In the annual "Christmas Exchange" we got Miles. He loves the "Planes" and "Cars" movies/characters so we decided to try to develop a ripslinger version with a "rubber band power plant" that he could fly on his own.
I searched on line and found the required parts at Dare Engineering- (It appears that there has been some reorginization and they are now available through Brodak at http://brodak.com/dare-design-products.html.)
We inverted the standard power-pod so that the top of the shaft could be supported, and the bottom would be open to see the winding of the rubber band. We modified the FT Firewall and the two turtle deck supports to accept the 3/16 x 3/8" balsa shaft. I cut a 3/16" grove in each of the foam supports and when we slide the shaft into that grove I think it adds support to the shaft when it is under pressure from the wound rubber band. I have attached a link to the "power pod plan" but it is a simple modification to the FT-Powerpod. Rubber Band Power Pod. The top of the balsa shaft is hot-glued to the top of the power-pod and for added measure; I used epoxy to secure it to the firewall. In thinking about it (after the fact), it may be a better idea to rely on the hot-glue alone for simplified repairs of this shaft. The power-pod is held in place with the "standard" barbeque skewer attachments.
The "Build" of the plane itself was simplified in that we did not have the electronics to deal with. We did "crease" the foam on both sides at the control surfaces. In theory, this will allow for some minor adjustments and "trimming" of these surfaces. The other modification to the FT plan was to shorten the length of the "flat-bottom" portion of the wing and the spar. My thinking was that this change would reduce the overall weight and the longer section of under camber could increase lift. (?)
We generally followed the FT paint scheme with the addition of the "decals" that we downloaded from efbe and his "Slinger Mania" posting. I printed the decals on Avery label sheets with an ink-jet printer. Before cutting them out with an exacto, I "sealed" them with a coat of hairspray.
As expected, we needed to add weight to the front of the power pod to make up for the missing weight of the motor and electronics.
As you could imagine, the project was a big success at Christmas.
The weather has not cooperated yet, but the next step is to convince Miles that it will be ok to see if (how) it actually fly's! (Update to follow)
Thanks Flite Test!
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Would love to see a micro r/c version too; still with rubber power, just because!
;-)
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My eight year old grandson and I are building his first stick built rubber powered kit, and are having a great time, but it is much smaller (and more fragile) than what you have created.
Thanks for sharing.
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More than a concern for safety, we wanted to get him something that he could use (more or less on his own). Adding a transmitter, receiver, it would become something more extensive and something that (the adults) would mess up. as it turned out, he really does not need it to fly to have a blast with it. Imagination is a wonderful thing! The plan is to buddy box with him (in more comfortable weather conditions) with the old fogey, speedster, or FT-Flier. Ultimately we plan to build a second, fully operational, version of "Rip" (on the bench now) that we can take to the park.
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by the looks on their faces it was well worth it.
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Foamboard: $1.00
Excitement on his face: Priceles!!!
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