True RC Pelican WIP
- Thread starter Sparticus594
- Start date
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AFAIK RC aircraft builders are using a certain kind of foam that's far more rigid but still lightweight.
It's called Depron.
http://www.rcfoam.com/index.php?cPath=75&osCsid=2ec2e54e164de21f1e4dfc85319b234a
Sparticus594
Jr Member
Hey every body. Good morning and thanks for all the comments! Im gonna be leaving for the hobby store soon with some rough estimates. Im hoping for the thing to weigh somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds. Im going to look into edfs and hope for some inspiration. If its not possible then im goimg to work on some nitro engines. And if i have to remake it then i plan to double its size. And change the material. But we will see what the god people of the hobby shop say. I think its possible that 6 engines can make it hover if not then ik going to have to gyro the front wings as well and when hovering have all wings/engines rotate down so all 12 engines will be keeping the plane up. It may sound weird reading this but just bear with me as i go through this journey and we will create a working pelican
Seth Knight
Well-Known Member
UNSC should hire you for their new design team lol. Good luck!
Speaking about weight again, I think your best bet will be to make the pieces as detailed as you can, and then set them up as bucks for vacuum forming. You'll be able to make super detailed, but super light, pieces from that method. And, as anyone that has ever flown anything ever would tell you, lighter is better. Then all you need to do is make a fiberglass skeleton/frame for mounting the plastics and engines to and you'll be way better off than trying to actually fly a paper/resin/bondo amalgamation.
Sparticus594
Jr Member
UPATE TIME!
Okay so again i have more good and bad news. This time im going to get the veggies out the way so i can taste sweet beautiful awesomeness after. The current model size of the pelican is large enough to house ALL ENGINES REQUIRED. BUT somethin i hadnt thought of fully smacked me in the face. I had not thought that each engine would need a battery. or that the battery would be 6 inches long be 2 inches wide by 2 inches tall. 12 batteries that would be bigger than my arm and weigh i dont even know how much. I looked into the foam idea but quickly decided that even if i cut down the engines as much as i could that the foam still wouldnt beable to hold the batteries needed. =/ So ive decided to finish making my pep pelican and size thngs up accordingly and what not and go from there. the last bit of bad news is the budget. for said engines/speed controllers/props the price is lets say alot higher than i expected and has turned this into a process that is going to take a LONG time.
Now for the good news. Smaller didnt work so LETS MAKE IT BIGGER! I have decided to literally DOUBLE the size of the Pelican. Now that I'm changing the size guess what Im also changing the material. Instead of working with cardstock and resin im going to work with Balsa wood. It is extremely light but fragile. so in the end i concluded i may have to resin it as well. Either I've talked with the people are the local rc shop and they have agreed to help me as much as possible. Their advice has already had great effect. They said that weight is not truely a huge issue or what you make out of as long as everything is sturdy. Cutting the wood will take longer as will assembling it. so in that case I humbly request you stick with me through all this. I have also decided once i complete the wood plane im going to resin/fiberglass it for greater protection. This may prove to be an extremely long project but i shall continue on and do what i set out to do. I apologize for the disappointment but i assure you that this will be done one way or another.
Okay so again i have more good and bad news. This time im going to get the veggies out the way so i can taste sweet beautiful awesomeness after. The current model size of the pelican is large enough to house ALL ENGINES REQUIRED. BUT somethin i hadnt thought of fully smacked me in the face. I had not thought that each engine would need a battery. or that the battery would be 6 inches long be 2 inches wide by 2 inches tall. 12 batteries that would be bigger than my arm and weigh i dont even know how much. I looked into the foam idea but quickly decided that even if i cut down the engines as much as i could that the foam still wouldnt beable to hold the batteries needed. =/ So ive decided to finish making my pep pelican and size thngs up accordingly and what not and go from there. the last bit of bad news is the budget. for said engines/speed controllers/props the price is lets say alot higher than i expected and has turned this into a process that is going to take a LONG time.
