Magical Flying Foam Board DIY W/ BUILD INSTRUCTION

by Timwetzel | July 24, 2018 | (5) Posted in How To

(please thumbs up!!) It first started when I saw a old flying white foam board flying at this years 2018 Ohio combat. I wanted to make my own, but wanted it to be fancier and more sporty and i did just that with the help of a friend named Marc.



The first one we built flew nice and slow, but can reach some good speeds at full throttle. High alpha is what this version loves to do. The only problem was that it likes to shake back and forth when it high alpha. So i decided, when i came back hope, to make a lighter version with less parts and a stronger motor. No landing gear, LED lights, and bottom supports were all trashed for making this new version, so here are the steps i went through and took me less than 45 minutes!


1: get your desired foam board and recommended grand turbo motor with a 30A esc.




Next you want to get your swappable power pack built and your motor already installed into the firewall. Now measure around 8 inches from each side of the foam board on the shortest side (shortest side should measure 20 inches) as that is where your motor pack will be glued in, the center of the board.




Now start off with measuring on the opposite side 9 inches from each side:



There will be a 1 inch gap between each Elevons. Next measure up to 5 inches to make the length of the elevons and cut it like a traditional Flitetest foam hinge.


Next make your servo connections (9g emax servos used), recommended that you keep your servos closer to the control surface. This part is different for many as people like to put servos in other places or to make the “plane” look better so there isn't a strict way of doing it. This is how I did mine: 


Next we will make the vertical stabilizer. You can make yours bigger if you want but if you want the performance in my videos make it like this. Mine is 7 inches long, 6 inches tall, and the rudder is 1.5 inches long. You can make the curve of the stab anyhow you like mine is basic. If you want better rudder performance, make the rudder longer like 4 inches long (i will test out bigger rudders soon). Make sure you have a bit of a incline of the rudder shown below:

This is so you can have the stab actually slide in the “fuselage” of the plane but the rudder still be out if it and move around freely:

.


Glue the stab down in the slot ( place anywhere, ideally near the elevons in the gap area)


Then hook up your rudder servo as you like, if you have a prefer way but mine is next to the vertical stab.


Now make sure you have your receiver hooked up and your transmitter programmed for elevons. Want to know exactly how i mounted my servos? Comment below!


Once you have everything hooked up and programmed (comment below if you want a elevon mixing article that i should make!!) make sure your controls are working properly, and you should have a lot of throw on your elevons and that's okay, and really good. Make sure you have a counter-clockwise prop (spinning to the left) as that's what mine is.


For battery mounting here's a photo and a battery strap is needed if your doing high alpha and plenty of tricks.


Mine had perfect CG with a 1500mah 3s lipo. I never measure CG is i have no clue where it would be on this XD but if you put your Velcro strap where I put mine you wouldn't have problems and mine was a little nose heavy with a 2800mah 3s put where the 1500mah 3s was. I do High Alpha and then cut the throttle and softly land and not to break a prop, as landing gear is NOT RECOMMENDED if you want the performance in the videos and don't want more of a complicated mess. 


******DUE TO COMPUTER PROBLEMS AND ARTICLE PROBLEMS I CANNOT UPLODE A VIDEO,  I WILL BE UPLODING A VIDEO ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL SOON, MY CHANNEL IS CALLED DivisionRc.*****






COMMENTS

Spacemonkeykj on July 25, 2018
Nice job Tim, it looked like it flys great I’ll build one soon :D
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Timwetzel on July 27, 2018
thx bro (thumbs up plz no one thumbs upp my post XD ;( )
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Spacemonkeykj on July 27, 2018
I got you bro :D
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Planiac01 on July 26, 2018
I built the other flying rectangle that was at FliteFest, and if your foam board is 30 inches long the CG will be 7.5 inches from the leading edge.
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Timwetzel on September 5, 2018
alright thanks man
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mrjdstewart on July 29, 2018
check rcgroups for a big thread on the "magic flying carpet." after the FT Mario cart episode i challenged 6 guys @ the club to a race. your cart had to have 4 wheels, minimum measurement of 30"x20", and based upon a character. the rest was fair game. race is the first fall club picnic. all 6 of us are taking completely diff approaches. promises to be fun.
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Timwetzel on September 5, 2018
alright man thanks

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Magical Flying Foam Board DIY W/ BUILD INSTRUCTION