5ft RC Buzzard! Review, Video and Build Plans

I love the Buzzard as a model to fly. It is so effortless and rewarding at the same time and who doesn't love a plane that looks like a bird?

The one thing I really like my buzzard for is footage. It is like the Dji of my fleet. It can fly normally but it can also go vertical and gain height quick. It then sits at that height and from then on you can see for miles around. A real birds eye view of the surrounding area. Also with a standard 2200mah pack I can regulaly get 20 minutes of flight time without worrying about my battery voltage. It is brilliant this thing. But enough waffaling and lets get down to buisness.

Size,

As you can see from the picture it isn't small. It is about a foot bigger than the Ft spear overall and this makes for awsome gliding caperbilities. Get this balanced right and it will glide as good as a real one. 

• Wingspan= 5 foot ( 60 inches or 150 cm)
• Lengh= around 4 foot (48 inches or 120cm)

The wings do come off the fuselage via 4 heavy duty rubber bands. I didn't take any chances with this one as the last one ended badly as its rear mounting band gave way. The wings reared forward hitting the prop and subsequently ripping apart the entire airframe in midair. 

Anyway, with the new wing attaching design the overall product is much improved and I have now had many flights (unlike the mark one's 5 flights) and no damage has occured to the wing mounting during this time. Not much of a supprise though. I used pencils!

Build Material,

The more eagle eyed reader( ha ha ha) will have already noticed that the model is made from derpron. This is because it is so large and it needs to be light if it is going to go anywhere. The overall wing weighs only 250 grams with paint which is exraordinary if you ask me but for strengh I had to add a 4mm thick carbon rod in nearly the whole lengh of the wing. Even with this the wing still flexes a little.

Electronics,

To make the beast fly I am using quite simple set up this is made up from,

• NTM prop drive 35 to 30 series 1100kv
• Turnigy plush 25 amp ESC
• Turnigy TG9e 9 gram micro servo's
• Turnigy 2200mah 20C to 30C lipo pack
• Ar 610 Full range sport reciever

If I had my time (and money) back now I maybe could have bought Beefier servo's but the TG9's do a good job and I have no complaints. But with the push rods being so long the servo's can struggle a bit sometimes.

 The nose also fits a standard FT power pod but I have never really looked into this as I have a dedicated system just for the buzzard. I do not know how this would affect the balance of the aircraft or the flight characteristics. 

The first buzzard was powered of my FT power pod motor and it was miles to powerful hence the new set up.

Review,

We put together a short review of the 5 foot wingspan bird.

Here are some of the Snaps of that morning's flying,

Mist forming over the river,

Frost on the fields

Sun rise

Selection from Henry's new mini quad.

Beutiful pictures I'm sure you will agree

Plans,

Now you will have to forgive me with the plans as I have never done anything like this before and the odds of them being pitch perfect is slim. Like I said I marked out the plans from a friend of my Dads and he had done the same before me. My MK2 buzzard was just marked out from the obliterated pieces of my MK1, so all in all I have nothing by the way of planed documentation, but as ever I will give it a whirl.

The constuction of the Buzzard can be refered to via the link below in the 5 foot wingspan Buzzard motor glider article, as I don't feel like building another one (limited supply of Depron at the moment).

It only takes 2 and a bit sheets but build material is precious. Other wise I would do a build video. Do comment if you want one at the bottom of the article.

 Buzzard plans Here   Print out on UK A4 size paper recommended.

When you open the file (word document) click enable editing at the top of the page and all of the assistance lines will be in the correct places. If you cannot do this it can still be done without the lines but some edges will need straightening of and areas filling in.

All pieces will need mirroring apart from the base of the fuselarge which is at the top of sheet 2. Also be careful when mirroring the V tail as the hinge will need to be on the opposite side. Yes marking out is a pain but the end result is rewarding. A good tactic is to mark out all of the suplied pieces. Cut them out, then draw round them for the mirrored part and then you get 2 the same.

If you cannot print out on the recomended paper size, take the wing tip and the main wingpiece and measure them. Then type 150 into a calculator and divide it by the number. This will give you your scale factor. The same can be done if you wanted one that was 100cm or 200cm and so on. I would check my recomeded scale factor anyway!

For the 5 foot version you will need to scale up the plans by x4.3

Like I have just said I have gone through the plans and they all seem to be correctly scaled on the print out. I appreciate you giving me time with this because it is a first attempt and I really couldn't think of any other way of doing it.

Sorry for any inconveniance.

Any way, mine was marked out using the same bits and it doesn't mean that you can't improvise and  make it your own. I have seen ones before with standard tails and ailerons so be creative! make it your own!

It can also be any bird you like. Who says it has to be realistic? Why not do a yellow and orange one?

I would like to thank you all for reading this article. As I said earlier the buzzard is very rewarding and an absolute doddle to fly. I would recomend it to anyone out there, begginer to advanced pilots alike, to build and fly and it would be a brilliant addition to anyones fleet of models.

Thank's for reading,

Dan from P