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lou5590

rc plane

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i know its not exactly tamiya... or a car for that matter but im about to start the biggest project iv ever done and try and make my own rc plane, i want to make a Fokker Dr.I replica, aka Baron von Richthofen, aka 'Red Baron' Iv gotten the original plane specs from wikipedia, and scaled them to 1/10, 1/16 and 1/32 scale.

IM going big and deciding on 1/10 scale. From what i can see, the electronics 'should' be quite similar to our rc cars. with the only difference being having a 4-6 channel remote and a reciever that can have 2+servos and a motor.

What i am struggling on is how im going to do the rudder and ailerons. i cant for the life of me think how to do it, especially as the Fokker Dr.I is a triplane, so has 3 wings, 3 sets of ailerons, plus the rudder and the ailerons at the rear of the plane.

Also what motor? iv seen the small rc plane ones, but they seem a bit pants for a plan of this magnetude.

Again im going to have to sort something out with the battery as i got think my old ni-cd batterys will suffice, will lipos do? how long do they typically last?

has anyone else done something like this before?

any help would be appreciated

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I hope you have set a good budget as it wont be cheap, you will need some serious Lipo power and a big brushless motor for something that size and for a plane you cant scrimp on cheap stuff. I dont mean to sound negative just want to point out some facts.

I would recommend you joining a local model flying club, doing a lot of research and if you havent flown before you will need to start with something much more stable and easy to fly the triplane will be a challenge.

You will need several servos, 1 for each aileron in lower wing, the other ailerons will be actuated like the full size by rods vertically between them. The rudder and elevator would be controlled with pushrods from servo.

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iv flown planes before, just havnt had my own one, tbh even if its just a shelf model il be happy and as for the cost i know it wont be cheap, on the other hand this is a project that im expecting to last a LONG time!

about the power issue, how many lipos are we talking? not having lipo's before, can you connect them in parallel/series, which ever one is better?

iv signed up on a rc plane forum, and some people are talking about having a battery devoted to the motor, would this be an option?

btw, thanks for the reply :)

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hi, I think you could just use the tail plane and top wing as a control surfaces , you could of course slave the two lower wings of the top 'master' wing but it would take some pretty meaty servos at the scale you are talking about so weight would be an issue, there is also the option of having all wings fitted with smaller servos and run all the wires through the wing struts but again the weight and complexity would pose issues , take a good look around and see what others have done , the only tri-plane I have seen up close had only the top wing active , it would seem hobby king have done the same http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__15131___Fokker_Dr_I_Triplane_EPO_R_C_Plane_PNF_.html , have fun ;):)

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i see the scale might be an issue then. as for the construction, balsa wood seems to be the material of choice according to some research iv done, someone has made a bi plane at about 1/16th scale, and used 2servos and motor, esc and lipo,

as i already stated tho, as long as it 'moves' il be happy if it doesnt fly :)edittriplane.jpglooking at this pic, this is the british version if you like, and it looks like the bottom of the 3 wings is the one thats controlled, and the middle and top are the slaves, fishing wire and push rods maybe?

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My Dad used to fly planes, We built one together when I was young, balsa wood and then shrink wrap with a small hobby iron, but I was always more into cars so I never got into it. My Dad has sold all his planes now, I don't know what happened to the one we built but as far as I know he doesn't have it anymore. :(

I hope you dont mind me adding a video here, just thought it was cool.

http://youtu.be/rtDtwOUxSdE

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haha no, add away :) what plane did you build if you dont mind me asking?

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yeah I think that using the good old control wire with Z bend pliers would enable you to get all three surfaces moving together in a rudimentary fashion , you could even use rose joints and 1.5mm threaded rod , with the extra load from the airflow it will take some strong servo's , having said that there are some good strong gutsy servos out there these days ,with a powerful BEC I reckon you could get it all to work , its not as if the plane is going to lack lift capability :) ,take a look at great planes web site for all the myriad of little inserts etc that will give you an idea of what could be used for connecting the three surfaces .

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yeah I think that using the good old control wire with Z bend pliers would enable you to get all three surfaces moving together in a rudimentary fashion , you could even use rose joints and 1.5mm threaded rod , with the extra load from the airflow it will take some strong servo's , having said that there are some good strong gutsy servos out there these days ,with a powerful BEC I reckon you could get it all to work , its not as if the plane is going to lack lift capability :) ,take a look at great planes web site for all the myriad of little inserts etc that will give you an idea of what could be used for connecting the three surfaces .

sorry, BEC? whats that? whats this website by the way?edit - Just found this on ebay. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Small-nitro-engine-/290852476231?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item43b8289547&_uhb=1 something like this would be perfect. as long as i can keep the weight to scale, then theoretically id need a scale amount of hp, as the original only had 100 hp, a 1/10th scale model should be fine with something like this :)

