Pageboy

Anything with a propeller
Mosfets
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Joined: 18 Feb 2018, 20:14

Re: Pageboy

Post by Mosfets »

Well it flies

Being as I have yet to learn RC flying I managed to con someone into flying it for me at Ponty today......
P1050782.jpg
First flight was under elevated so after adding a bit of packing it was flying well under Shauns expert control.
P1050784.jpg

Thanks Shaun

Ade
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Carl
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Carl »

That's great Ade. You know it's set up for you to fly. I've been learning my RC flying skills with my Pageboy and it's very forgiving, so I hope you enjoy as much as I have :)

Carl
Carl

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Wayne_H
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Wayne_H »

Foam White & the Pageboy

With all the discussion about the Pageboy, I thought it time to 'join the gang’ & build one. Just to be consistently different, I made mine out of 2mm foam. Only a few minor mods were made to the construction to accommodate the use of the foam, mainly on the wing. I added a 5mm balsa L.E. & a 12mm wide T.E., both out of 1.5mm balsa, glued to the bottom of the foam sheet, mainly to make the wing more 'ding resistant'. I also made the ribs out of balsa since the balsa grain provides longitudinal stiffness that the foam does not. The tail plane & fin are 2mm foam without any other reinforcement, decorated with coloured trim tape. The rudder horn is a piece of styrene sheet & the rudder is hinged with a strip of trim tape folded over on itself & then glued into a knife slit in the rear of the fin & the front of the rudder.
cardboard templates were used to transfer the shapes to the foam
cardboard templates were used to transfer the shapes to the foam
ready for cutting out
ready for cutting out
There are 1mm ply reinforcements for the wing & u/c dowels, and the firewall and motor plate are 1.5mm ply. Since there is basically no access to the rear of the motor once construction is finished, I made a separate motor plate - the motor mounts on this plate, which is then screwed to the firewall. I also 'borrowed' Phil’s suggestion from Carl's version & made an externally accessible battery compartment under the nose in front of the undercarriage dowel so I wouldn’t have to pull the model apart to change batteries. Unfortunately I under estimated the impact of the larger & heavier motor (which was all I had at the time) on the CG, so had to move the battery back significantly - consequently another battery compartment was added behind the wing.

The original motor was an 1806 quad out runner running on a 2s 360mah lipo through a 12amp controller with BEC (again the smallest controller I had at the time). The first prop I tried was a 5” x 4.5” drone prop, but the thrust was way too excessive. I swapped to a Tornado nylon 5” x 3” prop meant for Cox reed valve .049s & the thrust dropped to (hopefully) below the rip the wing off level?!? I subsequently procured a smaller motor (HK bargain bin shopping again!) – a 1304 3100Kv micro-quad motor, still running off the 2s 360mah pack, driving a 4.5” x 2” Cox Thimble Drome grey prop. A 6 amp speedy is still on the slow boat from China.

The Rudder servo & Rx were last to be located – they ended up on the CG! I’ve set the rudder throw based on previous comments/recommendations. Hopefully, test flying will be this weekend.
ready for test flying
ready for test flying
Page_Boy-2.jpg
Total build time was about 4.5 hours, snuck in between babysitting the grandkids & outside work when it wasn’t raining. AUW is 95g, which under the circumstances I'm happy with. I reckon I could trim 10-12g off that with light weight wiring, an even smaller motor, an integrated Rx/servos/ESC and a single cell pack, but I still want to be able to fly it even if it’s a little breezy.

If you are contemplating a similar foam build, here are a few tips.
* Rudder hinging - as outlined above.
* getting the fin square to the top of the fuse or tail plane - use strips of 6mm sq. balsa (covered in tape) clamped to the sides of the fin as a jig while the thick CA dries.
glue fin_1.jpg
glue fin_2.jpg
glue fin_3.jpg
* use balsa instead of foam for the ribs
* use balsa reinforcement along the LE & TE of the wing to prevent 'bruising' & improve stiffness
* if you get a twist in the wing, 0.8mm carbon rod can be used to stiffen & straighten the wing
wing brace.jpg
* use foam safe thick CA - gives a little more working time & a small window of opportunity to re position components
* I also paint all critical joints with thinned Weldbond (or similar acrylic PVA type glue).
* score the inside of any curved surfaces with the back of a scalpel blade to facilitate bending. Closeness of the scoring depends on the radius of curve required.
Last edited by Wayne_H on 15 Jun 2018, 00:55, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
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Carl
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Carl »

Great job there Wayne. And thanks for the info on your build techniques using foam. After seeing Shaun's x3 foam Pulstar in flight and now Pageboy, it's convincing me to have a go at a foam model.

We'll look forward to hearing how it flies.

Carl
Carl

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STILL LEARNING
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Mosfets
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Joined: 18 Feb 2018, 20:14

Re: Pageboy

Post by Mosfets »

Thanks for taking the time to document your build. Love the colour scheme and looking forward to hear how it flies.

Ade
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Wayne_H
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Wayne_H »

Well, I finally managed to get in a few quick flights this evening & am very pleased to report that the Pageboy flies really well on the button :D using the Pixie MkII Tx :D .

The 3 test flights were done in the twilight so my phone's video camera didn't want to cooperate - I'll get some video in daylight hours & post it.
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
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Carl
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Carl »

That's great Wayne. Will look forward to video or even in-flight pictures would be great. Hoping to have a go at button pushing flight myself this week for the first time - will try with the Pageboy first :-)

Carl
Carl

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Wayne_H
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Wayne_H »

It took much longer than I had anticipated to get back out to fly the Pageboy, but perseverance finally paid off 8-) . Our youngest son & his family have recently moved 4 hours closer, currently renting a house on the edge of a large working farm 2 hours south of us. We went down again to assist them with some unpacking, so I threw the Pageboy in 'just in case' :P I scored a couple of flights last night not long before sunset - was a little breezy, and again early this morning before the wind started. I did get some usable video, but until I can edit it over the weekend, here are some captures from the video.
ready to commit early morning aviation
ready to commit early morning aviation
pre-flight-2.jpg
climbs out easily at 1/2 power
climbs out easily at 1/2 power
managed several close fly-by's
managed several close fly-by's
No - it doesn't have hemorrhoids, those 'dangly bits' are the battery leads (so I don't have to take the wing off to arm/dis-arm) & the Rx antenna.
No - it doesn't have hemorrhoids, those 'dangly bits' are the battery leads (so I don't have to take the wing off to arm/dis-arm) & the Rx antenna.
PB_fly-4.jpg
Initial findings after these successful flights:
  • it needs more down thrust - just another washer
  • there is more rudder throw than I need - I'll be cutting it down by about 40% (giving about 1.5mm each way measured @ the rudder trailing edge)
  • (edit) since the free-wheeling prop causes so much drag which then makes the glide too steep, either:
    - reprogram the controller, if possible, to enable the brake, or
    - change to an ESC that has a brake
It is a pleasant aeroplane to fly and I agree with Frank, it clearly could carry another 20g easily. Great FUN :lol: :lol:
Last edited by Wayne_H on 07 Jul 2018, 03:17, edited 2 times in total.
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
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Carl
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Carl »

That looks great in the sky - some nice captures from your video.

Carl
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Wayne_H
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Re: Pageboy

Post by Wayne_H »

Hi All,

Pageboy flight video has been uploaded to the tube.....


Since its such a small model, I've tried to edit out most of the 'spec in the sky' bits, even though they weren't really spec in the sky, if you know what I mean :) :? :P
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
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