The Stryker eats it up and the larger helis do too. The F22 is happy with this wind, too! It goes REALLY slow into the wind when it's 15+! The gusts were low, which was awesome.

I didn't crash ANYTHING!!

I had the charger going all the time! My favorite is still this F-22! I think I converted a few folks today to foamies at the field, too!

Yep, I flew at the Austin field, as the lake in my back yard is now up to the trees. Bummer. No room to fly any more. But yes, I am now building up a sea plane (water plank)!
I sure hope the weather smooths out for you!
Kent

[akent]

I just weighed my F-22.
AUW with a 1000ma battery is 11.5 ounces.
With the 500ma battery that I fly with for mostly high alpha, it's at 10.4 ounces.

Your 13.4 is NOTHING with that motor!!

And mine still has unlimited vertical at half throttle or so!

These things are too much fun!
Kent

[Solitaire]

...and my F-22 weighs...oh wait, I haven't built mine yet. Still waiting for the EPP to arrive.

I can't wait to see what condition it'll arrive in.

[19000rpm]

Mar 29, 2010 21:16:26 GMT -6 Solitaire said:

...and my F-22 weighs...oh wait, I haven't built mine yet. Still waiting for the EPP to arrive.

I can't wait to see what condition it'll arrive in.

It'll be pretty hard to crush the EPP sol. Even if your PO employs more "Gorillas" than ours you should be OK.

I thought about trying the F22 yesterday but the gusts were too big; up to 27. Right now it's 13-23.

Glad to hear your conditions are good enough to fly something Kent. I try to have at least 1-2 planes I can fly in up to 25 steady. When it get's gusty though I tend to keep them on the ground.

I spent some time on the Foam Fighters site yesterday that Tony put up rcfoamfighters.com/blog/?page_id=879
They have some neat planes there. It looks like the really fast ones, 100-140 are glassed over Depron or EPP.

[19000rpm]

Winds be damned! I was tired of waiting!

Took it out this morning and launched it into a 12mph breeze gusting to 27 plus.

It flew straight out of my hand at half throttle. The extra 12 headwind didn't hurt either. I flew it around in a 1/8 mile circle and gunned it a few times.

I couldn't accurately estimate the speed because of the wind. But, it was moving pretty quickly.

I slowed it way down on the second pass at about 6ft off the ground so I could observe if anything bad was going on. It wasn't, and I was ready to take it back around and a big gust hit it and it dropped so fast I didn't even have time to cut the motor before it hit.

It landed almost flat. The motor mount tore loose from the foam and the prop broke. Other than that it was in perfect shape.

I've glued the motor mount back on. The next flight will need to wait until I pick up a couple more props.

I think this is going to be an excellent plane.

[BTCat]

Good deal 19! Nice to know it is air worthy and crash tested. Now time to put it through the tough stuff. That is a nice looking bird.

I've been reading (or maybe my kid has read it too me ;D) where the EPP does best with the Welders and over more flexible adhesives. They say the stiffer stuff, CA, Gorilla Glue and even hot glue tends to make the EPP tear again near the repair. They suggest the most flexible fix possible. Just my

I know mine has a ton of GG, hot glue and CA. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see how much validity there is to that.

[akent]

That's awesome, 19k!
I am really happy that you had a chance to fly yours!

With your solid prop mount, yeah, it's going to tear up props and motor mounts if the prop is spinning when you land. I wonder how a raised motor mount would do for solidly mounted props?

I really love mine, as it just doesn't stall! It will rock a little when at stall speeds, that's it! The folks at the flying field were amazed!

I hope you get a good chance soon to wring her out!

I hope you get comfortable enough with flying planks to fly yours, BT!

I don't know about the glue types and how they rip from a previous fix. I do know that things can tear. When they do, I just put a thin layer of HOT MELT there and it's as good as it ever was! Welders might be better, but now that I have an inverter that fires up my hot melt gun at the field, I don't even bother with anything else!

These are too much fun!
Best,
Kent

[19000rpm]

Mar 31, 2010 17:30:10 GMT -6 BTCat said:

Good deal 19! Nice to know it is air worthy and crash tested. Now time to put it through the tough stuff. That is a nice looking bird.

I've been reading (or maybe my kid has read it too me ;D) where the EPP does best with the Welders and over more flexible adhesives. They say the stiffer stuff, CA, Gorilla Glue and even hot glue tends to make the EPP tear again near the repair. They suggest the most flexible fix possible. Just my

I know mine has a ton of GG, hot glue and CA. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see how much validity there is to that.

I think you're on to something there Kent. The EPP is soft and flexible until you put CA or GG on it and then the Cells that have the adhesive in them become stiffer and more brittle. I can imagine how a softer adhesive would maintain the flexibility of the foam and handle breaking stresses better.

[akent]

That was BT that wrote that, 19k!

But I believe it. Hot melt is flexible, too. I don't know how flexible compared to Welders, though.