F22 First EPP Foamie

[Gabe]

Can't wait! You know how I'm a fan of the foamies!

[akent]

Nice, 19k!
Mine is a wonderful flier that folks at the field are amazed at. I crashed a couple of weeks ago straight in and it bounced off of the ground a couple of feet! I straightened out the prop and tossed it in the air again!

I have two of these and I don't fly the fast one any more. That's the 1.9# EPP with the Grayson motor in it. I fly the light 1.3# one with the Turnigy 2730-1500.

I highly recommend the aileron mod, too. That REALLY helps flight.

One of the fellows at the field has a CNC foam cutter. He's cutting out a bunch of these for COMBAT! Only this combat will be full contact combat! The first one will be at the club electric fun fly in September!
The part everyone loves the most about these is the slow speed and incredible durability.
Kent

[19000rpm]

That sounds like a blast, er, carnage anyone could enjoy. ;D

If you have a couple extra of those cut outs left over without a home I wouldn't refuse them.

Maybe next time around I'll add the ailerons, this time I'm just trying to see what I can do with the basic design.

[19000rpm]

OK, Done with the grafting, additional CF and new paint scheme.


After grafting on the new half wing and fuse I ran 3mm CF tubing across the new structure creating an "X" with the 5mm CF tubing that runs underneath. I kept it close to the prop slot to add stiffness to that area.


This little piece of 3mm CF tubing is the "keystone" of the stiffness modification. Running it through the fuse and out to the skids made a huge improvement to overall airframe ridgidity. This also works with the top CF creating another "X".


Thought I might as well spruce up the the paint scheme while I was at it.

I'm really looking forward to see how the mods translate into some real world performance increases....Or not!

[akent]

WOW!!! That looks GREAT!!!

Don't ya just love the way you can graft things on! Nothing at all like any other foam material!

Even after my Exi 500 crashed into the whole fleet, I had all of the EPP foamies flying again in no time!
Jess fire up the ole hot glue gun!!!
I love it!
Kent

[19000rpm]

Just need to install the elctronics and take her out for a test.

Depending on how it goes, I'll either leave her as is, go to a Grayson V3 and/or install the ailerons.

Ever since I've been flying the Spit again I've come to re-appreciate keeping things very simple. Hand launched, light weight planes with a minimum of flight controls and enough power to keep me on my toes. I'll leave crazy fast to Kent and Gabe.

[Gabe]

Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha (evil laugh)!

That looks like a super fun plane 19K. Where did you get the checker decals? I had to hand color mine onto my Fun Jet with a sharpie.

I used the Micro Jet V3 from Grayson on my Hydro. When it was in the air, on a 3S 2200mah Zippy, there was more than enough power to keep me happy. I was using a 6x4 prop too. I think the website shows 26 or 29 oz of thrust. I'm guessing with the flying weight of your plane that the ratio is well over 1:1.

Happy flying!

[19000rpm]

I picked up the decals at the LHS. The sell them in a variety of colors including red and yellow.

If the mods have made the airframe stiff enough I think there is definitely some benefit to moving up to the V3. Thanks for you info on the thrust.

[19000rpm]

Well, it flies great. The added CF tubing has really helped. Is it a lot faster? A little. Does it handle better? More responsive. Does it roll better? just a bit. Does 3D better? Some. Cobras were nice. It was a little too windy to make any final judgement on that.

I'm going to fly it like this for a while and then add the ailerons Kent used. I think it's stiff enough to benefit from the Grayson V3, or similar, so I'll probably add that as well.

Edit: This original post was on yesterday's flying. I flew it again today with lower winds and I'm liking it even better now that it's not getting blown around. Speaking of getting blown around; you may remember last year when a full size heli almost flew into my Corsair. Well, the same guy almost got the f-22. No kidding. Read the full report in "Did you fly today".

[akent]

These ailerons make a HUGE difference, both in high alpha and in the roll rate. You don't even need a lot of throw on them. The handling is a lot more crisp.

That's great that yours is flying nicely!

I read about that idiot in the heli... What a bozo...
Kent

[akent]

I gave these plans to a fellow in the club here (yes, I have made lots of friends here and they are now tolerant of my heli addiction, and some are very jealous!).

He shrunk them on his computer and cut out a much smaller version on his CNC machine!

He flew it on Sunday and it flew great. I think it's a 16" span, so quite a bit smaller.

What he did though was use 1.9#EPP in 6mm. That was the trick to not need so much carbon.

I built a full sized F-22 in 1.9# and it's a relative dog (to the one I built from 1.3#). Yeah, it flies straight very well and does all manner of basic maneuvers, but forget really awesome high alpha and other 3d stuff. It's just too heavy with heavy wing loading.

I was so impressed with his 'mini' F-22 that I want one! It's awesome!

If I ever get my head out of the ole 19k mode, I'll start taking lots of pictures and videos again! Ugh!
Kent

[19000rpm]

It would be fun to build a smaller version. Like to see that vid too, kent.

I've been flying the last version almost every day. I think about adding ailerons, or the bigger motor, but in the end I think I'll leave this one alone and make some other versions. It's just too sweet the way it is.