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great planes site , there are many others but its a good place to start , http://www.greatplanes.com/ , http://shop.dubro.com/c/aircraft , as for engines and scale ,that's something a more experienced flyer should help with but here is a load of plans to give an idea of scale and engines used , http://www.model-pla...power scale.htm , BEC is a device that takes all the load away from the receiver , it plugs into the receiver and battery and provides far greater current to the servo's tan the receiver alone can do , if you are planning on moving 3 surfaces with one uber servo then they will need a lot of power , this may cause the receiver to overload and brown out which leads to a very realistic WW1 tri plane crash! :lol: the hope you post a few pics when you get to building ;)

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well il see how the construction goes before deciding on a power plant! still undecided!

iv found some model blueprints which iv upscaled and printed ready for building when i get the balsa wood. dont ask me why i want to build a triplane, iv always had a fascination with them :)

ah right i see, having a bec would make sence.

also do electric rc planes have rudders on the tail? or could you impliment something like the thing thats designed for countersteer for rc cars? or just leave it? in fact if you didnt have a rudder, whats the worst that could happen?

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at that scale you will need a rudder ! they are kind of essential , consider flying in even a light breeze , no rudder no correction , you would be better off with a hot air balloon , at the scale you are looking at you will need full control surface operation ailerons ,tail and rudder , the thing you mention is most likely a 2D gyro , you wont need it , if I was you I would buy one of the great kits from hobby king uk warehouse say a 600-1000mm model , they start at amazing prices and get out and fly , that would give you a good grounding on what the various control surfaces actually do and just how essential they are , on the other hand if you do just want a scale display model then this all becomes somewhat irrelevant . ;)

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The Fokker Dr.1 only has one set of ailerons, on the upper wing:

DSC_6067%20Fokker%20Dr1%20replica%20right%20side%20in%20flight%20l.jpg

It was the Sopwith Triplane that had ailerons on all 3 wings. As the Dr.1 only has one of the wings 'active', you could use the conventional RC aileron control method of either 1 centrally-mounted servo with control rods running through the wing ribs to 90-degree bellcranks to operate the ailerons, or 2 slim 'wing' servos fitted in the wings to operate each aileron directly.

You should only need a 4-channel radio (throttle, elevator, rudder, ailerons), or possibly 5 if you want a switch channel to operate a sound/light unit for the guns. You will definitely need rudder control - rudder and elevator are the 2 most basic controls for flight (they were the only controls on the first RC planes). Even if you use aileron banking to turn the aircraft, you have to apply rudder at the same time to stop the plane losing height in the turn. Rudder is also essential to keep the plane running straight on takeoff and landing.

NiCads aren't really used as a power source for electric planes these days - they usually use LiPo packs and brushless motors due to the lighter weight (LiPo has a higher energy capacity for a given weight compared ot NiCd/NiMh) and more efficient power delivery. A BEC (battery eliminator circuit) steps down and regulates the voltage from the drive battery to a constant 5 or 6V so you can power the receiver and servos from the main drive battery You can either get a standalone BEC, or some aircraft ESCs have them built in (as they are with most car ESCs). Some aircraft modellers are still a bit suspicious of using BECs in planes and prefer the added safety a keeping a separate receiver pack - if the drive battery 'dumps' in flight and you lose power to the engine, you would still have power to the receiver and servos to make a controlled glide to land.

The other important thing to consider when flying model aircraft is insurance - a 1/10th scale wooden aircraft with a powerful brushless motor swinging a big prop can cause serious damage to property or injury to people in the event of a crash. It you aren't already a member and don't fancy organising you own third-part public liability insurance, it's highly recommended that you join the British Model Flying Assocation (usually via joining an affiliated flying club), and you would then be covered under their insurance scheme:

http://www.bmfa.org/.../insurance.html

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flippin brilliant... according to the website, theres no clubs in my area :/ that sucks.

and as for the ailerons, the middle and bottom wings are static then? so i wouldnt need to slave them?

thanks for all the info fastfordrc

ok, the initial website lied!, iv contacted my local club and and await a reply :)

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i hope you realise what your getting into - if you think rc cars are a expencive hobby they are as nothing compared to rc flight . Good luck with your build though .

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i hope you realise what your getting into - if you think rc cars are a expencive hobby they are as nothing compared to rc flight . Good luck with your build though .

haha yea i guessed that :) i just want to do something different tho :) and i love the red baron and his triplane! as for the cost, im not that bothered about it, im not guna do it all at once, its going to take a few months by my reckoning, but once its all done, it will be worth it and i cant wait :D

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i hope you realise what your getting into - if you think rc cars are a expencive hobby they are as nothing compared to rc flight . Good luck with your build though .

I fly a lot of foam planes and they are way, way cheaper than RC cars. Stick to foam, electric and don't go bigger than 2000mm wingspan and you will be surprised at how cheap it is.

Here are some of my planes: http://www.rcgroups....d.php?t=1621658

http://www.rcgroups....d.php?t=1467022

DSC06303_zps46e24fc3.jpg

My advice would be to get something receiver ready (just screw the wings on and put a Rx in it) like the Albatros and do some weathering and detailing:

a5425910-197-Landing%20gear.jpg

a5048041-85-IMG_1810.jpg

A giant scale triplane, scratch build is a massive undertaking even for an experienced builder.

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