Ewo,
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you... I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!!!
Dell

 

Dude I'm really liking the Illusion Micro. Give me some spec's. Boy I really feel out of the loop here.

 

Mark, love your 51 also and thanks. Too bad I have a laser at my disposal or I might have built one of your machines a while ago.

ewo, you got me thinking in a direction here. I can feel it. But I might just have to do things a little differant, as far as gear, but the plane is perfect, you did a great job. Love the size. I have a little brushless outrunner, a few micro servo's, and the wife and kids will be gone for the next week starting Friday, I have a new airbrush to break in, so I'm thinking it just may be time to build something for myself.

 

what size you using for the foam? I need to dig out and blow off the dust and see what I have left.

 

Well I built a 20 inch version, not so micro but for the gear and motor I have I figured its the right size. I think I could have gone down to maybe 16-17 inch but was afraid of being to heavy for the wing area, want a floater. Have a double wopper motor to put in it and some brandy new HES-490's. Now really wishing for a JR9503 like I have at work so I could go out and buy the 4-site gear and make a really light version like yours. But in time.

Oh, first time I cut depron out on the laser at work or a plane for that matter. Man this automated cutting is it. If I ever leave this job I know I'm going to need one of these printers.

 

I built the micro version in 3mm Depron this past week and did the maiden on it Sunday.

It is still a bit heavy, 1.5 oz with battery so I cut some holes in the fuse but only could get the weight down to 1.4 oz, still too heavy.

I think it is going to need some serious milling.

The AR6400 and 2 long throw servos and the 4site motor plus the control rods make up the bulk of the weight. The graphics probably didn't help either.

It flies very well, but too heavy to hover on the prop without some lightening up of the airframe.

Some time this week, I hope to get some free time to add some pocket milling to the fuse and wings to see if I can get the weight down some more. Might have to go to 2mm foam as another option.

I really like this design. It could become a favorite if I can make it a bit lighter.

 

Flash, using a smaller battery, a lighter motor or lighter servos will reduce the weight more quickly than milling a bunch of 1.3 pound-per-cubic-foot foam.
For every cubic inch of Depron removed, you will only reduce the weight by 0.012037 ounces = 0.3412 grams. Do the math, then get lighter hardware. :geek:

 

Can't really reduce the hardware weight. Need the 160mah batteries to get the 30c discharge rate.

The motors and servos are from the 4site micro so can't do much about them either.

Only thing we have to play with is maybe leaving off some of the graphics or milling the foam.

I suppose could go with one aileron servo instead of two, but not a lot of options.

 

Always found the second heaviest part of construction besides the gear is the glue. Glue most times is heavier than the foam used.

I was looking at weight on mine and opted to go back old school and use sharpies for this first one. Paint adds weight even when you do go thin with it.

I learned from the old timers that fly micro film planes, make and collect all your parts, weigh each pc, than figure out where you can save real weight.

Milling takes strength out of the frame so you'll need to add the strength back some how so did you really save weight? What you use to stiffen the wings will make a bigger savings. I'm going for thread in place of carbon. Thread is strong enough and weighs less than half of carbon.

 

Good point regarding the glue. I used Aileens Tacky glue on mine, but I also added some fillets (triangle stock made from 6mm Depron) which may have added some additional weight I could do away with. I suspect I could lighten up on the glue by being more careful with my construction.

I used the flames graphics on both sides of the wing. I suspect that too added a bit more weight that I can eliminate.

Like you said, I should have weighed everything before I assembled it, but I did not have all of the electronics for it until after the foam was assembled.

Even with all the extra weight I ended up with, the plane flies very well! I can sustain a short hover with it when the battery is fully charged but I know it could be better if I could loose a bit more of weight (from my body as well as the planes )

 

Well, it goes like this. Built the plane, 20in version, and finally got to fly her for a brief time on Saturday till the motor/esc burnt up. We have had issue's with the double wopper lately like this. So now I'm going to have to buy a new motor just haven't figured which one yet.