Miracle Air Presents: The "Uh... Oh"

My dad designed this cool little foamy on his work bench and we've been having a blast with it.

It combines the best elements of two planes we love: the Firefly and the Nutball. It flies like a hot rod Pizza Box Flyer.

It's an octagonal plank with a thin kfm1 step hot glued to the bottom. Hook up a 130 watt Blue Wonder motor, a $6 Hobbyking orange RX, a 1000 mah battery and two 9 gram Hextronic servos and you have yourself a VERY nimble little sport plane with forgiving stall characteristics. It rolls like a madman, hence the name "Uh... Oh!". Dad thought it was more polite than "Oh Sh**!".

Here's a picture of the plans (measurements, really).

The whole thing is made from a sheet of Dollar Tree foam. It has a vertical stab but no rudder and uses elevons.

We covered it with packing tape a la Experimental Airlines (thanks Ed!), and so far there's no need for a cf spar or any reinforcement. It makes for a really strong airframe.

The CG is 5 inches aft of the leading edge (at the nose). Don't screw this up or it'll fly like a bag of angry cats.

Hope you like it. We sure do.

From the Designer:

Motor mount measurements ; base (battery tray) 4" X 2 1/2". firewall (front), 2 1/2" by 2". sides, cut one each 1 3/5" X 1 1/2", then cut diagonally for two sides. Last piece is a bulkhead added just behind the firewall to keep battery fron being punctured by motor mount screws. Add AFTER MOTOR IS MOUNTED or you'll never get to the screws! size for bulkhead is1 15/16" X 1 1/8". Front piece (firewall) is ca glued in front of the battery tray (base) sides are glued to back of firewall and top of base. Servos are in present location because I mounted control horns at right angles to elevons, so servos attached where they fit for a straight control throw. Keep weight forward and don't be tempted to add servos close to elevons or weight may have to be added to nose. Hope this helps.

What is Miracle Air?

Miracle Air is the name of my father's hobby shop. As far as foamies go, it's the best-stocked shop in the Pacific Northwest. He has one customer, me, and I don't pay. It's a terrible business model, but it keeps him out of the house. That's all Mom wants. Everybody wins!