My 24in. PBF was in a bad shape so converted it to an ESPA3D. Took me about 3 hours.
(Link to the original: http://www.spadtothebone.com/SPAD/espa3d/espa3d.htm )
Here's the power setup:
BLDC : 1000kv with a 10*5 prop
Lipo : 3s, 1200mAh
Servos: 2x 9gm. power-HD
And some pics:
The CG is at 4.75 in. from the LE. The nose was built longer than original to compensate for the heavy tail.
It's made mostly of 4mm coro. Used 3mm coro and foam too. People on other forums advice against use of coro as it results in a heavy plane (the original one is made of 'Fan-Fold house siding insulation' which is much lighter).
The push-rods are made of kebab sticks joined end-to-end. They are very lightweight and as stiff as metal rods. The bumpers are very effective in saving props and maintaining CG. They saved many props on my PBF.
Hey, everyone! I was afraid that this fat bird will have a torque-roll crash so I added some down and right thrust ( with a few washers between motor and coro-mount).
This bird is much lighter than my earlier builds.
I don't have a big ground nearby and have to drive 10+ km to fly/ test. And the coro planes I made so far either kept hitting trees or crashed due to strong winds. So I decided to quit on planes and build a quad.
But yesterday I had a sunday afternoon to kill so decided to build the ESPA3D. I knew that a beginner like me shouldn't even think about attempting a 3D plane, but I had some cheap props to break!
Today I went to the field hoping to break all the remaining props and leaving the plane there to rot if it crashed badly.
But when you are expecting the worst, it just doesn't happen! This baby flies and handles astonishingly great. I've never flown a plane so beautifully before! It can do tight inward/ outward loops and insane rolls. And it can glide gracefully too!
Honestly, this is the most fun SPAD I've built so far!
Launch pics:
Nice build swapnil {:)} {:)} {:)}. Waiting for your maiden video. :thumbsup:
PS: Looking at your coro build I am drooling like hell. Here I wanted to get hold of some Coro for a scratch build for my Cox 0.049 for a while now. ;) :)
and then...
up n down...
Fantastic build!!! Video please................... (:|~
First pic shows the ESPA3D flying close to ground and second while landing. It had no landing gear so I had to do a harrier landing.
Thanks Sandy sir, VC sir! I'll upload a video soon.
Added a landing gear....
Looks cool on my wall! ;D
Don't judge the color scheme, it's more for visibility than aesthetics! Gonna do some ugly graffiti too.
What a nice landing gear sirji.... {:)} :hatsoff:
Thanks! That's the simplest light-weight LG I could think of. I applied some rubber glue on it for additional strength. It looks flimsy but is strong enough. I dropped the plane from 3ft. and there wasn't a single dent on the LG. That's sufficient for a harrier landing.
Had another awesome day at the field today. ;D
I've got a question for seniors. Would a KFm-2 (top-step 50%) make any drastic improvement in the flight characteristics of this plane?
(My young cousin didn't like the old color-scheme so he did this (see below) to the bird. Bet no one has ever seen such an eye-sore before!)
O.K, here's the maiden video (dated 23 Jan). Went to the field today for getting a better video but it was too windy and I got all sorts of wacky moves (don't know if it was the winds but I did a perfect hover without rudder!).
So posting this instead. Had to remove the audio as my connection's really slow. There's no stunts but I had a great first-time. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_sDYfIPzg&feature=g-upl&context=G2c3966aAUAAAAAAAAAA
Here's the last flight-report post from me on this thread. Had some awesome flights with this plane again today. It glides great at 1/3 throttle. I just want to tell everyone wanting to build this bird that it is easy to build and fly and cheap too! Here are some pics while flying close to the ground and a low quality vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Oci7E3biw&feature=youtu.be
its a great craft..Swapnil..too inspiring..thanks for sharing.. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:
Thanks Roopesh sir! Nice to read encouraging words from you!