First flying thing

Yeah. I could have done the same with an X-acto Knife. But then I wouldn’t have made it with lasers. Lasers make everything better.

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Well that’s going to stir a lot of interest around here! :smile:

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Very very cool :sunglasses:

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Is there a particular kit you purchased for the motors/flying and RC parts? I know a 7 year old who would love to build that.

As a failed RC enthusiast this is the vicarious fix I need! And we’re going to need to see more, there’s too much good stuff in the background, both models and the workshop…:male_detective::small_airplane::hammer_and_wrench:

Yes - but can it deliver an Amazon package? (or Proofgrade !!) :smile: Awesome job ( and flight skills !)

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Not something I would recommend for a 7 year old, I’m sorry to say. It’s not particularly difficult to assemble something like this, at least parts-wise. But there’s a fair amount of complexity in making it work correctly. Without that knowledge I think it’d be a frustrating experience for a kid.

However, there are plenty of fairly inexpensive little quadcopters available and I would be happy to make a recommendation or two if you want to PM me to discuss.

The “donor” electronics for my copter was a Horizon Hobby Inductrix FPV+ (thus the “Foamductrix” name). I didn’t have the camera mounted on top for the test flight, but a small video camera sits on the top of the quad and I fly it by wearing video goggles that send me a real-time view, like I’m sitting in the cockpit. “Drone racing”.

This is a class of copter is called a “micro”. About 120mm across. The smallest quad I have is about 90mm across. But my largest is a “hex” with 6 motors. It’s almost 1m across. And as you can see in the background, I fly other stuff, too. There’s a sailplane looking plane that’s actually a “hotliner” designed to go fast, not “float”. Behind it is a scale Stearman PT-17, a trainer used by the Army Air Corp between WW-I and WW-II, But there’s a ton of other stuff. About a half dozen helicopters in sizes from about 8" rotor to 5’ rotor. Some scale and some designed for aerobatics. Probably a couple of dozen airplanes, mostly scale models, in sizes from about 14" wingspan up to 7 foot. A couple of models are gas powered but most are electric. The electric motors in the bigger models are upwards of 3hp.

Also, this copter uses relatively low-power “brushed” motors. I have another GF project that’s about the same size but it uses much higher power brushless motors. I have it put together but the electronics are giving me fits, so it doesn’t fly yet. I’ll post again when I get it going. But here’s a picture of the parts alongside the mechanical parts of the Depron foam copter that you saw flying in the video above.

Depron Foam

PG Maple Ply

And even though it has nothing to do with GF, here’s a picture of a scale radial engine I designed, 3D printed, and painted, to stick on the front of the PT-17 in place of the cheap vacuum formed plastic dummy engine it came with…

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Wow! Its an awesome design. I’m gonna try to design something similar for my Trojan :blush:

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CZT-28? I have one of those, too!

Thanks very much for the insight! I appreciate it. I don’t have enough of the know-how to get it going myself and I don’t want to start anything that will lead to frustration. I would prefer to wait until he can make it mostly on his own and he will enjoy the experience of the build. Thanks again!

Jealous. I built more than one r/c plane that never flew, because I did t want to crash it. And a few that I bought, but also never quite got in the air.

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Brilliant! I have a few Tiny Whoops that need a bit of an upgrade! What setting did you use for the Depron?

I mostly fly Hotliners…Fully Molded around 3K watts ( Olegs X plane)! Scares the hell out of me But MY GOD what fun!

Depron Medium (6mm) GF Basic Power 12 Speed 400 passes 3 or the kerf gets pretty big. 3mm went down to 2 passes. Use masking tape on the bottom of the Depron or the parts get blown out of the foam and scattered around the inside of the machine. If you put tape on top, it looks like it improves the cut some (smaller kerf) but this required I put tape everywhere I was going to cut, which was a PITA given I only had a roll of 3" wide tape.

Yes, TinyWhoop is in the same size class, although mine is probably close to 40% larger than a TinyWhoop.

New flying thing. Much higher performance. About the same size as my earlier posting above, but this is cut from Maple Ply not Depron foam. And this copter flies on brushless motors and an 11.1V battery vs. the foamy which only uses 3.7V.

I have to redo it to paint it properly. I tried painting the wood with red Krylon after cutting, before removing the masking, but the paint didn’t like to stick to where the wood was burned. I should have shot it with primer first. Next one will look better!

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LOL My first read of this thought “400 passes ! He must have the patience of Job!” :smiley:
Nice work on that engine !