V3 is final.
The major change, I scrapped the detachable wing. Now its two pieces that fit into a channel in the fuselage. The detachable wing design really didn't add any value to the kit. I trimmed down the aileron width and length for better control.
I also added in a steerable tailwheel which turned out fantastic!
Now there is an internal channel that runs vertically from the wing root to the electronics compartment, for the aileron servo wiring.
Some minor fuselage profile shape change mimicing the full size Skywagon.

Attached files

 

The plane looks good but, your airfield is a bit rough!

 

I bet you can hand launch it too. What prop and motor you have on?

 

Four feet away is a nice paved road Things get tight at my testing field, lots of oak trees to negotiate. My usual field is a half hour drive away.

I guess you can hand launch it, never tried. Only dirt, the dead grass in the picture and asphalt.
The motor is the turnigy blue wonder with a 10X3.8 and also have used the 8 X 3.8.

 

its a 36" wingspan. I hashed over having a detachable or non detachable wing. Even with the non-detachable wing, it easily fits in the trunk of a car. I transport it and several larger planes in the back of my VW Beetle with no problems. I had used magnets to attach the wing to the fuselage but it really wasn't worth the extra part count and hassle during the build. I inquired to a few other flying mates and they said they would just leave it attached.
In the instructions for the plane will leave it up to the builder to add a couple of drops of CA to make the wing permanently attached, but you can opt out of doing this as the wing fits tight enough in the slot to where CA is not really needed.

 

Last night the wind slowed down to 6 mph. So, I actually got a chance to see the true flying charactoristics of the Skywagon. All was good with the exception of my ESC taking a dump. For the past 6 or so battery packs, the ESC would start doing an early voltage cut off after about three minutes of flying. When I charged the packs, they would only take in about 150 Mah. I came in for a landing, turned the plane around, hit the throttle and nothing happened.
I did decide to pocket out a huge chunk of meat from the tail area to lighten things up. I want avoid making it too light other wise it wound make as good of a flyer in heavier winds.

 

I put my RCminicam on the Skywagon this weekend and even though it was windy, the plane handled it pretty good. Being designed as a slowflyer, when it gets a heavy tail wind, you have to be prepared to punch the throttle.
Not a great video for where I positioned the Cam but I decided to post it anyways.


I have kicked around how the kit will come prepared and have decided to pre bend the landing gear, z-bends on the control horn wires and bevel the control surfaces. I am trying to cut down the build time for the kit. Right now it can be built in under two hours at a slow pace.

 

I love the scale outline of this plane. Looks Rugged with those big wheels!

Eric

 

I am using .090 wire on the gear that fits in a 1" X 1" slot in the fuselage. The wire is sandwiched between two pieces of light ply. I am convinced you cannot break this gear setup. I am probably going to drop down to a smaller diameter wire to give the gear a little more flex for rougher surfaces.

Right now I just need to find the time to make an assembly manual and figure out the packaging.

 

I wonder how long I will keep flogging this design to get it perfect?

My brain got churning and decided to scrap the undercambered wing. I am going to a Clark y-mod airfoil. The overall design of the plane is great but, after many hours of flight testing, I want the plane to be able to do more. The only way for this to happen is to goto a full airfoil.

I have hotwired by hand using templates in the past and eventually want to set up the PP3 to do it for me.
Attached is the latest Soild Model. The ailerons are not shown as they are cut out after the wing is milled and hotwired.
Attached files

 

Why not go with a KFM wing, they really do fly great

 

I have tried a Klein wing on another similar plane. It flew OK. Two reasons behind not going with the KFM wing, One is, it didn't look good, the other is I am trying to make the kit as easy as possible to assemble. A little work on my end of the kit makes it ten time easier for the end user to build.
Even forming the undercambered wing is a bit of a hassle for what it is.
I also like the idea that this plane could be completely finished in covering if the builder chooses to do so. I strive to make my planes look and fly as well. Half the fun of the hobby is having something that looks nice...even in an unfinished form.

 

I managed to quickly hotwire a wing. I had the PP cut two 3/4" 18" x 9" core blanks then I glued the two together to form a 1.5" block to cut.
Attached is a couple of photo's of the V3 airframe retrofitted with the new wing. She's looking rough from all the flying, crashing and hand cut mods. I will make pockets for the wing servo's and slots for the wiring on the production models
It fly's stellar! Great inverted with surprisingly little up elevator needed. Can't really say much more then it fly's like a normal off the shelf ARF plane. She is a little slippery on landing and a bit hard to slow down but way more controllable and responsive in all maneuvers over the old wing.
I walked away with a pretty big smile on my face. Attached files

 

No good pix of the VDUB. It is a 2000 Beetle GLX Turbo in mint condition. I will have to take a photo of the hatch loaded up with my airplanes.

The wife is coming out with me this weekend to shoot some video. Yesterday doing the first test flight with the new wing, it was 16 mph gusting to about 20 mph. Right after the first take off, I kinda cut it close to a tree, then a harsh gust of wind hit the plane and blew it behind the tree where I couldn't see it it. I punched the throttle, pulled a little aft elevator and waited. I heard some cracking tree branches then it popped into sight above the tree.

It definitely takes a lot of work to make a good plane.
It does fly pretty well inverted and I agree Mark, most of my high wing planes don't fly well inverted. Rolling into inverted is slow with a heavy wind to fight against but the new lighter fuselage will help the roll rate. The current fuselage that I am flying has too much weight opposite of the center line from the ailerons. So the Ailerons are fighting the weight

 

Here is the latest video doing the flight testing on the new wing. I even did a little inverted flying just for you Mark.

 

I got eaten by another tree. One of the pilots at the field test flying it flew into the sun and then into a tree. Fortunately he was able to fly it out. I believe now everyone at the field has flow the plane and wants to buy a kit. It is a floater. It actually does some pretty good sport aerobatics.