Wing Warrior E-Zipper MkII
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High-Quality Flight Video [22mb, wmv format] (please right click and save as...)
Low-Quality Flight Video [5mb, wmv format] (please right click and save as...)
Specs:
Hitec Micro 555 receiver
Hitec HS-81 servos
Castle Creations Phoenix-35 Brushless ESC
Mega 16/15/4 Brushless motor
Graupner CAM 5.2x5.2 prop
Covered with Ultracote
Clocked on radar at 92mph in level flight
Modifications to the original design:
Two .188 carbon fiber spars along leading edge, to strengthen the nose
Buried control rods (Sullivan Gold-N-Rods #503)
Potted servos
Brushless motor/ESC
The first pic shows the plane in its current form, with stripes. It has about 75 flights on it at this point. Notice the broken prop from the landing on my last flight. This is why I wish that you could program the brushless motor to stop with the prop horizontal. The next picture is of a low fly-by during the maiden flight. There are a couple that were taken immediately after completing the build (the ones without stripes), and then one shot of me with the plane at the field.
I wanted to make the plane look as clean and sleek as possible, as I am upgrading from a Zagi 400X that is covered with colored tape. I also wanted the control horns for the elevons to be mounted toward the center of the elevon, to reduce twisting under high loads. To meet this criteria, I decided to install buried control rods. Having never done this before, it seemed like a pretty daunting task. It was made more difficult because this wing is extremely thin, and doesn't leave much room to bury the servos with the control horns sticking up (there is less than 1/4" of space between the bottom of the servos and the bottom of the wing). After getting up the guts to actually do it, I decided on Gold-N-Rods flexible control rods, because they are pretty small and certainly strong enough for the job. I started by marking the curve on the wing (you can see my multiple curves drawn on the wing in the pics), and cutting the edges of it with an X-Acto knife. I then used a Dremel to route out the actual groove, using the X-Acto cuts as a guide. This proved to work very well, and I used the same method for the carbon fiber spars. After cutting the grooves for the control rods, I glued them in with Goop, pinned them with T-Pins and let them dry overnight.
I cut the holes for the servos next, and potted them with epoxy, to make the walls of surrounding EPP foam more rigid. I did this by spreading a thin layer of 15 minute epoxy on the walls of the servo hole. I then covered the servo with clear plastic wrap and pressed it into the hole, where it would normally sit. I let this dry for about an hour and removed the servo. After removing the servo, you can peel the plastic wrap away from the epoxy and you now have a perfect form fit servo hole, which will virtually eliminate any servo movement in flight. I would recommend this process for any foam plane, and will certainly do it on any future planes that I build.
The extra spar installation was a snap. I cut slots for the spars using the same method that I used for the buried control rods. I wrapped the center tips of the rods with electrical tape, to prevent them from cracking, and inserted a small bent piece of servo control rod to join the two spars at the nose. I also wrapped this piece of control rod with electrical tape, to make it a snug fit. I lined the slots with Goop and let the spars dry overnight. Be sure to place weights on top of the plane during the drying process, to ensure that the spars don't adhere to the wing while it is warped.
You may notice some tape and Probond glue at various places on the plane. This is due to an 'incident' that occurred while working on the plane. I was testing the new brushless motor/esc to make sure it worked ok before mounting it in the plane. I completed my test and neglected to unplug the battery from the ESC (I am not used to the lack of a power switch on the ESC, as this is my first brushless). I then started to setup my transmitter for the new plane (with the ESC still unknowingly powered on). I changed to another model on the transmitter, to start from scratch, and the motor/prop went NUTS! It went to full throttle and I was showered with foam chunks. Luckily I had not fully tightened the prop and it went into 'neutral' after hitting the aluminum motor mount. I was able to shut it down before any major damage was done... Let this be a lesson to you! I had to cut away some of the foam in front of the battery bay, to clean up some missing chunks and replace it with a new block of foam. There were various other chunks/holes in the plane that I filled with small scrap pieces of foam. This will NOT happen again...
I will continue to update this page as I make more progress with the plane.