Cessna T-50 Bobcat, Twin motor "Sky King"foamboard

Hey Flite Testers, I'm working on a project and thought I would share my progress. A little over a month ago I was seaching through images of Cessna paint schemes for my Simple Storch. I stumbled apon a Cessna T-50 and just loved the classic look of it.. And It also had twin motors, yes!   So I collected about 50 pictures of the plane and used a rainy weekend to start my first version of templates. The first version is just a beta version to see if it is air worthy. I plan to add much more shape/ detail and cool paint jobs on the next versions to come. This just has a simple quick tape job for orientation. But man it still looks beautiful.. Im happy with the way its come so far.  Its a fun proccess.  The maident flight was outstanding. Rolling take off in tall thick grass in under 3 feet. And it tracked perfectly straight and had them twin motors singing me a duet. I could climb verticly much much faster than any single motor planes Ive flown....

        A few changes do need to be made on my next versions to really dial it in..   #1.  When I cut the ailerons I had plans of making them dual function flapperons. I thought it would be good to extend them inboard so that the prop would push air on them. Well I tappered them real fat behind the props, then much skinnier at the wing tips.. The result of that is I have lots of roll under throttle but under glide its a bit sluggish. So I just have to change the shape of the ailerons. #2. I need much smaller motors. Im currently running twin Turnigy 2826 2200Kv and they are heavy and way over powered. I like a real slow glide and it sinks a bit at slow speed. Im likely to try 2212 1800kv motor setup. I would also like more flight time. I dont have twin batteries of the same Mah so I get about 6 minutes of flight with a single 2200 3cell.  I would like to eventually get the plans of the final product made into a PDF I can share. So look forward to being able to make yourself a T-50 if you would like..    I have to give thanks to Flite Test for showing me the ease of getting into this hobby. This is my first year flying and I've only flown FT designs. Well other than my modified Spitfire I made into a dorsal finned shark, I took to Flite Fest with me lol.  So all you need to design and build your own plane is dedication.  And a bit of trial and error.  Thanks for checking out my plane and I hope I inspire others to dive in head first.   

####  Heads up!!   I'll be at the Horizon Indoor Electric Festival in my city Columbus Ohio Nov 7-9 if you want to buy a speed build or a full built and painted plane.   Or look for me flying my Shark plane and say hello . ####

I used thin strips of foam board to get the wide radius used on the fuselage. and I used the Spitfire wing as "inspiration" for my wing lol.. Thats my mornings cerial bowl as the wing tip haha.. 

 Kinda moking things up. Getting a feel of how it will look. 

 Got the airframe done for the most part. Time to figure out motor mounts.

With a blank canvas it still looks elegant.  Getting excited!

These are my motor mount/ landing gear mount.  They were supposed to be mirrored but came out identical. opps.  

To make the mounts I soaked a thin ply in CA, then lamitated two layers together. then CA'd them together to form the mounts. Rock solid. 

With the motors mounted it was time to test the CG.  It was very tail heavy. I held the motors back from scale thinking they would make it nose heavy. So I shimmed them out towards the nose with 3/4 plywood and that helped a great deal. battery now mounts at the wing spar.

Now I got some markings on it. Its looking like a plane.( or flying mini-van lol)  I've opted to make it a detachable wing to gain access without making a door or hatch elsewhere. Its worked great so far.

Then came time to make the landing gear.. Only gear Ive made so far has been for the storch so with these I was just kinda winging it and rolling with it....     pun.

So burying the gear mount in foam board and gluing it did NOT work like it does on the storch.  Since then Ive replaced it with melamine thats the same thinkness as foam board and its worked great so far. Could use plywood also. Melamine is quicker to cut.


 

For props I bought some multi rotor props spinning opposite directions. They are 8x4.5   A bit overkill aswell as the motors also. Turnigy 2826 2200kv

 I made the wings overall 4 inches longer than scale. Just to make sure it would fly. Once I find a lighter motor combo I'm hoping I can cut them down a bit.  Still looks awesome with a wide stance.

 The final picture. All ready to launch.  I remove the foam cups during flight till I form something more aerodynamic.  

Here is a quick video of me flying it.  Let me know what you think..     This is my first article or Flite Test post. Im assuming I can edit and update this article as it comes along.  Thanks for viewing. And hope to see everyone again at Flite Fest next summer. Look for this and my sharks! lol   Maybe sharks will be the next article ?