Now for the good news. Smaller didnt work so LETS MAKE IT BIGGER! I have decided to literally DOUBLE the size of the Pelican. Now that I'm changing the size guess what Im also changing the material. Instead of working with cardstock and resin im going to work with Balsa wood. It is extremely light but fragile. so in the end i concluded i may have to resin it as well. Either I've talked with the people are the local rc shop and they have agreed to help me as much as possible. Their advice has already had great effect. They said that weight is not truely a huge issue or what you make out of as long as everything is sturdy. Cutting the wood will take longer as will assembling it. so in that case I humbly request you stick with me through all this. I have also decided once i complete the wood plane im going to resin/fiberglass it for greater protection. This may prove to be an extremely long project but i shall continue on and do what i set out to do. I apologize for the disappointment but i assure you that this will be done one way or another.
Carpathia
Sr Member
I had read back a few posts ago, someone telling you not to use wood, and I immediatly thought, "Well why not balsa wood?" I think this is a good idea to shift to this material for the body of the pelican. Balsa is light and very easy to cut, so there will be no issues there, but it is fragile like you mentioned.
I'm pretty excited about this project and can't wait to see more!
I'm pretty excited about this project and can't wait to see more!
Sparticus594
Jr Member
Okay so after more research i decides that im going to use my resin build as a proto type. I found engines with power that are leas than half the price od what they wanted to sell me. I think for prototype reasons i can use just one battery. Ill have to order everything online but it will be cheaper as well as probably better quality. So i guess thats good news. FULL STEAM AHEAD CAPTAIN!
Seth Knight
Well-Known Member
Double the Size? I say DOUBLE THE FUN!!! By the time it gets done you may be able to pilot the thing yourself! lol. Prototypes are great ways to comb through all of the little problems! Once again Good Luck!
That was me and your right Balsa wood would be good, I was thinking about a million things when I said it haha
Seth Knight
Well-Known Member
Been there...Done that...LOL!
Sparticus594
Jr Member
GOOD NIGHT UPDATE!
Hey all! I've been buzy researching finding the ways to make this baby fly and Ihave all of it found out now and im very excited to start. But first I gotta finish the fuselage and I got to say i got only alittle bit of work done. I was able to create the underside of the belly as well as the ramp and troop bay. At first i was worred about the size of this being to small. All i have to say is we have no more problems and thats a fact. Check it out for yourself!
Hey all! I've been buzy researching finding the ways to make this baby fly and Ihave all of it found out now and im very excited to start. But first I gotta finish the fuselage and I got to say i got only alittle bit of work done. I was able to create the underside of the belly as well as the ramp and troop bay. At first i was worred about the size of this being to small. All i have to say is we have no more problems and thats a fact. Check it out for yourself!
shadowyeti032
New Member
Rhis will be really sick if you get it working and functional. Look forward to seeing this one in progress
theBR1T1SHkid
Jr Member
This is looking really impressive, it looks like you have done quite a lot of research and have everything under control, so the best of luck to you and I look forward for your next update
ItsDarthChaos
Jr Member
It kinda sucks that you are trashing everything to double the size. But what I dont like is the idea of using Balsa wood. It is the most delicate and fragile thing I have ever seen. If you wreck the Pelican, all that hard work and $$$ will be down the drain. I imagine piecess will break just when you are insalling the engines. I seriously ask you to reconsider using Balsa wood versus EVA Foam.
Sparticus594
Jr Member
Yeah after i did research of my own I have come to the conclusion that i should beable to make it hover with the current size. Its gonna be tough to make it do both fly and hover tho. But im going to try. My problem atm is a powersource that can pump out the power needed so that all the engines arent draining one battery.
Sparticus594
Jr Member
Good morning update
Hey everyone Ive got some good news today is a great day for progress and Ive been workin hard. I am currently in the process of assembling the rest of the underbelly and working my way up to the wing joints/nose! it looks absolutely amazing stay tuned for good night update pics!
Hey everyone Ive got some good news today is a great day for progress and Ive been workin hard. I am currently in the process of assembling the rest of the underbelly and working my way up to the wing joints/nose! it looks absolutely amazing stay tuned for good night update pics!
Uhm... Hovering is a lot more difficult than flying...
Sparticus594
Jr Member
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